Should I upgrade

[lovenaru63]

Hi all,

first time poser here. I am using a gambler im7 prebuilt with gambler 7 rubber. I found the racket have no power behind shot, not grippy enough so i cannot do top spin confidently and generally lack of speed and the whole thing feel light, I already order some better rubber, however, I am thinking should I upgrade the blade as well, I have my sight set on dhs bo b2x since I read a lot of good thing , however upon further research, I found that thr blade have very similar characteristics as my im7 (9/10 control and speed, 7 ply 2 carbon construction, relatively stiff and medium softness, here come the question: should I upgrade at all since they are suppose to be similar, even though the b2x is twice as expensive? Or more likely even though they seem to be similar, it is differeent in quality. Thanks to all who take their time to respond

 

[John_]

Ask your coach, it's not a good idea to ask here for first setup without seeing you play.

But here's some rules:

- Keep what you have.

- If it's too bad, ask your coach because he knows better.

- Market is different between countries so rubbers that we may recommend, may not exist in your country.

- If he tells you to upgrade:
Stay away from carbon.
Get begginer rubbers.

Do that, and you'll be fine.

 

[lovenaru63]

Hi, thanks for replying, I will probably keep the blade and see if the rubber will help then. Thanks

 

[SodaCola]

It is hard to give good recommendations without really seeing your play style, but I guess we can still give you some ideas.

Here's some questions to help us understand you better:

1. You play Shakehand / Penhold?

2. Do you consider yourself a looper?

3. Which rubber you ordered?

 

[lovenaru63]

Shake hand, not really a looper but that is what I have been trying to get better at, I order battle 3 fh and double fish long pip bh

 

[JJ Ng]

I am a HUGE fan of Gambler's blades. I hate Gambler's rubber (although for that price, it is not bad rubber).

For Gambler blade, I highly recommend Pure 7. I really enjoy playing Pure 7 with Hurricane 3 on the forehand and MX-S on the backhand (for all wood blade, I find harder rubber to be easier to use on the backhand side). I own Tibhar Stratus Power Wood and Donic Persson Powerplay. For its playing characteristic, Gambler Pure 7 plays just as well as those two popular all wood blades.

After you gain more skills and want to move up to carbon, I would recommend either Gambler Blackout Max Speed or Gambler Vector Speed. Both are fast carbon blades but not too fast. Both models play similarly but Blackout Max Speed has slightly better control and Vector Speed is slightly faster).

then if you really want to go all out fast, choose either Gambler Fire Dragon Fast and Gambler GLine X Fast Carbon. Both are actually very fast.

Outside of those five models, you don't need to try any other Gambler blades unless you feel like it.

As for rubbers, you seem to be set on battle 3 forehand and long pips on the backhand. That sounds fine to me. And if that is the case, an all wood blade is even better so you learn how to control the long pips.

I have played with inverted, short pips, medium pips and long pips. For people who have NOT used long pips and only play with (and get beaten by) 75 year old grandpa using long pips, they think that playing with long pips is easy. That is not true. The ball wobbles. If the in coming ball has a lot of back spins, you still need to adjust that using long pips, or else you will dump the ball into the net. But once you push that heavy backspin back on the other table, the opponent will be surprised by how much top spin there is on the ball even though you are making a chopping motion. Then as the Indian ladies have shown, you can chop block with long pips. Then if the ball coming at you has heavy backspin, you can also use long pips to flick the ball back with top spin for a more aggressive shots. In other words, to master long pips will take time and training. And all wood blade is perfect way to start that process.

 

[SodaCola]

Shake hand, not really a looper but that is what I have been trying to get better at, I order battle 3 fh and double fish long pip bh

If you are using pre-built, it is a pretty bad indicator on what you should look next because the quality of the blade & rubber is going to be low.

However you still need to start somewhere so going for a budget build would be better. You can upgrade later after you understand what you really need.

There are a lot of good budget blades you can try, B2X is alright but you can try the 301 series from DHS. I would recommend 301T for the stiffness and speed, but looper may find it a bit hard to control. It is just a bit more expensive than B2X.

Battle 3 is a fine budget rubber, but are you sure you want to do long pip for bh?

Personally I would suggest a non-tacky inverted rubber for bh, AK47 is a pretty good budget rubber for that.

 

[lovenaru63]

I am a HUGE fan of Gambler's blades. I hate Gambler's rubber (although for that price, it is not bad rubber).

For Gambler blade, I highly recommend Pure 7. I really enjoy playing Pure 7 with Hurricane 3 on the forehand and MX-S on the backhand (for all wood blade, I find harder rubber to be easier to use on the backhand side). I own Tibhar Stratus Power Wood and Donic Persson Powerplay. For its playing characteristic, Gambler Pure 7 plays just as well as those two popular all wood blades.

