For everyone asking about the tuning and the dampening and honest opinion - I've seen Charlie give pretty vague responses so I want to throw my two cents in. Full disclosure: I'm a metal drummer. I do have some jazzy qualities to my style but it's mostly loud, aggressive, and technical. I am 100% self taught. I've been playing since I was 12 and am now 35. I've played a variety of kits from the Pearl Export to the DW Exotic series kits (not my own, but I have played them extensively). I'm not made of money so I don't have multiple kits (although I'm considering the Pearl Midtown for a home practice kit) and I can't afford the higher end DW exotic stuff so I look for kits with a price tag I can handle but with a sound I'd be proud to play on stage. I bought this kit a year ago based on this video alone. The Mars is a fantastic kit. I put Evans EC2's on the on the batter side with EC resonants. They capture the the overtones almost perfectly. For dampening - I use one moongel on both rack toms and two moongel on each floor tom. I also use cotton balls in each drum. Stretch the cotton ball so it's a flat, fluffy piece of cotton and toss it in the drum and put the batter back on. Experiment with moongel placement and how much cotton you want in the drums to produce the desired sound. This method works incredibly well on this kit. As far as tuning - use this video (ua-cam.com/video/ISdMNKb-hjc/v-deo.html) - it works really, really well for a starting point and you can very easily go up or down to your preferred pitch. For the bass drum, I use an Aquarian ported reso, an EC2 batter, and a small, flat pillow inside (not touching, just for a little dampening) and this kick sounds amazing. I get compliments on the sound of this kit every where I take it with special attention to the bass drum. Everyone wants to know how I get that sound. Now for the snare... toss it. I'm not kidding. Put it in the back of your parts closet and forget about it. I replaced it with a Pork Pie 13x7 vented Little Squealer maple/birch hybrid with 24 strand Pure Sound snare wires and it complements this kit perfectly. Seriously - buy a new snare. Is this a Black Panther quality kit? No. Does it sound like it could be? Yes. For those of us who pay hard earned money for our gear, this is an absolutely phenomenal kit. Well worth the money. That's about the extent of it. If you have questions or need pictures I'll be happy to provide them. Thanks, Charlie, for this video and your answers to the questions. I just wanted to add a bit more detail for some of the questions and give some insight from someone who plays this kit full time as my primary kit.
That's some great solid playing right there! Looking into this particular kit; which led me to this video, as I really miss playing the drums. It's been 36 years since I last played! (started when I was only 4 years old.)
Genshi Media Group Hi there, I would recommend this kit for the combination of value and higher end features! Definitely one to consider. Also check out the armoury! There is an amazing new finish just out call ultramarine! :)
That organ player on last song, oh man! But seriously came here for the mars review. This video was the deciding factor. i have a set of maple tour customs available now people. I'm going back to birch.
why did u guys put some tape on the resonant heads of the toms? was that a production choise or there were some issues with getting tone from the shells ?
Márton Kardos muffling is mostly needed for the dryer sound the drummer went for. Especially on the resonant side, I own a set of these and with coated emperors get a great sound without any extra overrings(but the snare. Even with controlled sound it is pretty heavy on resonance. Makes sense with 6 inch depth. But masshoff snare trick does it for me
I absolutely agree, but with that much muffling you can't even hear the drums resonate freely. I'd put on proper heads instead and much less muffling. Mostly you use the third or half of this amount of muffling, but you put on real drumheads. Maybe Coated Ambassadors would be descent for demoing
So I just bought this kit thanks to this video. can you tell me how you dampened the toms? I'm looking for the sound you have here. I got it with the 10x7 tom so it's a 6 piece - that little guy needs some work.
