I picked up a Mapex M-Maple kit recently, and I am quite happy with it. It has a great natural wood tone, and with a new Aquarian II batter head, the kick is amazing. Very punch and defined without a lot of low end slop.
Of the low end stuff, my impression is that Tama are good, Pearl not quite so.
Good heads make a difference to any kit, i.e you can put nice new heads on a cheap ass kit and get a useable sound. Of course how long the sound remains good is another story