Vic Firth 7AB Nova Hickory Black Wood

These sticks have the quality you would expect from Vic Firth but the added paint make them slippy in the hand and also badly marks the snare drum head. Given that they cost about half the price of most other good Vic stick they still make great value for money but you might also need stick grip to use them.

If you want to keep your drum heads clean of paint marks you could always take off some of the paint from the tips but that's a lot of effort. Not my favourite choice but not a bad stick if you can't afford or like Firths more expensive alternatives