Need suggestions about my setup.

[Enzo]

I have been using for the last 6 months specially fast setup : timo boll alc, Tenergy 05 on FH and Tenergy 19 on BH. To be honest, i think that this setup is too speedy for me and right now i am reflecting about making a change. It crossed my mind the idea of changing the forehand rubber to a dignics 09C and as the time went by, change the backhand side to this same rubber. Another idea i had, was to change the blade, i was thinking between the marcos freitas alc, the lin gaouyan alc or either the in a short while released fan zhendong alc (depending on the features of the blade). I am a bit indecisive about which decision to make.
Any suggestion?

 

[NDH]

I have been using for the last 6 months specially fast setup : timo boll alc, Tenergy 05 on FH and Tenergy 19 on BH. To be honest, i think that this setup is too speedy for me and right now i am reflecting about making a change. It crossed my mind the idea of changing the forehand rubber to a dignics 09C and as the time went by, change the backhand side to this same rubber. Another idea i had, was to change the blade, i was thinking between the marcos freitas alc, the lin gaouyan alc or either the in a short while released fan zhendong alc (depending on the features of the blade). I am a bit indecisive about which decision to make.
Any suggestion?

Hey Enzo,

With the blade change suggestions, if I'm completely honest, they are all very very similar - If you want to decrease the speed, I would look for something slower.

You said you were waiting for the FZD ALC? If you are 100% going to get that, I imagine it'll be very very similar to the TB ALC.......

If that's the case (and your heart is set on the FZ ALC regardless), then changing rubbers would be your best bet.

A few things first.....

1. Do you have any video of you playing?
2. Do you have a budget (you've mentioned Dignics, so I'm guessing not!)
3. What do you want to change from your current set up? Are you pushing the ball long, hitting it off the table, popping the ball up too high?

Let me know, and I'll try and help.

 

[Enzo]

Hey Enzo,

With the blade change suggestions, if I'm completely honest, they are all very very similar - If you want to decrease the speed, I would look for something slower.

You said you were waiting for the FZD ALC? If you are 100% going to get that, I imagine it'll be very very similar to the TB ALC.......

If that's the case (and your heart is set on the FZ ALC regardless), then changing rubbers would be your best bet.

A few things first.....

1. Do you have any video of you playing?
2. Do you have a budget (you've mentioned Dignics, so I'm guessing not!)
3. What do you want to change from your current set up? Are you pushing the ball long, hitting it off the table, popping the ball up too high?

Let me know, and I'll try and help.

Hey NDH, thanks for your concern!

Firstly, answering your questions.

1. Sadly i dont have at this moment any recent videos of me playing, but i may record them in the near future.

2. About the budget, for me to buy a new blade is not a problem. As my homeland is Brazil and I study abroad, it is possible for me to resell my blade for a good price in Brazil, as the things from table tennis here are a bit more expensive. In the question of the rubber, i have the budget right now to buy a rubber until 80 euros (price of dignics) . To sum up, as i can sell my tb alc, i can afford a blade around the same price, and furthermore, 80 euros to spend on rubbers.

3. In my current setup, the short game is really tough for me, specially receiving serves. Although i dont consider myself good at receiving serves, this combination of blade and rubbers makes it even harder for me, another aspect is that i have been hitting the ball of the table too often, attacks that with my previous setup (petr korbel, tenergy 64 fh and donic bluestorm z1 bh) i wouldnt miss, are now being missed even more. Moreover, my backhand and forehand flick are even more unstable right now (hitting off too much). Recently i have tested my friend's racket, an ovtcharov innerforce alc paired with two tenergys 64, and it was then when i noticed how much more feel and control the ovtcharov offered and how much feeling and control i was losing with my boll alc and tenergys. Pushing the ball now is not too hard for me, as i can decently adjust the angle of the racket, so i wouldnt consider that as problem.

Lastly, i would preferentially take a blade of 157x150mm, as i can reuse my tenergy 05. If i change one rubber, probably i will sell my tenergy 19 and stay with the 05, as it is in better conditions. My knowledge about table tennis equipments surround the butterfly brand, i dont know too much about other brands, so another suggestions are more well than accepted .

