Vic Firth AH5B American Heritage -Maple-

The combination of the lenght of the stick, and the thickness, combined with the lighter weight of Maple, makes these sticks perform just like I want them to. I find them easy to play, and easy to play fast.

Maple tend to bring forward a lighter stroke to the cymbals, and this of course affects the sound of the cymbals. These sticks has a tip large enough to make the ride cymbal sing, loud and clear.

Beautiful and well balanced, high playability, and fast sticks, with a pleasant feel and control. The rimshots of a medium tuned snare sure has a remarkable punch to them, and the cymbals sound beautyful when played with these sticks.

Because of this these sticks is my all time favourite

I was on the hunt for a longer, lightweight stick with a thicker diameter than what I was used to when I found these. I had been playing with the Vic Firth AJ2s for a while, but they weren't *quite* thick enough for my tastes, so I tried the AJ1s, but the weight was ultimately giving my wrists problems. After comparing the dimensions and weights online, I decided to give these a try.

The thing that I really enjoyed about these sticks right away was that they have the length to allow you to play matched grip comfortably at the fulcrum of the stick, but then the weight allows you to drop back to the butt of the stick for more aggressive playing without sacrificing control.

The cymbal response is bright but not too tingy at the bead. Though, the maple does take some of the bite out of the attack when playing more intricate riffs (ex:double strokes on the hats/ride). I wouldn't necessarily use the word "muffled" for the bead sound, though. Side of stick hits/crashes are warm, but not overly full.

The softness of the maple also prevents splintering at rimshot contact points.

Great sticks. Would buy again.