Surprisingly, the Mapex killed it. That snare looked and sounded great and the Tom’s had warmth and the most depth of sound. Mapex? The Gretsch was next.
If I was in the market for a kit in this price range, I'd go with the Yamaha because I'm so confident in their quality. But all the kits sounded and looked great. Lots of bang for the buck here (especially from Gretsch)!
I'm a Yamaha guy and I heard nothing to convince me otherwise... Mapex was a big surprise as they sounded better than I expected. And, you can't miss with PDP... lots of good stuff here. Drummers starting out and on budget have really got it good these days. Great sounding drums at a great price. Thx
Im gonna go with Pearl Decade Maple Love the Sound by far DCP is definitely the Best Drum Store ever I only been there once and it was definitely worth the two hour ride the place is amazing
They are all great sets for the money. But my heart and ears belong to Gretch. I love that set you showed. I use to play on the Monster Kit back in the 70's . Great kit and this reminds me of it 👍
I´m a Pearl/Tama guy... But man, i´ve played the Gretsch Catalina Maple and it sounds outstanding. But Mapex is ALWAYS a great surprise. My very first kit was a Mapex Venus (low end kit), but i´ve played different models and they are always a pleasurable surprise. And their snares are amazing sounding, specially the Black Panther series.
Got my Gretsch Catalina Maple kit from DCP (as well as most of the rest of my kit, lol!). Started with the 5-piece in deep cherry burst, then expanded to the 7-piece because I wanted more voices on the kit. I also have the same set of Zildjian As, along with a K splash on the third mounting arm off the kick. Currently, I'm rocking Evans EC2 tom heads, EC2 reverse dot snare heads, and EMAD2 kick heads. I absolutely love this kit! Also love DCP! 😎🥁
The Mapex kit has the best "sound" to my ears. The toms just sing out. Changing heads will make a difference, but the kit has wonderful tone with the stock heads. If this was a festival kit that every drummer had to use, I would be happy. And I also love the snare.
Armory by far sounds the best. I would think the Yamaha kit would be the clear winner. Good heads. Great Yamaha build. But they sounded thin and not together. Kinda surprises. That armory kit man. Mapex has become a big contender.
The Mapex Armory is a great kit my church bought one about 5 or so years ago and it's awesome, put some G2 coated heads and got a zildjian K cymbal pack works well!
Once we started with 22x14 BD 12x8,13x9 and 16x16 toms as a standard kit....and since a while i think....a few more Namm Shows and we're back right there....seems it was not that bad.... Of the presented kits i like the Yamaha most,good tom mount and all in all a cool appearence.And the sonic clear edges of the mapex kit....kind of a 'angled'roundover....a 'normal' roundover is my favorit,cause there is nothing better,than a head sitting flat on a drum,before tuning starts. Thanks....allways fun.....and good for some inspiration .
Great video. As an owner of a vintage (38 year old) Ludwig kit (Modular After Burner w/ extra floor Tom) in natural maple finish. I like the look of the Gretsch. I like the 3rack 2 floors set up. I also like The Mapex too, w/ its second floor Tom. And, the Gretsch being a 7 piece kit for under $1200, Wow. That would have my attention.
Gretsch knocks them all out. More drums, comparable sound to the best, and that finish looks like a multi thousand dollar kit. Although the Mapex has incredible sound too, the Gretsch still offers more around that. I've owned and played just about every major brand of drums, this is an unbiased comment.
Yeah, you can’t beat the stage customs on value. But the tour customs are different. In my opinion they sound more open. They have the thinnest shells of all Yamahas, which also make them very light. Those might be factors that count for some players.
Loved the matt look on the Yamaha, particularly that wine matt finish. I am intreguied by the Mapex. The maple birch combo attracts me. Love the sound. Thanks for the review.
Another great video and demonstration. I prefer the Gretsch in this video, but the Mapex is sweet too. The Yamaha was my least favorite, but they are all great value.
I have 2 Pacific LX Series maple kits (from around 2000/2001) because they sound great and for some reason, record absolutely fantastic. the poor man's DW, but in this case hard to tell the difference. if the PDP kit is anything close, definitely worth every penny.
26:50 call back to the walk through wednesdays; wouldn’t mind seeing you all bringing those back. All the maple kits are amazing. I have seen the pdp 7 piece on some pretty big stages along with the gretsch (the catalina has the best silver sparkle bar none). Great video once again. Thank you for uploading the goods.
