Butterfly Timo Boll ALC Blade Review | Featuring Timo Boll

Dan

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Dan

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Hey guys!

Here’s our latest review of the Butterfly Timo Boll ALC blade with the legend behind the blade himself, Timo Boll! The review was recorded in the awesome Borussia Dusseldorf’s training facility where Timo trains and plays for Düsseldorf in the Bundesliga with many other stars of world table tennis.

Timo Boll has been using the Boll ALC blade for the last 10 years, after changing from his previous personal blade, the legendary Timo Boll Spirit. The Boll ALC blade is based off the popular Viscaria blade.


We would like to thank Timo Boll for the time he gave us and Butterfly for providing us with the equipment to review.
Write your in-depth review of the Timo Boll ALC blade in the TTD Review Centre here.

Have you, or do you use this blade? Any questions, leave below guys I was ridiculously impressed by the unbelievable spin and quality Timo put on the ball. It was also great how he was so focused and put in a lot of effort, he did not go easy on me one bit.
 
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Dan, what, according to your experience of both blades, are the differences between TB ALC and Vis in terms of feel, speed, spin, control etc
 
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Great review with Timo himself - thanks! As a user myself I feel quite embarrassed to see what the real "master" can to with this blade.

What I think, makes this review interesting, is that Timo is playing his (almost) full potential with not a pro player - although Dan is pretty good ; ) But this king of situation makes it easier to appreciate the level of Timo's game. The wrist usage, during his fh top spins close to the table, is quite amazing. Any weaker returns, specially to the bh side, are met with incredible super spiny bh attacks.

Really I've been watching Timo for years but somehow this kind of review lets me appreciate his mastery the most. Thanks.
 
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Dan, this was an excellent review. I liked when you stopped and asked Timo questions between play. What could have madevit better was one final question: Timo provides his tip of the day...

Well the whole talk how Timo choose this blade was quite interesting. Specially hearing him explaining why he didn't go for faster blades and how even him would have troubles putting the ball on the table - quite a tip ...

But yeah, I wouldn't mind the Timo's tip of the day series .... ; )
 
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True Carbon test with Dima next? :)

Mixed test! Three blades, three players. Zhang Jike gets to choose whether he wants to bring a ZJK ALC or a Viscaria; Timo brings his TB ALC, and Dima his OTC. A number of excercises/challenges is set up, and the players perform them with their own blade. Metrics are kept.

Then all three players receive a random diffent blade, and now the real challenge starts. Same excercises, metrics kept. Repeat, lather and rinse for the third time, for the last and final tackle swap

Afterwards, players get to comment on their own and others' gear, and on their own relative performance.

(I'd like a "blind" challenge between Viscaria, TB ALC, TB Spirit, ZJK Alc, OTC — and my own Treiber K, of course. These blades have so much in common, but is there more to say about their distinctiveness in general?)
 
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Forget the blade. Lets talk about this reverse pendulum serve. :p

so in the video you get good looks at it at 10:31 (real time) or 10:44 (slow mo)

I made a gif of it at 10:44 here.

cache.php


So I can do this serve but I've always considered my reverse pendulum backspin version to be my weakest version of the serve. The pure side or side top is pretty good.

Dan, if you see this, maybe you can expand on this. Plus it looks like you do this serve yourself. What do you like?

For starters, it looks like Dan misses it because he had to reach thinking the serve was going down the line. Nonetheless, it seemed he was still relatively under the ball but the spin still took him into the net.

How does Timo achieve this amount of spin? In my experience, if your blade is angled like his is, the more you swing to the side, the more corkscrew or side you'll get. The only way I get backspin is if I really flatten out my blade and come under, touching the bottom of the ball, and come through it going forward almost pointing at the opponent. That being said, my reverse action wrist flick with a flat blade (parallel to the floor) is only so strong so my backspin is I'd say light. Perhaps I just need to work on my whip action with this more.

Timo seems to approach it differently. His bat is angled. Almost 45 degrees by the looks of it. When your blade is angled like this, you can't touch the pure bottom of the ball. Perhaps it's not fully seen here but maybe he's getting all that backspin with some strong downward action on the back/side of the ball on the swing going toward the floor. I hope this makes sense for anybody who routinely does this serve.

Anyways, curious to hear your guy's thoughts.
 
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you get better and better ..
And nice to see Timo in this great mood ... Table tennis still drives him ...nice to see ,lot of fun ...
Ps.: Dan please do not forget on me ... Thanks
 
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Forget the blade. Lets talk about this reverse pendulum serve. :p
[...] When your blade is angled like this, you can't touch the pure bottom of the ball. Perhaps it's not fully seen here but maybe he's getting all that backspin with some strong downward action on the back/side of the ball on the swing going toward the floor. [...]

The serve is really spooky and it sure looks like a side spin. Maybe additional deception comes from the placement of the ball. It does not travel towards you so that you would see the trajectory is not curved, but instead it goes away so it is harder to judge the trajectory and assume the side spin.

But Timo's technique is just a masterpiece how fine and "tight" is the way he touches the ball.
 

Dan

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Dan

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Timo Boll - A Gentleman, a legend in himself and a brand mascot of the Sport! Dan, this review is one of the best ones, in my opinion. Thanks a lot for your hard work and a fabulous review.

Great to hear KM, I couldn't agree more he really is a legend of the game and a great guy!

Dan, what, according to your experience of both blades, are the differences between TB ALC and Vis in terms of feel, speed, spin, control etc

Good question, I think the main difference for me is the feeling in the handle and that the Boll ALC is slightly harder. The grip on the viscaria feels different when playing to a Boll ALC. Very similar blades but I think I get a touch more power in my shot with the Boll ALC. Could just be me though but that's what I feel.

