My school is close to getting new Mapex drums and it would help a lot if we could get the Airframes to go with them, since they're cheaper than the Mapex Q-ball carriers. Would the Pearl J-bars fit into the Mapex drum/carrier attachment piece?

Thanks!

I wouldn't be too concerned with standalone carrier prices. When you get quotes for drums including carriers, the carrier pricing is significantly different. I'd be a little surprised if Airframes purchases separately were still less expensive than Mapex carriers bundled with a set of drums.

But, attempting to answer your compatibility question:

Mapex j-bar receivers are a bit on the narrow side. Randall May j-bars fit, but it's snug. Not sure about the Airframes' j-bars. But there are more variables than just the diameter of the bars...

The snares are the easiest part to figure out. The carrier comes with the carrier attachment piece. Buy an Airframe carrier? Clamp the Pearl carrier attachment to the tension posts on your drum. Done. That was easy.

The tenors can be done similarly. The carrier comes with the backbar. Drill the shells and mount the backbar on your drums. The downside is that your tenors will now have extra holes in them. And if Mapex sets their drums up with a different geometry than Pearl, you may need to change the spacing between drums by replacing the stock spacers with bolts and nuts you can adjust.

Alternatively, you can use a Mapex (XL Specialty) backbar if it comes with the drums, but you might want to swap out the j-bar receiver tubes for ones with a slightly larger diameter. They're not hard to fabricate from steel pipe if you have access to a drill press.

The trick with the basses is the eyelet spacing. I know Pearl, Yamaha, and Dynasty all space the eyelets on the drums differently, so you can't swap carriers without a little modification. I'm not sure about Mapex. If you buy Pearl carriers for Mapex drums and the eyelet spacing is different, you can redrill and move the eyelets on the drums or you can modify the hooks on the carrier.

One way to modify bass carrier hooks is to replace them with a strap and clip, a la XL Specialty (see attachment). Dog leashes are a good, cheap source for similar straps and clips. Cut to length, burn a hole through the strap with a soldering iron, and fasten it to the carrier with a bolt & washer.