Full Review: Vic Firth universal practice tips

In my quest to research and try an ever-growing variety of practice aids for drummers, I went ahead and bought two bags of Vic Firth universal practice tips for drum sticks.
Each bag contains two pairs of practice tips, and there are two sizes available: One size for concert and drum kit sticks, and another size for marching sticks.

Vic Firth designed the tips to fit easily and securely onto just about any drumstick tip. Vic Firth advertises them as being made of "rubber" but doesn't say whether that's a pure rubber (doubtful, from the colors and feel) or whether its a compound of rubber and some other material (like nylon, a compound typically found in bicycle tires). I was not able to locate any additional information on an exact compound so "rubber" it is, I guess.

I bought the marching tips first, about a month ago, and tried them out on a number of different playing surfaces, including various drum pads, drums, and table tops. The marching tips come in a bright red color that's easy to find at the bottom of a stick bag or backpack.

For purposes of this report, I went ahead and used them on my favorite marching stick, the Jeff Queen Solo model.

The tips do require a small amount of effort to squeeze into the sticks, which is good because that means a snug fit and a tip that won't easily fly off.

What I noticed right away:

a. The tip is noticeably larger than the actual end of the stick, which means it uses quite a lot of rubber material.

b. That extra rubber also adds noticeable weight to each stick, which changes the balance and response completely.

This may or may not be a good thing.

I tried the tips on various surfaces. Each time, I was a little disappointed by how dull the response and feel were.Here's a demo video of the marching tips when used on a rubber practice pad, and then on a wood surface similar to a table top. In every situation, the sticks felt quite front-heavy and klunky, and not at all fun to practice with. At best, they might be useful as a warmup tool for some applications, but really that's about it.

(Disclaimer: I didn't plan on wearing this shirt for the demo. It was on the top of the clean pile. I only realized it after I'd made the first video and decided it wasn't a big deal, since I play with Vic Firth sticks exclusively anyway. I was not asked to demo anything, nor was I paid for my review. I paid full pop just like anyone else.)

After several attempts to work with these tips, I gave up and put them aside. I was not excited about them. I will probably add them to my collection of practice tools and forget about them.

Last week, I ordered a set of the concert tips, which are smaller and come in a grey color similar to the grey rubber compound in use on Vic Firth practice pads. They arrived the other day, two pairs of them, and I slipped a set onto the ends of my Buddy Rich signature sticks (also by Vic Firth and regularly used behind my little drum kit).

They fit the same way, requiring a little bit of pressure and slight twist to secure them. But the feel was completely different. These smaller tips allowed the sticks to remain reasonably well-balanced and responsive enough to be truly useful when traveling, warming up or whenever a slightly softer sound and feel are needed in practice. Because the sticks remain well-balanced enough to play with, the smaller concert tips also double as a bonafide addition to my color palette, and it might be useful to keep a pair of them installed on a set of concert sticks strictly for that purpose.

It's also worth noting that this gray compound is very similar in feel and response to the grey tips permanently installed on Vic Firth's "Chop-Out series" of practice sticks, which come in both concert and marching sizes and feel equally useful in either size.

I'd be curious as to why they felt a different size and shape was required in their separate Marching practice tips, especially when the original "Chop-Out" stick is so much better than any marching stick with this cover added.

A dedicated pair of practice sticks doesn't take up that much room in a stick bag.

And here's a little demo of the Concert practice tips in action.

A bag of practice tips in either size (concert or marching) costs about six or seven dollars retail for two pairs of tips, so if you're curious about these it's not a huge investment to buy some and experiment with them.
I'd say that the red marching tips are a disappointment, and that the gray concert tips are excellent for multiple applications in both practice and performance. I'd like to know if Vic Firth has heard similar feedback from other drummers. If so, perhaps they'll choose to reissue the marching tips in the gray compound later on.

Happy chopping!