Open Box Mapex Mars Series 5-Piece Crossover Shell Pack Level 1 Smokewood

Being a gigging musician and be handed a kit to play is always nice. I received this 5 piece kit new in the box, the wrap is ok and the look from 20 feet is fine. the high tom wrap seam shows when mounted. the cheapest heads are on the kit. I changed the heads to Evans Ec2 and the snare I installed a Evans Coated dry top and hazy bottom. I also replaced the springs which we junk and added pure sound 14x20's when I changed the heads, the sonic clear edge was almost comical. I ended up cleaning them up and waxing to get them smooth. once I tuned the toms they had good projection and good tone. the snare throw off is cheap and it took some time to get a nice tone. kick drum I installed the Emad and ported front head package. this was a chore to get the tone I am used to. leaving a looser front and med tight rear head I finally found a tone I can live with. The 600 series hardware park is ok, I quickly replaced the hihat nut, it's plastic and it's feel okay.. the kick drum pedal went back in the box. the pedal is bulky and was hard to get and relief from the tight feel. the kit price is about right for what you get. I found the only advantage to the hardware park is It is black and matches the drums. honestly, spend $60 more and buy the Yamaha stage custom. it is a much better kit in every way... I know I play both kits and the Mapex is more inline with the cheaper Tama and Pearl kits in the same price point.

This is a great kit for the money and is versatile in that you can just carry the kit you have room for. For smaller stages leave the 2nd floor. By way of explaining to potential drum kit buyers. I've noticed in almost all questions and some reviews people want to know if the set comes with cymbals, stands, throne etc. Whenever you see "SHELL PACK" it includes the drums only, floor tom legs, and mounted tom brackets. That is the definition of a "SHELL PACK". NO cymbals or cymbal stands, NO kick pedal, NO Hi Hat Stand. No throne. NO snare stand, NO drum sticks. Even if the description does not specify one way or the other, if it is called a "SHELL PACK" It doesn't come with anything but the drums. You must either buy a hardware pack or separate stands of your choice. Figure that in to your budget. Don't give a good product a bad review because it didn't come with items not listed. Even if it shows the items in the photos, it is assumed you know what a "SHELL PACK" is and what's shown is how the set will look when set up.This is a very common issue both in questions and reviews. I just wanted to help folks make an informed decision.

I bought this kit as a gigging kit for the looks and the sound. The sound over all is great but could be better. This kit comes with some middle of the road stock heads that are very resonate. That is great for playing some styles of music, however it is not so good when playing rock styles, where a deep tonal quality is needed. The Mapex beveled sound whatchamacallit on the shells is a bit of a gimic IMO, but they are very responsive to tuning. Although these drums resonate very well, the response is a bit less that expected due to the shallow depths of the shells. Attack is right on, with a moderate tone duration. The responsiveness is somewhat lacking, in part I believe to the heads that come with the kit. If you play rock and you buy this kit, pay up and add some decent pin strip heads to the kit. New heads, tuned low, and the kit does really well; especially with audio mic support. I bought the hardware kit to go with this kit and let me say that the black finished hardware is great, however the double pedal needs help. They lack real adjustment to the responsiveness of the pedals and are impossible to get the double mallets to line up equally in distance. I have tried everything and even all the tricks that Mapex gives and a few I found on youtube. Pay up for a nice double pedal set. I went with a DW set up and that work a lot better. The wraps, and that is what they are "Wraps" are very cool and give the kit a high end look. However this is NOT real wood folks. For that you are going to pay up. NO GETTING AROUND IT. I got the bonewood and they look really sgharp with the black hardware. One other not on the hard ware pay up for a better hihat nut, the one they give in the hardware kit is plastic and also oil and lube the hihat before you use it or it will stick...I'd give this kit a solid 4 stars but Mapex can do a lot better. The tone is there, playability isn't, without some extras and some set up work on the part of the player...

Great tones I bought the shell pack on an impulse after just tapping on the snare at my local guitar center. That's all it took and I knew it was the one for me. I have my outfitted with Aquarian heads that give it a fat punchy tone that stands out in the mix. I highly suggest replacing the stock heads to get the true sound out of the shells the stock heads sound really flat and do the kit no justice.

After toning the drums they sound great! The birch wood ply is awesome and the looks are fantastic. Love it!

I got these on special order without actually ever seeing the kit in person. Let me tell you, these drums are beautiful. They are well constructed and the supplied hardware is very adjustable and seems to be built well. I do believe the whole SONIClear thing to be a bit of a marketing gimmick, or perhaps I'm just a perfectionist, but these are no easier to tune than any other drum in my opinion, using all new Evans heads. With that said, once these drums are tuned they do sound great, and they sound even better miked up, but don't expect them to sound like a $2000 shell pack, because they aren't. The low profile rack tom allows you to get that modern, low, flat, look which I love. The bottom line is, for the price, these drums cannot be beaten.