Vic Firth/Mike Balter ERSR Super Rub Mallet Set

I will tell you the truth: I love it, it's best rub mallet I have and I have a lot of these. It sings on all surfaces and instruments. I use it for gongs, frame drums, cymbals, double bass. I collected tones of other friction mallets because I use them a lot on recordings and I need to keep the sound fresh all the time. They are better than extremely expensive (around 200Euro incl. customs & shipping from U.S.) B Love Sacred Sound Mallets or any others like so called -"Lava" type, egg type, Meinl's, etc.). This Mike Balter's are best and worth this silly high amount for just 3 rubber balls on a stick - I know, it should be max 10 Euro. But it's not. And they are 3 of them, all them sound different, and yes... they are fragile! Because they are so good - they are fragile, it's an instrument and should be treated that way.

1. They break, not the first day of course but after a year they might.
They are made of some carbon fibre, it's great material, flexible and strong, but if you press too much - might break. I still use broken one- just different way.
2. Rubber ball-heads will fall of the stick, one or all of them.
Ok, I glue them back, use two-component epoxy glue. Don't use "10 sec instant glue" they contain some chemicals that dissolves the rubber. Fixable problem. It's not a big deal because all other products are not much better in this matter. Just glue it and that's all.
3. They tend to crumble and it's a sign you need to get another set. I bought second one after 2 years of intense using, I think it's ok.
4. They are not very comfortable to hold during one long session, I added some wooden handles and the comfort is fantastic.
I wish that producer of this product adds some optional grip.
5. Rubber doesn't wear out that quickly. It's always sticky and responding great, but now - I have to pairs to compare and they sound and react similar way.

Conclusion: it's really great set of mallets and all in all - you have no choice if you want to have strong, clear, detailed sound, these are sharp, especially on drums! I know they have lots of bad points and they are overpriced but I am not sure if one can find anything better...

I saw some videos of studio folk rubbing these on gongs and large drums to create horror movie atmosphere sounds. I don't have that at home. But I do have doors, windows, bathtub, kitchen floor, acoustic guitar, desk (didn't work on my dog). The sound these things make is mad, I love it. Don't tell your partner you have them and rub them on the outside of her bedroom door at 3 am.
I highly recommend them to everyone interested in sound effects and sound design. Experiment and have fun.

I bought these for use on a gong. The three sizes make for some unusual sounds. Very smooth and resonating with little 'chatter' from bouncing while rubbing. The low score is due to the fact that the middle sized mallet came apart. The ball came off the stick and I couldn't use it any longer. I could have put glue in it I guess, but more so enjoyed the smaller and larger mallets. There is medium flex in the handle and this gave a good pressure to the ball against the gong. Would probably look for something else if I were to be interested.

It produces a nice effect on a gong. So it works very well for what we wanted it. That's great, but there are some issues.

The head - which is just a bouncy ball basically - came off the shaft after very little use.
The whole thing is just a bouncy ball on a lollypop stick. It feels extremely cheap, and therefore this product feels WILDLY overpriced. Feels like something that should be 5 euros in at amusement park kiosk.