Justin Goldsmith Hi Justin, Annoyingly I didn't save the notes these drums were tuned too. However if you go to my armoury video the tunings of that kit are at the end of the video. Dampening wise stick to dampening the top head if you can. If you do choose to dampen the bottom head bear in mind it will lower the note of the lugs around the dampening so you will have to adjust the lugs around it to compensate :)
charlie kenny Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah I actually went between this and your Armory video about 5,000 times before finally settling on this specifically for the lower end and quicker decay. If dampening the resonant is going to help that then I'm all for it. I think is saw some resonant dampening in the Armory video? Not sure which one that was but that's what made me ask - I've only ever dampened the batter. Are you just using TP and tape to dampen the resonant when you do?
charlie kenny Nevermind. just saw on the Armory video there was no damping. Must have been this one but I'm just too lazy to go find the shot that showed it. EXCELLENT videos btw.
Hi there, Hats: Paiste modern essential 15" Cr1: paiste masters dark 18" crash Ride: paiste traditional light ride Cr2: Paiste masters dark crash ride 20" cheers, Charlie
was there post eq/compression etc on this? i know youtube has a limiter on everything on youtube to normalize volume, but other than that is there compression or eq?
James Cassidy Hi james, There is very minimal processing on this video.The ambience is from a rode classic about 40ft away in a corridor. It has been mixed to be as natural as possible given that it is to show off a kit. Cheers, C
James Cassidy You'll also notice we have damped the toms a lot. This shortened the decay meaning we got better seperation with less cross talk mic to mic. This combined with relatively consistent hitting is giving the focused shell sound
St3v30h Hey mate, Apologies for the delayed reply. We didn't actually note the tunings for this video. However being the same sizes the tunings I used on my armoury video should work for this kit
Sounds nice but then I realised that’s an incredible amount of dampening on the bottom heads. If that much is required to get a good sound then...wow... It would only be fair to record the factory kit without too much dampening except maybe some moon gel to get a true sound. Obviously the mix makes a massive difference too. Good mixing can almost polish a turd. I like the look of these kits and I’m sure with good tuning they’re great. Just put off with the amount of mods here for recording
You are looking at this from wrong perspective. These toms project really hard, and in room that small it would be a disaster of recording. It has nothing to do with kit quality. Final drum sound is a result of kit itself, the player, mics, digital interface and maybe the most important thing, the fecken' ROOM SIZE and shape. As a Pearl fanboy, you should know that this birch kit sounds way better than any decent looking Export which is more expensive than Mars. I put accent on 'decent looking' because those black wraps on the cheapest Export kits they call 'finish' are disgusting. So between dampening small room too much(sounds dull) and dmpening the drum, I choose the drum.
And here's Charlie Kenny's 2 yo comment from below: You'll also notice we have damped the toms a lot. This shortened the decay meaning we got better seperation with less cross talk mic to mic. This combined with relatively consistent hitting is giving the focused shell sound
+Stephen Barlow I'm actually trying to sell this kit because I got the six piece and it takes up a lot a space. I want to buy a nice three piece without a snare and buy a separate snare.
Hi Jeremy, Yeah the best tuning for this snare will definitely be a mid/high mid point. Also if you want the dry pop with it make sure you have the bottom head nice and tight with even tension across the lugs. hope this helps! cheers, Charlie
Mars or Yamaha staaage custom ?.. Just cz this channel promotes mapex, please don't say mars without no reason.... Because I'm in serious confusion b between these two...n I need some help out here...
Nishanth Nishanth between the mars and the stage custom? The stage custom. Between the stage custom and the armory though? The armory. I own the armory and I’ve also played the stage custom, both with Evans heads and the armory blows everything away at the price point.
Well the stage custom is an intermediate to pro kit like the armory. The mars is beginner to intermediate with the storm being purely a beginner set. I mean, it’s all personal preference, but in love situations you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, depending on how good the sound guy is. In the studio, the Yamaha would be better in my opinion, but remember it’s all taste! Go to a drum shop and test them both out. One thing to keep in mind though is that with drums, like most things, you get what you pay for. There are some exceptions, but for the most part, you get out what you put in. Plain and simple. I’d go for the Yamaha. But the Armory is in the same price range and I prefer the armory over the stage custom.
