Does anyone know any good fantasy series they can recommend for me apart from Shannara, Landover, or Xanth and don't span more than 3-4 books (i.e. no Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind)? There is just so much out there and I need to narrow the search a bit and I don't want to accidently pick any that will turn out to be utter pig swill.

Greenwood's "Spellfire" series

Feist's "Riftwar Saga" series (1st three books)

Dragonriders Of Pern Trilogy - Anne McCaffrey
Majipoor Cycle - Robert Silverberg
The Chronicles Of Amber: Corwin Cycle - Roger Zelazny
The Chronicles of the Deryni - Katherine Kurtz
The Legends of Camber of Culdi - Katherine Kurtz
The Histories of King Kelson - Katherine Kurtz (my son's name comes from this series)
don't forget Elric of Melniboné - Michael Moorcock

Super Old Skool:

Zothique
Hyperborea
Xiccarph
Poseidonis

Cool short story cycles by Clark Ashton Smith(Huge fan of his work)

The Conan series - Robert E. Howard

Also:

Gormenghast Series(Titus Groan, Gormenghast, Titus Alone) - Mervyn Peake

Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula K. Le Guin (Love this series)

A personal favorite:

The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien. If you haven't read this book do it NOW!!!! GO!!! Stop reading this and go out and get!!!!!!!!! GIT!!!! Good Grief!!! Just GO!!!

Below are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. May I ask why you don't want anything longer than a 3-4 book series? You're missing out on SEVERAL very good series...

Brandon Sanderson - The Mistborn trilogy (The Final Empire, The Well Of Ascension, The Hero Of Ages)

C.S. Friedman - The Coldfire Trilogy (Black Sun Rising, When True Night Falls, Crown Of Shadows)

Thomas Harlan - The Oath Of Empire (Shadow Of Ararat, The Gate Of Fire, The Storm Of Heaven, The Dark Lord)

Stephen R. Lawhead - The Celtic Crusades trilogy (The Iron Lance, The Black Rood, The Mystic Rose)

Steven Brust - The Viscount Of Adrilankha trilogy (The Paths Of The Dead, The Lord Of Castle Black, Sethra Levode) (two books prior have direct links to this series...The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After)

David B. Coe - The Lon Tobyn Chronicle (Children Of Amarid, The Outlanders, Eagle-Sage)

David Eddings has several series that I enjoyed several years ago. The Belgariad (two series) and the Mallorean series in particular.

Besides a lot of good recommendations already made, I like David Gemmell's stuff. He writes a variety of series but I guess his main one is his Drenai saga, which starts with Legend. He also wrote a Scottish-flavored series called the Rigante, which should probably be read with Iron Maiden's The Clansman playing in a continuous loop as background music, and I also enjoy his Jon Shannow trilogy, which is sort of like Mad Max reimagined as a Christian fanatic battling demons from hell.

You could also try the Dune series by Frank Herbert, although I would only recommend reading the first book "Dune" the rest are ok... to booorrriiinnngg.......

The Dragon Bone Chair series by Tad Williams is amazing fantasy. Dark, intense and a great selection of characters.

I've got another to recommend you, one I've just discovered myself. Almost through the second book of the trilogy, and it's a good one!

The Broken Well trilogy by Sam Bowring

The books are: Prophecy's Ruin, Destiny's Rift, and Soul's Reckoning

Book 1 started off with a VERY big bang! Tapered off a bit towards the middle, but the author kept things interesting. Not QUITE as detailed in environments, travels, etc as some fantasy authors can be, but he does a pretty good job of bringing his characters to life. Book 2 is a bit slower than book one, but has the feel of building for the climax in the final book.