Vic Firth Steve Smith Tala Wand Slatz

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Bamboo 4-slat Review - Spend your money elsewhere

I got these to play small clubs with my soul band. The drum parts require a good pop on the snare that Hot Rods can't produce, and I needed more rebound to keep the funk. With their foam core and heavier bamboo slats, these seemed perfect at first. They reduced the volume enough but not too much and they certainly delivered on the rebound. Ultimately though, the issues outweighed the benefits. The first issue, noticed immediately, was the square shape. They feel weird in your hand and you have to choose a side to face down because they corner sounds very different from the flat side of the tip. The plastic tip deadens cymbals a little too much, removing all the "ping" from the ride, so when a few of them fell off (after my second show with them and maybe 10th time using them), I thought that might be better. It was not better though because the bamboo began to split immediately and now not only did the corners sound different, but each side had a very different sound on the cymbals. The inconsistent sound problems go even deeper since, as you can see, there is a lot of plastic near the top of these sticks. When crashing, you have to be certain not to hit the plastic part or else you will get no crash. The inconsistent results caused me to constantly focus on stick placement and which side was facing the drums, taking away from my playing. After only a few weeks of use, these are coming apart completely. The bamboo is completely split and the foam core pops out constantly now. For this amount of money, I hoped they'd be great, but they're just not. I've gone back to the Hot Rods that I've had for 10 years as they're in better condition than these are after just a few weeks. It was a nice idea, but the costs far outweigh the benefits, so I recommend passing on these.