P A N

mapex are not crap drums freebase! their high-end models easily match pearl and ludwig.

as for Pacific, if you can afford them, get them. you're gonna get a lot of bang for your buck out of those ones. the only difference between them and DWs is essentially that they are made overseas, the lugs are ovular instead of round, and you get less options for the finish. there is a lot of care going into those drums. even the bearing edges are perfect.

the reason pork pie drums are associated with punk so often is that they specialize in crack. tons of attack, very little tone and decay. some of them have 4 4inch soundholes in them so as to further strip the drum of any natural tone. kind of a specialty drum, and probably not favourable by a novice.

but hey, if you're just learning, you don't even need real drums! practice pads will do just fine, and probably annoy everyone around you a tad less. i learned on the crappiest kit i've seen still to this day. i just put towels or pillowcases under all the skins to kill all the whacked out vibrations i was getting from shoddy bearing edges and warped shells.

i think the best advice is probably not to worry too much about the quality of your first kit. get something cheap that you can learn on, and further assure yourself that this is something you want to invest significant amounts of money in. quality instruments are not cheap. BUT, the cool thing about drums is that you don't have to replace the whole kit to upgrade. which, to me, amounts to CONSTANT FUN.