Mapex Armory Drumset LONG TERM REVIEW
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ส.ค. 2023
- Hey guys! I've had my drum set for over a year now, and I wanted to share my experiences with this kit, as well as the pros and cons of owning it. Make sure to like and subscribe and stay tuned for future videos!
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The Armory kits can't be beat! Not only for the price, but the overall quality and tone of the drums. Mapex is such an underrated company. As for your cons. When using the mounted tom arms with any manufacturer, you have to make sure the weight of whatever you're mounting, whether it be a tom, another cymbal, etc. is centered over one of the legs on your cymbal stand. Another way to remedy this is to buy either a combination stand or double tom stand. Tama's are rock solid and they make very affordable ones! The seam in the drum is completely normal. Whether you're paying $1000 for a kit, or $5K. If it's a veneer, there's going to be a seam! Only way you won't see some kind of seam is if the shells are lacquered and not stained, like yours, or wrapped. I love my Armory kit and wouldn't trade it for anything! One suggestion if you want to add the second tom back into your set up? I'd get the double tom stand and place it right where you have the tom and snare mounted. Then I'd mount the snare off to the side of the hi-hat. Just a suggestion. Always good to explore different set ups until you're completely comfortable!
Good to see you're still happy with the Armory as well. 👍
I purchased a 6-piece Armory kit with the Tomahawk snare in 2015 shortly after they were released.
I opted for the "StudioEase Fast" version with the shallow toms in the original Transparent Walnut color which I still like.
At that time they were an even better deal at $899! But I ended up getting these brand new for just under $750 when the store offered a site-wide discount coupon. 😊 SCORE!
I later added a matching 9x13 rack tom for $159 when the store had another discount coupon...the kit had come with 7x10 and 8x12 rack toms.
With the money saved I put a new set of American made Remo heads on it. But since then I've had all types of heads on it...Remo Ambassadors/Emperor/Fiberskyns, Evans G2 & UV1, Aquarians, etc. They have all sounded good in their own way and always tuned up with no issues.
I even found another matching and separate 22" bass drum for it on eBay for $180 and cut it down to 10" deep and cut new matching bearing edges on it and drilled new holes for the batter side lugs.
I also added a vintage-style single-tom rail mount bracket and ride cymbal arm bracket/mount to it. I wanted a lighter and more compact BD and setup for gigs in small/tight venues with 1-up/1-down configuration and no need to carry a separate cymbal and tom stand for the rack tom and my 22" jazz ride.
I still have it and play it regularly. It's held up extremely well and has been versatile for recording every genre I've needed it to.
Keep enjoying your Armory. It's a tough kit to beat.😊
Cool vid. Yamaha stage customs are also a hidden gem for cheap beginner kits.
Almost went with those before I bought this set!
Agreed man 👍
@@thehumbledrummer32 Me too. Cool stroke of luck, I now have both. 🙂
Stage customs are hard to beat IF you replace the hoops. Yamaha hoops are horrible. If you have a stage custom switch out all the hoops and you will be much happier.
im so glad i got mine a few years ago, i got the desert dune, and just got an addon 18" that im setting up, i got some emperors on them and i also have a steel hammered mapex snare, sounds fantastic, truely a professional kit.
Thanks, really useful review!
I own a yamaha custom birch, and i got to say that the armory looks and sounds amazing!
I disagree about the tom mounts being sketchy. I have no problems with mine what so ever. You just do not know how to set them up with your stands correctly. You will have the same problem with any stand mounting system if not set up correctly. It is all about physics and weight distribution. Pay attention with how the mount sits over the stand legs. One of the legs should be positioned almost directly under or directly under the mount.
I’ve always been a PDP guy. I went with the CM exotic cause it had the virgin kick. But I have watched probably dang near every video on the Armory kit, and was even considering getting one as a second kit. In my opinion I think the two are neck and neck honestly. I believe someone would be happy with either choice. Both kits offer ,in my opinion high end quality at an affordable price point.
