by Nathan Hawthorne

Created on: April 27, 2008

I'm a drummer and I'm going to give your the low-down on Mapex and one of their kits - the M birch.

First of all, I will say a little bit about my career in drumming. I have been playing for five years, I have played on various kits and various music genres with various bands (and other various things). I bought this kit a short while ago and I'm going to give you my views thoughts and tips.

So first I'm going to tell you some basic information. Ok the m birch is a relatively new intermediate drum from Mapex, the shells of the drum are made from multiple birch plies (birch is a one of the best woods for making drums because shells resonate well with it), its outer ply is maple and this ply is covered in eight coats of lacquer which give the kit its beautiful shine.

The kit comes in many stylish colours (I personally have a black kit) which make you look brilliant on stage, so if your playing is bad, people will still be applauding because of your lovely kit :D.

Next the hardware. The kit comes with three cymbal stands and all the mounts and pedals. The hardware's good sturdy and won't tip over when your in the middle of a gig, so I advise Mapex hardware to anyone with any kit. The pedals are extremely good - they come with tri tonal adjustable beaters, so for different types of music and different types of sound you can switch to felt, plastic, or wood. Pretty cool huh?

Next we have the drums themselves. The drums come with Remo UT heads, not bad but most people will advise getting new ones or at least some O rings, to dampen the sound a bit. The kit comes with 6 drums - yes six, you get a free tom. I got a rock size kit so i got a 10 inch tom on the left. These drums sound beautiful and look it too, the toms are all connected to their mounts via a special system that means that you don't have a massive hole in any of your drums therefore allowing the drums to resonate better and therefore giving of a better sound.

That is basically it, everything slots in around the kit, get some good cymbals (I've got some Sabians), gets some good heads, get your band together and Play on!

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