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Cymbal mallets are an essential tool for any drummer’s stick bag. While they sound great when doing cymbal swells, they also produce warmer and deeper tones from your toms, so they’re good to play the drums with for certain song parts.
These essential tools unlock a symphony of tones from your cymbals, whether you’re whispering delicate strokes or summoning thunderous crashes.
In this review, I’ve listed five pairs of mallets that I highly recommend. I’ve compared them according to their design, playability, durability, and overall cost.
What are the Best Cymbal Mallets?
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Best standard mallets
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Best versatile mallets
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Best quiet mallets
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Best large mallets
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Best durable mallets
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How I Tested and Selected the Best Cymbal Mallets
I’ve used various pairs of mallets when I used to play drums in the orchestra. So, I have plenty of experience using and understanding what makes a good mallet pair.
When I test mallets, I first look at the design of the soft top parts. This is what affects the sound and feel when you play, so it’s the most important thing to check when picking a pair.
Some mallets are harder than others, and the density can affect how you perform with them.
I then look at durability and cost, as those determine how much value the mallets offer.
Best Cymbal Mallet Reviews
Meinl Stick & Brush Medium Drum Set Mallets
Meinl Stick & Brush Medium Drum Set Mallets Review
The Meinl Stick & Brush Medium Drum Mallets are a standard set of mallets with felt tips and 5A handles.
I’ve been keeping these mallets in my stick bag for quite a while, and they’ve been working very reliably whenever I need to play cymbal swells.
I’m a big fan of these due to the handle size being 5A. This standard size makes them feel similar to regular sticks, whereas I’ve owned a few pairs with thicker handles that always felt a bit uncomfortable to use.
I also like the medium-soft felt tips. They’re strong enough to remain durable when played hard, but they’re also soft enough to make the sticks feel light.
With that said, you can get both harder and softer versions of these mallets, but I think the medium option is the best choice.
I heard someone mention that the felts can fall off the sticks if you play too hard, but that’s never happened with my own pair. So, I think it’s a rare occurrence.
If you’re not looking for anything too fancy and just want a simple pair of versatile cymbal mallets that are reliable for getting colorful cymbal swells, I highly recommend these. They’re only slightly more expensive than regular drumsticks, so they also have excellent value.
Features:
- 5A size
- Medium-soft felt tips
- 15.5” length
Pros
- Simple design that allows the mallets to work reliably
- 5A stick size, making them easy to play with
- The medium felt tips provide enough versatility to work in any setting
Cons
- I’ve heard of the felt tips popping off, but it’s very rare
Meinl Stick & Brush 5A Switch Sticks
Meinl Stick & Brush 5A Switch Sticks Review
The Meinl Stick & Brush 5A Switch Sticks are an epic invention. They have typical drumstick tips on one side and felt tips on the other. While this isn’t a new design by any means, Meinl definitely offers the best switchable sticks that I know of.
These felt a bit heavier at the back when I used them, but not enough to throw off my balance. That’s a problem I had with a few other switchable pairs, which is why I think Meinl nailed the design here.
The hard felt mallets provide a good amount of attack on the drums, but they’re still soft enough to make cymbal swells sound amazing.
The wooden tips have a short barrel shape, which offers distinct articulation when you play the drums.
These are the ideal mallets for drummers that need to switch between sticks mid-song. They save you the effort of pulling out an entirely new pair of sticks from your bag and trying not to drop your current ones in the process.
The only downside is that they’re likely to break a lot quicker, as you’ll use them as regular sticks. Most standalone mallet pairs last ages with drummers only using them for cymbal swells and occasional drumming.
Features:
- Wooden and felt tips on both sides
- 16.5” length
- 5A size
Pros
- One of the best mallet options for drummers that like to switch to mallets mid-song
- Very comfortable to use, even though the length is longer to accommodate the felt tips
- Harder mallet tips are great for getting more volume compared to softer mallets
Cons
- Since you’ll use these as normal drumsticks, they likely won’t last as long as standalone mallets
Remo Not So Loud Mallets
Remo Not So Loud Mallets Review
The Remo Not So Loud Mallets are primarily intended to be played on tubano drums. However, I tried using these on a drum kit once and I really enjoyed how they performed and made the drums sound.
These are the lightest mallets on this list, so they provide the most delicate tones around the drums and cymbals. They’re also quite a bit shorter than most others, so you don’t get as much power behind your strokes.
I liked how these mallets naturally made me play softer. I thought that they would be very useful for drummers that need to keep volume down as much as possible.
The fabric tips took a bit of time getting used to. All other tips are rounded, while these have the shape of a mallet hammer. Again, the experience of playing with these was very unique, but it was fun and interesting enough for me to happily recommend these.
With the handles being shorter and lighter, these are also good soft mallets for small kids who play drums.
They’re just not as versatile as the other mallets I’ve mentioned, as the lightness stops you from being able to produce significant volume from your drum kit.
Features:
- Fabric tips
- 13.5” length
- Lightweight pine stick material
Pros
- Unique mallets that produce much softer sounds than standard mallets
- Excellent for quiet practicing or gigs where volume needs to be controlled
- Good mallet option for kids, considering how short the sticks are
Cons
- The unconventional design won’t be liked by everyone
- Shorter handles aren’t as comfortable to use as typical sticks or mallets
Innovative Percussion GT-1 Timpani Mallets
Innovative Percussion GT-1 Timpani Mallets Review
Next on our list are the Innovative Percussion GT-1 Timpani Mallets. There was a brief period in my life when I played a few songs on a set of timpani drums in a local orchestra. These were my mallets of choice, and I loved the feeling of the larger felts striking the drum skins.
When I tried these same mallets out on my drum set, the larger felts produced slightly rounder and warmer tones from the toms.
