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[Setup Review] Butterfly Timo Boll ALC with Donic Baracuda
I've decided to review a particular setup, which includes both the blade and the rubbers, to show in detail how a particular setup works. Note that this review is purely based on my ability and skill in table tennis, so in the shots review later, specific shots will still vary even if we use the same setup, again, skills and training come first. Reviews are still subjective in nature, but with proper training, players will be able to see a product in a shared perspective ( I don't know how to say it properly, but what I meant is that by training, players can share technical strokes, and by that, will be able to review a product with a little bit consistency, rather than a review from a hobby player).
Anyway, I'll be reviewing Butterfly Timo Boll ALC (flared) with Donic Baracuda rubbers (max). Enjoy!
General Impressions
Blade: Butterfly Timo Boll ALC
The ALC is a popular blade in table tennis. Butterfly sponsored player, Timo Boll, plays with a straight handle ALC. The blade is a "modernised" or updated version of the Timo Boll Spirit. It is composed of 5plies of wood and 2plies of Arylate-Carbon. The composite material is a weave between carbon and arylate that targets speed and dwell time. Carbon provides speed and the softish arylate provides a grab/dwell. The composition is basically the same with the Timo Boll Spirit. The noticeable difference is in the design and the weight. However, when I played with a Viscaria Light and a Timo Boll Spirit, I sensed that the ALC is a bit stiffer, something that I think the supposed lacquered top ply contributed. But it's minor, really.
Timo Boll ALC is in average, lighter than most Timo Boll Spirit blades because it allows for the use of todays heavy rubbers such as the Tenergys as well as the tensor rubbers. My Timo Boll ALC (flared) is around 86-87g while my straight handle one was around 84-85g. The specific plies are koto - arylate/carbon - limba - kiri - limba - arylate/carbon - koto. The handle is comfortable, at least for the flared one. The straight one was weird because it's too tiny, it gave me problems before. I think the straight one's handle was really short. But if you want to imitate Timo then...
The design is really eye-catching, well ofc it's purely subjective. The logo in the handle as well as the emblem were laser-etched, once you peel off the plastic layer covering, you can feel the protruded characters.
Rubber: Donic Baracuda
The Donic Baracuda is well known for its spin-abilities. Donic boasts of its spin abilities and it's really true that the spin is vicious, however, for the speed, I guess it's not that faster compared to Tenergy 25 (in return you have control). It is by far the spinniest rubber that I have used, excluding Haifu Blue Whale 2 National and Hurricane 2. I have tried Tenergy 25 and I felt the spin it produced was lesser in potency than Baracuda.
Anyway, the rubber has this dull orange sponge accompanied by a thick top sheet which I think gives it some stability in playing. When I first rub the rubber with my finger, I felt great friction because of the quality top sheet.
Holding the rubber gives you this feeling that you're holding a heavy and wobbly jelly in your hand, haha. I guess that's the proof of the tuner in the rubber. The rubber is not really that heavy, at least for me. Sorry I can't give you exact measurements regarding the weight.
Playing Properties
Before I divulge the playing properties of this particular setup, I will give you some background info on the reviewer first.
I've been playing table tennis competitively for 10 years although I confined myself to the varsity team. I don't EJ too much because it's too expensive. Besides, when I EJ I completely change the whole setup to brand new ones. I have only used Stiga S-3000 blade, Xiom Ignito, Andro Kinetic CF, and now Timo Boll ALC for blades; for rubbers I have used Butterfly Tackiness Chop, Stiga Evo, Butterfly Sriver L and EL, Yasaka Mark V, DHS Hurricane 2, Skyline 3 (Neo and non-neo), Haifu Blue Whale 2 National, and now Donic Baracuda.
I am not rated but I'm part of our varsity team. I play mostly forehand topspins and for backhand I do occasional loops but only when there's good opening, I often flick with BH and do punch blocks. Donic Baracuda as well as the Blue Whale 2 and Neo-Hurricanes were my first rubbers for the speed glue ban. Anyway, here it is!
Service
For short service, the grippy top sheet of Baracuda helps especially for side-top and underspins. In making the pace faster, long serves can still be done but will be reliant from the ALC's carbon to catapult the ball. You can do surprise service to your opponent, like a long and wide forehand service. But it is not that faster compared to when I used Tenergy 25. If you have strong wrist movements, you can vary your serves like you can do with Chinese rubbers, but watch out for the springiness of the Baracuda, even if it is one of the slowest tensor, it's springier than say Sriver and certainly Chinese rubbers. For the service department, the setup is excellent. The grippy top sheet paired with a dwelly but fast ALC offers variety of options (spinny, no spin, fast, slow, short, long) for service.
If you know the Ma Lin ghost serve, you can do that here. It is a little tricky but doable, still less potent than Chinese rubbers like Hurricanes.
