vyacheslav
Senior Member
Greetings,
I wanted to see what your take was on Pro-Mark sticks. I feel since the D'Addario takeover, they have gone downhill. Not necessarily in terms of quality (they have), but with selection......and their marketing is way to gimmicky for my tastes. Their website is also bad, in terms of specs of sticks.
For starters, I use to love their maple Jazz Cafe series of sticks. They were great, and from what I understand pretty popular (certainly among jazz players). That line has completely been discontinued. The only make 7A, 5A, 55A and 5B maple sticks now, either in regular or long, and they all have round tips! I am not a round tip fan. Why not put different tips on different models? Also, all of the maple models are only available in "Rebound" balance. Not a lot of variety/choices there. Also, their Stinger 5A was also one of my favorite sticks. That has been discontinued as well. They do offer a 5A Stinger in Oak, but oak is not hickory, and the tip shape and taper is much different. Thankfully, the Zildjian John Riley is almost identical to the 5A Stinger.
Speaking of, the whole "Rebound vs. Forward" balance is a nice choice to have, but Pro Mark goes all in on it, and the make it the focal point, where as it should be about the stick in general. They have all these (hickory) models in both forward and rebound balance. Maybe just a few would be good (the basics), but they have all of these models just making things confusing and muddying the waters.
On their website, they show all of their sticks, even the signature models as "Length: 16-16.5" (which is it???) and "Diameter: 5A". That doesn't really tell you anything. A Vater 5A is a slightly different diameter from a Regal Tip 5A as to a Vic Firth 5A etc. If you click on "Learn More". it shows the exact specs of length and diameter, but still, why hide that necessary information? Almost all drummers I know are very particular about their stick models, and we all pay attention to those specs. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like Pro Mark is "dumbing it down" and they think we can't understand/aren't interested in that "technical mumbo jumbo".
Finally, I don't like their cutesy marketing. Firegrain? Really? Burning the stick makes it more durable? It does give it a unique look, but seriously.................don't make up an entire, corporate, focus group written backstory on them. Just tell us what it is and why you are offering them. Are they really worth the premium price?
I was never a big Pro Mark guy back in the day, but always enjoyed their sticks and their quality control was the best of anyone. Now I just roll my eyes at them. Does anyone else feel that Pro Mark has slipped or changed for the worse since D'Addario took over?
V
I wanted to see what your take was on Pro-Mark sticks. I feel since the D'Addario takeover, they have gone downhill. Not necessarily in terms of quality (they have), but with selection......and their marketing is way to gimmicky for my tastes. Their website is also bad, in terms of specs of sticks.
For starters, I use to love their maple Jazz Cafe series of sticks. They were great, and from what I understand pretty popular (certainly among jazz players). That line has completely been discontinued. The only make 7A, 5A, 55A and 5B maple sticks now, either in regular or long, and they all have round tips! I am not a round tip fan. Why not put different tips on different models? Also, all of the maple models are only available in "Rebound" balance. Not a lot of variety/choices there. Also, their Stinger 5A was also one of my favorite sticks. That has been discontinued as well. They do offer a 5A Stinger in Oak, but oak is not hickory, and the tip shape and taper is much different. Thankfully, the Zildjian John Riley is almost identical to the 5A Stinger.
Speaking of, the whole "Rebound vs. Forward" balance is a nice choice to have, but Pro Mark goes all in on it, and the make it the focal point, where as it should be about the stick in general. They have all these (hickory) models in both forward and rebound balance. Maybe just a few would be good (the basics), but they have all of these models just making things confusing and muddying the waters.
On their website, they show all of their sticks, even the signature models as "Length: 16-16.5" (which is it???) and "Diameter: 5A". That doesn't really tell you anything. A Vater 5A is a slightly different diameter from a Regal Tip 5A as to a Vic Firth 5A etc. If you click on "Learn More". it shows the exact specs of length and diameter, but still, why hide that necessary information? Almost all drummers I know are very particular about their stick models, and we all pay attention to those specs. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like Pro Mark is "dumbing it down" and they think we can't understand/aren't interested in that "technical mumbo jumbo".
Finally, I don't like their cutesy marketing. Firegrain? Really? Burning the stick makes it more durable? It does give it a unique look, but seriously.................don't make up an entire, corporate, focus group written backstory on them. Just tell us what it is and why you are offering them. Are they really worth the premium price?
I was never a big Pro Mark guy back in the day, but always enjoyed their sticks and their quality control was the best of anyone. Now I just roll my eyes at them. Does anyone else feel that Pro Mark has slipped or changed for the worse since D'Addario took over?
V