I have the Gretsch kit (in satin deep cherry burst colors). I added a 13" tom for that "Phil Collins" 4 tom set up 😊. It sounds really good, especially with Remo clear emperor drumheads, but I wasn't a fan of the snaredrum so that has been replaced by a Pearl free floater piccolo. I can still highly recommend this set, great value. All the kits here are great, loved the Yamaha and yeah, the Mapex. The brand name isn't as "hallowed" as the others, but they always have these beautiful finishes and I was also surprised how good those shallow floortoms sounded. More like very large regular toms. More companies should give that a try.
Excelente video,no me pierdo ningúno de sus videos!!!😍🔥👌. Todos son excelentes drum sets los he tocado todos y son muy buenos,pero personalmente el que puedo recomendar es la pdp concept Maple,yo tuve una pdp concept Maple 7 pzs satín olive varios años y es en verdad increíble!!! Su sonido, acabados, hardware, Totalmente recomendada!!!😍🥁🔥👌.
PDP all they way all the time. On Gigs I always get a lot of compliments about how good this kit sounds. I would only recommend you to swap out the Snare Drum. I have to say the Mapex in this Video sound also damn pretty good
Another entertaining video. All these sets sound good and appear well-built. It's remains odd that these makers produce a superior-quality lesser-priced set only to befoul it with shite heads. I get it though: low margins. But still. Nonetheless the upcoming tariffs will cause MUCH more serious price hikes in comparison, sadly. (And not just on the lesser-expensive lines.) * Cheers.
All of them are great. But gotta give it to Pearl for the win. Even with the stock heads, they’ve always had a more punchier sound, when compared with the others. In all your previous videos as well.
Fan of the Pearl Decade Maples myself. I’m just ever so slightly jealous that the artisans have 8 lugs on the floor toms but, I’ve also always been impressed by how well mine hold their tuning.
I’m partial to the Yamaha’s, the hardware and tom mounting system can’t be beat. Plus I own a set of birch Stage Customs, so I’m biased in that regard 😊
About 15 years ago I was torn between a PDP M5 (which I think is the pre-model of this featured PDP but not sure) maple and the Catalina Gretsch maple. I went with the PDP and am not upset with that choice, but it was very hard. It just came down the finish on the shells which I picked the PDP. After this video if I were put in the same position, Mapex for me overall. I already have a first generation Falcon double, I think that's when Mapex started to be worth it.
PDP had an X7 series which is the predecessor to the Concept. Exactly the same except for the lugs. Not sure but I think the X7 was the first PDP series to move to China from Mexico.
Given the facts and features in the Catalina set up , I would go for this one, being proud to seat behind it and the Brand legendary name it self as well. One thing surprised me in this kits comparo: Yamaha set was the only one offering 10 lug bass drum configuration, as same as its higher sticker price, very peculiar one as well.
Always partial to Yamaha (I have a mid-90's Club Custom set), but I really liked the Gretsch as well. I may look at a Mapex kit up close next time I'm there.
I think a 10-lug bass drum is a bigger deal than most companies realize… as far as how cheap or professional a kit appears at a glance. Good on Yamaha for doing this plus Remo USA heads.
Normally, I do not like Mapex drums at all. Pretty much my least favorite brand. However, I'm not going to lie, they are the best sounding drumset here, and by a lot.
My ears tell me the Mapex, but I would still probably by the Yamaha in this price range. I think the Gretsch suffers from the idea of more is better - I think they could have made better sounding drums in this price range if they didn't decide to include so many of them.
The thing is that all solo drums sound good in their own way, now in a music environment it should be evaluated, and I think the best one that sounds is the Yamaha (may be because of the remo heads), then the Mapex, the others They lack definition, a lot of mud.
well inflation is global, not just in America, and it's far worse in most other nations than here in America. Plus wages are UP significantly in the U.S., so people have more money to spend. Economists are already predicting a blockbuster holiday shopping/spending season this year. But if you're still complaining and convinced everything is terrible now just wait for the coming tariff war in 2025. I personally can't wait. I think it's going to be hilarious seeing the look on the average person's face next year once we're knee deep in.
@@cd-vq6dzWe already saw made in China kits jump in price during Trump's first term. Funny thing is watching the prices come down to where they were during good sales.
Interesting story: when we put the video together, that particular kit was a demo from a jazz festival. The price tag on it was less than a new kit, so our math was off. I had to edit our mistake out of the video, and was just hoping nobody would connect the dots.
Surprisingly, the Mapex killed it. That snare looked and sounded great and the Tom’s had warmth and the most depth of sound. Mapex?
The Gretsch was next.
If I was in the market for a kit in this price range, I'd go with the Yamaha because I'm so confident in their quality. But all the kits sounded and looked great. Lots of bang for the buck here (especially from Gretsch)!
