Brass was introduced as a shell material for the first time. Still Pre-Black Panther, the Orion branding for the snare range was dropped in favour of the more familiar titles of "Maple Deluxe", "Brass Master" etc across the range. There's no differentiation in quality evident from the catalogue - all the snares seemed to be created equal.  

Notes:

• All shells feature updated “Flat Black“ Rectangular badges with gold writing.
• Most of the range feature “One Point Tube Lugs” (Small Oval Lugs with High Tension Through Tubes), although a few still have the older Freedom Lugs. 
• Several true (3.5" deep) piccolo models were available in brass and maple.
• Snares deeper than 3.5" came with Die-Cast hoops, all piccolo models came with Powerhoops.
• All models either had Power Strainers or Piccolo Strainers 
• All but one (M5565DHK - Transparent Black only) of the maple models were available in a choice of 6 colours:
  • Transparent Black (TBK)
  • Transparent Red (TRD)
  • Transparent Diamond Blue (TDB)
  • Transparent Cobalt Blue (TCB)
  • Natural (NT) 
  • Opaque White (OW)
• All snares came with Remo Ambassador heads
• The kits still feature fairly deep toms, resulting in really long lugs, especially on the floor toms. The tom holders look still look like they would made a decent weapon!
• Kit series included Orion (Studio- Birch and Custom- Maple), Saturn (Studio and Stage, Maple-Mahogany-Maple), Mars (Hardwood and Maple) and Venus (Hardwood and Japanese Lime/Linden)