Mapex Meridian Maple 5 Piece Shell Pack with Free Floor Tom  

After viewing all of the drum kits in the stores in the price range under $1k, this kit seemed to be the best.   -All maple with an exceptional finish expected from much more expensive kits. Tom mounts are great quality and easily adjustable from throne. The bonus extra floor tom was a deal closer.

Absolutely the best hardware I've seen for a drum kit in this price range. In scrutinizing the finish and all of the factory mounted hardwre, I didn't find ONE flaw. I used a tension tuner to check the tuning and found that most lugs were tuned to the same pitch. I tweaked it for my pitch preference and for most practicle purposes, the kit was pretty much tuned right out of the box.

Best kit for the bucks. I went into Guitar Center to shop (before buying this on-line) and found the 5 piece kit for more money than this was with 6 pieces. The salesman didn't believe me when I told him of the price.

Best Drum bargain out there.

OK, I am completely blown away! My Mapex kit arrived today and in an hour and a half I had it set up with a quick tune… Unbelievable! They sound fantastic. I own a classic maple Ludwig and a DW set. Maple is maple, great sound! All in all, the quality is good! Great sounding Remo heads are included, with a great natural finish. This is a great buy!

Great looking and sounding set. Bought it from Musician's Friend and received great customer service from everyone involved. Bass drum was missing one lug thread insert and I called Mapex and they sent me one out immediately, but when I took the lug off the drum the insert was inside of it somehow it came loose during shipment, not a big deal. Rack toms sound great right out of the box, two floor toms did not have all the heads on so you had to tune them yourself. I was very surprised not to see a review on this set so I thought I would do one just incase some people are sitting on the fence about buying this set. I never thought of purchasing a Mapex before, but I am very glad I did. I already have a Pearl Masters but wanted a Maple set that was not to expensive but was of decent quality, just to jam with friends out of the house. After reading reviews on other sites I decided to go with the Meridian. It's only been a week but it has every feature that I can think of on it that I need. I ordered the B74 cymbal arm attachment for the bass drum should be in the last week of dec it was on b/o for a week, can't wait to put it on. That was another reason I chose this set, I didn't want to use another stand or clamp somewhere. The tom mount is very easy to adjust, you can place the rack toms just about any position. The snare drum sounds decent but I have to tweak it a little, I will probably try a Genera dry head on it. The heads that came with the toms are very decent I will leave them on. I got the Clear lacquer finish and it is extremely nice. I bought it on sale ,lots of drum for the money. It came with a free 16x16 floor tom amazing. For those looking to purchase a 100% maple set seriously consider Mapex it is a very good quality product. Try one at your local music store and then make your decision.