Looking for a new faster blade

[UpSideDownCarl]

Yeah, it is funny to see people who have decided not to read the actual thread or realize how Richie seems to have decided that a blade in the speed class of a Nittaku Acoustic (All+/Off-) is about the right speed range, are recommending things that are way faster without considering any of the previous dialogue.

I guess people either don't or can't read. And sock puppets who are just there to voice a preexisting stance without much consideration of the facts, that is an interesting idea.

 

[achalwins94]

Its time for WARR !!!

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[achalwins94]

Just for humour*

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[Richie]

1st, Avalox P-500 is faster and much harder than the Acoustic. 2nd, Tenor is faster and a bit harder than the Acoustic. 3rd Richie is basing his question on the fact that he has tried and liked an Acoustic.

A few things to know, a) every all wood blade plays differently than any other. So if you have 5 Acoustics they will all play a little different. b) If you have two blades of the same kind and one weighs a few grams more, the heavier one will almost always feel better. Denser wood usually has better feel. So if you get an Acoustic that was lighter than normal it would not have as much feeling. c) Harder blades usually have more crispness but less dwell time. Softer blades usually give you more dwell and a better ability to spin the ball. And they can help you work on your touch.

Nittaku Acoustic and Virtuoso Off- will be great choices.

I actually think you should get a Virtuoso Off-, get the head size choice of 150mm x 158mm (medium head size) and ask for the blade to be between 88-90 grams. (I promise, you will get used to the extra weight and thank me for that suggestion). If you do that, once you are used to it, when you pick up rackets that are in the 80-85 gram weight range you will feel like they are toys rather than real rackets. And you will benefit from the extra inertia behind the ball.

@ Paccheco: you should know, there is no longer any Nittaku/Avalox P-500s. Those are a thing of the distant past. The Avalox P-500s that are made today are still decent blades, but they are nowhere near as good as those old Nittaku/Avalox blades. Also, any Nittaku/Avalox blade that is still around today has aged for years and will play better today than when it was new. So recommending that is just short of recommending a Hans Alser blade. They aren't made like that anymore!

Besides, the top ply of any P-500 is Koto which is much harder than Limba. And Richie is asking for something like his Allround Classic but 1.5 speed classes up. So, it's a great blade but it is not right for this situation. As far as the Nittaku Tenor, that is the FASTER version of the Acoustic and if you read the thread, there is a point, after that was a recommendation where it was determined that it was too fast. But it is a lot like an Acoustic. But faster. It might be good for Richie too. Just like a Virtuoso Plus might be good for him. But I am betting that those two are a bit too fast for Richie's current needs.

And I am sure he can tell us if the Nittaku Acoustic felt good to him.

@ Richie: tell us all you can about how the Nittaku Acoustic you hit with felt to you.


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Unfortunately the woman with the blade didn't turn up today as I was hoping to try it out a bit more before commenting. So from memory of a bit over a week ago.. I felt like it vibrated less than the allround at least which felt good to me. At the moment I felt like it had good feeling, tried some touch-play which was okay.. but at the same time I didn't try it for long enough so I don't think I can really judge it accurately. Because I've tried the acoustic and will get to try it more I'm still leaning more towards that than the virtuoso even though it also sounds just as good or better. I checked with tt-japan and they have a 91g acoustic blades which seems like a good weight.

A bit off topic but I've seen considering trying some different rubbers as well such as the MX-P, MX-S or rakza 7 on my forehand and rakza 7 soft or rakza 7 2.0 for my backhand.. if I do get the acoustic, do you think they would be suitable? Anything else you'd recommend? Again, thank you a million times over!

 

[MikeWarrior]

So currently I'm using a Stiga Allround Classic(FL) with tenergy 05 2.1 on the forehand and Calibra LT sound 1.9 on the backhand.

I have tried my friends TBS with tenergy 05 2.1 on the forehand and andro rasant 2.1 on the backhand. I do like the feeling of the TBS, not sure which one it is so I'll have to check up on that. The andro might be a bit fast on the backhand though, mainly interested in alternatives for the blade. Although the calibra seems to be a very light rubber.

I've looked at the viscaria, Liu Shewen, IF ZLF. Would any of these perhaps be good alternatives or might they be too much of a step up in terms of speed? To add, although not too important, I really do like the feeling of the allround classic in my hand, are the blades mentioned similar or much thicker?
Any other suggestions?

Any input is highly appreciated!

