New Mapex M Birch

mikei

Gold Member
Hello All,

I received my Mapex M Birch today in transparent sapphire! Purchased it Sunday evening off of eBay from Siegler Music, and received it Tuesday afternoon. Received everything but the cymbal stands, throne, kick pedal and hihat stand. Those are on the way. In less than 48 hours, the kit was delivered from Arkansas to California. For those of you worried about purchasing on eBay, I can honestly tell you that this was the best and smoothest transaction EVER. I have a perfect 124 rating on eBay as a buyer and seller and never got service or goods this fast! They are very trustworthy.

Every item was in perfect condition. bearing edges are fantastic.

I cannot say enough about the finish. My pics do it absolutely no justice. Out of all the kits I have owned (Sonor 3005, Tama Starclassic Performer, Ludwig Accent Zep Set, Ludwig Classic Maple, Ddrum Dominion) this finish is by far the most stunning. It is absolutely amazing! The grain shows so good thru the finish. My daughters were so happy with the color!

The toms tuned up very, very well and very quickly. Took me no more than 3 minutes per tom. Even with the Remo UT heads, they sound great. I have them tuned at 70 over 70 on a drum dial and didn't need to fine tune them. They just sing!

The snare has a bit more ring than I like, but when it is tuned fairly high, it sounds pretty good. Definitely better than I was expecting. I like a dry as a desert sounding snare, so I am hard to please.

The bass drum has been difficult to tune, but I do think that new heads will make it sound much better. I tried it with a muffle pillow and it was just too dead. Without the pillow, it rumbles a bit. I haven't cut a hole in the head yet and will not. I will experiment with it more. Tonight, with the wife and kids sleeping, I couldn't really jump into it. Tuning a bass drum has never been my specialty, so I will probably have to work it for a while until I get familiar with it.

The measurements are 22 x 18, 14 x 11, 14 x 5.5, 12 x 9, 10 x 8 and 8 x 8.

I would say the quality of this kit is equal to my old ddrum and sonor 3005. It tuned faster than my starclassic.

Here are pics of my new baby. I just took down my Ludwig Classic Maple (very hard to do) and now will play with this kit for a week or two and then rotate.

For all of you wondering if it is a good kit, I have owned 5 kits in the last 4 years and this one is by far the best bang for the buck!!!

Mike
 

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That finish is truely amazing!, im really thinking of buying one of those, what sort of sound do you get out of one of these?
 
Sweet! Welcome to Mapex ownership. I really like my M Birch a lot. I would recommend Remo clear Emperors over Ambassadors, I just put these on my kit after years of Evans EC2's and wow what a difference. Enjoy your new kit!!
 
Congrats on the kit. Mine is a M Birch in the exact same fusion sizes. I find it quite satisfying that your impression of the finish is as good as mine. I have yet to see a finish in person that surpasses Mapex...it's their best quality.

My humble offering on heads, not that you asked: I had great luck with Evans G2 Coated over Evans G1 coated with the EMAD2 and have been even more impressed with my current setup which is Aquarian Texture Coated over Classic Clears with the SKII. Give either of those a shot.

Again, great looking setup and I can't wait to see it in full regalia.
 
Looking really great! The finish is beautiful, I love a blue kit.
 
awesome man!!! My Saturn kit comes in a few weeks, I'm stoked.
Mapex is great!!


For tuning your kick drum, any maybe other drums, go on Youtube and look up vids from Bob Gatzen.. he has a video for bass drum tuning you might like,
 
I love it, color is great and the tom mounting system is so nice, why more companies do not do that is beyond me.

I been looking at these kits hard too, currently own a saturn but want a birch 2nd kit. Not sure I like the new Horizon's though.
 
Congrats on the nice kit. I really like the color, and Mapex drums rock. Peace and goodwill.
 
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