Looping Underspin
Looping underspin is quite easy with the setup. The slowish speed of the rubber as well as the dwell of the blade help in giving a good amount of contact time (even if we're talking of half seconds here it's very important). It gives you this feeling of bite-the-ball-and-send-it-to-the-opponentstable Anyway, the high throw of the rubber helps a lot in lifting underspins. But ofc skills will come first. If you are consistent then the setup will reward you with beautiful arching shots. But if you're not, you can still have those occasional wonder shots.
Driving
For driving, the setup is okay. I felt more confident in driving with the Hurricanes though, the harder sponge helps. But in this particular setup, the medium sponge of the rubber will give you a bit more control on where to direct that drive. The carbon of ALC will help compensate for the slowish speed of Baracuda. Generating speed however is more player-dependent than setup. The added bonus with the setup is the spin generated by Baracuda, combine that with a sufficient speed by the blade and you'll produce excellent shots.
Flicking
Flicking services is quite tricky with the setup. Baracuda is spin-sensitive and if you have slow wrist movements then it will send the ball into the net immediately upon contact against a heavy underspin. The catapult one needs will come from the player but add to that the carbon of ALC. The arylate also helps in making the blade a bit flexible in receiving and flicking serves. This is good for producing varied returns.
Touch Shots
The dwelly rubber helps in keeping the ball low and close to the net. However, the blade and its springiness because of the carbon will make this tricky. But practice will cure this. The blade is pretty stable in touch shots, apply the needed force and you can keep the ball low and short. For this department, the setup is okay, but using Chinese rubbers like the Hurricanes in this blade will yield better results.
Chopping
I never do chops, unless it's my only option to save the ball Chopping is fine, controllable with huge spin.
Blocking
Blocking is excellent. The stiffness provided by ALC and the springiness,albeit not that springy compared to other tensors, of Baracuda helps in blocking topspin balls. With the setup, you can use the speed and spin of your opponent to your advantage. Punch blocks are a little harder though. When using the setup, because of the high throw of Baracuda, one should punch the incoming ball towards the net to compensate the arc that will be produced by the rubber. But overall for this department, it's excellent.
Hitting
When compared to using hurricane 2 with the blade, the setup will give you easier play. But I do not like automation, so regardless of whether you use tensor or chinese you need to commit for every shot.
Final remarks
So who will like this setup?
For those who play offensive with emphasis on spin and control. Baracuda will give you huge amounts of spin that will be aided by the dwell of the ALC. The slowish speed of Baracuda and the dwell and flexibility of the ALC will give you the control you'll need. Speed play is not the specialty of this particular setup.
I'll be giving this setup a solid OFF, despite of the bit-lacking speed.
Anyway, this is my first review. For questions, just post. Thank you!
I've decided to review a particular setup, which includes both the blade and the rubbers, to show in detail how a particular setup works. Note that this review is purely based on my ability and skill in table tennis, so in the shots review later, specific shots will still vary even if we use the same setup, again, skills and training come first. Reviews are still subjective in nature, but with proper training, players will be able to see a product in a shared perspective ( I don't know how to say it properly, but what I meant is that by training, players can share technical strokes, and by that, will be able to review a product with a little bit consistency, rather than a review from a hobby player).
Anyway, I'll be reviewing Butterfly Timo Boll ALC (flared) with Donic Baracuda rubbers (max). Enjoy!
General Impressions
Blade: Butterfly Timo Boll ALC
The ALC is a popular blade in table tennis. Butterfly sponsored player, Timo Boll, plays with a straight handle ALC. The blade is a "modernised" or updated version of the Timo Boll Spirit. It is composed of 5plies of wood and 2plies of Arylate-Carbon. The composite material is a weave between carbon and arylate that targets speed and dwell time. Carbon provides speed and the softish arylate provides a grab/dwell. The composition is basically the same with the Timo Boll Spirit. The noticeable difference is in the design and the weight. However, when I played with a Viscaria Light and a Timo Boll Spirit, I sensed that the ALC is a bit stiffer, something that I think the supposed lacquered top ply contributed. But it's minor, really.
Timo Boll ALC is in average, lighter than most Timo Boll Spirit blades because it allows for the use of todays heavy rubbers such as the Tenergys as well as the tensor rubbers. My Timo Boll ALC (flared) is around 86-87g while my straight handle one was around 84-85g. The specific plies are koto - arylate/carbon - limba - kiri - limba - arylate/carbon - koto. The handle is comfortable, at least for the flared one. The straight one was weird because it's too tiny, it gave me problems before. I think the straight one's handle was really short. But if you want to imitate Timo then...
The design is really eye-catching, well ofc it's purely subjective. The logo in the handle as well as the emblem were laser-etched, once you peel off the plastic layer covering, you can feel the protruded characters.
Rubber: Donic Baracuda
The Donic Baracuda is well known for its spin-abilities. Donic boasts of its spin abilities and it's really true that the spin is vicious, however, for the speed, I guess it's not that faster compared to Tenergy 25 (in return you have control). It is by far the spinniest rubber that I have used, excluding Haifu Blue Whale 2 National and Hurricane 2. I have tried Tenergy 25 and I felt the spin it produced was lesser in potency than Baracuda.
