Mapex 14"x5.5" BP Natural Maple Burl

I was intrigued by this snare and as it matches my Mapex Saturn V natural burl kit, so I decided to get it.
This is not my first Black Panther, I have a few of them but I think that this one is a special one. The birch/walnut combination results in the nice attack of birch but still darker sounding than the typical all birch snare. It can handle most tunings very well and sounds deeper than the 5.5 inches it is. It kind of reminds me of the original Versatus snare.
A great all-rounder snare in my opinion, and superbly finished, I am glad that Mapex uses birch wood more and more. I have made it my main snare for the time being. Well worth the Black Panther title, and for the price, it seems hard to beat!

Wow! This thing is an absolutely beauty, the wood and black hardware look amazing, and very premium. You can dial-in a bunch of different sounds with the snare, it sounds good with the snare on the looser side, or also tightened up for a more punchy, snappy sound. The drum has a very high quality feel you would expect from the Mapex Black Panther, and the whole thing feels very luxurious, which is especially impressive when you consider its price.
The drum comes well packaged and presented in a very premium feeling cloth bag, also with a drum key! For this price I think it would be difficult to find much better, well done Thomann on a beautiful collaboration!