promark 5b pro-round.

is nice!

I must've tried dozens of different brands, tip-shapes and sizes, and eventually settled on Pro Mark 2B Oak Wood Tip sticks. They're thick enough and solid enough that they last a good long while for the price, which is a bit above the cost of hickory sticks.

I thought Vater and Vic Firth sticks were ok at the time, but for some reason or another they never stuck with me. Pro Mark, I would gladly endorse.

Edit: I didn't see dontfeartheringo's post, but yeah, we had a mindmeld.

i use Ziljdian ABSOLUTE ROCK.

aside from the hilarious name, the main draw is that they have no tips. symmetrical, double butt-end, whatever you wanna call it. i also tried the promark brand version of the tipless (# 808 maybe? i can't remember), but i kept breaking them. probably a bad batch or sat on shelf too long and dried out.

it was a bit rough on my wrists at first, b/c it was a big adjustment weight-wise. however, more stick surface area making contact with the batter head yields a "fatter, punchier" sound, without the need to play as hard as one can. sometimes they aren't the best for quiet playing, but i don't do much of that. also they don't sound too clean for ride cymbal, but i don't really play non-crashing type ride stuff.

for what it's worth, after trying all the brands years back, it was clear to me that pro mark sticks were likely the most durable. personally, i can't use hickory sticks because they simply do not last...even pro mark 2B's chip away to an unusable odd shape/weight pretty quickly. i currently use Oak 5B's flipped around, & for me this has worked best in terms of the sound/durability issue. i think oak may be worth the extra buck...

For big brand names I tend to go for vic firth or vater. i usually get a few months out of them. my choice stick is cadeson, don't know if you have that company, a taiwanese company that's an oem for big name brands, that make their own kits, too. their sticks ('american' hickory) are half the price of the name brands (around 5 u.s. rather than 10, how much do sticks usually cost where you people are?) but last much longer than most. i usually go for 5as. i just got a pair with huge wooden tips. i like the way bounce.

I use Vic Firth Nova, ROCK size.

They're cheap, and at the rate I snap sticks that's a necessity. You get the odd duff one or three in a batch of 24, but for the price I can deal with it.

I may switch to 2B's in the near future.

pro mark 7a's.

vaters are weighted strangely, though i have gone through phases during which i liked them a lot. there's a lot more stick near the tip and that makes them top heavy.

Vic Firth 3A's here.

Kind of like the Zildjian Super 5A , but made better and with a rounder tip and slightly shorter at around 16 3/8". I've broken 1 in 3 years and recommend them highly.

If your breaking a lot of sticks then I would suggest you look at how you hit the drums. Are you playing rim-shots on the snare every back beat? If so then you are doomed to forever break sticks!

c.gymer wrote:If your breaking a lot of sticks then I would suggest you look at how you hit the drums.

Tuck in your shirts, too, you hoodlums!

5B's. Whatever brand is in stock. The weighting doesn't really affect how incompetently I hit the drum. I guess you could say I am adaptive. A chameleon of sorts. While you were busy tapping your sticks on a table to check for matching, I was out the door and on the road to Rocktown. Yeehaw.

Seriously, I am going to start blaming my mistakes on improper stick weighting and matching and not bad timing or technique. I knew it wasn't my fault all of these years.

Jon