[drummerCR]

Hello

I've decided to change my old Lazer set, in which I first started playing long time ago, now I want to switch to something more advanced, so my question is which should I choose between:

Mapex VX - M birch
Tama Imperialstar - Superstar

Thanks.

[Der Trommler]

Well the ultimate decision is yours, but lets see if I can help a little.

Mapex Meridian Birch is an 8 ply shell drum set made of Birch with an outside ply of Maple. The Birch will give you deep low tones, medium middle tones and higher high tones (so basically nice well rounded tones), and the 8 ply shells will give you a more smooth less cutting sound. Great for jazz and light rock but you might have trouble cutting through the band if you are playing rock, metal or thrash.

Mapex VX is a 9 ply shell drum set made of Basswood which will sound similar to a Mahogany shell. The Basswood will give you deep rich low tones (a little deeper than the Birch), medium middle tones and lower high tones. The 9 ply shells will give you low end smooth sound. This set would be great for jazz and blues, and would have a difficult time cutting through the band for rock and metal.

Tama Imperialstar is a 6 ply shell drum set that is made from Poplar which will sound similar to Mahogany or Birch with deep low tones, medium middle tones and medium high tones. The 6 ply shell will give you good attack and will cut well through the band. Great for rock and metal type music.

Tama Superstar is a 6 ply shell drum set made from Basswood and will have similar tone qualities as the Mapex VX. The 6 ply shells will give you good attack and will cut well through the band. This set will also be good for rock and metal type music.

You will have to decide which set better suites your style and sounds the best to you because you will be the one playing them. My personal choice would be the Tama Superstar because I like the look of the hardware, the deep tones of a Mahogany type wood and the thinner shells for more attack.

What genre music do you play?

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[butter]

nothing but agreement with trommler

[drummerCR]

Originally Posted by Der Trommler

Well the ultimate decision is yours, but lets see if I can help a little.

Mapex Meridian Birch is an 8 ply shell drum set made of Birch with an outside ply of Maple. The Birch will give you deep low tones, medium middle tones and higher high tones (so basically nice well rounded tones), and the 8 ply shells will give you a more smooth less cutting sound. Great for jazz and light rock but you might have trouble cutting through the band if you are playing rock, metal or thrash.

Mapex VX is a 9 ply shell drum set made of Basswood which will sound similar to a Mahogany shell. The Basswood will give you deep rich low tones (a little deeper than the Birch), medium middle tones and lower high tones. The 9 ply shells will give you low end smooth sound. This set would be great for jazz and blues, and would have a difficult time cutting through the band for rock and metal.

Tama Imperialstar is a 6 ply shell drum set that is made from Poplar which will sound similar to Mahogany or Birch with deep low tones, medium middle tones and medium high tones. The 6 ply shell will give you good attack and will cut well through the band. Great for rock and metal type music.

Tama Superstar is a 6 ply shell drum set made from Basswood and will have similar tone qualities as the Mapex VX. The 6 ply shells will give you good attack and will cut well through the band. This set will also be good for rock and metal type music.

You will have to decide which set better suites your style and sounds the best to you because you will be the one playing them. My personal choice would be the Tama Superstar because I like the look of the hardware, the deep tones of a Mahogany type wood and the thinner shells for more attack.

What genre music do you play?

Whatta great comment Trommler

Yeah forgot to mention I'm into rock, metal.

So any of those two are good sets huh?

Then guess I'll start thinking about the Imperialstar or Superstar if they fit the most with my music genre, as you explained.

I wanted to get a higher model, but unfortunately where I live, prizes are really high, so couldn't affort for example the tama starclassic maple or mapex saturn.

Anyways those I picked sound like they have great quality and sound, so I think I'll be happy with any of those sets.

Thanks again!

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[concrete Building]

TAMA imperialstar All the way!

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[lrider25]

Just wondering have you looked into Yamaha stage customs??? Those are pretty good sets too. I have one myself. I just got a new set and it was going to be between Mapex and Yamaha, I played them both and ended up with a Yamaha Absolute. Hope this helps also.

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[drummerCR]

Originally Posted by lrider25

Just wondering have you looked into Yamaha stage customs??? Those are pretty good sets too. I have one myself. I just got a new set and it was going to be between Mapex and Yamaha, I played them both and ended up with a Yamaha Absolute. Hope this helps also.

Thanks I'll check them out to see what they offer, cause really don't know much about them, I've just heard of a "gigmaker" model.

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[drummerCR]

hey Trommler, I have a question, you said that the VX and M birch are more of a jazzy or smooth sound, what if by changin the size of all toms to a bigger size would change the type of sound? for a more rocker or metal style.

[Der Trommler]

When I said more jazz/blues type set what I was really speaking of was the punch or attack of the kit. This really doesn't mean that those types of music are all that you would want to play with these kits.

If you really listen to some jazz music you will notice that there really isn't alot of noise for the drum set to cut through (blazing guitars, banging bass guitars and screaming lead singers) and when the drummer lets loose with a fill or semi solo type lick most of the time the rest of the jazz band lowers their volume. The drummer doesn't need to have that thin shelled volume or he might sound like Animal behind the Boston Philharmonic. This what I meant by smoother punch or attack.

With heavy rock, metal or thrash bands you will notice that everyone is at full volume which will require the drums to have punch or attack to cut through the band.

Now for the confusing part.....all of this can be changed to a point with head choice, tuning, mic'ing and mixing. You can reduce a thinner shelled Maple kit's attack by using dampening heads and slightly de tuning the heads(not to mention changing mic levels or changing mixing). By the same token you can give a heavier shelled drum set more attack by using single ply uncoated heads or by simply changing how they are tuned.

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[drummerCR]

Originally Posted by Der Trommler

When I said more jazz/blues type set what I was really speaking of was the punch or attack of the kit. This really doesn't mean that those types of music are all that you would want to play with these kits.

If you really listen to some jazz music you will notice that there really isn't alot of noise for the drum set to cut through (blazing guitars, banging bass guitars and screaming lead singers) and when the drummer lets loose with a fill or semi solo type lick most of the time the rest of the jazz band lowers their volume. The drummer doesn't need to have that thin shelled volume or he might sound like Animal behind the Boston Philharmonic. This what I meant by smoother punch or attack.

With heavy rock, metal or thrash bands you will notice that everyone is at full volume which will require the drums to have punch or attack to cut through the band.

Now for the confusing part.....all of this can be changed to a point with head choice, tuning, mic'ing and mixing. You can reduce a thinner shelled Maple kit's attack by using dampening heads and slightly de tuning the heads(not to mention changing mic levels or changing mixing). By the same token you can give a heavier shelled drum set more attack by using single ply uncoated heads or by simply changing how they are tuned.

Got it, thanks.

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