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The all-maple shells are almost identical to those found on Mapex's top Orion range

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For many years, the standard kit offered by drum companies was a five-piece set-up comprising two toms over the bass drum. Times change, and nowadays a fair proportion of drummers seem to prefer a kit with only one rack tom. This version of Mapex’s Pro M Series, the LA, has taken the one rack tom blueprint and gone large with it.

The Pro M LA Kit boasts a super deep 22”x20” bass drum, a similarly beefy 14”x7” snare, a 12”x9” tom and a 16”x16” floor tom. Throw in two exclusive new finishes and you have a proposition as tantalising as any red-blooded rock drummer could hope for.

Fab four-piece

The Pro M series is a longstanding mainstay of the mapex range. In 2004, Pro M shells were promoted to all-maple status and are now effectively the same as those found in Mapex’s high-end Orion Series. The only difference is that the outer layer of ply is a more attractive maple burl for the Orion drums. It is these all-maple shells that form the basis of the LA Kit.

At seven plies thick and varying in thickness from 5.8mm (toms and snare) to 7.2mm (bass drum), their relative thinness hints at a lively response. The depth of the bass drum and snare meanwhile would suggest plenty of power – we’ll come to that later.

s well as sporting those impressive dimensions the bass drum is further enhanced by being indrilled. Sitting behind the kit, the kick seems to stretch almost to the horizon – the matching wooden hoops take its overall length up to a tremendous 22 1/2”. The kick drum’s length also offers plenty of opportunity to appreciate the lacquered finish of the kit. Called Platinum Sparkle, it is a fine silver sparkle that suits the kit down to the ground.

The other new laquer option is a blue sparkle going by the name of Bermuda Sparkle. The two sparkle finishes are only available with the LA Kit. An alternative and cheaper non-sparkle lacquer is Midnight Black, a regular finish available across the whole Pro M range.

Make it chunky

Mapex’s familiar oval low-mass lugs are a discreet presence on the shells, again leaving space for the lacquer to gliter away. While the bass drum is completed with the aforementioned matching wooden hoops, the rest of the drums all wear solid 2.3mm Power Hoops. Further chunkiness is to be found in the snare throw-off lever, which snaps open and closed with a reassuring action.