I absolutely love all the Mapex lines. From the M series, the Mars, Armory, Saturn V Studioease.... I haven't gotten a chance to play the Black Panther kit. But I love each series. The Mapex Venus series i put a finish on them, and wrapped all the toms and bass drum. Sold it for twice what I paid. The M series kit already had an amazing wrap and sound, the Armory kit sounds amazing in it's own right and by far my favorite is the Mapex Saturn V Studioease kit. It looks amazing, sounds like a professional kit and even in the studio very little tuning had to be done to get the sound I wanted. Between the M series, Armory, and Saturn V I used the Chris Adler snare. I'll probably keep that snare for as long as I'm playing. Mapex has made perfect quality drums at affordable price points. Keep up the great work mapex!!!!
Great video man! I've got the Armory kit with two kick drums in black dawn since December 2021! I love it! I use the EVANS heads like you but EMAD for the kicks. I love the mount of the toms. I use a Gibraltar gcs-450c rack and it just fits perfect! No problems with the clamps🤘🤘🤘
Boy oh boy you’re everywhere 😊 greetings 😊
@@The-Tired-Drummer 🤣
5:30
I think this problem is related to the stand that you're using (or just the way that you set up that stand, the position of the tripod's legs in relation to the drums, how do other things mounted on the stand affect the center of gravity, etc...) more than the clamps and the drums themselves.
I've encountered these a couple of times working as a tech, and I know they're a bit on the heavier side.
It means the wood is dense and the shell hardware is well built, but it also means the toms need heavy stands with large enough tubes and precise positioning to not move in a bothersome way.
Edit: I saw the first video in which the full kit set up with both the toms is depicted.
Now it's clear as day to me:
it's because the stand's legs were not open wide enough for it to be sufficiently stable.
Try opening the legs AT LEAST until they make a 45º with the floor (a little more doesn't hurt, you can just eyeball it)
Also, putting one of the tripod's legs right under the tom / the heaviest thing on that stand that's extended out can do WONDERS.
Try it out the next time you want to bring back the 2 toms.
In addition to that, make sure the stands to which you mount the toms are both DOUBLE BRACED and always mount the tom on the lowest and largest tube of the stands, this will give you maximum stability.
Of course toms on stands will always move and the mount and stand will always flex a little bit (but it means they can RESONATE properly, so it's necessary) but they should not move so much that the stand ends up "walking" to a different position on the floor or the drum clashes with other elements on the kit (of course you have to leave a bit of clearance, if you know it's gonna move)
Thanks for the info! I’ve been able to get it sitting nicely now. I must’ve set it up differently the last time and not noticed a difference until it started wobbling lol but now it’s stable
this is the only reason for me not to buy mapex armory. why insist on making bass drums without tom mount? it makes setting up the drums harder and more time consuming.
I bought the mapex 700 dual Tom mount stand it makes the toms way more stable. I can then run my ten and twelve between the hi hats and bass drum.
Very good drumset
Mapex does make some nice stuff, but I’m partial to Gretsch. And the Catalina Club kits are another bang for your Buck kit. I’ve been gigging on a 2009 Catalina Club Mod kit for three years now, and they still sound amazing and are holding up fine. I also got them second hand, so the quality is definitely there.
Idk why your opening sound check reminded me of a prophecy by asking Alexandria. Nice dude
Love this config. Would love to find it with a 20 in kick!
Been very curious about these kits, good to see a review that is not from the first few days of purchase.
What song were you drumming to in the beginning? I know it but I cant figure it out and its driving me nuts
I wasn’t playing a song, just freestyled for a bit there
is there a way to put a hole in the reso head ?
