Vater 1A Hickory

I've played these sticks for 6 years. Great balance and they seem to last a damn good while (average of about 2/3 months being played every day practice/band practice/gigging before they're completely gone).

Only downside is if you buying pairs from different bulks their weights and thickness can be quite a bit off (e.g buying 2 lots of 12 pairs and mixing all the sticks in your stick bag) but if you're only buying 1/2 pairs at a time you'll be fine.

If Vic Firth's 1A stick was weighted better I probably would change to them however.

I have played these sticks for some time and they really have rarely let me down and have took some serious beating. Ilan Rubin (NIN/The New Regime) is the biggest endorser of these particular sticks. If you need to see someone putting them through their paces, watch him!

Bought these after my promark 2Bs weren't giving me enough speed/consistency.

These take some getting used to.

These sticks are the same as 5Bs but with roughly an inch extra length. - Great for really fast/hard snare work as you get much more leverage with the left hand when playing rimshots.

That extra inch also does a lot for you all around the kit - extra volume and speed when you need it on toms/cymbals allows for much louder accents throughout.

That being said, they are still just 5Bs and give you all the delicacy/accuracy that normally come with 5Bs.

Great sticks, worth a try.