Mapex BPBR465HZN Black Panther Series 14" x 6.5" Sledgehammer Snare Drum

This is an amazing snare. Mapex deserves more attention for their drums. The quality is great! It sounds tight and thick just how I like it. The lever is nice as well. I highly recommend it.

Looked all over for this snare for a while. Everyone was out of stock. Finally found on here and took the chance based on reviews and positive feedback! This thing is amazing and was packaged unbelievably! Thank you!

Nicely Built great sounding snare.

Saw this at guitar center was going to buy it at 60 dollars more! Thought I would try amazon. Shipped to me in 2 days. Triple boxed. Perfect sound. I play in a rock band and it sounded awesome out of the box!

Sounds great looks amazing

The Sledgehammer snare is an absolute winner. I’ve been in the market for a new snare drum and the Mapex Black Panther line of snares was top of my list of prospects, mainly since I have a Saturn kit that I have been more than pleased with. I narrowed down my choices to a 14 x 6.5 metal shell since that size was missing from my snare arsenal so that left the Wraith, Sledgehammer, and Machete. I tried all three of these drums at three different tunings: Medium, cranked, and low. The Sledgehammer was the clear winner here even though I initially wanted the Wraith just due to its aesthetics. I’m not sure if it’s all the dry vents or the Evans Heavyweight head it comes stock with but I just couldn’t get that thing to work for me as much as I wanted it to. The Machete, was a VERY close second but just lost out due to being a tad one-dimensional. That said, the thing it does, it does PERFECT. The Sledgehammer however can do all things and has a beautiful, warm tone that also cuts. At medium and cranked tensions the rim shots seriously pop! The Sonic Saver hoops RULE. Like a blend of S-Hoop and Die Cast, without added weight…or cost. I love them!I have two other brass snares, Yamaha Recording Custom brass and a Sonor S-Class brass which are both fantastic in their own right. But, this one is one step above those somehow. I think the hammering mellow’s out the tone to the perfect degree yet also adds complexity making this one hell of a versatile snare drum! I play in two metal bands, a math rock band, and a show choir and will use this on all of those gigs…that should tell you everything! Blast beats, slamming 2 & 4, jazz comping, ghost notes, you name it and this thing does it.The somewhat goofily named Black Panther and it’s snare line (Phatbob, ugh Really?) are probably the reason these aren’t as popular as their Tama, Pearl, Yamaha counterparts…but they should be. These are totally professional drums that I regard to be of the same quality or better even. If you are in the market for a new snare, I couldn’t recommend this enough.

The looks of this snare and the name suggest it's only good in one genre. That is definitely not the case. This thing is versitile. I was looking for a deep woody snare sound and skipped over this a bunch of times. Then I decided just to play around with this thing a bit and I was blown away by it. I expected a loud pingy obnoxious sound, but it's the exact opposite! Description say loud and focused. I'll agree with the focused part, but loud....well it's as loud as my other two snares, but it's fatter than my wood snare and way warmer than my steel. Both snares have been decommissioned. This thing plays the lightest of ghost notes. It's very responsive, rim shots are clear and predictable and it has a fantastic tuning range. I'm using an Evans G1 coated with it with a very worn out moongel balancing between the rim and head. I was hesitant to use this head thinking it would ping like crazy, but it doesn't. The sound is very controlled. My wife thought was seriously ugly when I showed her the picture, but when it arrived, she quickly changed her mind. Pictures definitely don't do it justice. The finish on this dum is very deep. It looks like it has a ton of clear coat on it, but it doesn't. Tough to explain, but you won't see it in the photos. I was thinking originally of getting three snares for different sounds. This one tunes so well, I'm holding off for a bit. I'll still get a second snare for sure as a side snare, but exploring the potential in the sledgehammer first. I play a variety of genres and this snare has nailed the sound in each so far. You'd definitely need a dryer head for heavy jazz, but I have no doubt it'd do well in picking up brush work. It's that sensitive. Love it.

This snare is equipped with some of the most cutting tone. The Brass finish of this Mapex sledgehammer serves some of the most explosive yet enriched sound that makes your heart and soul feel every stroke you take to the drum. It's double off-snare panels makes it quite easy to configure when tuning or replacing bottom springs. The Best drum heads for these IMO are the Remo Ambassador & Evans HD Dry as both heads are double ply and produce thick, warm and fat tones to this drum. Best snare I've ever owned, next to my 7 x 13 Pork Pie Little Squealer.