Pdp concept maple, love the true pitch tunning,and the Tom mounts.
Armory, best sound, best value, hands down. IMHO.
I like your humor and calm demeanor. Cool videos and products.
Thanks for watching!
I'm a Yamaha guy and I heard nothing to convince me otherwise... Mapex was a big surprise as they sounded better than I expected. And, you can't miss with PDP... lots of good stuff here. Drummers starting out and on budget have really got it good these days. Great sounding drums at a great price. Thx
The Mapex finish looks bad ass, and they sound great! Good call Shane, and nice chops!
Is it just me or Shane is flowing around the kit pretty awesomely in this demo video. Nice chops bro!
He's been receiving lessons from Director Frosty Frost.
@@TM_Stonethose who can’t do, teach
The Mapex sound great, good projection with the shallow toms, nice clean thud from the bass. Over all clean projecting , deep sound. Very nice.
Im gonna go with Pearl Decade Maple Love the Sound by far DCP is definitely the Best Drum Store ever I only been there once and it was definitely worth the two hour ride the place is amazing
They are all great sets for the money. But my heart and ears belong to Gretch. I love that set you showed. I use to play on the Monster Kit back in the 70's . Great kit and this reminds me of it 👍
I´m a Pearl/Tama guy... But man, i´ve played the Gretsch Catalina Maple and it sounds outstanding.
But Mapex is ALWAYS a great surprise.
My very first kit was a Mapex Venus (low end kit), but i´ve played different models and they are always a pleasurable surprise.
And their snares are amazing sounding, specially the Black Panther series.
Mapex sounds the best
Got my Gretsch Catalina Maple kit from DCP (as well as most of the rest of my kit, lol!). Started with the 5-piece in deep cherry burst, then expanded to the 7-piece because I wanted more voices on the kit. I also have the same set of Zildjian As, along with a K splash on the third mounting arm off the kick. Currently, I'm rocking Evans EC2 tom heads, EC2 reverse dot snare heads, and EMAD2 kick heads. I absolutely love this kit! Also love DCP! 😎🥁
🤘👊
Picked up a Mapex Armory for gigging several years ago; that kit punches waaaaay above its weight.
I have the Armory Series and I love it
Mapex for the win!
The Mapex kit has the best "sound" to my ears. The toms just sing out. Changing heads will make a difference, but the kit has wonderful tone with the stock heads. If this was a festival kit that every drummer had to use, I would be happy. And I also love the snare.
Armory by far sounds the best. I would think the Yamaha kit would be the clear winner. Good heads. Great Yamaha build. But they sounded thin and not together. Kinda surprises. That armory kit man. Mapex has become a big contender.
Love the sound of the Gretsch toms and was very pleasantly surprised with crack and tone of the PDP snare. Nice video guys.
The Mapex Armory is a great kit my church bought one about 5 or so years ago and it's awesome, put some G2 coated heads and got a zildjian K cymbal pack works well!
Awesome video-thank you DCP! I appreciate how thorough you are on the kits. Happy Thanksgiving!
Mapex, wow. PDP too (have it). But the Gretch for all if that is hard to pass up. Can’t wait for your Best Sets of the Year video. Great job guys!
Once we started with 22x14 BD 12x8,13x9 and 16x16 toms as a standard kit....and since a while i think....a few more Namm Shows and we're back right there....seems it was not that bad....
Of the presented kits i like the Yamaha most,good tom mount and all in all a cool appearence.And the sonic clear edges of the mapex kit....kind of a 'angled'roundover....a 'normal' roundover is my favorit,cause there is nothing better,than a head sitting flat on a drum,before tuning starts.
Thanks....allways fun.....and good for some inspiration .
All were quite nice but I think I would choose the Mapex. Bravo, folks.
Same here. All really nice kits.
Great video. As an owner of a vintage (38 year old) Ludwig kit (Modular After Burner w/ extra floor Tom) in natural maple finish. I like the look of the Gretsch. I like the 3rack 2 floors set up. I also like The Mapex too, w/ its second floor Tom. And, the Gretsch being a 7 piece kit for under $1200, Wow. That would have my attention.
Gretsch knocks them all out. More drums, comparable sound to the best, and that finish looks like a multi thousand dollar kit. Although the Mapex has incredible sound too, the Gretsch still offers more around that. I've owned and played just about every major brand of drums, this is an unbiased comment.
Mapex and Yamaha would be my choice...together with that beauty Z cymbal pack, simply amazing
I was there today!!!
For my money, I'll take a Yamaha STAGE Custom Birch all day. 99% as good as the Tour Custom for essentially HALF the price!