Thanks, Enzo

 

[Brs]

You could make the setup more controllable either by changing the blade or the rubbers. As NDH said, the blades you are considering are all about the same, so you won't notice a massive change there.

How do you like/want to play?

If you want to get more control by going slower then move down the Butterfly blade matrix to a TB ZLF, or a Korbel like you had before. And keep the same rubbers. Note that all five blades you are considering live in the same square, and three out of four are even the same dot. Here are some definitions for the matrix.

But you probably don't want to sacrifice much speed to gain control. Most players don't, even when 90% of their misses are long off the table. I question if the added speed helps or hurts them actually winning points. But we are not here to judge. So let's say you don't want to go much/any slower on the blade based on your five options being pretty much identical.

Naturally Butterfly also has a rubber matrix. Looking at both matrices suggests you found your friend's Ovtcharov blade much easier to control not because of the blade, but because it has T64 both sides. That is moving one square down in spin from your T19/05 setup.

Why not try two sheets of T64 on your TB ALC and see how it plays? If it's still not exactly right you can always buy an Ovtcharov ALC yourself and move the T64s onto it.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I would suggest changing blades
ALC is very fast and all ALC is more or less the same very fast.
Going 5 ply or 7 ply wood might be a good try for you, and if you can use it better with the same rubbers, then you know the composite layers in the wood is not for you at this stage.

Of course going slower rubbers/more control rubbers on your ALC is another option, but I tend to suggest blade control with spinny rubbers than the other way around.

Another point to note - there is always a chance your rubbers might shrink.
So reusing them - is based on a 50/50 chance and you can't tell until you remove them (unless it starts shrinking while still glued on)

It might be wiser to sell your entire setup as is, and buy new blade/rubbers.

 

[Enzo]

Hey, thanks for your answer Brs!

Your suggestion pleases me a lot. The only thing i was a bit confused, was when i came to the realisation that the timo boll alc is 157x150mm, whereas the ovtcharov is 158x152 mm. I dont know about the topic, but i presumed that it would affect my performance if I used smaller rubbers?

Thanks again, Enzo

 

[OldUser]

Something a touch faster than Krobel but still usable with control --> Falcima
Something in the T64 vibe but with more spin as Tony's suggested: T19 both sides.

 

[Brs]

Hey, thanks for your answer Brs!

Your suggestion pleases me a lot. The only thing i was a bit confused, was when i came to the realisation that the timo boll alc is 157x150mm, whereas the ovtcharov is 158x152 mm. I dont know about the topic, but i presumed that it would affect my performance if I used smaller rubbers?

Thanks again, Enzo

You could leave an extra mm all around the edges of your TB ALC. That's what people who glued used to do to allow for shrinkage. You'd have to be careful not to hit the edges though. The length is not a big deal, you could easily put the rubber 1mm up from the end of the handle. But the 2mm width difference is not great. You could definitely play with the rubber slightly smaller. But with serves and pushes you want to catch the ball as close as possible to the edge. So it should have rubber up to the edge.

 

[Lazer]

It You don’t mind a bit of flex and small handle, check out butterfly innerforce ALC.S, The innerforce effect on this one is huge. Slow on soft hits progressively faster on hard hits.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[pong99]

If you like the Tenergy feel and want to go a little bit slower, the simplest thing to do is try a sheet of Rozena.

I have T80/Rozena my ALC. Rozena has a softer Tenergy sponge with a topsheet that has better control than T05/80 etc. I use 1.9mm sponge for a close to the table style of game. You can even go down to 1.7mm for even more control.

 

[mocker88]

What did you use before, and did that work better? For how long have you played?

 

[brokenball]

Brush more, then more of the energy will go into rotation an less into speed.

 

[Enzo]

Answering your questions. I have been playing for around 4 years. At that time I used my previous setup, i was worse than nowadays and that is why i am not sure if that was better or worse than my actual setup and if that suited my playing style. I am an offensive player and i always try to attack when there is a chance, however with my actual setup, i feel like the racket has a big arc and it is hard for me to adjust. I dont know if time will do the job or that either I should maybe opt for a slower rubber, or blade.

Thanks, Enzo

 

[Enzo]

Thank you guys for all the comments, I am still deciding what to do, but right now i know how, which way I should follow and what options I have.to fulfill my demands.

