Overview
This limited edition model is a bit of a strange "mash-up" to be perfectly honest. That's doesn't mean it's not a great snare - I'm sure it sounds fantastic. It's just that it was released in late 2012, has the tall rounded rectangle Black Panther badge, but features the pre-2010 low-mass lugs and a Saturn strainer. According the Pro-Music-News site in December 2012...
Mapex introduces ... limited edition snare drums which might not be available anywhere.
The Black Panther series snare comes in the popular 13”x6” size with a premium maple shell. The high grade 'wax natural' finish provides a great look and promises the snare to fit into almost every set up. The limited drum is equipped with 2.3 mm powerhoops to make the 5.8 mm shell sound warm with the right amount of crack. The snare drum features a stylish and efficient Throw off strainer and Remo UT heads.
Personally (and I have nothing to back this up - it's just a hunch) I think that Mapex had some spare Maple shells and deprecated Orion/pre-2010 hardware and put these together as a cost-efficient special edition. If that was the case, I'm fully on-board with it - there's always room for another Black Panther model!
There's a larger 14"x6.5" model too although, I don't have any background information on that one - I'm assuming it was (fairly) contemporary to this model.
Thanks to Alex Wicheard for bringing this model's existence to my attention.
Photos courtesy of Armin Engelhard at Farm Sound on Reverb. Vielen Dank Armin!
