New OSP Virtuoso ALC blade

Thanks Carl for taking time to write one of your legendary common sense answers. I felt that special feeling when playing with an friend’s old Jonyer, so I looked for something similar with a modern twist, as with his racket somehow I could loop like it wasn’t me playing. My composite blade I have is not particularly fancy, is an unknown outside Japan WRM with an inner core I got as present. I think it’s a all round + or off-, decent but unusually small, which bothers me, and gives a very weird feedback I don’t like but, when I play off the bounce hitting as early as possible Mima style (Mima’s grand grand father style more likely), the WRM works a lot better for than the Darker. So my logic was, perhaps I benefit from a bit of speed, as long as I have a blade that gives me some feeling, so I had on the back of my head that I wanted to try a carbon blade with good feel, hence the salivation when I saw the new OPS.

But you are right of course. I’m happy with my Darker, I find it slow enough to help me think about how I’m hitting, and I do feel the blade holding the ball longer before it bounces off. It’s a great feeling which feels great when looping, but when I want to hit the ball early, that feeling almost bothers me and I would like a faster rebound.
Not sure this makes sense, maybe I’m not ready for it. I’ll think about getting one from your list.

Cheers Carl, always nice taking to you.

Andre74 said:

Thanks Carl for taking time to write one of your legendary common sense answers. I felt that special feeling when playing with an friend’s old Jonyer, so I looked for something similar with a modern twist, as with his racket somehow I could loop like it wasn’t me playing. My composite blade I have is not particularly fancy, is an unknown outside Japan WRM with an inner core I got as present. I think it’s a all round + or off-, decent but unusually small, which bothers me, and gives a very weird feedback I don’t like but, when I play off the bounce hitting as early as possible Mima style (Mima’s grand grand father style more likely), the WRM works a lot better for than the Darker. So my logic was, perhaps I benefit from a bit of speed, as long as I have a blade that gives me some feeling, so I had on the back of my head that I wanted to try a carbon blade with good feel, hence the salivation when I saw the new OPS.

But you are right of course. I’m happy with my Darker, I find it slow enough to help me think about how I’m hitting, and I do feel the blade holding the ball longer before it bounces off. It’s a great feeling which feels great when looping, but when I want to hit the ball early, that feeling almost bothers me and I would like a faster rebound.
Not sure this makes sense, maybe I’m not ready for it. I’ll think about getting one from your list.

Cheers Carl, always nice taking to you.

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Well, it sounds like you get to decide for yourself. You are able to feel what makes Hinoki sing. If you had the idea of making that kind of contact on those short off the bounce shots instead of making more direct contact the Darker blade would work fine for you.

If you like making the more direct contact type shots, cross off the Primorac and get one of the blades on that list. Can’t go wrong with any of them. The reason to take the Primorac off the list is, you gave me an answer that says you would be fine with the speed of the other blades and the main value in the Primorac is, it is a lot like be Korbel but a little slower.

Give yourself a few weeks of seeing if you can make that kind of contact on those off the bounce shots. Because you can do those shots and get more spin and speed from the Darker with a very small change in how you contact the ball. But you still might prefer one of the blades on that list I made.

BTW: if that was really one of my signature posts, I would have mentioned sub-cortical learning by the nervous system, carbon dampening certain vibrations, and a host of other things about why so many mid to lower level players should use slower setups and many more details how, the ease of speed from the Carbon makes it take longer to develop good strokes and how you only realize this stuff after years of using things a little too fast and getting used to it so you can’t tell. [emoji2]

Hahahaha.

I have realized there is no way to explain this stuff to people who haven’t experienced it for themselves. Which is why, in the other thread, I just didn’t bother trying to explain. Besides, I have explained things like that soooo many times. [emoji2]. It is okay for someone playing only one year to learn the long way by experience.


Sent from my NSA SpyPhone from Sector 13D-SR13Z74 Sub Level 29X Fort Meade, Maryland

Sorry for taking this thread a bit off-topic again..
but I feel compelled to say that in an attempt to follow Carl's recommendations, I bought a new blade.
If I had more common sense I would have purchased a reasonably priced Xiom.
Instead, since the OSP bug was already planted, I went for the Virtuoso+, at least resisting the temptation to try the new carbon one. I'm glad I did as the Virtuoso+ is plenty fast for me.
I really wanted a straight squared handle as I tried some popular BTF blades in straight squared style and I decided it's the handle for me. I was a bit apprehensive about the handle, as I'm never happy, but this one works great out of the box.
OSP was kind enough to swallow their pride and let me have a totally plain handle, 2 side Bs.. as I really hate the feeling of logos etc.. shame as the OSP logo looks lovely but I'm so happy I finally have a plain one, the wood is beautiful by itself anyway, who needs decorations.
The blade - I see what the fuss is about - is lovely. I played with it only twice and with my used and abused old t05s. It feels so solid, high quality, a bit heavier than my previous setups witch I like a lot, it's such a nice fast allrounder and from my fist impressions, it is already helping me on all shots, at least psychologically.
It's more direct and crispy than my Darker which is what I was looking for but I don't feel I have lost any 'feel'.
In fact,the feel is what's special. The blade feels really solid and when it vibrates, I get no buzz or noisy vibration. The vibrations feel really clean like in a wood instrument, and this is probably the single thing that has impressed me the most about this racket so far, this detail alone makes it such a pleasure to use. In comparison, the Darker feels hollow, unless I hit exactly the little sweet spot in which case it resonates beautifully. The V+ seems to be a lot more forgiving and gives a beautiful feedback feeling even on not perfect shots.
I'm probably talking rubbish, ciao!

May as well get what you want. Have fun with it.

Xiom Offensive S on sale in the UK at Custom Table Tennis

I set up my OSP AC with Dignics 05 and T05FX. Blade weight is 91g and it is the large 159mm head shape. As soon as you hit your first shot you will notice this blade doesnt feel like carbon at all. Unless you hit really hard you never feel the AC. The thing you do notice is the giant sweet spot and slight speed increase. To compare the speed to other OSP blades I would say its around the speed of an Ultimate II. The direct competition to this blade would be Butterfly Innerforce ALC. I feel Innerforce ALC is stiffer and slightly faster. The OSP has more flex and an all wood feel compared to IF ALC. For my game the OSP has much better touch and feel. The added dwell also increases spin for me add a higher margin for error since the ball is on the blade longer. The best description for this blade when looping from either wing is autopilot. The feel of this blade also makes the blocking game a breeze. Over the table game such as flicks are also very easy due to the dwell. In my opinion if you are a player who puts a premium on feel and spin quality this blade is optimum. If you are looking for a carbon feel or a blade that is as fast as something like Viscaria you will be disappointed .

Hello all folks ! It looks as if I was the french player you talked about before. I will give you my thoughts about this excellent Blade. I agree with most of thoughts of fzolesz. Virtuoso AC is the first carbon blade that I really prefer to any all wood blade. It’s a killer.

popette59 said:

Hello all folks ! It looks as if I was the french player you talked about before. I will give you my thoughts about this excellent Blade. I agree with most of thoughts of fzolesz. Virtuoso AC is the first carbon blade that I really prefer to any all wood blade. It’s a killer.

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Hi Popette59

What rubbers did you put on?

I tried the VAC with MXP last week but felt soft and too headheavy. I put back the used D80 and bought a new T80 on BH.

Has anyone tried the OSP Expert ii?