You couldn't control it because you were focused on getting the ball on the table and your muscle memory could not adapt. Like I said, the solution is to learn now to do this by broadening your concept of ball control using the racket, not to try to go to slower equipment necessarily, but either approach is fine as long as your coach knows how to manage it. Without coaching, going to slower equipment is reasonable, especially a slower blade.
On the subject of tacky rubbers, it is a common mistake for many people to not distinguish the effects of hard sponge from tacky rubbers. Tacky rubbers, which usually have hard sponge, release the ball slowly because of the effect of the tack in holding on to the ball. This has some advantages for close to the table game play and for larger strokes on some shots, but they generally reduces the quality of spin and speed on the ball. Hard sponge is generally not spinny on slower strokes unless the topsheet is grippy and/or tacky for extreme brushing - it allows you to loop with power as the sponge is harder to bottom out and also if the topsheet is not tacky, has more speed and spin because the ball is released faster. What you need is harder sponge, not tackier rubber. Your game is not advanced enough to get the full benefits of tacky rubber which are the short game control. But if you want to continue down that path, do so, but your spin and power will be generally less effective for the game you are currently playing and will likely play for the next few years. IT's when you get to a level where short game is at a premium and your use of the body is consistently high level that tacky rubbers show their full value and even then, many players still play well with hard sponged Euro rubber on their forehand as we can see from the ITTF rankings. Most pros play with something at 50 degrees or higher. That's why I baseline what people should put on the forehand at 46 degrees.
My question is what Euro Jap rubbers have you used on the forehand? And what have you tried to do when you used them? Your stroke is not getting the right output for what you are putting in and comes back to the question of whether your technique is really doing what it is supposed to be doing. You are driving the ball way too much with your stroke. The spin content should be much higher.
Shortening your stroke is not a bad thing if it lets you play 3 or 4 shots consistently when you could have played one. But what I find is that people who do not brush/spin sufficiently often shorten their stroke first rather than changing their contact point first, which is what more spin-oriented players do. That's really what you should first do when you use faster or slower equipment. Find the contact point on the ball that keeps the ball on the table.
I have actually used Tacky rubbers (Big Dipper, Juic 999 Turbo, H3) at different points as well as Tenergy, other Japanese ESN stuff. The main reason I don't use Tenergy is that I like the feeling of harder sponge and commercial Tenergy 05 doesn't *feel* hard to me (others disagree). But I have also discovered that while Tacky rubber has great control, the output I get is not sufficient on most of the strokes that I play when competing with the players that I am trying to beat. That's why I use MX-S and if I didn't use that, I might use something like OVA or an ESN Turbo sponge. But make no mistake, I am trying to put heavy rotation on the ball and loop drive the ball when the opportunity arises. But you won't focus on the rotation if the blade is too slow as you will be hitting too hard.
In the end, I cannot dissuade you from using something that you think is best for your game. But as long as someone is giving you good advice close to you, what I would say is that give what players like myself and NDH are telling you some consideration. We are seeing something that you are not seeing. Your stroke is full and large, but as you play better players, you will need to develop more than a few things to continue rallies and your current equipment will not get you there as the blade rubber combo is too slow on the forehand side at the very least. You need to play with much more spin than you are playing with right now, regardless of the equipment you use.