![[UA] NAVI vs MOUZ | BO5 | IEM Rio 2024](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CMBYk0cbGoA/mqdefault.jpg)
For everyone asking about the tuning and the dampening and honest opinion - I've seen Charlie give pretty vague responses so I want to throw my two cents in.
Full disclosure: I'm a metal drummer. I do have some jazzy qualities to my style but it's mostly loud, aggressive, and technical. I am 100% self taught. I've been playing since I was 12 and am now 35. I've played a variety of kits from the Pearl Export to the DW Exotic series kits (not my own, but I have played them extensively). I'm not made of money so I don't have multiple kits (although I'm considering the Pearl Midtown for a home practice kit) and I can't afford the higher end DW exotic stuff so I look for kits with a price tag I can handle but with a sound I'd be proud to play on stage.
I bought this kit a year ago based on this video alone. The Mars is a fantastic kit. I put Evans EC2's on the on the batter side with EC resonants. They capture the the overtones almost perfectly. For dampening - I use one moongel on both rack toms and two moongel on each floor tom. I also use cotton balls in each drum. Stretch the cotton ball so it's a flat, fluffy piece of cotton and toss it in the drum and put the batter back on. Experiment with moongel placement and how much cotton you want in the drums to produce the desired sound. This method works incredibly well on this kit. As far as tuning - use this video (ua-cam.com/video/ISdMNKb-hjc/v-deo.html) - it works really, really well for a starting point and you can very easily go up or down to your preferred pitch.
For the bass drum, I use an Aquarian ported reso, an EC2 batter, and a small, flat pillow inside (not touching, just for a little dampening) and this kick sounds amazing. I get compliments on the sound of this kit every where I take it with special attention to the bass drum. Everyone wants to know how I get that sound.
Now for the snare... toss it. I'm not kidding. Put it in the back of your parts closet and forget about it. I replaced it with a Pork Pie 13x7 vented Little Squealer maple/birch hybrid with 24 strand Pure Sound snare wires and it complements this kit perfectly. Seriously - buy a new snare.
Is this a Black Panther quality kit? No. Does it sound like it could be? Yes. For those of us who pay hard earned money for our gear, this is an absolutely phenomenal kit. Well worth the money.
That's about the extent of it. If you have questions or need pictures I'll be happy to provide them.
Thanks, Charlie, for this video and your answers to the questions. I just wanted to add a bit more detail for some of the questions and give some insight from someone who plays this kit full time as my primary kit.
Man, thanks a lot for this info! Just save me (possible and other people) a lot of time and money!
But your link for tuning is broken.
Need pictures...email emmanueliyogunjr@gmail.com ...thanks
Just bought it. Thanks for the tuning tipps. Greetings from Germany
Thanks. Just want you to know that your comment tipped the scale for me. I'm buying this kit!
Charlie Kenny is now officially one of my favorite new drummers ive recently found. This guy is unreal. What a talent from top to bottom!!!
Great!! And Wondefoul Mapex !
That's some great solid playing right there! Looking into this particular kit; which led me to this video, as I really miss playing the drums. It's been 36 years since I last played! (started when I was only 4 years old.)
Genshi Media Group
Hi there,
I would recommend this kit for the combination of value and higher end features! Definitely one to consider. Also check out the armoury! There is an amazing new finish just out call ultramarine! :)
Charlie Kenny The myth!!!! I bought my mapex armory because of your videos.. You have the feeling
And what do you think about the Armory series?
+The Djent Guy Very tonal, responsive. Great hardware and finish. I took the Artic White. Love it!
Armory's are hands down the best value for money kit on the market!
+charlie kenny I'm trying to decide between the Mapex Armory and the Ddrum Journeyman
+charlie kenny I agree
4:05-4:50 was simply delightful.
Awesome drumming, awesome sound, falling in love with the Mars series!