The difference in the arc (and the subsequent ball dip) on Timo's loops as compared to Dan's is amazing.

Also Timo's deceptively simple looking serves have so much variation.

Dan - thanks a lot for this.

I noticed this when playing Timo, the ball kicked high to me on each of his shots due to the sheet amount of spin on the ball. It was really difficult to deal with, infact I made untold errors due to this :D

Timo's serves look so simple yet so deceptive and effective. I think his serves set him up so well for the opening attack to. This makes his serves even more tricky as your scared of whats coming back on his next shot! :D

Great review with Timo himself - thanks! As a user myself I feel quite embarrassed to see what the real "master" can to with this blade.

What I think, makes this review interesting, is that Timo is playing his (almost) full potential with not a pro player - although Dan is pretty good ; ) But this king of situation makes it easier to appreciate the level of Timo's game. The wrist usage, during his fh top spins close to the table, is quite amazing. Any weaker returns, specially to the bh side, are met with incredible super spiny bh attacks.

Really I've been watching Timo for years but somehow this kind of review lets me appreciate his mastery the most. Thanks.

Wow that's great this video made you appreciate his skill even more. Actually you're totally right before the review Timo said to me that he is playing in the German Bundesliga tomorrow and needs to practice. So he did give a lot of effort. The next day Timo beat Kenta Matsudaira in the league, so his practice with me worked haha! All jokes aside it was great he gave a lot of effort as it shows how out of this world he really is. In the hour I think I won maybe 10 points, or should I say he made 10 mistakes hahaha!

Dan, this was an excellent review. I liked when you stopped and asked Timo questions between play. What could have made it better was one final question: Timo provides his tip of the day...

Hey Chuck, great stuff yeah I think it's really insightful talking to the players in the review as we get their true self and personality. Nice idea, next time I will ask this question. I did ask Timo later in the day what he thinks is the most important element to his game and he said its his ability to get as low as possible, he can bend very low with his legs which helps him get power and move in the correct position quickly.

Well the whole talk how Timo choose this blade was quite interesting. Specially hearing him explaining why he didn't go for faster blades and how even him would have troubles putting the ball on the table - quite a tip ...

But yeah, I wouldn't mind the Timo's tip of the day series .... ; )

Agreed that was interesting, I think that's why blades that are not to quick help players who play a spin based game and need the ball to dip. There are some pro's that use the Super ZLC or super quick blades but it's quite rare in comparison to an OFF carbon blade.

But Timo's technique is just a masterpiece how fine and "tight" is the way he touches the ball.

Yeah his touch is incredible. When he hits the ball he gets a different sound in comparison to my shots, the contact on every shot is ridiculous! He's a machine!
 

Dan

says editing a big TTD Team episode... stay tuned 👀

Dan

says editing a big TTD Team episode... stay tuned 👀
Well-Known Member
Administrator
Aug 2010
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Read 72 reviews
Forget the blade. Lets talk about this reverse pendulum serve. :p

so in the video you get good looks at it at 10:31 (real time) or 10:44 (slow mo)

I made a gif of it at 10:44 here.

cache.php


So I can do this serve but I've always considered my reverse pendulum backspin version to be my weakest version of the serve. The pure side or side top is pretty good.

Dan, if you see this, maybe you can expand on this. Plus it looks like you do this serve yourself. What do you like?

For starters, it looks like Dan misses it because he had to reach thinking the serve was going down the line. Nonetheless, it seemed he was still relatively under the ball but the spin still took him into the net.

How does Timo achieve this amount of spin? In my experience, if your blade is angled like his is, the more you swing to the side, the more corkscrew or side you'll get. The only way I get backspin is if I really flatten out my blade and come under, touching the bottom of the ball, and come through it going forward almost pointing at the opponent. That being said, my reverse action wrist flick with a flat blade (parallel to the floor) is only so strong so my backspin is I'd say light. Perhaps I just need to work on my whip action with this more.

Timo seems to approach it differently. His bat is angled. Almost 45 degrees by the looks of it. When your blade is angled like this, you can't touch the pure bottom of the ball. Perhaps it's not fully seen here but maybe he's getting all that backspin with some strong downward action on the back/side of the ball on the swing going toward the floor. I hope this makes sense for anybody who routinely does this serve.

Anyways, curious to hear your guy's thoughts.

Hi Suds, this is a fantastic question and I love the gif you have made there, brilliant! I've watched it around 20 times now haha!

I actually have wondered this question myself for a long time as when I do a reverse serve I can get a lot of sidespin but backspin is a lot more tricky. So I actually asked Timo which ill release in a later video :)

What i think is going on is that Timo is getting sidespin/backspin but due to his ridiculous wrist speed and body going into the ball hes getting a load of spin where the backspin has a big effect. Due to his incredible touch and the amount of practice he has done with this same motion hes getting a sheer amount of spin so if your not right underneath the ball when you push it, it will go down towards to the net. Like you said I was of guard before returning the serve so i was not fully able to get my head and body close to the push so Timo's insane spin brought the ball down to the net. I would say its more backspin than sidespin/backspin but I don't think it's complete backspin. If you look at Zhang Jike's reverse serve I think he is pretty much getting pure backspin on his reverse due to the angle he comes in at.

When I asked Timo how does he get this amount of spin on his reverse which I will release in a later clip on Youtube, Timo basically said its the way his body moves into the ball and the speed of his wrist. He also said it's not about how much spin you produce on the ball but it's the placement and knowing the position of your opponent. He said for left handers playing right handers the short reverse serve works well wide to their forehand as they have to lean which can cause the error or a weak return.
 
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