Choice a new blade

This is actually a bit sad. If you are a "beginner/intermediate" level player and you think Off+ is actually good for you, it will be hard to give you any information that will actually be useful to your needs and your developing skills.

If that is the case that you are at a beginner level and think you are doing well with Off+ blades, just keep what you have or choose whichever blade you think you will like better.

But I will give you a little information first.

Most beginners/intermediate level players think they are okay at handling blades that are really just faster than what would be good for their development. It is a very standard thing.

However, those fast blades throw the ball out before it has stayed on the rubber long enough for you to do anything to it. With Off+ blades, it takes very good technique to get the ball to stay in contact with the topsheet and sponge of your rubber for long enough for you to learn how to REALLY generate good spin.

Blades that are wood, All+/Off- 5 plies with a semi-soft top ply like Limba give you more of an ability to hold the ball in contact with the rubber so you can LEARN how to generate exponentially larger amounts of spin.

It is much harder for a beginner to learn this with an Off+ blade.

And it is worth understanding that higher level play is largely determined by the technique that allows you to generate massive amounts of spin.

I am talking about the kind of spin that makes you opponent mishit and hit the ceiling because there was so much topspin. Or if you hit the net, the ball makes a sizzling sound for almost a minutes as the spin causes the ball to race back to the net at about the speed you hit it at: a blazing fast roll from the spin.

But, the truth of the matter is that, if you want good advice about what equipment would be best for you, see if you can post a video so people can see how you play and try and help you get the blade and rubbers that will help you improve your skills the fastest.


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

I did not agree with Carl ...
I have the DHS tg 3-60 on off+ blade .... and it is comfortable and very controllable setup .....
I have borrow my blade to players which are using all+ blades with classic Rakza rubbers and they first impression was ... "Is this a defender blade ?" it has so many gears and such control .... go for it ... go for some kind of blade with limba outer ply to get even more control and time. I suggest to you something like Butterfly innerforce so the carbon is not second ply from the top.

the tibhar rapid carbon light isn't too fast anyways. maybe back when the ball was still 40mm cellu it was fast but when it became polyball, the rapid light isn't too fast anymore, i would rate it at off only and not off+. also, the rubber choice he has isn't fast either. i think you better stay with it. do not choose another blade when your basics matter developing first.

I am okay with the idea that the TG3-60 has lots of gears and is on the soft, slow side allowing a player who already knows how to hold the ball on the blade face a little longer to get really good spin. So it is possible that a fast blade with this rubber would not be totally bad for someone's development. But a skilled player like bobpuls whose technique is fairly good, and the people he might lend a blade to, may be a different level than someone who is saying they are beginner/intermediate level on their first post on the forum. I have a range of ideas of what beginner/intermediate might mean. And I feel like, a slower setup is never a bad thing for a newer player because it forces you to have better stroke mechanics to get decent pace and it allows you to take a fuller stroke without compromising control.

And regardless of how dynamic and controlled a rubber TG3-60 is, those faster blades still limit the amount of time you can hold the ball on the blade face UNLESS you have pretty decent technique and already know how to make high quality contact.

And truthfully, we would need to see footage of SynteKK to be able to formulate a better idea of what would be good for his development.

HOWEVER, in spite of the FH rubber choice, Tibhar Genius Sound on an Off+ blade would make developing the contact, touch and control to get good spin with the BH a total nightmare for most people who call themselves beginner/intermediate. That combination could really create problem down the road for SynteKK's BH.

I do think he could get TG3-60 for BH as well. But I would still pair that with a blade like Stratus Power Wood, Petr Korbel, Nittaku Tenor, or OSP Virtuoso Plus rather than a Off+ Carbon blade. Those blades I just mentioned are still decently fast and they would be the kind of blade that could help the OP learn how to caress the ball with the topsheet and sponge and let the topsheet really grab the ball while pulling past it to generate loads of spin.

