Duck Tape
Platinum Member
Most of you know I am gear crazy, enough said about that.
So I have had a tama birch bubinga for maybe a bit over a year and it's a stunning kit, probably the prettiest kit I own, I have been using that kit as a gig kit for anything that my little bop kit can't handle.
The other week my compulsive gumtree searching yielded a mapex saturn, just like the one I play at home, except a 4 pce shell set in the usual 10, 12, 16, 22 (identical to sizes to the tama btw).
I changed the heads and took it straight out to a gig that weekend, then played another 2. I have played 3 gigs with them and I think I like them more than the tama.
Some negatives - the tama finish is much nicer and classier, the isolated floor tom legs and spurs do make the mapex a bit big for most cases (though I have cases that they fit in). That's pretty much it. The kick is much phatter and the toms just seem to tune lower, resonate more and with a more pleasing tone to my ears.
So now I'm tossing up which one to get rid of... and of course I'm totally in a position to compare them side by side when I get time... but I'm just curious, which would you keep?
So I have had a tama birch bubinga for maybe a bit over a year and it's a stunning kit, probably the prettiest kit I own, I have been using that kit as a gig kit for anything that my little bop kit can't handle.
The other week my compulsive gumtree searching yielded a mapex saturn, just like the one I play at home, except a 4 pce shell set in the usual 10, 12, 16, 22 (identical to sizes to the tama btw).
I changed the heads and took it straight out to a gig that weekend, then played another 2. I have played 3 gigs with them and I think I like them more than the tama.
Some negatives - the tama finish is much nicer and classier, the isolated floor tom legs and spurs do make the mapex a bit big for most cases (though I have cases that they fit in). That's pretty much it. The kick is much phatter and the toms just seem to tune lower, resonate more and with a more pleasing tone to my ears.
So now I'm tossing up which one to get rid of... and of course I'm totally in a position to compare them side by side when I get time... but I'm just curious, which would you keep?
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