After quite a bit of work and a lot of trawling around the net, the new section for Black Panther Kits is now live.  As ever, it's always going to be a work in progress (it's a website, not a...(Read More)

In early April 2023, following a suggestion from Tosh Mihalev on the facebook Group, I started making a new section on the site to feature Black Panther Kits. (Great idea Tosh - cheers!) To help w...(Read More)

I’ve been getting a bit concerned recently about the rendering speed of some pages on the site, especially “All Snares”. It was fine when I started the site and there were only a few dozen items, b...(Read More)

I've been trying to track down some information about some other "unicorn" snares (the 14x5.5 and 14x6.5 Flat Black Maple with Black Hardware) and got a lead from Anthony Johns from another group t...(Read More)

Had a bit of a revelation in late June when processing some new shots of the Thick Maple, kindly provided by Damian Ciupiński (Dziękuję Ci Damian!). https://www.mapexblackpanther.com/black-panther...(Read More)

Since I started the archive, I’ve been trying to track down any photos of what is described in Mapex’s 2007 USA Catalogue (or at least, the only version I can find) as the 14”x5.5” Blonde Birdseye ...(Read More)

After a lot of late nights, I've finally got the Mapex hardware section online.I've tried to list the standard Mapex Black Panther hardware by category in rough chronological order. However there h...(Read More)

Well, it's taken a while but I've managed to get the Black Panther Timeline organised and online. This will always be a bit of a "work in progress" as new information emerges about the develop...(Read More)

Hit a milestone this evening on the site   Just added the 100th snare from the Mapex Japan / Beyond Shimano collaboration - a rather fetching 14"x5.5 White Oil Birds Eye Maple with Two...(Read More)

This Winter, Mapex UK are pleased to offer their UK and Ireland customers a unique ‘thank you’ when purchasing the awesome Saturn Evolution. Simply purchase and take delivery of your new Saturn Ev...(Read More)

Not often you do a proper double-take when scrolling through Facebook of an evening, but on 16 November 2021, my neck nearly snapped off when I spotted a post on the Mapex Drums Fan Page from new m...(Read More)

Announced on 12 November 2021, this special limited release snare drum was designed (just two weeks before his passing) to Ralph’s preferred specs in both looks and sound, representing a s...(Read More)

If you're lucky enough to live in one of the Benelux countries (which sadly I'm not) you'll be excited to hear that Mike Hendrickx and crew are touring drum stores with the "Black Panther Experienc...(Read More)

A piece of Mapex history turned up on Ebay recently, a Carmine Appice Signature Snare, and caused a mixture of interest, suspicion and incredulity. Interest because most people didn't kn...(Read More)

Here's one (or rather two) you don't see every day of the week.  The snare on the left is the production version of the 20th Anniversary "Rock Maple"snare, made to celebrate that anniversary ...(Read More)

The Mapex Black Panther Mayan is a bit of legend amongst those who know about these things (and I'm assuming you're one of us, as you're reading this). Not produced in particularly big numbers, thi...(Read More)