These mallets are also quite soft. They’re not as soft as the fabric tips from the previous Remo pair, but they’re definitely softer than all the other options we’ve looked at.
I also love the shape of the handles. They have a tapered design that gets thinner as the sticks go up to the felts. This makes the sticks feel lighter, and it allows me to play faster patterns with ease when I use them on a drum kit.
You get the same volume constraints as the Remo Not So Loud mallets, but I’ve found that they don’t restrict you as much. So, these GT-1 mallets are perfectly suitable for any drumming setting.
I just wouldn’t recommend hitting the drums too hard with them. The tapered design lowers the durability of the sticks compared to ones that have a more solid shape.
Features:
- Large felt tips
- Maple stick material
- Tapered design
Pros
- Great for drummers who want larger felt tips
- These produce slightly lower-pitched sounds from your drums and cymbals
- The thin and light maple handles make it easier to play quick patterns around the drums
Cons
- The larger felt tips aren’t as dense, so you don’t get as much volume from your drums when using them
Vic Firth Corpsmaster Bass Drum Mallets
Vic Firth Corpsmaster Bass Drum Mallets Review
Last on our list are the Vic Firth Corpsmaster Bass Drum Mallets. These are actually designed for marching bass drummers, but I’ve found that they work excellently on drum kits when you want power and volume.
The few times I tried these out, I loved how the extra weight at the front parts of the mallets led to a natural volume boost.
I didn’t have to strike the drums as hard to get more volume, and they sounded seriously effective when jamming patterns on floor toms.
Think about songs from bands like Imagine Dragons where the toms play busy and powerful patterns. These mallets are perfect for that sort of thing.
The felt tips have a medium density, so they produce musical and expressive cymbal swell sounds. I also loved how powerful the swell sounded when playing on the ride cymbal.
However, it’s the sound on drums that makes me like these. So, I’d recommend them to drummers that want solid mallets to play around the drums with.
They have a slightly shorter length than most of the other mallets that we’ve looked at. I found that this length takes a bit of time to get used to, but the sticks feel great in your hands once you’re comfortable.
With the thicker handles and solid felts, these are the most durable sticks on this list. If you want to buy mallets once and never again, you can’t go wrong with them.
Features:
- Front-weighted
- Hickory shafts
- Felt tips
Pros
- Most durable mallets I’ve tried out, so you can be assured that they’ll last a long time
- The front-weighted design allows you to get more volume from your strokes with less effort
- Fantastic swell sounds from the felt tips
Cons
- Not a good option for drummers that struggle with dynamics and volume control
Cymbal Mallet Buyer’s Guide
There aren’t too many features that separate different pairs of mallets. Most just have stick handles with felt tips.
However, those two elements can have a few subtle differences across various mallet pairs that will affect their performance.
I’ve used several pairs of mallets over the years to play cymbal swells. I liked some a lot more than I did others, and it was due to small differences in how they were designed.
So, when buying a pair of mallets for yourself, here’s what you need to look for.
Features to Look Out for in a Good Pair of Cymbal Mallets
Tips
The tips are the first thing you should look at when considering which cymbal mallets to buy. The tip is the main feature, and it affects how a mallet sounds as well as how it feels to play.
Most mallets have felt tips. This is the same soft material that you’ll find on cymbal stands to stop the cymbals from touching the metal parts.
Typically, you get the option of soft felt tips, medium felt tips, or hard felt tips. The softer the tips are, the less attack you’ll get from the drums and cymbals.
The harder the felt tips are, the sharper your strokes will sound, which means they have more attack.
You also get a few mallets that have fabric tips. These are even softer and lighter than light felt tips, so they offer the least amount of volume when you play the drums and cymbals.
Shaft Design
The bottom part of a mallet is referred to as the stick, shaft, or handle. This is what you’ll be holding when you play, so the design is important to note as it determines how comfortable the mallets are for you.
Some mallet shafts have the same naming conventions as drumsticks. For example, a pair of mallets will say that they have 5A handles, meaning the shafts have the same weight and length as typical 5A drumsticks.
Other mallets will simply tell you how long they are and how much they weigh.
You get mallets that are front or back heavy. The ones that are front heavy produce louder sounds with less power behind your strokes.
The ones that are back heavy produce the opposite effect, keeping the weight in the back so that your strokes are a bit lighter.
Combination Mallets
One of my favorite types of mallets are ones that have both normal stick tips and felt tips. These are called hybrid mallets, combination mallets, or switchable mallets.
They’ll have felt tips on one end so that you can easily play cymbal swells or warm tom strokes. The other end will have regular drumstick tips so that you can use them as regular sticks.
The whole design idea of these is so that you don’t need to constantly switch out sticks when you want different sound options.
They’re a good option for drummers looking for convenience. However, I don’t think their designs are ever as strong or durable as standalone mallets.
Cymbal Mallet FAQs
Can You Use Timpani Mallets on Acoustic Drums?
Yes, timpani mallets are some of the best options to use on acoustic drums. They have soft felt tips that sound fantastic when played on toms. They also produce warm and musical cymbal swell sounds.
Xylophone, glockenspiel, and marimba mallets are the only ones that you shouldn’t use on drums, as they have hard tips that can damage drumheads and cymbals.
Which Cymbals Produce the Best Swell Sounds?
Cymbals with higher-quality alloys tend to produce more musical swell sounds. You’ll get more of a dynamic build from a B20 cymbal than you will from a B8 or brass cymbal.
However, cymbal swells played on cheaper cymbals don’t sound inherently bad. They just don’t sound as diverse.
How Long Do Drum Mallets Last?
Most mallets last indefinitely if you use them sparingly. They’re one of the stick types that only need to be purchased once.
If you use switchable mallets with drumstick tips on one side, those may not last as long.
