So I took the advice, and didn’t buy anything new not to become an EJ. But something interesting happened. I switched the rubbers on C-5 with the rubbers from the old setup, and as soon as l stuck those Baracudas on C-5, it became way faster. It’s definitely a Off- now. Which brings me to the question: how much of the speed is from the blade and how much is from the rubber? It seems to me that now I have a slower, more vibrating version of my previous setup without a lot of change in the familiar feeling of the old setup. This is despite the fact that C-5 is 5ply wood and 3d max is a carbon blade. I’m a little bit confused, as I always thought blade contributes more to the feeling than the rubber.
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You seem confused in more ways than one unless you miswrote that. A flexy, slower wood blade will have more vibrations than a stiff, faster carbon blade. So what you have is exactly what you should have expected to have.
Feeling is subjective and changes with time and experience. An example from something other than table tennis is the taste of beer - if you are an adult and drink, beer doesn't taste to you now the bitter way it tasted to you when you first drank it.
There was a time I couldn't stand Koto blades and I could only stand softer outer plies. Now it is the reverse and I can't stand softer outer plies, I love the crisp feeling and quick release of Koto. Of course, the ball has changed as well, but my point remains as I used limba for most of the past few years and only switched to Koto permanently a month or less ago - the most I had used Koto as a looper at any time prior was a 1 month stint in 2014.
So until you have developed advanced table tennis skills, ignore your initial feeling - it is simply what you think based on what you know to look for. As you play better and become more advanced, the feelings may become more different or more similar, depending on what you decide to focus on. Just focus on how well you play and comparing what players coaching tell you to expect and what you see and resolve the difference.
What you should do is use your feeling for the ball to determine how to play better. And to seek that feeling while hitting the ball in the learning stages of your strokes.
