So, I thought I would do a little update on this thread after using the Korbel/Sriver FX/Tackifire Drive for a little while and now that the season has finished, mostly.......
The last few matches in the league that I used my carbon blade & rubbers, prior to going back to the Korbel, I got my derriere handed to me in a sling, to be honest. So I swapped to the Korbel, after putting the new (old, some may say) rubbers on and then won my next couple of matches, thankfully. Admittedly, when I had lost my previous matches, the teams may have been better, but I was playing at no.4 when I lost those matches and due to a bit of fun with player swaps and registration, when I won the next couple of matches I was playing at no.3, so had to face slightly better players, supposedly. I beat a couple of players my team mates didn't expect me to beat, as they had played the teams earlier in the season, so I guess that was a bit of an indication.
The main difference I have noticed, going back to the wood blade, is control over all of my shots really, but especially quicker shots against me. I am able to return more of these on the table, so it at least gives me a fighting chance of winning the point, as I am able to keep myself in rallies a bit longer. I am slowly getting back to attacking play a bit more, whereas I seemed to have gone a bit cautious/defensive, which I never used to be. Still not getting as many forehand loops on as I would like, when I really open up, but I think I may have got into some bad habits when using the carbon blade, so slowly trying to iron that out.
So again, thanks to all the advice regarding blades and rubbers in here. I am glad I went back to basics and went for slower rubbers than I was possibly going to get, on the advice of people here and I feel I am on the right track at least. If nothing else, I am enjoying playing again and I am not feeling that slight desperation, like nothing was working anymore!
@NDH - you were right about the serve, I haven't tried it against a lefty, but it can take righties by surprise a bit too. Also, I have found if I can do it shorter over the net, but still quite wide, people with a shorter reach can struggle with it too. Like everything else, I just need to practice to get a bit of consistency in it!