I spent 6-7 months using Rhyzer 48 as my forehand rubber. (3 months on a Stiga Infinity VPS and then 4 months on a JOOLA Nobilis PBO-c). My rating is usually around 1500 - 1600 USATT, I train once a week with a coach and compete in a league once a week also.
Initial Impressions
The first thing that stands out about Rhyzer 48 is the speed. It's really quite fast, Tenergy 64 and Evolution MX-P feel slow in comparison. The good news is that its relatively easy to create enough topspin to consistently keep the ball on the table. As long as you have proper body rotation and weight transfer all you need to do is hit deep into the sponge and the ball will come out with a lot of spin. When I let friends hit with my paddle, I've noticed that the people with mediocre body rotation tend to hit the ball long. (Those people usually flip my paddle around to the side with Rhyzer 43, and have much more success with the softer sponge). The throw angle trajectory of Rhyzer 48 is medium to medium high.
The topsheet for Rhyzer 48 (and 43) is thin, soft, and features narrow pimples. The result is that the ball easily penetrates through the rubber and into the sponge. The result is that rubber and sponge engage easily and fling the ball out with lots of spin. The soft topsheet seems to easily surround and grip the ball. It doesn't take much effort to create spin. All one needs to do is hit directly into the sponge when driving/looping. Brush loopers who are used to tacky Chinese rubber (Hurricane 3) will hate using Rhyzer. Brush loopers would be better suited to trying out "Rhyzer Pro (50 or 45)" which features a harder topsheet with thicker pimples and tiny bit more tack. [Or jut get Golden Tango]
Driving / Looping
Rhyzer 48 is hands down my favorite rubber for looping backspin balls. It's almost effortless to loop backspin balls with spin, power, and consistency. One of my friends decided to switch to Rhyzer after seeing how effective my backspin loops had become. Something about the soft topsheet and thick sponge just helps to lift the ball with consistent spin and power. I don't use 48 on backhand, so i can't comment on back hand looping. Personally i have more trouble controlling 48 on backhand compared to 43.
During topspin rallies the rubber does a lot of the work for you. It works really well when hitting at 70-80% power. On the hardest/fastest shots it's less stable then a hard rubber like Rhyzer Pro 50. Also Rhyzer 48 is not that linear compared to harder rubbers.
From mid to long distance this rubber is amazing. You can power loop from distance easily. It's really a lot of fun.
Touch Play
The tradeoff with the soft topsheet is that it's very bouncy even during soft touches. I didn't have any problems with serves, but short pushes were a major problem for me. I can't tell you how many times someone would serve short backspin to my forehand and then I'd try to push it back short, only to instead pop the ball too high or too far and watch my opponent get the first opening attack. Some of this was due to the fact that I don't train touch play enough. I began practicing touch play with my coach more often and my forehand pushes became more manageable. Also, when i switched from the Stiga Infinity blade to the JOOLA Nobilis, the soft hinoki outerplies of the of the Nobilis seem to help a lot with keeping my pushes short and low. Even though the Nobilis is a much faster blade than the Infinity, the soft outerplies help to mitigate the bounciness of the rubber during touch play. (The infinity has a harder touch than most Limba outer blades because of special wood treatment ["Diamond Touch" and "VPS"]. The bottom line is that if you are going to use Rhyzer 48 then you need either good touch play skills or a soft outer ply blade. (Rhyzer Pro 50 is less bouncy during touch play. But of course there is a whole different set of tradeoffs with R50)
Blocking
Blocking seemed decent to me. It blocks fast which can be good or bad depending on your style and the type of ball you are dealing with. Blocking trajectory is medium.
Flicking
I don't really forehand flick that much. Unfortunately I'm not qualified to give a review on that. I haven't tried backhand flicking with 48 either.
Chopping
Don't even bother
Durability
Average. A little better than MX-P and Rhyzm-P.
Conclusion
For a player of my skill level it pairs well with an OFF rated or slower blade. At my skill level I would not use an OFF+ rated blade (and it really doesn't need the extra speed). I haven't tried it with a blade that has the carbon fiber positioned towards the outer plies (Viscaria, TB ALC, JOOLA Energon, etc...), but I assume that it might be more difficult to control during touch play and maybe even looping. I can at least tell you that I was happy with Rhyzer 48 on inner carbon blades and all wood blades.