And one thing I have noticed with rubbers like H3 and TG3 is, if you make more direct impact they are slow. But if you really get the topsheet to wrap and grab the ball, they are very fast and spinny. But that technique to get the topsheet to wrap and grab the ball, developing that technique, learning to develop that technique, is actually exactly why the faster blades make it harder for developing players to learn to do that.

There is too much allure to direct impact and too little natural dwell time from those fast hard blades for a player who does not have the technique already, to even feel the benefit of what happens when you really use the topsheet and sponge instead of the blade.

Tangential....tangential....learning how to grab the ball while pulling past it on a very tangential bias is much harder to understand when the equipment you use allows you to not understand the ramifications for an addiction to speed. When you know how to spin the ball well, as bobpuls most definitely does, that is totally different.

But regardless of how you look at it, to give SynteKK decent advice, we would probably need to see some footage of how he actually plays.

Ok ... i forgot to address the technique so yes now i agree with Carl .

bobpuls said:

Ok ... i forgot to address the technique so yes now i agree with Carl .

Click to expand...

But it is a good point you made. For someone at that level where their loop is developing and some of the touch for spin is starting to occur, that might be a very good setup. Thanks.

Blades such as Ovtcharov Carbospeed and Waldner 89 are excessively fast, especially for beginners and even for good players. Definitely you should go for something (A LOT) slower.

If you want to stay within the Donic range (as your suggestions are Donic), I would suggest:

• Ovtcharov Senso V2 (not limba, as Carl suggested, but still has a softer touch and has good speed, and decent control)
• Waldner V1 (definitely one of the best blades in terms of balance between offense and defence- great feeling)
• Appelgren Allplay V1/2 (for me, V1 is more preferable, but you may be different- this is the classic blade for learning to play, and can be used at higher levels as well)
• Persson Power Allround (like a faster Appelgren Allplay, but for a beginner Appelgren is more preferable)

All of these blades are 5 ply all wood, with enough feeling to learn to develop spin and other fundamental concepts in table tennis. The Ovtcharov V2 is a good blade, and probably the fasted of the suggested. So if you think that you are at more of the middle and upper echelons of intermediate, then the Ovtcharov V2 would be advisable. This is the blade with the RED handle, NOT BLACK

However, I think that your safest bet would be the Waldner Senso V1, which has an amazing balance between speed and control. This is the blade with the YELLOW handle. If you think that you you do not want to play with the hollow Senso handles (which I think are pretty good, but it seems that a lot of people do not think so), you can also go for the Waldner Offensive, which is meant to be similar to the Waldner Senso V1 but with a (relatively) Solid handle.

Finally, the Appelgren Allplay is that classic blade for learning to play. I would, if I was in your position, go for this one, but it seems that you want a blade which is at least Off-, which the Appelgren is not. But I would consider it- this blade is perfect for learning.

In the end, though, it would be best if you share a video of yourself playing, however, you do not have to- I know that it is uncomfortable to do so, for some people (like me).

there are balsa carbon blades that are fast even with the polyball but then there are balsa carbon blades that seem to have reduced their speed when used in a polyball. the rapid carbon light is a slower balsa carbon blade compared to a t-11 blade and much slower than the donic black devil balsa carbon blade. it is more like a control carbon blade not an off+ blade. i would agree that the genius sound in the backhand would be hard to control IF it is a at max thickness. at 1.9mm it would be controllable although i would suspect he would experience bottoming out if he hits through the sponge a lot. the skyline 3-60 actually dampens the speed if you use it with the rapid light since it is not a very bouncy rubber thus giving you control. i would disagree on the generalize that if it is a carbon blade it will give you bad contro,not necessary. there are slow carbon blades that I can give you as an example. blades such as the carbonado 45/90, grubba all+ carbon - these are not fast carbon blades. i am an advocate of using all wood blades for beginners and even advanced ones because of the feel and control but there are ways of compensating for the carbon IF the carbon blade is an off or an off- carbon and not an off+ one. either make the sponge thinner at 1.7mm or 1.9mm or use a slower rubber.