know its subjective but I haven't played an acoustic kit for a long time. Ans I dont gig anymore. I own a Sonor Aq2 7pc with a 20 kick which has had mesh heads on it for its whole 19 month life. Hate the boring color, brown fade! Looked into wraps and depending on who does it and where I get them, $600-800. I am not handy, so not messing with that myself. Painting them, probably would also not be cheap, having it done for me. So looking at PDP Concept Maple 7 pc Maple and Mapex Armory both of which have a much bigger selection of finishes and I will go with a 22 kick this time. Out of the three, what have you drummers played and liked or not liked. This is the Sonor kit whose shells are 6 ply Canadian and Asian Maple
Sonor AQ2 7Pc, vs Pdp Concept Maple 7 Pv ,vs Mapex Armory 7 Pc.
- Thread starter Stoked2
- Start date
Johnny2u2
Active Member
I like Sonors how much?
JDownloader
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harryconway
Platinum Member
I'd pick the Mapex Armory ..... because I like virgin bass drums ..... and by far the finishes appeal to me. And the maple/birch shells with the Soniclear bearing edges kinda fit my "sonic" profile better than the all maple shells of the other two.
TK-421
Senior Member
Since you don't gig (and hence don't play with other musicians I take it), and only play with mesh heads to avoid pissing off the neighbors, I don't understand why you're looking for a new kit. All kits are going to sound pretty much the same with mesh heads, and going from a 20" bass drum to a 22" won't really make a difference in this instance. If anything, the 22" might hinder tom positioning without any benefit in sound, given the mesh heads.
So unless I'm missing something, I'd just keep the AQ2 kit. Maybe the color isn't ideal for you, but given the circumstances, I don't think it's worth spending the money to upgrade in this case.
My living circumstances, when I bought the kit, were a second floor condo in a three floor building. Now we live in a house so I can play my kit acoustically . As far as the kick, I thought I might go up to a 22 but not a deal breaker. Why am I looking to buy another kit? I hate the color of this one. Looked at wraps, but I am not handy and when a pro supplies and installs a decent wrap, that aint cheap! In the meanwhile, I have a Pro Spray painter who owes me a favor. who says he can handle it. He did my whole house inside before we moved in, so I know his work! So if he will do the job right and reasonably , I don't need another kit, will live with my 20 kick, and have a new color. If I don't go that route, I believe I can get good money for my Sonor Kit and I like the finishes on the Mapex Armorys and Saturns
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So much work refinishing drums.. but if you're handy, it can be rewarding when finished.
Sonor AQ - Sonor makes great stuff!
Mapex Armoury - Mapex also makes great stuff and is well know for finishes. One of my practice shell kits is a Pro-M maple and it looks and sounds awesome.
PDP - I've only tried in stores and wasn't knocked out. Could have been bad heads and tuning but.. then again I'm not a big DW fan either
- I've gone over to Tama big time. The laquer finish on those is super cool.. high gloss streaky colors with a bit of sparkle.
Sonor AQ - Sonor makes great stuff!
Mapex Armoury - Mapex also makes great stuff and is well know for finishes. One of my practice shell kits is a Pro-M maple and it looks and sounds awesome.
PDP - I've only tried in stores and wasn't knocked out. Could have been bad heads and tuning but.. then again I'm not a big DW fan either
- I've gone over to Tama big time. The laquer finish on those is super cool.. high gloss streaky colors with a bit of sparkle.
I have read reviews that said the PDP Concept Maple snare was a little weak stating that there wasn't much of a snare bed in it! I really wouldn't sweat as I have several snares and would buy a Zitkit for any snares in the future. I also read that the matching snare for the Sonor Aq2 is a solid snare
Duck Tape
Platinum Member
The pdp is the best kit there, hands down.
I owned an armory, it was a pretty good kit, I didn’t like the mounts and how much play there was because it made setup hard. Also I noticed one of the rims had a bend in them, and they seemed a bit flimsy, but it was a good sounding kit and I could make do with it.
Unlike others I hate virgin bass drums, give me a tom mount all day.
As for the pdp, a drum store manager told me that he told customers to go stand around the corner while he hit the pdp and other much more expensive kits and he noted that a majority of the time they chose the pdp. I wasn’t there to buy a kit so he wasn’t just trying to talk me into a sale.
A student of mine owns a set, I actually advised him to buy it when it came up on the classifieds. He bought a pearl masters afterwards and he said regretfully that the pdp sounds better. Yes the snare might be weak because he ended up selling it but I don’t think mid priced kits ever come with a properly good snare.
I owned an armory, it was a pretty good kit, I didn’t like the mounts and how much play there was because it made setup hard. Also I noticed one of the rims had a bend in them, and they seemed a bit flimsy, but it was a good sounding kit and I could make do with it.
Unlike others I hate virgin bass drums, give me a tom mount all day.
As for the pdp, a drum store manager told me that he told customers to go stand around the corner while he hit the pdp and other much more expensive kits and he noted that a majority of the time they chose the pdp. I wasn’t there to buy a kit so he wasn’t just trying to talk me into a sale.
A student of mine owns a set, I actually advised him to buy it when it came up on the classifieds. He bought a pearl masters afterwards and he said regretfully that the pdp sounds better. Yes the snare might be weak because he ended up selling it but I don’t think mid priced kits ever come with a properly good snare.
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No, not really. Not awful, but not my favorite! But my local Guitar Center, Sam Ash, and music stores had very few Sonor products for me to see their finishes. I did see the White Marine Pearl, but it really isn't white. A Lot of beige mixed in the white. There are several WMP's that are much whiter than Sonor's. Do you like it, that's all that counts?. If you look at wraps from Precision Drums and Jammin Sam you will see they offer several WMP's and they are each very different from the other. The other finishes were all laquer on the Sonors and I just wanted to see them in person. I live near Tampa and would sell this 1 1/2 old 7 pc kit for ! 1000. New it is honestly around 1700-1800
RichFaulk
Active Member
That's odd. I actually have three AQ2 kits, two from 2018 and one from 2021 all in WMP and the finish on all of them is a very bright white, almost silvery. I love it but would like a lacquer finish more. Pearl Session Studio Select has a finish called "Barnwood" that is amazing.
I saw the WMP in a Guitar Center drumroom but maybe the lighting wasn't the greatest You have three sets of them so I gotta go with what you day, lol! Too late now! Gonna wait for the guy who spray painted the inside of our house. He said he will look at them in a couple of weeks. He did an awesome job in the house!