Hey Seraph, Welcome to the site!
I have a 7 piece Pearl ELX kit almost the same as the first kit ( minus a bass drum, I use a double pedal) and I love it! The sound is awesome. When I got rid of my CB kit and got this one, the first time the rest of my band heard me play this kit they about crapped their pants it sounds so good right out of the box.
The hardware is very good, especially the ISS mounts, but you might want to upgrade your pedals fairly quickly as I feel the P120P's are a little too lightweight to be able to take TOO much abuse, especially playing metal. I jumped up to the P2002C Double bass pedal set and the adjustablity and strength of the pedals was well worth the extra money.
I do like the Jordison snare. I got a chance to play with one at Guitar Center and that thing has a huge "crack" to it! It's deep, yet bright, and can cut through anything.
Unfortunatly, I hav'nt tried out any Mapex kits, but I hear the M Birch model is a very good kit for it's price range.
Hope that helped a little.....
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