Enzo

 

[NDH]

Based on what you’ve said, and the fact you seem to be drawn to the different blades more than the rubbers (which is totally fine, as blade design plays a part in my purchasing too!), I would say to change your Tenergy.

Of all the rubbers I’ve used, Tenergy 05 is by far the rubber that needs the highest skill level to use it.

It’s great when attacking, but intermediate players don’t attack anywhere near as much as they would need to in order to get the most out of T05.

It’s VERY bouncy, hard to control and terrible in the short game unless you have a fantastic touch.

Dignics 09c would definitely be better based on what you’ve said, but I would say that any of the Butterfly ALC blades + Dignics 09c is still a very fast set up.

The Korbel is a great blade, and probably more than fast enough for you.

If you can afford to, I’d pair it with Dignics 09c so you can feel what it’s like.

It should be much more controllable, whilst still giving you PLENTY of speed in the attacking game.

 

[OldUser]

Answering your questions. I have been playing for around 4 years. At that time I used my previous setup, i was worse than nowadays and that is why i am not sure if that was better or worse than my actual setup and if that suited my playing style. I am an offensive player and i always try to attack when there is a chance, however with my actual setup, i feel like the racket has a big arc and it is hard for me to adjust. I dont know if time will do the job or that either I should maybe opt for a slower rubber, or blade.

Thanks, Enzo

4 years of playing and starting as a teenager then (as you're a student in a foreign country now I think you're something like between 18 and 20) is not enough to handle ALC or ZLC baldes. I know it's cool to see the pros throwing bullets everywhere with those blades on Youtube but face it: you're not a pro, we are not pros.

Young adults or teenagers who can handle those kind of blades are the one who have been trained early in their youth, very early, way more early than you. And probably with way more hours of effective training per week !

When I started at age 15, I was using a kind of ALL+ blade like you did, but with more spinny and control rubbers (Tibhar Dang and Banco China Spin), chinese tacky topsheets with japanese sponge already in the late 80's... 4 years later I did the same as you did: I went into a Clipper with 2 Mark V + speed glue, guess what ? the Clipper was kind of the fastest blade at that time before the Viscaria came into the market, but I went back to ... slower and spinnier rubbers (Vario) and ALL+/OFF- blades (Donic or Andro blades) 1 year after that speed glue trials and errors time, no speed glue then, and played way better !

 

[mocker88]

Answering your questions. I have been playing for around 4 years. At that time I used my previous setup, i was worse than nowadays and that is why i am not sure if that was better or worse than my actual setup and if that suited my playing style. I am an offensive player and i always try to attack when there is a chance, however with my actual setup, i feel like the racket has a big arc and it is hard for me to adjust. I dont know if time will do the job or that either I should maybe opt for a slower rubber, or blade.

Thanks, Enzo

Tenergy will give you a high arc with many blades. Why don't you try something more linear instead of Butterfly rubbers? I mean that while finding out what's best for you, you'll waste a lot of money buying all Butterfly products. I play with a Yinhe V14 Pro blade, https://revspin.net/blade/galaxy-yinhe-venus-v-14-pro.html . It's quite similar to the TB ALC. I like to play as offensive as possible too, and like the looping part most. My rubbers are quite linear. DHS H3 (FH) and Yinhe Big Dipper (BH). These would give you even more grip, and will not make the ball bounce away in the manor Tenergy does. The backside could be that you depend more on your technique and need to work hard with your feet, knees, hip and arm etc.

There are many rubbers you could try that probably would make your short game and receives easier to handle, and it will make your attacking be more controllable. I'll list a few you could check out if you want to.

Yinhe - Big Dipper https://revspin.net/rubber/galaxy-yinhe-big-dipper.html
Pimplepark - Epos https://revspin.net/rubber/pimplepark-epos.html
DHS - Hurricane 8-80 https://revspin.net/rubber/dhs-hurricane-8-80.html
LOKI - GTX Pro https://revspin.net/rubber/loki-gtx-pro.html
729 - Presto MAX Spin https://revspin.net/rubber/729-presto-spin-max.html
729 - Presto MAX Speed https://revspin.net/rubber/729-presto-max-speed.html
Sanwei - Gear Hyper https://revspin.net/rubber/sanwei-gear-hyper.html