hey guys, i've played the mapex black panther, here's alittle review of the 14x5.5 snare
hoops: die cast in gold
lugs: ten single screw lugs
ply and wood: 8ply maple shell no reinforcement hoops
skin: evans G1 coated
Finish: natural oil, one of the shinniest oil finishes i've seen.
colour: matte black
sound: very very nice, it was defnitely a dry sounding snare, probably dude to the die cast hoops. it sounded tight and snappy excellant for funk, blues and maybe latin. the sweet spot is fairly big. abt the size of ur palm before the sound starts to go out. response was fair to good, some buzz roll stuff gets abit muddled at the lower volumes but i find most maple shells tend to do tht. cross stix was full fat and really meaty due to the hoops. with the snares off the timbale sound was high pitched but still rathers warm and round. i tuned it low and it was very very meaty, sounded abit like a 6.5. nice resonace, cld be a wide open jazz type snare.
overall: really good and versatile, friend got it sec hand for 350 aus which is abt 370 sing. ghost notes were clean at clear at the center and ringy but controllable on the sides. 8ply shell gave gd resonance and some meat while the die cast gave it a gd crack. excellant snare for backbeat music