I would recommend Ma Lin Carbon. A friend of mine just bought one, he's more of a control player but he happens to like fast blades. He let me try his new blade out, I really liked it. For most of my table tennis playing, I have always used fast blades. Some have better control than others, I thought the Ma Lin Carbon had good speed along with good control when I tried it out and it wasn't too heavy either. It's definitely a step up on what your using Good luck with your search

 

[achalwins94]

I would recommend Ma Lin Carbon. A friend of mine just bought one, he's more of a control player but he happens to like fast blades. He let me try his new blade out, I really liked it. For most of my table tennis playing, I have always used fast blades. Some have better control than others, I thought the Ma Lin Carbon had good speed along with good control when I tried it out and it wasn't too heavy either. It's definitely a step up on what your using Good luck with your search

Hey,was the head of MLC small in comparison to other general blades,like of butterfly, dhs.... ? As I have heard that yasaka shakehand have a little small heads. Because i use yeo and its head shape is small than other blades. Though it doesn't affect my game that much,but I don't like the feeling you know. Seems small, and in some situations, odd, but a very good blade play wise.

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[MikeWarrior]

Hey,was the head of MLC small in comparison to other general blades,like of butterfly, dhs.... ? As I have heard that yasaka shakehand have a little small heads. Because i use yeo and its head shape is small than other blades. Though it doesn't affect my game that much,but I don't like the feeling you know. Seems small, and in some situations, odd, but a very good blade play wise.

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Yes, it's is smaller, in fact it has a smaller head than what I use which is a Zhang Jike Super ZLC, but usually the bigger heads carry more weight too. I also use Viscaria which has a smaller head and is lighter in weight than what I normally use. Sometimes the weight has to do with feeling too and also how big the sweet spot is. I find that I have more control with my Super ZLC than with the Viscaria because it has a bigger sweet spot. I can also chop better with the Super ZLC. I have more hand speed with the Viscaria because it's lighter. I plan on getting nexy akrasia, which has a smaller head but very fast.

 

[achalwins94]

That's what I felt. I have yeo and dhs pg7. Former has speed latter has speed(less by a bit) and dwell. Also I feel comfortable in using pg7 as I am accustomed in using normal head sized blades.
But when I play matches,yeo seems to work better, as I can get nice and fast on the top of ball! Hah! I guess I must get used to yeo, since I have better results with it .


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[Richie]

@ Richie: tell us all you can about how the Nittaku Acoustic you hit with felt to you.

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So I couldn't wait any more and got my acoustic almost a week ago, the woman who owned the acoustic that I tried had donic baracuda (max) on the backhand and was selling a brand new one for only £10 and I thought well it's so cheap if I don't like it I'll get something else. Was a bit worried the blade would be head heavy with it which it is.. but it doesn't seem to be bothering me any more.

Hitting with it to start with felt strange but good, the baracuda especially is slower but much spinnier. Got some coaching today which improved my backhand loop soo much, the ball was dipping and kicking off like crazy, I'm being forced to spin more instead of flat hitting with my backhand which is what I need to improve.

Anyway, back to the second day of using it I decided to try it out in the last league match of the season, definitely felt like the weight was affecting me to start with as it's 191g compared to my old set up which was 158g. Touch play was SO much better, much better feeling maybe this is partly because of the weight as it seems to give me more stability, pushing with the baracuda is also much easier to me, more spin and pushes are lower. Performance was a bit on and off which isn't surprising as it was my second day using it, still managed to win all my games though.

Was able to generate much more spin on forehand loops as well, everything feels more stable and honestly I don't really notice that much of a difference in speed, it's there for sure but it feels like a perfect step up. On big shots with the allround classic I felt the blade vibrating a lot while there seems to be less vibration with the acoustic, which I like.. the amount of vibration with the classic felt like too much or maybe I'm just imagining it..

My serves were crap in the league match since I hadn't adjusted to the weight, but today it felt perfect again. It's strange, I feel like the acoustic is softer and provides really nice feeling compared to the allround, I would've thought it'd be the opposite as the allround classic is supposed to have more flex.

Once again thank you to everyone and especially Carl.. I think this current setup is perfect for my development at the moment and couldn't be more happy. It is absolutely ideal, even the handle is perfect for my small hands lol and the flare isn't as big as the allround classic which sometimes bothered me.

By the way, my friend that was using TBS has now switched to an allround classic and winning more haha

I've probably missed some things I could comment on but that's all for now, if anyone has any questions feel free to ask. Edit: also keep in mind I haven't used it that much yet so I'll see how things play out but these are my first impressions out of about 8 hours of playtime.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Ritchie, you made a great choice. This is awesome to hear. Once you are completely used to the blade and it starts feeling like an extension of your hand, you will feel things moving in the right direction in an even bigger way.


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[UpSideDownCarl]

By the way, the blade probably already feels like the right weight in your hands. But, just wait. After you are playing with it for a few months you will feel what I am talking about. Your nervous system and your technique will adjust to the new blade and it will feel exactly right to you. And you will start feeling things you can do with the new setup that will at first amaze and impress you and then they will start feeling natural.

And 191 is an excellent overall weight for a setup. I am confident you will start feeling the benefits of the extra weight and inertia behind your shots as you train with it more and more.


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