Setup Recommendations (Wooden blade + BH Rubber recommendations)

[Telepathic]

Greetings, this has probably been asked a lot of times and I did go through quite a few forum posts here, but I did not quite find what I was looking for, could also be that I didn't read enough, so apologies in advance.

A friend of mine is looking for advice, his current setup is: | Tibhar Lebesson Off- | Rakza X (FH) | Donic Bluestorm Z3 (BH) |

He has been playing for many number of years, decent level, plays in local tournaments and is looking to change/upgrade his backhand rubber and blade. Looping is good, technique is good, consistent, no issues with heavy backspin on either side to attack early or touch back if needed.

Important here is sticking to all wood, but increasing the speed, without much loss in feeling of touch (5ply or 7ply both work).
Backhand rubber's durability was not particularly impressive, so something that would be a bit more durable and would retain similar catapult effect (can be lesser), but slightly flatter and faster would be ideal.

Would like to get some recommendations and suggestions.

 

[joshmak10]

Id recommend Stiga Clipper Wood with H3N Provincial Blue sponge FH and Glayzer/Rozena BH. I’d personally say H3N for BH too but it might need too many technical changes

 

[Lazer]

Greetings, this has probably been asked a lot of times and I did go through quite a few forum posts here, but I did not quite find what I was looking for, could also be that I didn't read enough, so apologies in advance.

A friend of mine is looking for advice, his current setup is: | Tibhar Lebesson Off- | Rakza X (FH) | Donic Bluestorm Z3 (BH) |

He has been playing for many number of years, decent level, plays in local tournaments and is looking to change/upgrade his backhand rubber and blade. Looping is good, technique is good, consistent, no issues with heavy backspin on either side to attack early or touch back if needed.

Important here is sticking to all wood, but increasing the speed, without much loss in feeling of touch (5ply or 7ply both work).
Backhand rubber's durability was not particularly impressive, so something that would be a bit more durable and would retain similar catapult effect (can be lesser), but slightly flatter and faster would be ideal.

Would like to get some recommendations and suggestions.

Just upgrading the BH rubber to Bluestorm Z2 will give higher speed. If he is a seasoned player it should be no problem…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Zwill]

Greetings, this has probably been asked a lot of times and I did go through quite a few forum posts here, but I did not quite find what I was looking for, could also be that I didn't read enough, so apologies in advance.

A friend of mine is looking for advice, his current setup is: | Tibhar Lebesson Off- | Rakza X (FH) | Donic Bluestorm Z3 (BH) |

He has been playing for many number of years, decent level, plays in local tournaments and is looking to change/upgrade his backhand rubber and blade. Looping is good, technique is good, consistent, no issues with heavy backspin on either side to attack early or touch back if needed.

Important here is sticking to all wood, but increasing the speed, without much loss in feeling of touch (5ply or 7ply both work).
Backhand rubber's durability was not particularly impressive, so something that would be a bit more durable and would retain similar catapult effect (can be lesser), but slightly flatter and faster would be ideal.

Would like to get some recommendations and suggestions.

Victas V>15 extra is a bit faster but maybe not flatter. Durability is about as good as it gets from German made rubbers.
I think the Lebesson Off- is a pretty good blade so maybe don't change. Or look at something like Rosewood 7 or Andro Wanokiwami Ren.

 

[Telepathic]

Id recommend Stiga Clipper Wood with H3N Provincial Blue sponge FH and Glayzer/Rozena BH. I’d personally say H3N for BH too but it might need too many technical changes

Noted on the Clipper, definitely heard a lot of good things from that and was one of my suggestions. Will skip on the Chinese rubbers for now, would not suit him for what he wants to do. No Change on Forehand rubber needed, he is happy with X on FH. But these no doubt are good suggestions.

 

[Telepathic]

Victas V>15 extra is a bit faster but maybe not flatter. Durability is about as good as it gets from German made rubbers.
I think the Lebesson Off- is a pretty good blade so maybe don't change. Or look at something like Rosewood 7 or Andro Wanokiwami Ren.

Relaying his words: "It is definitely a good blade, but much too slow for me nowadays". Needs a bit more bite and pace in his gameplay. Noted on the two suggestions.

 

[Telepathic]

Just upgrading the BH rubber to Bluestorm Z2 will give higher speed. If he is a seasoned player it should be no problem…

Cheers
L-zr

Donic is out of the question unfortunately.

 

[ttarc]

Donic is out of the question unfortunately.

Did he try the Rakza X on his BH? Maybe the softer Rakza X Soft?
Otherwise I would suggest Victas V>15 Extra too or the lighter and quite similar V>11 Extra (same sponge hardness as Rakza X or V>15 Extra but feels softer).
Maybe some rubbers of Tibhar's Evolution series could work too like FX-S/FX-D, EL-S/EL-D or MX-P.

Blades:
Cheap, proven, fast with a lower trajectory than the Lebesson: Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive. Would suggest one with less than 90g first. Especially if the Lebesson is one of the lighter ones (can weigh less than 80g).
Other options:
5-ply: Butterfly Korbel, Xiom Offensive S (quite similar to the Korbel), Avalox P500 or BT555
7-ply: Victas/TSP Swat, Tibhar Force Pro Black Edition/Bernadette Szocs, Avalox BT777 or P700, Sanwei Fextra (One).
Handles and balance are all different from the Lebesson so if possible try these blades first before buying.
5+2 but with a very woody feeling: Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon. Extensive review https://ttgearlab.com/2023/07/24/yasaka-ma-lin-carbon-ma-lin-extra-offensive-lab-test-report/
Weight: around 87g to 90g as most of these can vary a lot and/or feel a bit like cardboard if lighter like the Swat or are simply to heavy or fast:

 

[Telepathic]

Did he try the Rakza X on his BH? Maybe the softer Rakza X Soft?
Otherwise I would suggest Victas V>15 Extra too or the lighter and quite similar V>11 Extra (same sponge hardness as Rakza X or V>15 Extra but feels softer).
Maybe some rubbers of Tibhar's Evolution series could work too like FX-S/FX-D, EL-S/EL-D or MX-P.

