Whats the best Bass Mallet brand?? <P>------------------<BR>Aaron Yingling<BR>Montour High School Drumline<BR>Bass #1

They all break, therefore they are all equal in the eyes of the rim/jamblock. Yeah.<P>------------------<BR>Bass Drum<BR>Iowa State Drumline<BR>http://www.music.iastate.edu/org/drumline<BR>(No, I'm not the same guy as Hostage.....I'm better looking ;))

I'm sorry.I didn't know any brand other than American Drum existed.lol.

i HOPE you're joking about the american drum mallet thing... once again, VIC FIRTH is the best... promarks heads get all distorted after about 2.45 seconds of playing... STICK W/ VIC

Nah, the promark heads are much more dense than vic-firths (as in, incredibly so the first time you play on them). The one thing I havent liked is that in their newer mallets they've just glued the bead on instead of bolting through it.<P>------------------<BR>Bass drum<BR>Iowa State University<BR>http://www.music.iastate.edu/org/drumline<BR>http://www.stuorg.iastate.edu/groove/home.html

that's one of many things i don't like about promark... they always seem to take shortcuts on quality when it comes to their americorps line

I'm a big fan of the americorps platinum's we get.<P>------------------<BR>Bass drum<BR>Iowa State University<BR>http://www.music.iastate.edu/org/drumline<BR>http://www.stuorg.iastate.edu/groove/home.html

No,I am not joking.That's all we used and I didn't know of any other bass drum mallet brand.What makes Vic Firth better than American Drum?

i don't know american drum that well, but i'd say simply the fact that vf rules...

i agree with sdsusnare. vf is the best. actually that's all i've used. but i've never broken a pair of bass drum malets, so they must be pretty good. and they sound nice as well

well..we use American Drum mallets, so..i can rant about them a bit. For one thing, the heads are glued on, & i have already had to reglue the head of our bass-2 mallet 2 times cause it came right off. The heads get distored after playing for a while, expecially if your playing in the rain(my mallets-bass1- have become bloated from playing a game in the rain). Thats all i can really come up with for now.<P>------------------<BR>Aaron Yingling<BR>Montour High School Drumline<BR>Bass #1

most heads do bloat in the rain... it's not just limited to AD... and same goes for distorting, but that depends on how long you play w/ them before they distort... but heads falling off is just lame & a sign of poor quality, unless they were overly abused

for davids sake , sticks that arent glued on, means like the vf's dont only have the glue, but also a metal rod put through the center and into the shaft a little bit to help sturdiness of the mallet head. atleast this is for the hard felt bass mallets...

i dont play bass so i dont know to much, most of what i say is merely observations from things i read and see in catalogs and other places, this i just looked at the vf product booklet i have(wich by the way you can go to there site and order one, theyll send you stickers too!!! i got 2 sheets(10 stickers total) cuz i accidentally signed up a second time...)



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-Kevin
NHS Percussion
www.drumlines.org/nhsdrums
punk@drumlines.org

PissMonkey, Inc.<P>'Nuff said.<P>------------------<BR>Webmaster, Drumlines.org<BR>AIM: Drumlines

Amen brotha Josh....oh, and to let you people in on a little secret....Piss Monkey is developing an indoor line of sticks specifically for my line...I am so happy. Thanks again, Monkey Man.

What do you all think of the standard Vic Firth Corpsmasters series? My B.Line uses this kind, and is all I have ever used, so I was wondering if there are any better.

there are no better then VF... except MAYBE IP, but i've never really gotten to play w/ them

im pretty sure sdsu meant PI not IP...some peopel get these confused, Innovative Percussion, and Pissmonkey Inc.

PI has some of the best novelty sticks, but have the same feel and quality of other companies sticks, like vf and ip. but isnt a stick witha monkey logo on it better than a stick with text printed on it ?

[img]http://www.drumlines.org/ubb/smilies/cwm42.gif[/img]



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-Kevin
NHS Percussion
www.drumlines.org/nhsdrums
punk@drumlines.org

I have to agree with the majority and say Vic Firth is the best! They have a good sound to them, and i have only broken 2 pairs in 4 years, so i guess that is good! And believe me there is a big difference between Vic's , and American Drum! And Vic Wins that one!

I need a few top brands for my squad too preferably white but not those soft mallets <BR> <P>------------------<BR>

well, you got two names floating around. VF and IP. i'm a VF fan. they make hard felt. they sound nice. <P>what do you mean that you want them white? if you mean the shaft, hell, electrical tape can fix that. if you mean the head, you're probably gonna have to go with felt. or an indoor mallet. but you don't want that for outdoor playing. hence the indoor in the name. (call me captain obvious)<P>if you don't want felt, you could always go with the blackjacks....<P>------------------<BR>Christopher Tebbens<BR>Oberlin College<BR>Christopher.Tebbens@oberlin.edu<BR>Mindwolf@drumlines.org

