would mike balter pro vibe mallets dent a marimba?

Kyle,

If those are the mallets I'm thinking of - those rock-hard "I-want-to-be-heard-above-the-band-but-I-can't-afford-microphones-or-pickups-and-an-amplifier-for-my-vibes" vibe mallets - then I'd avoid using them on the marimba; you don't need anything THAT hard, esp. on rosewood.

I don't know if I'd worry about denting specifically (more the provice of acrylic mallets or the like), but you're almost guaranteeing that you'll crack some bars with those Balters, esp. in the lower range of the instrument.

(Note, this isn't simply a "vibe mallets on marimba" issue - you can crack plenty of bars with mallets designed for the marimba, as evidenced by the fact that just about every University teacher with a student preparing "Time" will relegate him to some crap old instrument for practicing, so they don't trash that low "C" on the school's one good marimba while in the practice room...)

If you need vibe mallets that work well on marimba and still produce some volume, check out the malletech David Friedman model (the harder of the two sets) - they produce a lot of volume, and while I'd still be a little careful using them in the low range of the marimba, they won't harm the instrument the way those Balters will. (NOTE: I'm not a malletech endorser, nor am I affiliated with them or Zildjian in any way...)

JW

depends how hard you hit the keys i suppose. i use the blue balter vibe mallets, and they dont dent the marimba i use (adams). but i tend to borrow my friends mallets for serious playing, using the vibes for practice