Got my Mapex Meridian Maple kit finally.......

sped66

Junior Member
Well...........20 years or so of playing. Started on a set of Reuther's and played everything from Pearl exports to Yamahas but always had used pawn shop specials........not that there's anything wrong with that but I got my first non entry level kit the other day. Traded my exports for some Mapex Meridian Maple in Supernova Burst..........I almost cried while I was unboxing them. MAN......beautiful. They look better than I could have hoped. They sound amazing and can't wait to get those stock UM Remo heads off. Perfect with my Mapex Falcon double bass pedal. Feels good to share this with people who know exactly what I'm talking about. I had Evans Onyx heads on my exports and loved how they sounded. Anyone have some input on a good head for the maple's?. OK......need to go look at them again.
 
Congrats on your new kit!

everyone is getting these kit. they are GREAT kits for the price!

since u had onyx heads i take it your an evans man. i like G2 and EC2 heads. give them a try!

alot of people on here go with the G2 over the G1
 
Are they coated. I seem to gravitate to the sound of the coated heads. Well........except for the coated Remo UM stock heads that are on there now. But the kit even makes them sound half decent. Amazing the difference in sound from the maple shells.
 
Are they coated. I seem to gravitate to the sound of the coated heads. Well........except for the coated Remo UM stock heads that are on there now. But the kit even makes them sound half decent. Amazing the difference in sound from the maple shells.

You can get them coated if you like....I don't use coated myself, but that does not mean much. You certainly may like it....but to confuse matters, I don't personally care for coated evans and use coated ambassadors on my snares....evans clear everywhere else
 
The Saturns come with Remo Emperors for the batter and black Ambassadors for the reso. I've had great luck with Aquarian SuperKick IIs on the batter side and a coated Aquarian Modern Vintage on the reso on my Meridian birch drums as well. The burden of choice!
 
OK. I went with the G2 coated....10,12,16 rock. Probably go with the G1 reso's when I can get em. Also picked up a Sabian AAX 18" Aero crash cymbal off Ebay for $130.00. Store display cymbal.....brand new except for some stick marks and fingerprints.Thanks guys.
 

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Congrats, kit looks great. I like your rack.
 
Agreed on the G2's. My "go to" head every time, although I use clears. I think you'll notice quite a difference when you change the reso heads too :)

Anyhow, congratulations on your wonderful new kit. I love it when I pick up that special excitement from another drummer's post :)
 
Thanks for the advice and the compliments guys. I know it's no breathtaking kit or anything but to me it's amazing. I can't explain the giddiness I felt unboxing these and setting them up. I felt like an excited kid again. Just going from used beginner sets all these years to the Meridians is hard to explain.......I know almost everyone on this forum has felt it though. Anyway......thanks again. I will be looking for plenty of asvice as I try to make these babies sound as good as possible.
 
Congratz, the kit looks fab. I had the birch kit when they first come out, the sound was brill. I like the fat 70's tone so fitted remo pins and later evens hydro, they make a beautiful noise. Enjoy the kit. I only got rid of mine because I wanted a maple kit other wise i'd still have it.
 
Those Meridians are lovely - For a mid range price point they are fantastic drums! I have a set of Meridian Maples myself and will be keeping them for a very long time :)

What size kick do you have in that?

In terms of head choice the G2 is a great head, though with these drums they're built well enough that you can use G1s as batters without worry over nasty overtones that the extra ply will help dampen (as is often the need with lower end kits). I have G1 coated over G1 clear and they sing nicely without any unwanted warble.

Congrats on the new acquisition, looking (and no doubt sounding) good!
 
22 inch kick drum with Evans EMAD2 batter. Just put the G2's on.........WOW. I mean ,,,replacing stock heads with almost anything sounds better but man they sound amazing. All I think about all day is getting home to play these. Can't wait to get some G1's under them. Also like to mention how sweet the Mapex Falcon hardware is. I got the Falcon double bass pedal, snare stand, and the HF1000 hi hat stand. The hi hat stand with the removable legs is perfect. Especially on the Gibraltar rack. Double kick drum pedal is the quickest,smoothest I've tried in that price range. Very attractive looking also. Conclusion.........Mapex kicks a** all the way around. Great sounding drums, awesome hardware. Definitely give them a try if your looking around. Getting a new snare from my wife for Christmas. Either a Mapex Black Panther series or a Pork Pie. It's a surprise so don't know which yet but It'll be the start of a new snare collection so can't wait to see what Santa brings.
 
Nice :) I hope Santa is good to you! I bought myself a Black Panther Blaster for christmas (waiting on Mr. Postman to bring it to me now).

Unfortunately the weakest link in the kit is the snare. It's fine and servicable but definitely lacks it's own notable personality.
 
22 inch kick drum with Evans EMAD2 batter. Just put the G2's on.........WOW. I mean ,,,replacing stock heads with almost anything sounds better but man they sound amazing. All I think about all day is getting home to play these. Can't wait to get some G1's under them. Also like to mention how sweet the Mapex Falcon hardware is. I got the Falcon double bass pedal, snare stand, and the HF1000 hi hat stand. The hi hat stand with the removable legs is perfect. Especially on the Gibraltar rack. Double kick drum pedal is the quickest,smoothest I've tried in that price range. Very attractive looking also. Conclusion.........Mapex kicks a** all the way around. Great sounding drums, awesome hardware. Definitely give them a try if your looking around. Getting a new snare from my wife for Christmas. Either a Mapex Black Panther series or a Pork Pie. It's a surprise so don't know which yet but It'll be the start of a new snare collection so can't wait to see what Santa brings.

Congrats! I got a Meridian Maple kit (10/12/14/14/20) a few months ago. It's my first Mapex kit and it is seriously an amazing set for the price. They tune so stupidly easily, it's awesome. Mine is in the natural lacquer finish.

Although I got Remo heads, I also went with the coated 2 ply (Coated Emperors) and it was a huge upgrade over stock.

Anyone looking for a good affordable kit has to look at these kits!

Here's my kit at a recent show. Simple setup with 14" Paiste 3000 hats (not very common), 16" and 18" A Custom Crashes, and a Paiste 22" Blue Bell Ride. Also I'm using a Tama Stewart Copeland COB snare instead of the stock.

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