Vic Firth malletts are a must! We use the balck BD series for the simple reason that it has great response and of the tapered shaft. The taper prohibits your line from choking up too much on the mallet. Also, because of this, the mallet promotes correct technique so you won't "smice-up" your arms and you'll build up those most important chops with the correct technique.<P>--<BR>DigitalPimp<BR>University of Louisiana at Lafayette Drumline [img]cwm7.gif" border="0[/img] [img]cwm7.gif" border="0[/img]

We used to use Gambal bass drum mallets. They were OK, not great, just OK. We then switched to the VFs with the taper and they were cool. I did break two of the MB-4s myself, mostly through rim clicks. The taper felt good in the hand. I don't know anything about the IP sticks but would definately like to play around with them.<P>I'm using the VFs for the HS/MS line I teach. I can't agree with the statement that they prevent choking up on the sticks, however. If they don't grasp the sticks properly to begin with, they can choke up on everything.<P>Can anyone tell me why beginning bass drummers hold the mallets with the back three fingers instead of with the thumb and pointer?<P>Middle Age Man

Because they don't understand the concept of using a fulcrum to play.

I like corp master but it depends on what style you play and how your technique is <s>[b]snugglebunny[/b]</s> [color:"red"]a lot</font> of drummers don't have good technique so therefore broken mallets.But there are some cheapos and bargain bin stuff out there.

I like Silver Fox. We used em last year and they held up real good . We used the Hichory Shaft ones. [img]cwm13.gif" border="0[/img]

Hey someone else besides me in here used Silver Fox bass mallets! I used them in high school and they held out an entire season plus 3 parades and 4 heavy downpours without the tips fluffing up and falling off. The hickory shafts...IMO...are very similary to the PM AmeriCorps and the VF Corpmaster mallets. Silver Fox has a thicker taper to them though. But other than that very similar.

In High School We used those gambal mallets and they weren't to bad. They were nice and sturdy and packed a nice punch. But now in college, we use VF corpmasters. Nothing better! Great mallets. A recomendation to all.

LBJCB has our mallets custom made, i dont know by who, but they sure are sweet [img]cwm20.gif" border="0[/img]

I have an endorsement W/Pro Mark. Their bass mallets are VERY similar to VF, and my bassline hasn't ever had a problem w/them breaking. The tenor line uses the aluminum shaft mallets w/the clear acrylic head. Those have been great. We've used the DC4's (very similar to Casellsa) that Pro-Mark custom selects for us with VERY heavy weight and high pitch---essentially super dense hickory.<BR>We do drum VERY hard, and about 20+hours a week, so they have held up well all season.

i broke upwards 5 vic firth bass mallets last year. i'm not sure whether any of them were defective or what. but i mean, breaking mallets cadencing at a football game the night before a big comp. is not cool.

If you broke 5 bass mallets during a high school season, I would take a look at how you're playing. There is absolutely no reason for breaking that many bass mallets. Finding that many defective pairs is possible, but highly unlikely in my experience. Take is easy on the poor rims.

yeah, i'm sure what you mentioned was the problem. i don't think it happen during shows, maybe once. ::frowns:: i needed to check out the dynamics more...

<small>[ July 30, 2002, 10:06 PM: Message edited by: spock bass ]</small>

I am confident to say that Vic Firth Corpsmaster Bass Mallets are the most balanced, best sounding, and the most durable mallet on the market. Definitly out of the Big Three (Vic Firth, Pro-Mark, Innovative) they are the Top of the Class...

Robert Villanova

I don't know who, what or where these other brands fall, but Vic Firth is definitely the best. The top Drum Corps in the world all use VF. Maybe 1 or 2 use Innovative but that's a small percentage. From the battery & pit to the concert hall Vic Firth is Number 1. Some people just are not up to par yet. All should reconsider what performs and handles the BEST.

Please don't double-post. Use the edit button to make changes to your posts.

Say hi to Billy for me.

uhm, yeah.

"everybody" uses vic firth.

except for the cavaliers, santa clara (pit), bluecoats, phantom regiment, magic of orlando, glassmen, seattle cascades, spirit of atlanta (from the top twelve); carolina crown, madison scouts, etc. etc.


i've endorsed promark, vic firth, and innovative, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

to say that vic firth is head and shoulders above is foolish.

b

If you look it up, Vanguard, Phantom and Magic all use Vic Firth..

Middle age Man:
How do you know BILLY??

uhm, sorry, but no.

check your facts, man.

SCV pit uses Innovative Percussion, including the Jim Casella Signature series mallets:
http://www.scvanguard.org/about/sponsors.php


Magic of Orlando uses Innovative Percussion, including the Colin McNutt signature series stick
http://www.magicorlando.org

Phantom is listed as Firth on their page still, but the new caption head (Paul Rennick) is an IP endorser, including his own signature series stick, so I'd imagine they'll be switching over soon, too.

There is an Edit button. <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I marched with him in the Caballeros. Back in the days when his nickname was Fire Boy. I also did a parade or two with him on the side.

I'll probably wind up seeing you guys this fall. Be sure to look for me.

