Mapex Meridian Birch

Winston_Wolf

Platinum Member
I got this new kit back in March but it's taken me a while to finally take some pics.

It's a great kit, and I think there's a lot of value packed into Mapex's Meridian line. I went with birch this time because I wanted something different and Mapex had caught my eye back when they offered the Pro-M and M-Birch lines. Knowing Mapex made some noticeable tweaks and improvements with the Meridian upgrade I figured this was a no-brainer.

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Drums: Mapex Meridian Birch in transparent cherry
10x8"
12x9"
14x14"
16x16"
22x18"
14x8" Pro-M Snare w/ die cast hoops and Pearl Ultrasound "D" wires

Heads: Aquarian and Evans
Toms: Aquarian Modern Vintage medium top and bottom
Bass: Evans clear EQ2 batter/EQ1 resonant
Snare: (currently) Aquarian Modern Vintage medium batter/Aquarian Hi-Performance snare or Evans ST Dry/Orchestral 200 snare (pictured)

Cymbals: Dream and Sabian
8" Dream Bliss splash
15" SR2 Thin top/AA Sizzle Hats bottom
15" AAX Studio crash
17" AAX Studio crash
18" HH Thin crash
18" B8Pro Chinese
22" Dream Energy crash/ride

Hardware: Tama, Pacific and Yamaha
 
Beautiful kit! Love the finish! mapex does it soo well!
 
That is a sweet kit. That deep cherry color looks so rich. Nice innovative setup too with the cymbal mounted in the bass drum.

Have fun with 'em man.
 
Thanks guys! :)

This is my first time using the Modern Vintage heads top and bottom on my toms, and I'm really digging the sound. I've always wanted to get a really fat, "tubby" kind of sound, but this head combo is the first time I've really gotten it. They have plenty of sustain, tons of warmth, subdued attack, and good control.

What I really love about these drums is that all of the head combinations I've tried so far have sounded good. Different, but good. Just before this I had Evans Strata top and bottom on the toms, and the sound was still warm, but with brighter overtones than the Modern Vintage heads.
 
Nice kit, but how do you like the floortom placement?

Bram

It's perfect. :) It's definitely a little further out than where I see most people setting their second tom, but in this position my stick naturally falls to the middle of the head without having to unnaturally bring my elbow back and in towards the body.

Whenever I set up my kit I always place a drum, cymbal, or pedal under where the sticks (or feet) naturally fall instead of setting up the drums to look "good" and altering my playing and posture to accommodate. I spent way too many years uncomfortable because I tried to make my drums follow a certain "look" instead of letting my own body decide where the drums should go.

Since changing my outlook on how to set up a few years ago I've never played better or more comfortably. I'm much more fluid around the kit and I don't suffer from missing cymbals or hitting rims the way I did when I was younger.

Having a big-ass throne didn't hurt either. Feeling properly supported and well grounded was also an amazing change.
 
I just switched to a one-up, two-down set up, so I snapped a couple more pics. Not too much different, though...

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Very nice kit, I just got this Mapex Meridian birch in a walnut fade finish. I wanted something "new" so I traded one of my vintage Ludwig kits for it at a local drum shop. How do they sound? I had a Saturn kit a few years ago and it sounded great, but I don't have much experience with the Meridian series. Please tell me I made a good choice. BTW the sizes are 8x10, 9x12, 14x14, 16x20, 5x14, thanks.
 

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I found your other thread before noticing your post here, but I'll go ahead and say again these are great drums, period. That they are also priced as a lower-end intermediate kit makes them even better.

I've found the sound to be pretty versatile, depending on the heads I've tried. I've gotten focused and clean with EC2's over EC resos, warmer with more midrange with Strata 1000's, and deep and fat with the Aquarian Modern Vintage.

I love the bass drum. I tried an EQ4 before getting the EQ2 but now I have the perfect amount of punch and boom without any unwanted overtones.

My only real quibble is that the bearing edges on my kit weren't perfect on all of the drums. I had the edges on my two smaller toms re-cut by Precision Drum Company and they opened up even more, and got rid of a couple weird overtones I couldn't tune out prior to the re-cut.
 
I haven't noticed any uneven bearing edges on my kit, but now that you've mentioned it, I'm going to check them again. Was it on the top or bottom? Thanks.
 
Mostly bottom from what I remember, but neither side was perfect.

Nothing out of the ordinary for a mid-level kit, I just learned from my last set (that had some really poorly done edges) it's well worth the small amount of money to not have to worry about it and just get them professionally cut.
 
Mostly bottom from what I remember, but neither side was perfect.

Nothing out of the ordinary for a mid-level kit, I just learned from my last set (that had some really poorly done edges) it's well worth the small amount of money to not have to worry about it and just get them professionally cut.

Well, I checked mine and they seem ok to me. I know these are considered mid-level kits, but I thought they were already suppose to be "professionally" cut. I mean the people making these drums are using the same tools as others and are being payed, are they not? I was told that Mapex had a very good quality control, even in their Asian plants.
Anyway, mine are fine, so maybe you just got one that slipped through the cracks. I'm going to ask the owner of the drum shop, where I got these, if he's seen any flaws with any of the Mapex Meridian kits he's had in his shop.
 
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