Overall I liked this rubber and even bought it again. However my coach thinks that I should now use a harder rubber on forehand and recommended Rhyzer Pro 50 which I have been using for two weeks. 50 is more linear, less bouncy during touch play, and really rewards me when I hit the ball perfectly. The tradeoff with 50 is that it really punishes me with crappy spin when I don't hit the ball perfectly. So, consider that when you choose your rubber. (I haven't tried the new Rhyzer Pro 45 yet)
Initial Impressions
The first thing that stands out about Rhyzer 48 is the speed. It's really quite fast, Tenergy 64 and Evolution MX-P feel slow in comparison. The good news is that its relatively easy to create enough topspin to consistently keep the ball on the table. As long as you have proper body rotation and weight transfer all you need to do is hit deep into the sponge and the ball will come out with a lot of spin. When I let friends hit with my paddle, I've noticed that the people with mediocre body rotation tend to hit the ball long. (Those people usually flip my paddle around to the side with Rhyzer 43, and have much more success with the softer sponge). The throw angle trajectory of Rhyzer 48 is medium to medium high.
The topsheet for Rhyzer 48 (and 43) is thin, soft, and features narrow pimples. The result is that the ball easily penetrates through the rubber and into the sponge. The result is that rubber and sponge engage easily and fling the ball out with lots of spin. The soft topsheet seems to easily surround and grip the ball. It doesn't take much effort to create spin. All one needs to do is hit directly into the sponge when driving/looping. Brush loopers who are used to tacky Chinese rubber (Hurricane 3) will hate using Rhyzer. Brush loopers would be better suited to trying out "Rhyzer Pro (50 or 45)" which features a harder topsheet with thicker pimples and tiny bit more tack. [Or jut get Golden Tango]
Driving / Looping
Rhyzer 48 is hands down my favorite rubber for looping backspin balls. It's almost effortless to loop backspin balls with spin, power, and consistency. One of my friends decided to switch to Rhyzer after seeing how effective my backspin loops had become. Something about the soft topsheet and thick sponge just helps to lift the ball with consistent spin and power. I don't use 48 on backhand, so i can't comment on back hand looping. Personally i have more trouble controlling 48 on backhand compared to 43.
During topspin rallies the rubber does a lot of the work for you. It works really well when hitting at 70-80% power. On the hardest/fastest shots it's less stable then a hard rubber like Rhyzer Pro 50. Also Rhyzer 48 is not that linear compared to harder rubbers.
From mid to long distance this rubber is amazing. You can power loop from distance easily. It's really a lot of fun.
Touch Play
The tradeoff with the soft topsheet is that it's very bouncy even during soft touches. I didn't have any problems with serves, but short pushes were a major problem for me. I can't tell you how many times someone would serve short backspin to my forehand and then I'd try to push it back short, only to instead pop the ball too high or too far and watch my opponent get the first opening attack. Some of this was due to the fact that I don't train touch play enough. I began practicing touch play with my coach more often and my forehand pushes became more manageable. Also, when i switched from the Stiga Infinity blade to the JOOLA Nobilis, the soft hinoki outerplies of the of the Nobilis seem to help a lot with keeping my pushes short and low. Even though the Nobilis is a much faster blade than the Infinity, the soft outerplies help to mitigate the bounciness of the rubber during touch play. (The infinity has a harder touch than most Limba outer blades because of special wood treatment ["Diamond Touch" and "VPS"]. The bottom line is that if you are going to use Rhyzer 48 then you need either good touch play skills or a soft outer ply blade. (Rhyzer Pro 50 is less bouncy during touch play. But of course there is a whole different set of tradeoffs with R50)
Blocking
Blocking seemed decent to me. It blocks fast which can be good or bad depending on your style and the type of ball you are dealing with. Blocking trajectory is medium.
Flicking
I don't really forehand flick that much. Unfortunately I'm not qualified to give a review on that. I haven't tried backhand flicking with 48 either.
Chopping
Don't even bother
Durability
Average. A little better than MX-P and Rhyzm-P.
Conclusion
For a player of my skill level it pairs well with an OFF rated or slower blade. At my skill level I would not use an OFF+ rated blade (and it really doesn't need the extra speed). I haven't tried it with a blade that has the carbon fiber positioned towards the outer plies (Viscaria, TB ALC, JOOLA Energon, etc...), but I assume that it might be more difficult to control during touch play and maybe even looping. I can at least tell you that I was happy with Rhyzer 48 on inner carbon blades and all wood blades.
Overall I liked this rubber and even bought it again. However my coach thinks that I should now use a harder rubber on forehand and recommended Rhyzer Pro 50 which I have been using for two weeks. 50 is more linear, less bouncy during touch play, and really rewards me when I hit the ball perfectly. The tradeoff with 50 is that it really punishes me with crappy spin when I don't hit the ball perfectly. So, consider that when you choose your rubber. (I haven't tried the new Rhyzer Pro 45 yet)