And you still missed the Edit button. <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/cwm30.gif" alt="" />

In my far too many years at UNC we've used a variety of sticks (depending on is endorsing Savage that particular year <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> )
First was VF and I liked the design of the sticks but we did have sticks randomly break out within 15 min of breaking them out of the package. Not through heavy playing but just random rim clicks, doot, wood snapped in half. Haven't used them reguarly in recent years so I can't def say one way or the other as to how I feel about them now.

Next were the JohnnyraBB years. Matt signed with them and came out with a line of marching percussion sticks and tenor mallets (another story for another time). The bass mallets came with a "pinky groove" which I have come to prefer to use as a ring finger groove. My only gripes with the bass mallets were that I wish the shaft was tapered a little bit, (it is just a bit after the grip but it straight all the way up the shaft. The other gripe was with the quality of screws they used in the bass mallets after the initial batches. The first mallets we got were okay but later in the year they changed the screw to one of much lower quality and we broke these screws (instead of the actual wood breaking) like crazy. The JohnnyraBB company from my understanding has went out of business this past year and we have long since switched to ProMark (as a side note, when your house is without power for long periods during a snowstorm and you're without dry firewood and you have a large quantity of JohnnyraBB sticks lying around, they will burn in your fireplace like no other <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ).

Most recently Savage has been with Pro Mark and I have really enjoyed being with them. They always send stuff when we need it and seem to be producing a quality product. I'm a big fan of the bass mallets with the exception of the white paint that they use which is hardly durable (but then again that's why we tape them isn't it). In winter drumline I use the ABR's and haven't been disapointed the first time.

Haven't used the Innovative mallets yet, somebody wants to send me a pair, I'll be more than happy to let them know what I think <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

UNCGQ, are you guys using the Yamaha Rim savers or anything like that? From what I've heard, those types of things can chew up mallets pretty fast.

Rob

in my opinion IP bass mallets aren't as good as Vic. Atlanta Quest got IP to sponsor them so we used IP mallets this past year. I didn't like them too much. First was the design. There's kinda of a knob in the middle of the mallet that makes people who don't know better think they gotta hold the mallet to far up, leaving way to much space at the bottom. Second, IP's weigh a lot more in the larger mallets then VIc's do respectively. This really hampers the abilities of the larger end basses. Vic's I like. They don't have a knob in the middle of them and are very comfortable to hold, whereas IP's take some getting used to. Vic's are well designed in my opinion to play with good technique whereas IP's support bad technique. Vics and IPs are the only mallets I've played with before myself. I used Vics during High school. The craziest mallets I've ever seen were some that Ayala HS form California was using for indoor at the WGI championship. I talked with the bass 5 there and he told me that they used Pro-marks with the felts knocked off of them, turned around, and taped up a whole lot (the larger the bass drum the more tape/wieght needed at the end to control the mallets). I was watching Ayala in the parking lot and daaannggggg, the basses were able to handle some fast junk with those mallets.

You just contradicted yourself. Do you need the weight or don't you?

I haven't used the IP mallets, but I believe that the notch you are talking about is of the same type that is on their tenor mallets. I've found the the notch makes it easier to get a consistent grip across the entire line and is pretty comfortable too.
I've found that the Vic Firth bass mallet heads deform too quickly for me. After an hour or two they start looking like an egg.

MAM, don't you know, Cavaliers, Bluecoats, Music City, Crown, etc... are all using improper technique :-P


Heavy = good.


B

Sorry Project_BP, I didn't catch that statement until you pointed it out to me. Pretty funny.

I think heavier mallets are better too, I just wanted Atlquestbaduqwa to qualify his statements.

sorry about that, let me explain myself. weight is needed at the end of the mallet (the larger the drum the more the weight). but the thing is, if you have too much weight then it gets harder to control but too little weight creates too much of a rebound/bounce. The IP's weigh more then Vics do, in a bad way. I hope this is a better explaination, if not I can try to explain better. BTW: a balance between heavy and light is required in bass mallets and the balance of these in IP's is, in my opinion, heavier then they should be to have a proper balance to them.

heavy is good.

light = breaks easily, doesn't produce good QOS, doesn't let the drum speak

B

we don't use the rim savers yet at UNC . . .

i played around with the Pearl ones (i assume they're pretty much all the same)

the savers chewing up the sticks was the exact same thing Savage said when I told him that I liked the rim savers . . .

my reponse to that was that we get sticks for free . . .
rims cost money . . .
I've not once in many many years got a new set of rims on my bass drum (although new drums are on the way so I'm not too sad)

we do play on them too much (rims) and too hard but it's a college line and well, it's a college line. We're not too worried about giving UNT a run for their money any time soon so it's basically a have fun, look respectable line.
it's my release to play in this line, if it were a competitive line, the story would be very different.

I have to second my support of Pro-Marks bass mallets. Now a days it seems like they're putting out a higher quality product and I have too many memories of getting a bad batch of VF's and seeing them split in half on the first click out of the bag. It happens to everybody regardless of brand. I did notice that the VF's didn't seem to hold their shape very long compared to some other brands.
I'll have to play with some IP's sometime and see how I like them.