pdp M5 kit or ddrums Amx Kit

i been looking at these kits but i dont know which to kit to get or which is the beter buy ??? or any other kits around the 600 to 800 price range that are good ??

Mapex Meridian Birch or Maple are fantastic buys, with the birch being the cheaper of the two.

Other people here will suggest Gretsch Catalina Maple, Yamaha Tour or Stage Custom and even the PDP X7.

so go with the mapex ?

Mrod said:

i been looking at these kits but i dont know which to kit to get or which is the beter buy ??? or any other kits around the 600 to 800 price range that are good ??

Click to expand...

Don't get the M5. Made in China. If you want PDP go with one of their kits made in the Ensanada, MEX facility. Better quality...

Seconded on the Mapex's (especially the Meridian Maples). Although for the price range you could also get a Pearl Vision VMX. Those are extremely nice drums aswell although I'm not so keen on the pearl tom mounts. Both are solid buys though.

I think the Mapex Meridians are one of the best deals out there. Also, their suspension mounts are sturdy and low profile. Good quality drums with a great sound.

If you're only choosing between the PDP or ddrums, then go with the PDPs.

Even though they're Chinese made, the STM mounts, TruPitch rods and Pro-Cut bearing edge profile are a cut above the ddrum offering.

i have a set of M5's and i love em. i put all evans heads on; EMAD, G2 coated on toms, and Genera dry on snare with an onyx resonant head on the bass and g1 clears on bottom of toms. I think it sounds great. I get a lot of compliments on the sound when i play out. plus, i think it looks fantastic. i love the tobacco burst finish on it. I work at guitar center and when i broke it out of the box to put it on my floor, i HAD to have it. so anyway, that's my story and i'm stickin to it.

jpeeps how do the evans G2s sound on the toms - just ordered some and am nervous as i have been a clear heads man for quite a while..
does it still keep the attack that the M5s are great for?
And is the resonance really short .. like DeaD short??
Thanks samwel95

You need to look and listen at the kits, if at all possible. The good news is: there are lots of
options these days that are relatively low cost. We didn't have these options when I was growing up. It was a binary leap between - junk and pro. Not much in between.

Lots of low end kits these days are very good. It all depends on what you want.

Current low end kits that I have personally played that are good:
- Pearl Export
- Tama Imperialstar
- Gretsch Catalina [in my case, the jazz kit]

I had to choose a set around your price range a couple days ago and ended up picking up the Gretsch Catalina Birch set for about $750. It sounds amazing and looks great.

Interesting thread. Resurrected 11 months later it's still relevant.

I was in a GC today and they had that tobacco burst M5 sitting there. It had a 16" floor with it and was pretty inexpensive.

The M5 is probably as reliable as the CX and LX series were. I've probably torn down and set up again my CX 500 times in 6 years and never had a hardware problem.

Just make you sure you buy the finish that the add-on toms are available for if you want to flesh the kit out.

The other mid level kit that I saw today that I thought was a decent kit for $800 was a Gretsch Catalina with a 24" kick 12 and 16 in. toms with a 14x7 snare. It had satin hardware with the Gretsch mini lugs which I love. It was in a red sparkle, so not my cup of tea.

Good sounding kit for the money.

I see you live in California. If you want a nice kit you could save up some money, and drive up to San Mateo some time and buy my PDP MX kit