Just bought this same kit! So pumped. Great video 😊
Please Charlie have a video tuning the Mapex Mars
That organ player on last song, oh man! But seriously came here for the mars review. This video was the deciding factor. i have a set of maple tour customs available now people. I'm going back to birch.
This vid series is making me so happy. Sounds incredible.
why did u guys put some tape on the resonant heads of the toms? was that a production choise or there were some issues with getting tone from the shells ?
This is my third year in with this kit. It's good.
Keep mapex-ing Charlie! Cheers!!!
Fantastic Mapex mars ! 🙏🥁🎆❤
Very nice, cool and smooth cover. I really enjoined it, keep it up ;)
Great sound!👍🍺🍺
Awesome Bro!
cheers mate! :D
I have this Drum. But it no sound like your drums. How do you control the armonic. what Drumhead do you use?
drumheads of factory??? woww great sound,great EQ ,great drummer.
Alex Marchelo
Hi Alex,
Yeah the kit is all as it was when it came out of the box! Cheers,
Charlie
But do you see how much muffling did it need? :D Great drums anyways, really ;)
Márton Kardos muffling is mostly needed for the dryer sound the drummer went for. Especially on the resonant side, I own a set of these and with coated emperors get a great sound without any extra overrings(but the snare. Even with controlled sound it is pretty heavy on resonance. Makes sense with 6 inch depth. But masshoff snare trick does it for me
I absolutely agree, but with that much muffling you can't even hear the drums resonate freely. I'd put on proper heads instead and much less muffling. Mostly you use the third or half of this amount of muffling, but you put on real drumheads. Maybe Coated Ambassadors would be descent for demoing
Hi, Charlie Kenny, you play drums well
But I wanted to know that it was that white that you put down the toms?
Thanks
Sick ending bro 05:38
What cymbals are those?? They sound great!
Paiste Twenty
watch?v=_0LcIXukuFQ
So I just bought this kit thanks to this video. can you tell me how you dampened the toms? I'm looking for the sound you have here. I got it with the 10x7 tom so it's a 6 piece - that little guy needs some work.
Justin Goldsmith
Hi Justin,
Annoyingly I didn't save the notes these drums were tuned too. However if you go to my armoury video the tunings of that kit are at the end of the video. Dampening wise stick to dampening the top head if you can. If you do choose to dampen the bottom head bear in mind it will lower the note of the lugs around the dampening so you will have to adjust the lugs around it to compensate :)
charlie kenny Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah I actually went between this and your Armory video about 5,000 times before finally settling on this specifically for the lower end and quicker decay. If dampening the resonant is going to help that then I'm all for it. I think is saw some resonant dampening in the Armory video? Not sure which one that was but that's what made me ask - I've only ever dampened the batter. Are you just using TP and tape to dampen the resonant when you do?
charlie kenny Nevermind. just saw on the Armory video there was no damping. Must have been this one but I'm just too lazy to go find the shot that showed it. EXCELLENT videos btw.
Great sound , bat quality on chrome and lugs.....
please can you give me the tuning of the drum with tension watch tama. I need help
What cymbals are you using in this video? I can tell they're Paiste. But what series and sizes?...
Hi there,
Hats: Paiste modern essential 15"
Cr1: paiste masters dark 18" crash
Ride: paiste traditional light ride
Cr2: Paiste masters dark crash ride 20"
cheers,
Charlie
Charlie ..... Please what is your honest opinion on this kit !!!
hi jay. apologies for the delayed reply. I actually use an armory as one of my tour kits so yeah i think they're great!
CK could make tin cans sound great
was there post eq/compression etc on this? i know youtube has a limiter on everything on youtube to normalize volume, but other than that is there compression or eq?
