Is anyone buying (new) mapex saturns anymore?

Trigger

Trigger

Senior Member
I feel like people used to be getting saturn 3's and 4's every other month, and since the evolutions came out I don't think ive seen a single one on this forum? I'm not sure if this is my bias showing (I've owned two mapex kits, and love them, but kinda hate what they've done with the brand, and the saturns over the past few years) Is it the price, underwhelming finishes? stupid tom mounts which make the ugly badges off centre? Recession? Whats going on?

Thoughts?
 
Right now I own two Saturn 5 kits. I am going to trade-in one of them for some cymbals. Peace and goodwill.
 
This could be my bias showing, but I don't think the current versions of Saturn are as attractive or as good of a value as the aforementioned Saturn 3's or 4's. Mapex seems to have spent the last 5+ years finding ways to keep the price in check by watering down the features of the line.
 
Winston_Wolf said:
This could be my bias showing, but I don't think the current versions of Saturn are as attractive or as good of a value as the aforementioned Saturn 3's or 4's. Mapex seems to have spent the last 5+ years finding ways to keep the price in check by watering down the features of the line.
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It's totally because of those off-center logos. I think that's a big reason why nobody seems to be buying the Saturn Evolution. It's probably a much bigger reason than anyone wants to admit.

Nobody wants awkwardly placed tom mounts and logos that are askew. It just looks wrong.
 
I was very much considering a Saturn (the standard model) recently, but they don't seem like the most obvious choice anymore in their price area, to me. I guess every manufacturer has increased their prices over the last years so they are not alone in that regard. I don't know, a big reason for me is that I already have owned the Saturn 3 and 4, so it was not really something new and exciting. And also the finishes is somewhat lacking to me, at least here in Europe you can only get the Satin Black for their lowest price, if you want something more exotic looking (or even just a Satin White) the price is considerably more so that other kits are looking just as good, if not better. And I agree with the off center logos on the Saturn Evolutions, they put me off big time, even though I like a lot of their finishes, more solid colors. But for the price of one of those kits, I don't think you should have to settle for badly designed logos, even if that is such a small compromise...

On another note, I see the new Drumcraft Series 6 kits is now made with the same shell composition as Saturn, to a much cheaper price. Not the same quality hardware I guess as the Saturns, but it seems good enough. It will be interesting to see if they can become more popular and maybe take more of the spot Saturns used to have... Might be far fetched but it was something I just noticed. They have a lot of different add on drums as well, even gong bassdrums readily available.
 
For me the evolutions defeated the whole idea of the Saturn series which was pro level drums at intermediate level prices. They're a worst kept secret.

They've lost their niche in the market with the evolutions. If you have the money to get an evolution new there's a hell of a lot of similar kits with more appealing brand names.

I've had a Saturn V Tour for 5 years now from new. No way I'd sell it. Traditional sizes with modern hardware, reliability and those thin maple/walnut shells that sound amazing. They've held their value on the used market too.
 
mikyok said:
For me the evolutions defeated the whole idea of the Saturn series which was pro level drums at intermediate level prices. They're a worst kept secret.

They've lost their niche in the market with the evolutions. If you have the money to get an evolution new there's a hell of a lot of similar kits with more appealing brand names.
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That's actually a fantastic way of putting it. I think you've nailed it.
 
I think they tried to get more sales in the higher end market with the Saturn Evolutions, as the Saturn has been a really solid model name for Mapex for so long, they might have thought that it would be a good idea to keep that name with an even higher end kit, maybe those will catch on as well as it is a familiar name in the drumworld, people know about it. Sort of like the Starclassic, or Masters drums. It seems like their top range models over the last years have sold very little in comparison, so I think it was a logical step for them to do, but at the same time, people might overlook that they still have a cheaper standard Saturn option and think that these are the same drums, now just a lot more expensive.

For the moment though, I feel the standard Saturns are priced higher than what you would call a great bargain, which they used to be. They still are quality kits though, but there is just fewer reasons to get them over comparable kits .
 
Winston_Wolf said:
This could be my bias showing, but I don't think the current versions of Saturn are as attractive or as good of a value as the aforementioned Saturn 3's or 4's. Mapex seems to have spent the last 5+ years finding ways to keep the price in check by watering down the features of the line.
Click to expand...
I completely agree. The saturn 3s had amazing finishes, both sparkles and woodgrains and nice classy little lugs and clever floor tom and bass drum leg mounts. Then the fours had some killer finishes (that deep water burl, mmmm) but the badges started to get a bit weird. Now they're just... ugly and kinda boring
 
mikyok said:
For me the evolutions defeated the whole idea of the Saturn series which was pro level drums at intermediate level prices. They're a worst kept secret.

They've lost their niche in the market with the evolutions. If you have the money to get an evolution new there's a hell of a lot of similar kits with more appealing brand names.

