Vater Los Angeles 5A sticks

Merlin5

Merlin5

Gold Member
Well I won't be buying any more of those which is a pity. I bought a couple of pairs and in each pair one of the sticks broke (from rimshots) after only two or three gigs. To be honest I prefer to rimshot a little higher up the stick so perhaps not at the strongest part of the shaft. But I've recently bought a few pairs of Vic Firth 5A and they last way longer, in fact, my current Vic Firth sticks haven't broken after several gigs, only the tips started to chip.

Both the Vater and the Vic Firth feel similar to me, really nice and comfortable and bring out much the same tone and pitch from my rides so I was happy playing either. But I'll just continue to buy Vic Firth. Has anyone else experienced this lack of durability from Vater sticks?
 
Merlin5 said:
Well I won't be buying any more of those which is a pity. I bought a couple of pairs and in each pair one of the sticks broke (from rimshots) after only two or three gigs. To be honest I prefer to rimshot a little higher up the stick so perhaps not at the strongest part of the shaft. But I've recently bought a few pairs of Vic Firth 5A and they last way longer, in fact, my current Vic Firth sticks haven't broken after several gigs, only the tips started to chip.

Both the Vater and the Vic Firth feel similar to me, really nice and comfortable and bring out much the same tone and pitch from my rides so I was happy playing either. But I'll just continue to buy Vic Firth. Has anyone else experienced this lack of durability from Vater sticks?
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Interesting you say that. I have always found Vater sticks to be denser and more durable than Vic's, but I had a different experience lately. I picked up a pair of 5As with nylon tip at a local store just because. I didn't even try them out, because I have never had an issue with Vaters (or Vic's, for that matter), but I'll be damned if they weren't light as a feather, plus one of them was warped.

I'm not super picky and pride myself on being able to use anything, but they aren't good, that's fo sho. I haven't broken them, but then I'm not gigging with them. Unfortunate.
 
Stroman said:
Interesting you say that. I have always found Vater sticks to be denser and more durable than Vic's, but I had a different experience lately. I picked up a pair of 5As with nylon tip at a local store just because. I didn't even try them out, because I have never had an issue with Vaters (or Vic's, for that matter), but I'll be damned if they weren't light as a feather, plus one of them was warped.

I'm not super picky and pride myself on being able to use anything, but they aren't good, that's fo sho. I haven't broken them, but then I'm not gigging with them. Unfortunate.
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Yep same here. I've always found the Vater 5As to be much more durable than the Vic Firth 5As
 
Same here. I switched to Vater a few years ago and find they chip a lot less than VF sticks. I don't hit hard rimshots so I can't really speak to that part.

I also like the balance of the Vaters vs the VF. The only issue I have with them is their 7A Manhattan nylon tip stick is too dissimilar from the wood tip version. I mostly use wood tips but do switch occasionally. The nylon has a longer length and taper, which makes the balance pretty different from the wood version.

That isn't really an issue with their 5A Los Angeles though. The wood and nylon versions of those are pretty similar.
 
I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this forum I recently picked up two pairs of Vater 1A’s

One had the correct weight, the other is way too light and feels ‘off’

Hoping it’s just a one off issue now VF don’t make the 1A’s anymore.
 
Juniper said:
I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this forum I recently picked up two pairs of Vater 1A’s

One had the correct weight, the other is way too light and feels ‘off’

Hoping it’s just a one off issue now VF don’t make the 1A’s anymore.
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Yeah, so far the "bad" pairs of Vaters still seem to be anomalies, and I hope it stays that way. I'll be checking all mine before purchasing, though, whenever possible.
 
VF sticks are made as per the furniture making standards, meaning that the wood is left with about 6% moisture content

Vater sticks are made as per the striking tool industry, meaning the wood is left with about 11% moisture content

I get twice the life with Vaters compared to VF by virtue of the almost doubled moisture content in the stick.

Your experiences don't compute, unless you got a bad batch of wood. I switched from VF to Vater just for the longer life.

VF and Vater feel the same to me as far as the balance goes, so the doubled life is the real reason I flipped.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. Maybe I got a bad batch. Here's the stick that broke last night. Actually, lit's sheared off right near the tip so can't be from a rimshot. Maybe I'll buy another pair directly from a shop rather than Amazon and see if it lasts longer.
 

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Philaiy9 said:
Yep same here. I've always found the Vater 5As to be much more durable than the Vic Firth 5As
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.......Annnnd same here. I've had fresh VFs not even last to the middle 8 of a song, so inconsistent. I was using Los Cabos 5A's until recently when my local drum store lost its LC distribution, so I reverted back to Vater LA 5A's and they're almost identical.
 
