Mapex Drums (Music And Percussion EXcellence) is a Taiwanese brand of musical instruments established by KHS Musical Instruments in 1989. Instruments manufactured with the "Mapex" name include drum kits, snare drums and hardware.
Products
Mapex produces seven different lines of drums: the introductory "Voyager" and "Horizon" series, the intermediate "Meridian Birch" and "Meridian Maple", and the professional level "Saturn" and "Orion". In years past the V and Pro M series were called the Venus and Mars series, in keeping with the tradition of naming the kits after planets. However, the quality of these series have changed since they abandoned the old names. For a brief time, Mapex also offered the "Deep Forest" line of drums, built entirely out of Walnut or Cherry plies, as well as the Aquiles Priester signature drum kit.
Mapex has been also associated with "Falcon" pedals, "Black Panther" snare drums and kits, and "Tornado" starter kits.
Drum kits
Voyager and Horizon
In January 2010, the Q and QR series were no longer made, having been replaced by the new Voyager series, while the Horizon series replaced the VX series (VXB for Britain). These entry-level, yet highly regarded kits have improved their lugs, mounts, badges and bass drum claws. The "Horizon HZ" kit offers a newly mixed birch/basswood drum shell. A newly available Mapex cymbal pack is optional with any of these kits.
Mapex M and Meridian Birch
As of early 2009, Mapex has replaced the very popular M Birch and Pro-M drums series, with the Meridian Birch and Meridian Maple series respectively. These are considered to be intermediate/semi-pro lines of drums. The Meridian Maple series feature 7-ply, 5.8mm, all maple shells (7.2mm bass drum). They also feature Mapex 2.3mm Steel Powerhoops and Remo UT Pinstripe batter heads along with Spring Loaded Floor Tom Legs (from the higher end Saturn & Orion lines). The Meridian Birch features 6-ply, 7.2mm, all birch shells, and also feature Remo UT heads, but not the 2.3mm Powerhoops nor the Spring Cushioned Floor Tom Legs. The hoops on the Birch line (1.6mm) and the floor tom legs are considerably thinner. It is a common misconception among customers (even among some Mapex retailers) that these two lines of drums are similar and share the same features. The Maple line has several higher end features taken from the previous Pro-M line and the Birch line carries forward the M-Birch features. In 2004 the M series and Pro M series Mapex drums were both constructed with maple shells. In 2005 the M series Mapex drum changed to Birch shells, the Pro M continued to carry foreword the North American maple shells, both these shell distinctions remained through 2008. In 2009 the two lines were renamed Meridian Maple and Meridian birch to clear up the long held confusion that M indicated Maple, as the initial M series was made with Maple shells. The Meridian series are Mapex's most popular series of drums.
MyDentity
Following the popularity of the Meridian line, Mapex launched –only for the USA market as of 2013– the "MyDentity" line of custom ordered intermediate/semi-pro drums. This level of customization is usually only found in high-end drum lines.