Black Armory hardware around my kit.
im pretty sure that seam line is the wood itself so theres no getting around it
I played one of these in a drum shop, i have to say that it sounded phenomenal sitting behind those drums and playing, the sound is just glorious, and you feel inspired to play them, they are so much fun. BUT when they are Mic'd Up and what you hear coming through the front house, sounds awful to my ears. Just too boomy and no stick definition in my honest opinion. As for virgin bass drums, i have never understood why people prefer that kind of setup and their toms hanging off cymbal stands. It's just more fiddling around and time to setup and dismantle. And it is so unstable. If you have ever seen this setup on a portable wooden stage when watching a band..there is a good chance you will see the two rack toms smashing into each other and OR tipping over with the stand and cymbal crashing on the ground too. I have seen this happen a couple of times. And for all the people that say they prefer virgin bass drums because they have better tone, that is RUBBISH because n0-1. There is NOOOO audible difference. And n0-2, all of the people who use this lame reason have some form of dampening in the bass drum anyway. The only reason this type of setup became popular is purely because of Aesthetic reasons, people think it looks Cooler and then everyone jumps on the bandwagon and follows like sheep. So of course most manufacturer's will give the masses what they want, regardless of it being just a FAD. Just my opinion :)
I will say the rack Tom and virgin bass setup was new to me. But once you know how to properly set them up, they’re pretty stable. As for tone, I’m with you there. It sounds exactly like any other 22” kick.
@@thehumbledrummer32 To be honest, the bass drum on these sounds killer, that deep low end punch and warmth is rarely rivaled. But the bass drum doesn't encompass how the rest of the kit sounds through a P.A. Actually it's not that they sound awful, i take that back saying that they sound awful. It's that they require quite a bit more E.Qing on the mixer to get them to sit well in the mix. I know this because one of my best friend has his own sound business, he gets hired to provide sound for bands here in Sydney where i live to provide P.A sound for them. Almost every weekend he is booked out because he has a good reputation. I have attended many gigs with him to keep him company, help him setup and learn too. A good sound guy that knows what he is doing behind the mixer will get a decent sound out of cheap drums that are tuned well. Mapex armory which my friend has had experience with said they require a bit of E.Qing..scooping out a bit of mids, shortening the decay and giving it a little more cut and sometimes a little compression. Yeah they don't sound awful, just needed a little adjusting. To be fair, there is a lot of other drums that are the same. The best kit that very rarely needs any E.Qing at all is the Yamaha Recording Custom. Wow those drums are a sound man's dream to mix. Most of the knobs on the mixer are set flat and or close to flat. They just sound good naturally. And most Pearl kits seem to Mic up pretty well too and sound great through the mix aswell.
You might be right, maybe it takes better setting up of the rack toms on the cymbal stands for them to be stable. But why would anyone want to have that kind of setup over the toms being mounted on the bass drum, that provides the best stability and ease of setup and packup. I have seen so many drummers dicking around with that fan dangle arm clamp and trying to position the drum where they like, cymbal and cymbal stand where they like..trying to get it everything right, fiddling around, fiddling around. And what for when there is no advantage what so ever to that kind of setup. It only makes things harder for no good reason. But for some reason, a lot of drummer like it. But i can tell you..there is no functional reason why they like it, that just does not exist :)
appreciate the unbiased endorsement. mapex should too.
two things:
those are Evans g2 clears, not coated.
you literally cannot get a veneer like that, that doesn't have a seam. i have a $6000 set of dws..... there's a seam on every tom.
Maypo
I used a SK from Aquarian for a long time, I swear by Evans EMAD2 now though. I have absolutely no dampening or anything in the bass drum, I just use the larger muffle ring on the batter that's included.
Interesting, I’ll have to check those out!
I agree 💯 I use the EMAD2 on both kicks! Love them too! Since I got those no dampening needed!
I really can't figure out if I should pull the trigger on these or not. I want a 2 up 2 down setup, and I can get a whole drumset, which includes a 22" kick (only have 20" and 18"), and a metal snare I have neither of in my collection yet for the price of these. 1/3 of the price of the entire kit is what it would cost me to buy a 16" maple floor tom to go with my Sonor Maple kit. Just seems like it really makes more sense to add a birch set, a 22" kick and a metal snare to my disposal, rather than pay 30% of the price for a single floor tom...
You do get a lot for your money here… it’s all about what you’re looking for in your drums
@ytscksdabig1 I love my Mapex Armory, but if you’re not sure and you haven’t purchased yet, other similarly priced options include Tama Superstar Classic, Pearl Decade line, etc.