I'll put my Pro M kit against damn near any kit. As a matter of fact, I recently did a double-drum gig with a drummer playing dw drums. My kit was the only one that was heard. the guy with the dw kit was pretty pissed that he wasn't heard! I was crusin' not bustin a sweat and he was pounding the daylights out of his (good thing this gig was outdoors!)

I see tons of comments from people who obviously have no clue about drums, even though they claim to be players for many years. I'm a teacher and professional player for over 18 years and I say if you can't make these drums sound like a mill or two, you might want to hang it up and find something else. These drums are great. If you got the dough though, go for the bigger ticket items like the saturn or orion series.

If you're not into mapex looks, then hit up a Gretsch renown maple or USA Custom and see what it's like to play on a real mans drumkit. If you're a true percussionist and you have mastered the craft of tuning, you can make any kit sound good. These drums, with a little bit of preparing out of the box, sound like a million bucks. And that's with the stock heads. Not sure why everyone downplays the stock heads. They are the same heads a lot of you would buy at the store, you just don't know that's what it is because the labels are different.

The kit looks beautiful, I got the redwood fade. Hands down, for the price, they beat any other line out there when it comes to mid level kits.

Available in most popular configurations, the M Pro range, despite the name, are mid range Drums, but certainly compare rather surprisingly well to more expensive brands and models.

The M Pro 'Limited Edition' set I have is constructed from North American maple, in 6 plies, with an outer skin of exotic Zebra wood (Mercedes Benz cars of the '80's used to boast this, and called it 'Zebrano) which offers a most exciting and rather tropical appearance.

Remo heads are used throughout the range, and although the less expensive (Chinese made) UT series, are made from the same stuff as the originals, so quality sounds are assured.

The fittings, and claws are all Chrome plated, so mucho pretty to look at, and appear to be of both heavy duty construction, and unless you look very closely, very nice finish too.
I say this because on a few items, you can see the machining marks, but this is certainly not obvious unless you're polishing up your kit.

Assembly is a doddle (NB a DVD is included too!) and everything screws in perfectly, with no sign of iffy welds or dodgy threads. Most items are finished to a really superb degree in fact, with smooth edges and a glossy chrome sheen all over.

The Tom mounts have a hexagonal section, and are well constructed, with a good range of adjustment, and seem stable once screwed up tight, which is a pleasure seeing as the thumbscrews are so chunky and pleasurable to use!

They tune up easily, which is nice, and the free drum key is as good as I have seen. Fair play to Mapex for the presentation, they obviously care about their reputation.

The 750 series hardware that comes with this particular kit is double braced, and very sturdy indeed, whilst boasting an exquisite finish. The HiHat pedal is already greased from the factory (!!!) and very smooth, with plenty of little adjustments so you can choose your own sounds, and once fitted with Cymbals (Not included!) works perfectly with no faffing around.

The ever important Snare drum is also Maple/ Zebrano, and has a nice smooth polished snare lever which flicks out to disable the snare, and has a thumwheel for slight adjustments. It's not outstanding in terms of 'Snariness' but I'm working on that! The Snare stand is impressive though, very solid and grips like a limpet.

Other hardware is similarly impressive, and belies the modest relative price of this kit.
Once assembled and tuned (2 hours) you have a lush looking kit, mine was a 22" Fusion set, with 22" Kick, 10/12" Kick mounted Toms, and 14/16" Floor Toms, and with additional Zildjian cymbals offers a versatile set for most genres of music.

All the drums are a little over resonant, and will probably end up being damped by one of the usual methods, I used a little Blue-tac to great effect, leaving a really nice deep woody tone which should play well with Jazz.

So far, so good! Thanks for reading...

GET THE SATURN SERIES INSTEAD! I know the saturn series are a bit more expensive but believe me..they are amazing! I have just spent £2000 on a pearl masterworks shell pack and I'm gutted! My old Saturn kit which cost less than half of that absolutely blows it away! The Saturn kits also come with over £100 quids worth of heads, so its not really that much more than the pro m's at all.

I picked up a Pro M snare drum on ebay recently for ..well..silly money!! I've been a semi pro player for many years and I have to say that this drum really delivers in every department. I've played some pretty damn good snare drums over the years including a Black Panther and a Sonor Designer (before they were called that) and I have to say this drum could hold it's own against any of them. I would have no qualms in recommending this snare to anybody at any level

Apart from the bad point the Mapex Pro M is a fantastic drum kit!! You will become another drummer using this kit!! This kit will give you the looks, the power and the Gigs!! You will not want to stop playing this kit and this will give you the full pleasure of being a drummer!! This kit can be used for all styles especially Jazz, Fusion, Funk, Swing, Blues, Rock!! THIS IS ONE HELL OF A KIT!!!!

The Mapex Pro-M drum kit series is great value for money, offering professional quality all-maple thin shells and lacquered finishes for the same sort of money as a top model Pearl Export. The hardware is sturdy, and the kit comes with a very decent pedal. The toms have a nice rounded sound, and they are loud, and have great projection, and the bass drum is about the best out there for the price - I have the "Stomp" kit, which has all big sized drums, and the 24x18" is awesome. The snare is a bit bland sounding, and lacks the sensitivity I like, and it isn't as loud as a 14x6.5" ought to be. The chrome is OK, but regular cleaning is a must. The hardware is decent and chunky, but I prefer Tama's Roadpro series, and I still use them (I sold the Mapex stuff on).

Overall, I'd highly recommend these kits, especially the Stomp series, which offer huge Bonham-esque drums with volume to match, but without wallet-wilting expenditure.