Mapex V Series Review

[Leprechaun]

Well, let's see if I'm any good at this reviewing lark.

As anyone who saw my post in the Show Us Your Drumkit thread knows, I have a new baby, a Mapex V Series shellpack from ebay in Silver Sparkle. Ordered last Tuesday night at half ten, processed Wednesday, dispatched Thursday, arrived Friday. So I get home, exams over, coursework full marks and in a good mood to get even happier when I saw the big pile of boxes.

With good reason - this is a pretty handy little kit. Having not really done much work on tuning before, I followed the links on this site's main page, and found that the kit sounded pretty decent with the stock Mapex heads with some tuning. Took me a while to get the hang of Mapex's different way of mounting the toms, but it's rather good now I can use it.

The short bass drum (22" diameter but only about 16" deep, by my measurements) has an awesome deep kick, at least in my bedroom, and when tuned the toms are punchy and feel responsive off the heads. There's a fairly steep dropoff in pitch between the 13" tom and the 16" floor tom, however, which does leave your fills a bit confused at first, but I'm not quite done tuning yet so we'll see how it changes.

Then I found something I'd not noticed before, totally by accident. The toms weren't sounding as good as they could because I had them mounted too low. I'd set everything up a bit too low, and when I moved it all up a few inches not only did it become easier to play, but the sound was infinitely better, as it was no longer going straight into the carpet and the bass drum. So, if the sound isn't as good as you think it should be, try raising everything a bit, see if it helps.

The specs are:

12" and 13" mounted toms
16" floor tom
22" bass drum

and all the hardware needed to put them together.

The bass drum here actually came with a wooden rim, which is unusual for me, as I've not seen that before, but seems to sound good anyway. I'd be interested to know what effect a wooden rim has on the sound of a bass drum.

Lastly, the appearance is really nice. It's not extravagant but in this silver finish it looks unusual but very professional, and I get the feeling that whatever finish you have on it, it'll still retain that clean, pro look.

For £140 including excellent postage, this is a very good kit, especially when you spend some time getting it set up just right. It really pays off to do so, and that bit of extra time makes it well worth the money you pay.

Dustin, thanks for letting me know about that ebay store, and for any UK members here I'd happily recommend the rather oddly named "Sex Cymbal Music". I can only recommend it to UK users, sadly, because it doesn't do postage abroad. However, it seems to have a lot of good deals on, with low priced Buy It Now offers, and I'll vouch for the couriers they used.


Fin.

[fiacovaz]

Hey Leprechaun...I'd say that you did very well with your review...especially about the difference in sound according to how low/high you set the mounts. The set you discribe is exactly like the Ludwig "Hollywood" of the mid '60's...which came with 8x12 and 9x13 toms, 16x16 floor tom and 16x22 bass drum. The wood hoops on the bass drum is "Quality." What would be really nice is if the Sparkle wrap were inlaid on the bass hoops...like mine are. Appears to me that you have yourself quite a nice set of drums. May you play them long!

[Leprechaun]

The kit is actually second hand, so I've been simply amazed at the quality of the finish - the advert said it had some light scratches consisten with use, but the only ones I can see are where the lugs have rubbed the paint on the bass drum wood hoops, which is easily repaintable. The wood hoop's actually in black, and looks rather good with the silver.

Guess I'm in the Mapex Mafia now :P

[Norske]

Very nice review Leprechaun, and congratulations on the new kit!

Mapex makes some truly nice drums, which is why they have become a major competitor in the drum market in recent years. I've owned 3 Mapex kits, and loved every single one of them.

Enjoy being a part of the Mapex Mafia!!

[Lesizmor]

Guess I'm in the Mapex Mafia now :P

Yes you are! I am newer to Mapex myself (M Birch) and I hafta say that is is easily one of my faves! Congrats, and welcome to DC if I haven't said so already! -Les

[MortalDrumbat]

what are the specs

[chafey]

do you happen to have a video of how they sound.....NECROPOST!