Just received my latest order of drum gear from Slagverkskompaniet consisting of these sticks, a snare case and a stickbag. Today I'm going to cover the drumsticks.
Formerly they were known as Joey Jordison's (Slipknot) signature model JJ1, but they were discontinued for a while since he dropped Ahead and went over to Pro Mark. However, the production started again quite recently, and Ahead has presented to us the JJ1 Speed Metal sticks, which are exactly the same as before, except with a big "Speed Metal" logo instead of Jordison's signature.
First impressions from unboxing, they're amazingly light and falls into full control of my hands immidiately. Half an hour of drumming on a practice pad never felt so good before, and up until now I've been switching between Lars Ulrich sticks form Ahead and X5A from Vic Firth.
The sticks are about a tip shorter than the Ulrich sticks, and just a little bit thicker than 7A from Vic Firth, which gives a pretty good balance since I'm a hard hitter that wants full control over what I'm playing with. The core and the grip of the stick is aluminium, and the cover and tip are plastic. Since aluminium have a tendency of becoming slippery when wet (giggity) I'd recommend some grip tape, which is also stated by Ahead on the case of the sticks.
They come with manuals on handling, care and warranty information as well, which is good to follow to increase the longevity of the sticks.
Price range differs from about $50-60 I'd say. Comparing to wooden sticks which break after a while it's a pretty big saving right there because aluminium sticks lasts for years during regular use and care. The warranty is eligible should the core break within 60 days after purchase, despite care and replacement of covers and tips. This is nothing short of awesome and very generous of Ahead.
I'll give these sticks 5 out of 5 because they're light, easy to control, worth the money and finally because of the 60 days warrant period. An excellent choice for metal drummers.
