Mapex Armory Stage+ Shell Set Night Sky Burst

What can I say?.... I am thrilled!

One of my biggest idols of well-known drummers, Chris Adler, played drums from Mapex during his time with Lamb Of God. Since then I have been enthusiastic about this brand. I have fulfilled a childhood wish with this set.

After a very long research, different brands, different finishes etc., I decided on this Mapex set. I ended up with this Mapex set from the Armory series. At first I was torn between the "NIght Sky Burst" or "Desert Dune" finish. In the end, however, I followed my original gut feeling and went for the former. My previous set had the standard finish - Piano Black - which I wanted to get rid of because I no longer liked the color.
The Mapex set did not disappoint! The color is really awesome. Even better in good light, because the burst really stands out.

I have never ordered a set online before and was therefore skeptical at first about how a drum set is sent via parcel shipping/forwarding. It came split into 3 parcels by a forwarding agent and was packed inside each other like a matryoshka. Very compact, space-saving, but still safe to transport!
It was more work to assemble, but I honestly had twice as much fun unpacking and assembling it! :)

As I usually play the harder music genres, I bought new double-layered heads straight away. Experience has shown that the "branded" skins supplied are rather unsuitable (at least in my case). So I can't give a rating for these skins. But I would assume that the set can also sound great out of the box with a good tuning.
I put on the new heads, set up the drum set, tuned it and immediately had a fat sound. It felt like it tuned itself.
I like clear tones on toms, with short to medium resonance and attack. Rack and floor toms simply sound exactly how I want them to.

The snare is very robust and visually an okay eye-catcher. Well suited for metal. You get a nice banging snare sound with a high tuning. It must rattle like a perfectly hit backhand in tennis! 😂
But I might go back to a wooden snare or a 13" again in the near future. The one supplied may be used as a side snare. But that is a purely subjective statement. The snare is of course also fully usable as normal.

Conclusion:
All in all, I simply can't complain here. 5 stars. Highly recommended by me!