Yeah, you can’t beat the stage customs on value. But the tour customs are different. In my opinion they sound more open. They have the thinnest shells of all Yamahas, which also make them very light. Those might be factors that count for some players.
@@gonzaloobelleiro6603 Agreed! They DO have a special tone to them, for sure!
LOVED My Pearl Decade Maple 7-piece in Red-Burst Lacquer . It was GREAT.
Loved the matt look on the Yamaha, particularly that wine matt finish. I am intreguied by the Mapex. The maple birch combo attracts me. Love the sound. Thanks for the review.
Another great video and demonstration. I prefer the Gretsch in this video, but the Mapex is sweet too. The Yamaha was my least favorite, but they are all great value.
I own several Mapex kits. Great bang for the buck!
Admittedly, all of these kits sound great for the prices.
Really good review! I like your videos and the humor in them.🤙🤙🤙
Mapex!! Best Bang for Your Buck!!!
I have 2 Pacific LX Series maple kits (from around 2000/2001) because they sound great and for some reason, record absolutely fantastic. the poor man's DW, but in this case hard to tell the difference. if the PDP kit is anything close, definitely worth every penny.
Thanks for all the vids! Amazing work and dedication
Thanks for watching.
Love you guys.,, I'm in San Diego, CA. And I've bought a lot of drumtec stuff and other things... thank you
I like the Yamaha, Gretsch and Mapex the best. Great video content as always you guys!
Pdp are the best to me
I have a Decade Maple and love it, but the Mapex Armory kits are just too sexy!
26:50 call back to the walk through wednesdays; wouldn’t mind seeing you all bringing those back. All the maple kits are amazing. I have seen the pdp 7 piece on some pretty big stages along with the gretsch (the catalina has the best silver sparkle bar none). Great video once again. Thank you for uploading the goods.
I have the Gretsch kit (in satin deep cherry burst colors). I added a 13" tom for that "Phil Collins" 4 tom set up 😊. It sounds really good, especially with Remo clear emperor drumheads, but I wasn't a fan of the snaredrum so that has been replaced by a Pearl free floater piccolo. I can still highly recommend this set, great value. All the kits here are great, loved the Yamaha and yeah, the Mapex. The brand name isn't as "hallowed" as the others, but they always have these beautiful finishes and I was also surprised how good those shallow floortoms sounded. More like very large regular toms. More companies should give that a try.
I have a Pearl Decade maple, works for me. :)
I need to visit this store!
It’s dope! There’s an entire museum upstairs (where I’m pretty sure these videos are filmed?)
It's definitely amazing I've never seen anything like it plus the staff are great
Mapex Armory.
Unbelievable value. Superb drums that punch above their weight class.
Excelente video,no me pierdo ningúno de sus videos!!!😍🔥👌.
Todos son excelentes drum sets los he tocado todos y son muy buenos,pero personalmente el que puedo recomendar es la pdp concept Maple,yo tuve una pdp concept Maple 7 pzs satín olive varios años y es en verdad increíble!!!
Su sonido, acabados, hardware,
Totalmente recomendada!!!😍🥁🔥👌.
I love my 7 piece pdp concept maple its great and sounds great for me. Ive played 30 yrs so i got it sounding great😊
I'd be very comfortable touring and recording with the Yamaha tour custom over any of the others, but the Mapex sure looked and sounded great.
yamaha-mapex best quality for the money in this class.
PDP all they way all the time. On Gigs I always get a lot of compliments about how good this kit sounds. I would only recommend you to swap out the Snare Drum.
I have to say the Mapex in this Video sound also damn pretty good
Yamahas sound great!
I got a yamaha tour custom, and pdp concept maple kit. Love both of em! Also a tama superstar classic 🥁🤘👍
Another entertaining video. All these sets sound good and appear well-built. It's remains odd that these makers produce a superior-quality lesser-priced set only to befoul it with shite heads. I get it though: low margins. But still. Nonetheless the upcoming tariffs will cause MUCH more serious price hikes in comparison, sadly. (And not just on the lesser-expensive lines.) * Cheers.
mapex FTW , amazing
All of them are great. But gotta give it to Pearl for the win. Even with the stock heads, they’ve always had a more punchier sound, when compared with the others. In all your previous videos as well.
I like them all. The PDP was my least favorite but i still liked it. The Mapex was my favorite.
Nice playing Shane😊
Shane has been practicing😉
Fan of the Pearl Decade Maples myself. I’m just ever so slightly jealous that the artisans have 8 lugs on the floor toms but, I’ve also always been impressed by how well mine hold their tuning.