James Cassidy
Hi james,
There is very minimal processing on this video.The ambience is from a rode classic about 40ft away in a corridor. It has been mixed to be as natural as possible given that it is to show off a kit. Cheers,
C
James Cassidy
You'll also notice we have damped the toms a lot. This shortened the decay meaning we got better seperation with less cross talk mic to mic. This combined with relatively consistent hitting is giving the focused shell sound
i see , cool!
thanks!
that corridor mic must have been what I was hearing and why I thought there was compression on iT!
somebody know his cymbal set size and model?
you're probably too lazy to search so here: watch?v=_0LcIXukuFQ
what are your toms tuned to?
please answer! i just bought this same kit and id like to have it should like yours!!!
St3v30h
Hey mate,
Apologies for the delayed reply. We didn't actually note the tunings for this video. However being the same sizes the tunings I used on my armoury video should work for this kit
St3v30h another big factor too is the acoustics of the room and any compression or EQ applied to the drums in the editing stage.
what is it inside tons?
Comes with hardware?
birch or maple?
Birch
Sounds nice but then I realised that’s an incredible amount of dampening on the bottom heads. If that much is required to get a good sound then...wow... It would only be fair to record the factory kit without too much dampening except maybe some moon gel to get a true sound. Obviously the mix makes a massive difference too. Good mixing can almost polish a turd. I like the look of these kits and I’m sure with good tuning they’re great. Just put off with the amount of mods here for recording
You are looking at this from wrong perspective. These toms project really hard, and in room that small it would be a disaster of recording. It has nothing to do with kit quality. Final drum sound is a result of kit itself, the player, mics, digital interface and maybe the most important thing, the fecken' ROOM SIZE and shape. As a Pearl fanboy, you should know that this birch kit sounds way better than any decent looking Export which is more expensive than Mars. I put accent on 'decent looking' because those black wraps on the cheapest Export kits they call 'finish' are disgusting. So between dampening small room too much(sounds dull) and dmpening the drum, I choose the drum.
And here's Charlie Kenny's 2 yo comment from below: You'll also notice we have damped the toms a lot. This shortened the decay meaning we got better seperation with less cross talk mic to mic. This combined with relatively consistent hitting is giving the focused shell sound
Wish I knew why my snare sounds like garbage. I have the same kit.
might just be tuning issues
+Stephen Barlow I tuned it up right after that and it sounds decent now. I think it just doesn't hold a mid-low tuning very well.
Yeah more often then not with cheap snares its about tuning up and up and up until you get a good sound
+Stephen Barlow I'm actually trying to sell this kit because I got the six piece and it takes up a lot a space. I want to buy a nice three piece without a snare and buy a separate snare.
Hi Jeremy,
Yeah the best tuning for this snare will definitely be a mid/high mid point. Also if you want the dry pop with it make sure you have the bottom head nice and tight with even tension across the lugs. hope this helps! cheers,
Charlie
Mars or Yamaha staaage custom ?.. Just cz this channel promotes mapex, please don't say mars without no reason.... Because I'm in serious confusion b between these two...n I need some help out here...
Nishanth Nishanth between the mars and the stage custom? The stage custom. Between the stage custom and the armory though? The armory. I own the armory and I’ve also played the stage custom, both with Evans heads and the armory blows everything away at the price point.
Is it a big sound difference between the Mars & Stage Custom? Or is it better finish?
Well the stage custom is an intermediate to pro kit like the armory. The mars is beginner to intermediate with the storm being purely a beginner set. I mean, it’s all personal preference, but in love situations you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, depending on how good the sound guy is. In the studio, the Yamaha would be better in my opinion, but remember it’s all taste! Go to a drum shop and test them both out. One thing to keep in mind though is that with drums, like most things, you get what you pay for. There are some exceptions, but for the most part, you get out what you put in. Plain and simple. I’d go for the Yamaha. But the Armory is in the same price range and I prefer the armory over the stage custom.
And I personally like the finishes of the mars more, but the stage custom has a more refined sound.
@@drummeralex9198 too bad armory does not offer a kick drum mount (at least not in the U.S.).