After you gain more skills and want to move up to carbon, I would recommend either Gambler Blackout Max Speed or Gambler Vector Speed. Both are fast carbon blades but not too fast. Both models play similarly but Blackout Max Speed has slightly better control and Vector Speed is slightly faster).

then if you really want to go all out fast, choose either Gambler Fire Dragon Fast and Gambler GLine X Fast Carbon. Both are actually very fast.

Outside of those five models, you don't need to try any other Gambler blades unless you feel like it.

As for rubbers, you seem to be set on battle 3 forehand and long pips on the backhand. That sounds fine to me. And if that is the case, an all wood blade is even better so you learn how to control the long pips.

I have played with inverted, short pips, medium pips and long pips. For people who have NOT used long pips and only play with (and get beaten by) 75 year old grandpa using long pips, they think that playing with long pips is easy. That is not true. The ball wobbles. If the in coming ball has a lot of back spins, you still need to adjust that using long pips, or else you will dump the ball into the net. But once you push that heavy backspin back on the other table, the opponent will be surprised by how much top spin there is on the ball even though you are making a chopping motion. Then as the Indian ladies have shown, you can chop block with long pips. Then if the ball coming at you has heavy backspin, you can also use long pips to flick the ball back with top spin for a more aggressive shots. In other words, to master long pips will take time and training. And all wood blade is perfect way to start that process.

thank you for replying! Do you personally feel im7 blade with improved rubber is adequate enough, or should I upgrade To other blade?

 

[lovenaru63]

If you are using pre-built, it is a pretty bad indicator on what you should look next because the quality of the blade & rubber is going to be low.

However you still need to start somewhere so going for a budget build would be better. You can upgrade later after you understand what you really need.

There are a lot of good budget blades you can try, B2X is alright but you can try the 301 series from DHS. I would recommend 301T for the stiffness and speed, but looper may find it a bit hard to control. It is just a bit more expensive than B2X.

Battle 3 is a fine budget rubber, but are you sure you want to do long pip for bh?

Personally I would suggest a non-tacky inverted rubber for bh, AK47 is a pretty good budget rubber for that.

I kinda regret buying long pip after some research ( I buy that because when I am young, long pip back hand is the trend within professional) however, one of my glaring weakness is returning serve, do you think non tacky inverted or short pip is better?

 

[TackyForehand]

Long pips is good for returning serves. You won't have to worry about the opponents spin with long pips. It perfectly covers your weakness of receiving serves.

 

[SodaCola]

I kinda regret buying long pip after some research ( I buy that because when I am young, long pip back hand is the trend within professional) however, one of my glaring weakness is returning serve, do you think non tacky inverted or short pip is better?

I can't really say inverted will be the absolute best for your situation, but if you have trouble returning serve, it mostly has to do with your techniques rather than the rubber itself. Personally I don't recommend "an easy way out" by just switching to long pip.

There was a time I feel like it is my rubber that caused me to lose points, turned out it is my own techniques.

Since you already purchased the rubbers, I think it makes sense for you to try using these rubbers on your current blade, see how it feels, once you have a better understanding on what you really need, you might just get a new blade and new rubbers.

 

[JJ Ng]

thank you for replying! Do you personally feel im7 blade with improved rubber is adequate enough, or should I upgrade To other blade?

I have a blade of IM7 but I am not using it. I am just happy with the other blades I have so I cannot make a comment on that.

However, there is nothing wrong with changing the rubbers only (and not change the blade) so you don't face a steep learning curve so yes, ok to keep IM7 and go from there!

 

[lovenaru63]

I have a blade of IM7 but I am not using it. I am just happy with the other blades I have so I cannot make a comment on that.

However, there is nothing wrong with changing the rubbers only (and not change the blade) so you don't face a steep learning curve so yes, ok to keep IM7 and go from there!

Thanks for replying. That is what I am going to do

 

[lovenaru63]

I can't really say inverted will be the absolute best for your situation, but if you have trouble returning serve, it mostly has to do with your techniques rather than the rubber itself. Personally I don't recommend "an easy way out" by just switching to long pip.

There was a time I feel like it is my rubber that caused me to lose points, turned out it is my own techniques.

Since you already purchased the rubbers, I think it makes sense for you to try using these rubbers on your current blade, see how it feels, once you have a better understanding on what you really need, you might just get a new blade and new rubbers.thanks for reply

I can't really say inverted will be the absolute best for your situation, but if you have trouble returning serve, it mostly has to do with your techniques rather than the rubber itself. Personally I don't recommend "an easy way out" by just switching to long pip.

There was a time I feel like it is my rubber that caused me to lose points, turned out it is my own techniques.

Since you already purchased the rubbers, I think it makes sense for you to try using these rubbers on your current blade, see how it feels, once you have a better understanding on what you really need, you might just get a new blade and new rubbers.

yeah, that is what I am going to do. I just started playing again, will need to find out what my level is first I guess.

 

[lovenaru63]

Long pips is good for returning serves. You won't have to worry about the opponents spin with long pips. It perfectly covers your weakness of receiving serves.

Got the rubber already, hopefully it will work out. Thanks for replying!