Recommendations for a general purpose mallet for drum set?

gusty

gusty

Platinum Member
I want to buy a pair of mallets that will work well for cymbal rolls and that will also sound good when playing around the drums, does anyone have any favorite mallets for this?
 
For years I've kept a pair of Vic Firth SD1 Swizzle Sticks in my stickball. It's a combination hard felt mallet and drum stick ball tip - although I still use it more as a felt mallet than I do as a drumstick, but it's nice to have the option.
 
Matt Bo Eder said:
For years I've kept a pair of Vic Firth SD1 Swizzle Sticks in my stickball. It's a combination hard felt mallet and drum stick ball tip - although I still use it more as a felt mallet than I do as a drumstick, but it's nice to have the option.
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Second that.
I use the Vic Firth SD 6 Swizzle B.
 
Optimum Percussion in Sydney have dozens of different multi sticks with felt at one end and a wooden tip at the other.

My favourite is the Rohema 61332F which has a slightly softer felt disc, rather than the solid felt ball that the Vic Firths have. The drum stick is also a standard 5A size, which makes it feel much more like playing a normal drum stick.
In Aus, the Rohema is much cheaper than the VF, ProMark and Vater models.

http://www.optimumpercussion.com.au...mallets/rohema-sd-cym-timp-swizzle-stick.html
 
I would get a real timpani mallet as swizzle sticks have no soft wrap which is very useful for smooth swells IMO. Any general medium timpani mallet would work, for example the Innovative Percussion GT4. Those have a hickory shaft so you won't have to worry about durability if you choose to use the shaft too.
 
I just use regular Vic T1 and T2. I also have a pair of John Riley combo sticks.
 
STXBob said:
I just slide some spare cymbal felts over my regular sticks. It was one of those "works in a pinch" things I never stopped doing.
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Wow- after searching the internet for soft mallet tips for sticks and combo sticks, where prices were crazy expensive--- I found this gem of an older post from 8 years ago. Tested this out on a pair of sticks and it works perfectly, its free and effective for my needs in a jazz trio where cymbal swells are needed within a few songs.
(y)
 
newoldie said:
Wow- after searching the internet for soft mallet tips for sticks and combo sticks, where prices were crazy expensive--- I found this gem of an older post from 8 years ago. Tested this out on a pair of sticks and it works perfectly, its free and effective for my needs in a jazz trio where cymbal swells are needed within a few songs.
(y)
Click to expand...

Great idea and thanks for sharing.
Also, those plastic Vic Firth Universal Practice Tips produce a mellower sound on the cymbals and the drum set. The sound is not as mellow as a soft mallet, but it is definitely mellower than the regular wood or hard nylon stick tip.


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I got these off Amazon:

They aren't the best mallets I ever used but they work fine and at the time I got them were something like $12 or so dollars. Right now at $21 it may be worth spending more for a nicer "name brand" pair but if you keep an eye out these go on sale often. They sound outstanding on toms and hand percussion, they work fine on cymbals for swells. I've had them for probably two or three years now and they are holding up fine. Granted, they get used maybe 1-2 times per gig for small swell effects on cymbals and occasionally for a full song that is mostly rumbly tom playing.
 
Make your own. Left to right - Thin foam rubber under medical tape, Cotton sheet under medical tape, semi-hard foam cylinders glued with shoe goo. Each has a distinctive sound. All sound good to me - better than bare sticks. They make the sound rounder and fuller rather than sharp and pingy. Mallets.jpg
 
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