Merlin5 said:
Thanks for the replies guys. Maybe I got a bad batch. Here's the stick that broke last night. Actually, lit's sheared off right near the tip so can't be from a rimshot. Maybe I'll buy another pair directly from a shop rather than Amazon and see if it lasts longer.
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I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you got a counterfeit. None of the Vaters I have come with that rounded a butt. At least, that's what I see in that pic.

I don't trust anything from Amazon. 😁
 
Stroman said:
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you got a counterfeit. None of the Vaters I have come with that rounded a butt. At least, that's what I see in that pic.

I don't trust anything from Amazon. 😁
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Here is why I think yours may not be genuine, unless Vater has changed the butt shape recently.20230507_153300.jpg
 
Merlin5 said:
Thing is, I checked my order on Amazon and they came from the Vater store, so I can't imagine they're counterfeit.
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Well, that's both good and disappointing at the same time. Good they're not likely counterfeit, disappointing in the quality.

They must have changed the butt design. That used to be one of the unique things about the brand.
 
This same pair of Vater Manhattan 7a's have been in use for 8... Maybe 9 months now and are just starting to show signs of wear and I will probably replace them soon simply because I don't like to "live dangerously" when it comes to sticks. I buy them from Amazon at $7.99 a pair with free shipping. Never had an issue. For many years I actually used the Sound Percussion 7a's which have the same design and dimensions at the vater 7a but I could get them for under $5 a pair, in the last couple years the quality control went down on the sound percussion sticks and I got several that were nowhere near straight so I stopped using them (unless I happen to be in a guitar center and can visually inspect the sticks before buying). I typically go through 1-2 pairs of sticks a year with 1 weekly full band rehearsal and an average of 10 gigs a year, most of the time they don't break either I just like to swap them out when they get really worn. I have another pair that I exclusively use at home on my ekit, I've had that same pair going for almost three years now. My previous band was much more active with usually 5-6 rehearsals and 1-2 gigs every month, even then I went through maybe 3 pairs a year.

IMG_20230510_101007875.jpgIMG_20230510_101031348.jpg
 
Merlin5 said:
Thanks for the replies guys. Maybe I got a bad batch. Here's the stick that broke last night. Actually, lit's sheared off right near the tip so can't be from a rimshot. Maybe I'll buy another pair directly from a shop rather than Amazon and see if it lasts longer.
Click to expand...
Merlin5 said:
Thing is, I checked my order on Amazon and they came from the Vater store, so I can't imagine they're counterfeit.
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Is that store actually run by Vater? Or is it supplied by Vater but fullfilled by Amazon?

For Amazon.ca (Canada), the latter applies to most major brands (including Vater). That means the brand/manufacturer sends a bulk supply of the product to Amazon. That supply sits in an Amazon supply hub to fullfill the orders. I am guessing the warehouse at Vater HQ has much better climate control.

I order my sticks in bulk (1 brick = 12 pairs) direct from Vater. Great service and quality.
 
Merlin5 said:
Well I won't be buying any more of those which is a pity. I bought a couple of pairs and in each pair one of the sticks broke (from rimshots) after only two or three gigs. To be honest I prefer to rimshot a little higher up the stick so perhaps not at the strongest part of the shaft. But I've recently bought a few pairs of Vic Firth 5A and they last way longer, in fact, my current Vic Firth sticks haven't broken after several gigs, only the tips started to chip.

Both the Vater and the Vic Firth feel similar to me, really nice and comfortable and bring out much the same tone and pitch from my rides so I was happy playing either. But I'll just continue to buy Vic Firth. Has anyone else experienced this lack of durability from Vater sticks?
Click to expand...

I found a brick of Vater sticks on sale and decided to give them a try. Ugh. The balance of them was just "off" to me. I ended up giving a bunch of them away. I'll continue to play Vic Firth until something better comes along. They make the best sticks for me.
 
It's amazing how everyone can have such different experiences.
I generally buy half a dozen pairs of the Pro Mark LA Special sticks at a time and never had any major issues.
I recently bought 10 pairs of the discontinued Vic Firth Marky Ramone sticks at a "too good to miss out" price thinking they'd be much better. They're not. The tips of the one pair I've used so far have noticeably softened and there's chipping and splitting of the shoulder on one of them. At the price I paid I'm not complaining, they're effectively budget in price, but if these had been full price I wouldn't be happy.
 
Well I must say, my Vic Firth 5As are doing well. I do quite a lot of gigs weekly, I hit reasonably hard but I generally don't slam the drums and the tips are holding up for quite a long time and no snapping of the sticks after just a couple of gigs. Personally I'm very happy with VF and have no need to use any other brands. I might try some Pro Mark at some point for the hell of it. Haven't used that brand for years.
 
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