Blades:
Cheap, proven, fast with a lower trajectory than the Lebesson: Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive. Would suggest one with less than 90g first. Especially if the Lebesson is one of the lighter ones (can weigh less than 80g).
Other options:
5-ply: Butterfly Korbel, Xiom Offensive S (quite similar to the Korbel), Avalox P500 or BT555
7-ply: Victas/TSP Swat, Tibhar Force Pro Black Edition/Bernadette Szocs, Avalox BT777 or P700, Sanwei Fextra (One).
Handles and balance are all different from the Lebesson so if possible try these blades first before buying.
5+2 but with a very woody feeling: Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon. Extensive review https://ttgearlab.com/2023/07/24/yasaka-ma-lin-carbon-ma-lin-extra-offensive-lab-test-report/
Weight: around 87g to 90g as most of these can vary a lot and/or feel a bit like cardboard if lighter like the Swat or are simply to heavy or fast:

how does Victas compare with Rakza X in terms of durability? Are they similar?

How does the speed of Soft Carbon compare to Xiom Offensive S?

 

[ttarc]

how does Victas compare with Rakza X in terms of durability? Are they similar?

How does the speed of Soft Carbon compare to Xiom Offensive S?

I only used V>15 and V>11 for some time on BH but never Rakza X. What I can say is that the durability was better than BlueStorm Z2. V>11 a bit less durable than V>15 maybe due to its different sponge.

Ups.. The link from above compares the normal Ma Lin Carbon not the ML Soft Carbon (which holds the ball even deeper than the MLC or YEO) to the YEO but what he said should still hold to a certain degree "Although ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’ gives much higher value of primary elasticity, it can be slower than ‘Ma Lin Carbon’ when player plays at mid-distance area, because 5-ply pure wood blades lose more energy than fiber blades during the process of deformation and restoration when player hits the ball very hard."
Might be a problem of an (maybe ex) EJ that I can't remember every blade I played or tested or read about

All data from https://ttgearlab.com/category/database/
MLSC 90.1g: Ep = 1.49 (primary elasticity), Ec = 1.07 (when hit hard, central elasticity), Ec/Ep = 0.72 (deep hold which is typical for many inner carbon blades)
MLC 88.5g: Ep = 1.49, Ec = 1.30, Ec/Ep = 0.87
YEO 87.7g: Ep = 1.72, Ec = 1.33, Ec/Ep = 0.77
Lebesson 83.2g: Ep = 1.29, Ec = 1.26, Ec/Ep = 0.98 (neutral/linear)
Offensive S 85.6g: Ep = 1.60, Ec = 1.54, Ec/Ep = 0.96 (similar to the Lebesson but overall faster)

From this data the Offensive S looks like the best upgrade. It should have the same linear characteristic as the Lebesson but with overall more speed.

For reference: TTGearLab's review of the Lebesson https://ttgearlab.com/2017/02/11/review-tibhar-e-lebesson/
Nearly forgot that TTGearLab designed the Offensive S and many other Xiom blades... https://ttgearlab.com/2020/01/01/xiom-novus-series/

 

[Telepathic]

I only used V>15 and V>11 for some time on BH but never Rakza X. What I can say is that the durability was better than BlueStorm Z2. V>11 a bit less durable than V>15 maybe due to its different sponge.

Ups.. The link from above compares the normal Ma Lin Carbon not the ML Soft Carbon (which holds the ball even deeper than the MLC or YEO) to the YEO but what he said should still hold to a certain degree "Although ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’ gives much higher value of primary elasticity, it can be slower than ‘Ma Lin Carbon’ when player plays at mid-distance area, because 5-ply pure wood blades lose more energy than fiber blades during the process of deformation and restoration when player hits the ball very hard."
Might be a problem of an (maybe ex) EJ that I can't remember every blade I played or tested or read about

All data from https://ttgearlab.com/category/database/
MLSC 90.1g: Ep = 1.49 (primary elasticity), Ec = 1.07 (when hit hard, central elasticity), Ec/Ep = 0.72 (deep hold which is typical for many inner carbon blades)
MLC 88.5g: Ep = 1.49, Ec = 1.30, Ec/Ep = 0.87
YEO 87.7g: Ep = 1.72, Ec = 1.33, Ec/Ep = 0.77
Lebesson 83.2g: Ep = 1.29, Ec = 1.26, Ec/Ep = 0.98 (neutral/linear)
Offensive S 85.6g: Ep = 1.60, Ec = 1.54, Ec/Ep = 0.96 (similar to the Lebesson but overall faster)

From this data the Offensive S looks like the best upgrade. It should have the same linear characteristic as the Lebesson but with overall more speed.

For reference: TTGearLab's review of the Lebesson https://ttgearlab.com/2017/02/11/review-tibhar-e-lebesson/
Nearly forgot that TTGearLab designed the Offensive S and many other Xiom blades... https://ttgearlab.com/2020/01/01/xiom-novus-series/

Appreciate the advice so much, I will look into TTgearlab for myself as well, seems like a website I heavily under utilize for this.

Gave him main recommendations of Victas V>15 Extra and Xiom Offensive S, those were choices he seemed to preferred from our discussions as well. Thank you so much!