Kana mallets!
- Rating
- Posted by
- Rich O'Meara
- Date Posted
- 01/27/2026
I waited a long time to try Kana Omori's mallet line from Encore, probably because I was told they were pretty heavy. They are on the heavy side, but because of the way they are balanced and the latex cores, they have a natural, bouncy feel to them. They pretty much play themselves. The sound and feel of these mallets are just right for me. Previously my favorite sounding mallets were the VF Robert Van Sice M121, M122, and M123s. The Van Sice mallets have a great full fundamental sound with a brighter sound available if you dig in a bit. They tend to make you work to get those sounds however, at least with my technique. Kana's mallets feel more natural to me and have a tone that is somewhere between the Van Sice mallets and the Marimba One DH line. They have a nice warm fundamental tone and because they have a natural rebound, the bars seem to ring more freely. The beautiful wrapping (deep red) of tight wool yarn provides just the right amount of earthiness to the tone - similar to the Marimba One line, but less intrusive. I use three of the six available hardnesses - KANA5B, KANA4B, and KANA3B. I highly recommend these!