Anyway, the rubber has this dull orange sponge accompanied by a thick top sheet which I think gives it some stability in playing. When I first rub the rubber with my finger, I felt great friction because of the quality top sheet.
Holding the rubber gives you this feeling that you're holding a heavy and wobbly jelly in your hand, haha. I guess that's the proof of the tuner in the rubber. The rubber is not really that heavy, at least for me. Sorry I can't give you exact measurements regarding the weight.
Playing Properties
Before I divulge the playing properties of this particular setup, I will give you some background info on the reviewer first.
I've been playing table tennis competitively for 10 years although I confined myself to the varsity team. I don't EJ too much because it's too expensive. Besides, when I EJ I completely change the whole setup to brand new ones.
I have only used Stiga S-3000 blade, Xiom Ignito, Andro Kinetic CF, and now Timo Boll ALC for blades; for rubbers I have used Butterfly Tackiness Chop, Stiga Evo, Butterfly Sriver L and EL, Yasaka Mark V, DHS Hurricane 2, Skyline 3 (Neo and non-neo), Haifu Blue Whale 2 National, and now Donic Baracuda.I am not rated but I'm part of our varsity team. I play mostly forehand topspins and for backhand I do occasional loops but only when there's good opening, I often flick with BH and do punch blocks. Donic Baracuda as well as the Blue Whale 2 and Neo-Hurricanes were my first rubbers for the speed glue ban. Anyway, here it is!
Service
For short service, the grippy top sheet of Baracuda helps especially for side-top and underspins. In making the pace faster, long serves can still be done but will be reliant from the ALC's carbon to catapult the ball. You can do surprise service to your opponent, like a long and wide forehand service. But it is not that faster compared to when I used Tenergy 25. If you have strong wrist movements, you can vary your serves like you can do with Chinese rubbers, but watch out for the springiness of the Baracuda, even if it is one of the slowest tensor, it's springier than say Sriver and certainly Chinese rubbers. For the service department, the setup is excellent. The grippy top sheet paired with a dwelly but fast ALC offers variety of options (spinny, no spin, fast, slow, short, long) for service.
If you know the Ma Lin ghost serve, you can do that here.
It is a little tricky but doable, still less potent than Chinese rubbers like Hurricanes.Looping Underspin
Looping underspin is quite easy with the setup. The slowish speed of the rubber as well as the dwell of the blade help in giving a good amount of contact time (even if we're talking of half seconds here it's very important). It gives you this feeling of bite-the-ball-and-send-it-to-the-opponentstable
Anyway, the high throw of the rubber helps a lot in lifting underspins. But ofc skills will come first. If you are consistent then the setup will reward you with beautiful arching shots. But if you're not, you can still have those occasional wonder shots. Driving
For driving, the setup is okay. I felt more confident in driving with the Hurricanes though, the harder sponge helps. But in this particular setup, the medium sponge of the rubber will give you a bit more control on where to direct that drive. The carbon of ALC will help compensate for the slowish speed of Baracuda. Generating speed however is more player-dependent than setup.
The added bonus with the setup is the spin generated by Baracuda, combine that with a sufficient speed by the blade and you'll produce excellent shots.Flicking
Flicking services is quite tricky with the setup. Baracuda is spin-sensitive and if you have slow wrist movements then it will send the ball into the net immediately upon contact against a heavy underspin. The catapult one needs will come from the player but add to that the carbon of ALC. The arylate also helps in making the blade a bit flexible in receiving and flicking serves. This is good for producing varied returns.
Touch Shots
The dwelly rubber helps in keeping the ball low and close to the net. However, the blade and its springiness because of the carbon will make this tricky. But practice will cure this.
The blade is pretty stable in touch shots, apply the needed force and you can keep the ball low and short. For this department, the setup is okay, but using Chinese rubbers like the Hurricanes in this blade will yield better results.Chopping
I never do chops, unless it's my only option to save the ball
Chopping is fine, controllable with huge spin.Blocking
Blocking is excellent. The stiffness provided by ALC and the springiness,albeit not that springy compared to other tensors, of Baracuda helps in blocking topspin balls. With the setup, you can use the speed and spin of your opponent to your advantage. Punch blocks are a little harder though. When using the setup, because of the high throw of Baracuda, one should punch the incoming ball towards the net to compensate the arc that will be produced by the rubber. But overall for this department, it's excellent.
Hitting
When compared to using hurricane 2 with the blade, the setup will give you easier play. But I do not like automation, so regardless of whether you use tensor or chinese you need to commit for every shot.
Final remarks
So who will like this setup?
For those who play offensive with emphasis on spin and control. Baracuda will give you huge amounts of spin that will be aided by the dwell of the ALC. The slowish speed of Baracuda and the dwell and flexibility of the ALC will give you the control you'll need. Speed play is not the specialty of this particular setup.
I'll be giving this setup a solid OFF, despite of the bit-lacking speed.
Anyway, this is my first review. For questions, just post. Thank you!
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