I've had a Saturn V Tour for 5 years now from new. No way I'd sell it. Traditional sizes with modern hardware, reliability and those thin maple/walnut shells that sound amazing. They've held their value on the used market too.
Click to expand...
Said better than I was going to.
Not that long ago there was loads of love on the forum for Saturn's, imo they peaked with the III but the IV and V were also very good.
The price has now gone stratospheric and the Evolutions just don't look right, it's such a shame.
 
I picked up one of the recent Saturn Evolution Hybrid kits in 24/13/16 in Brunswick Green a few months back. It sounded just ok, but the hardware looked and felt cheap. Sharp edges from bad casting, sloppy fittings with to much play, and the IMO ridiculous looking Halo mount. The drums just didn't feel good to play. Once I saw it on stage I knew it was over. It did one show and back it went.

IMO they are a far cry from the III.
 
Woolwich said:
Said better than I was going to.
Not that long ago there was loads of love on the forum for Saturn's, imo they peaked with the III but the IV and V were also very good.
The price has now gone stratospheric and the Evolutions just don't look right, it's such a shame.
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Never played a III but I hear good things, same with the orions. I've got one of the deep Forrest walnut snares from the 2000s and it's a top notch snare.

I got the V because it ticks every box I need a gigging kit to. I think Mapex will sell far more of the Armory's which are serious bang for buck and they really look the part.
 
ineedaclutch said:
I picked up one of the recent Saturn Evolution Hybrid kits in 24/13/16 in Brunswick Green a few months back. It sounded just ok, but the hardware looked and felt cheap. Sharp edges from bad casting, sloppy fittings with to much play, and the IMO ridiculous looking Halo mount. The drums just didn't feel good to play. Once I saw it on stage I knew it was over. It did one show and back it went.

IMO they are a far cry from the III.
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I'd probably choke if I saw what Mapex would have to charge to produce the Saturn III these days, but those were seriously feature-packed and innovative drums that sounded and looked great. The fact they were also 2/3 the price of anyone else's top level kit is what put them over the top in my estimation.

Meridian (Maple especially) were also incredible drums for the money too, and I think they could have stolen some of PDP's midlevel maple thunder if they hadn't discontinued them when they changed the Saturns too. I think Armory kept most of what made Meridian great (the finishes and the new lugs aren't to my taste) but I think Mapex really dropped the ball on Saturn by taking away everything that made Saturn III special in efforts to keep the price down.
 
i want to, but finding one with a 24" kick and 18" floor tom isnt easy or cheap XD
 
IBitePrettyHard said:
It's totally because of those off-center logos. I think that's a big reason why nobody seems to be buying the Saturn Evolution. It's probably a much bigger reason than anyone wants to admit.

Nobody wants awkwardly placed tom mounts and logos that are askew. It just looks wrong.
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The Renowns have bland finishes versus some cool finishes in Saturn Evolution (Tuscan Red and Tuscan Yellow!!!), but the Renowns have proven wide tuning range mojo and bass drum tom mounts.

But, yes, the Mapex badge needs serious redesign. The Halo mount doesn’t bother me—it’s just a copy of Noble & Cooley.
 
petrez said:
I think they tried to get more sales in the higher end market with the Saturn Evolutions, as the Saturn has been a really solid model name for Mapex for so long, they might have thought that it would be a good idea to keep that name with an even higher end kit, maybe those will catch on as well as it is a familiar name in the drumworld, people know about it. Sort of like the Starclassic, or Masters drums. It seems like their top range models over the last years have sold very little in comparison, so I think it was a logical step for them to do, but at the same time, people might overlook that they still have a cheaper standard Saturn option and think that these are the same drums, now just a lot more expensive.

For the moment though, I feel the standard Saturns are priced higher than what you would call a great bargain, which they used to be. They still are quality kits though, but there is just fewer reasons to get them over comparable kits .
Click to expand...
Apparently, jazz great Greg Hutchinson left Mapex because they wouldn’t make him a 16” bass drum. He was playing the new Design Lab expensive kits with the NASA-looking tom mount. Now he’s rocking Pearl Masterworks maple/gum.
 
I had a Mapex M Birch kit. It was ok. They cheaped out on lug count etc. I moved on soon enough. Just didn't have interest in their later offerings
 
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IBitePrettyHard said:
It's totally because of those off-center logos. I think that's a big reason why nobody seems to be buying the Saturn Evolution. It's probably a much bigger reason than anyone wants to admit.

Nobody wants awkwardly placed tom mounts and logos that are askew. It just looks wrong.
Click to expand...
Not that I’m even remotely contemplating getting a set of Saturn Evolutions, but if I were I’d seriously consider mounting the toms upside down and flipping the badges around. That way they’d be offset on the upper side of the tom rather than the lower side, which looks way better. And since there are screws holding the badges in place, it should be very easy to take them off and reinsert them facing the other way.

Not sure how well the halo mounts would work on the lower lugs, but I’ve seen people do that with RIMS mounts.
 
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