I’m partial to the Yamaha’s, the hardware and tom mounting system can’t be beat. Plus I own a set of birch Stage Customs, so I’m biased in that regard 😊
What's the old Premier kit you always see stacked up in the background?
About 15 years ago I was torn between a PDP M5 (which I think is the pre-model of this featured PDP but not sure) maple and the Catalina Gretsch maple. I went with the PDP and am not upset with that choice, but it was very hard. It just came down the finish on the shells which I picked the PDP. After this video if I were put in the same position, Mapex for me overall. I already have a first generation Falcon double, I think that's when Mapex started to be worth it.
PDP had an X7 series which is the predecessor to the Concept. Exactly the same except for the lugs. Not sure but I think the X7 was the first PDP series to move to China from Mexico.
@@bgnPrinceton Thanks!
Given the facts and features in the Catalina set up , I would go for this one, being proud to seat behind it and the Brand legendary name it self as well. One thing surprised me in this kits comparo: Yamaha set was the only one offering 10 lug bass drum configuration, as same as its higher sticker price, very peculiar one as well.
The Yamaha, because it doesn't have a 18" deep kick!
Preach!
Gretsch and Mapex for me.
Mapex is always hard to beat for the $$.
Yamaha set has the best quality by far.
Always partial to Yamaha (I have a mid-90's Club Custom set), but I really liked the Gretsch as well. I may look at a Mapex kit up close next time I'm there.
PDP snare has 10 lugs if I am not mistaken, which is a bonus.
WOW WONDERFUL!!! 😍👏👏👏👏👏
Very nice video as usual. Question: why not Tama Superstar Classic 5 or 7 piece? Do you not recommend it? Good job guys!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I think a 10-lug bass drum is a bigger deal than most companies realize… as far as how cheap or professional a kit appears at a glance. Good on Yamaha for doing this plus Remo USA heads.
I just fell in love with the Gretch.
Can you ship to Arvada CO?
We sure can!
Go Shane!
4:28 Suspension tom mount?
Does the Pearl Decade have 6 or 8 lugs on the floor tom?. Looks like 8
Now how will these new kits compare to a used kit on reverb for a similar price? This is where things get interesting. Love the vids
For me, Gretsch for certain.
Yamaha seems the best value
Gretch all the way
Normally, I do not like Mapex drums at all. Pretty much my least favorite brand. However, I'm not going to lie, they are the best sounding drumset here, and by a lot.
Gretch!
For my ears, mapex 1, gretsch 2, pdp 3, yamaha 4, pearl 5.
I'm getting sick of small drums personally, would love bigger shells, also love 24x14 or 24x16 bass drums.
My ears tell me the Mapex, but I would still probably by the Yamaha in this price range. I think the Gretsch suffers from the idea of more is better - I think they could have made better sounding drums in this price range if they didn't decide to include so many of them.
The thing is that all solo drums sound good in their own way, now in a music environment it should be evaluated, and I think the best one that sounds is the Yamaha (may be because of the remo heads), then the Mapex, the others They lack definition, a lot of mud.
Gretsch
The stars of the show were the cymbals. Were those the A sweets?
How much are those cymbals? Must be as much as the kits.
Avedis Zildjian line and, yes, they are. That's what I roll with.
That is our exclusive A Sweet Set and it’s $999. One of the best values in professional cymbals.
Mapex for me. Why because I own one.
Yammie all the way
No Starclassic Performer? Strange.
Let's say we didn't have one in stock at the time
Okay but tell me about that black sonor in the back lol
Tour Custom is closer to Pearl Professional, I wish all heads where pro level but that’s hard to pull off
The inflation-adjusted top sets...
welcome to 2024!
well inflation is global, not just in America, and it's far worse in most other nations than here in America. Plus wages are UP significantly in the U.S., so people have more money to spend. Economists are already predicting a blockbuster holiday shopping/spending season this year.
But if you're still complaining and convinced everything is terrible now just wait for the coming tariff war in 2025.
I personally can't wait. I think it's going to be hilarious seeing the look on the average person's face next year once we're knee deep in.
@@cd-vq6dzWe already saw made in China kits jump in price during Trump's first term. Funny thing is watching the prices come down to where they were during good sales.
By the time you add a snare the Yamaha would be over $1500, so not really apples to apples with the other kits.
Interesting story: when we put the video together, that particular kit was a demo from a jazz festival. The price tag on it was less than a new kit, so our math was off. I had to edit our mistake out of the video, and was just hoping nobody would connect the dots.
man shane is playing great ! the audio flipping LR with the camera is a great touch, thanks :)