Russ Miller leaves Yamaha- Yamaha moving to China?

[circh bustom]

I have one Mapex snare, a 10 yr old Black Panther Brass and its great. I wouldn't buy their kits though. I've always looked at Mapex as a stepping stone endorsement. I'm sure a good player/tuner could make them sing but I've never felt passionately about them. Plus Greg Bissonette swears by them so...
Honestly though, I'll give a listen when I can to Russ playing them. Russ has always gotten a good sound out of his drums so we will see.

[Paul Marangoni]

Russ has been endorsing Mapex's bass drum pedal for over a year. The new Mapex is light years ahead of what they offered in the past. They're not for me personally, but they're quality drums, no doubt.

[Matus]

That's no news at all, it can be seen in past catalogs that some low end series are produced in China.
As for moving to Mapex... Boy they'd have to offer something REALLY good for me to play that specific brand. Talk about low quality standards...

Juan, I honestly don't know that much about Mapex but thought that their Meridian line was quite good (I'm talking about the toms and bass drum). They
were really easy to tune and sounded great in the low tuning range. The hardware is shit though.

So I was just wondering if you were talking about sound or how the entire package is not worth the deal because of the hardware they include.

It's all part of the same playing experience. Any brand nowadays sounds at least decent, but having a good playing experience means everything works for you right away.
Years ago, I used to gig and tour with a Pearl Forum kit, bass and toms only. Sounded great with proper heads, the hardware held in place and didn't break and the finish was what you paid for The bass drum was particularly good.
At that time, I worked a lot with Mapex drums and hardware, as it was part of a contest prize. All 900 series hardware. Heavy for the stability you got, thrones that tiltes due to soft wood in the seat (even got pictures somewhere), rattling qing nuts and what's best: the hihat stand with plastic pieces and lots of space between clutch, rod and hole.
I don't know about now, but merely ten years ago that's what you got if you bought an Orion Classic kit, plus drums that sound good, but not as much as you would expect from a high end maple kit.
When I got mi MCAs, I was shocked by the attention to detail in finish, drum construction, sound and hardware. All durable and user friendly. You just can't separate the drums from the hardware wen considering a brand. I don't like the sound of DW toms or BDs, but the experience is quite good.

[Tom Reschke]

Most of the house kits here in Nashville are Mapex. I've never been impressed with the drums or the hardware (to be fair, I think these are mid/entry level kits), BUT I have a 5 1/2 inch hand hammered Black Panther that is fucking awesome. That is my Mapex 2 cents.

[Steve Holmes]

If I recall correctly, Yamaha is not "moving" to China so much as getting a particular drum/line of drums made there.

[mcraeh]

I have a maple custom and a saturn kit (no hardware but bass drum tom mount, its all dw). the saturn seems to be as good or better in some respects than the maple custom. i really like the tom mount that suspends on the bass drum with no holes, im not sure of their "my dentity" sets or other sets but have been happy with the saturn so far. that being said, i thought i would never own a mapex kit!!

[willyz]

If I recall correctly, Yamaha is not "moving" to China so much as getting a particular drum/line of drums made there.

That sounds like a bit of clarity in regards to that rumor. Now, on to Mapex.

I've always thought a lot of the snare drums looked intriguing- the Black Panther stuff. Gregg B always sounds good. I saw Will Calhoun play with Living Colour and thought he sounded good too on Mapex. While it could be a combination of the Jack D Aquarian heads, Nick D'Virgilio sounded great at the MD Fest (2006, I think?).

Maybe they've got an underdog thing happening with the high-end gear, and maybe it's just an odd move from Yamaha.

[DeeP_FRieD]

I find it hard to believe that any well funded drum company wouldn't buy a top of the line set from all of their competitors to compare to theirs.

It becomes stroke, vs. force vs. tuning, vs. head, vs. rim type, vs. bearing, vs. ply count, vs. stick diameter, vs. stick bead in the end.

The proper mixture is what creates the best sound.

[Rodge]

Guys, I really think that it's the drummer not the drums, if you're good, you'll always be good whatever the drums played.
I do think that cymbals and drum heads are important, but if you know how to hit a drums, then bingo.

[sejuba]

Guys, I really think that it's the drummer not the drums, if you're good, you'll always be good whatever the drums played.
I do think that cymbals and drum heads are important, but if you know how to hit a drums, then bingo.

There's a lot of truth in what you're saying, although in my opinion I think good cymbals are more important than good drums themselves...