It’s very difficult to just text. The most important thing in 1st-2nd year players is the contact and timing that you cannot describe by text. So it’s sensible to ask for video. (Well. I’m making this up
but that’s what I see from myself and other trainees in my club)
Generally speaking you prefer hard rubber if you want faster but still spinnier loop (thick brush) (when you feel like if you go very fast you don’t get more spin even though you are brushing. It’s different from pure speed - more smashy stroke) but you sacrifice the slow loop (thin brush) a bit. I do think it’s more a personal taste than your ability.
A clipper, all wood is good. You really don’t need a too slow, all-round blade. Some chaps like Carl may prefer all-round to start because they are very fit so when they started they had the tendency to hit too hard (I see this all the time in very fit players) then get softer when they develop. If you are skinny (like me) then it’s a little less a problem (still a problem
).
If he is using a prebuilt racket, something in an All, All+ or Off- range would be sensible. When a blade is too fast the effect is to cause the person to cut down their stroke and take a weaker stroke just to land the ball on the table. A slightly slower blade causes you to have to learn to put more power into your stroke which, in the long run is more likely to get you to end up with a higher quality stroke and higher quality mechanics. The people who would most benefit from the slower blade are people with stroke mechanics that need a little work, or people who are not as strong because the slower blade will, in the long run, cause you to work a little harder to achieve that power.
This has the added benefit of helping you learn to time legs, hips, core rotation, forearm snap and wrist with the contact of the ball so that the stroke mechanics are efficient. In a good stroke you actually don't really have to work too hard because the ball is very light. You just need to have the force you use well timed so that you are translating power into the ball on contact. This is why a short BH stroke off the bounce (like a BH Flick) can end up having so much power. What matters is timing force used with ball contact so the power you use is efficient and you are not wasting power: so the force from your stroke transfers into the ball on contact.
This works on your mechanics on a neural level. Your body figures things out without you realizing it. Slower blade will force you to learn to be more efficient. Faster blade will make you think you are efficient enough, which is fine when your technique is already very good. But not what you want when your technique is still developing. So, if what we know is:
1) OP is using a prebuilt racket (possibly with rubbers that don't really grip the ball--think of the rubbers on so many prebuilt rackets, especially ones that have been used for a long time already),
2) He tends to overshoot when counterlooping (relooping an opponent's loop),
Then a kind of fast blade like a Clipper, and hard, fast rubbers, could be exactly the opposite of what the OP needs.
Without video, we cannot tell. I can't tell you how many people have PMed me over the years describing their game and asking about equipment and when I saw footage, their play and their description of their play was so divergent that it was clearly worth recommending equipment more cautiously.
Without footage, all I would say is a mid range blade that gives good control and mid range rubbers that allow a player to do all shots is worth starting off with as a first racket where you buy the blade and rubbers separately.
If you have a coach you work with, maybe the coach can tell you equipment that would be useful for you. If you play at a club borrowing a lot of different rackets from club mates and seeing how different things feel and work for you is worth doing. During CoVID that is not so easy to do.
But, in my years of seeing video after hearing play style described, I have only once seen someone have an accurate assessment of their play while actually asking for equipment recommendations. And almost always, people seem to overestimate their abilities in that scenario. And it is very very often the case that lower and mid-level players seem to use equipment that is faster than what would be optimal for them. And that usually tends to slow their development of higher level technique.
So, yeah, from years of experience, I recommend equipment cautiously.
If I told you I needed a pair of shoes and asked you, over the internet, "what size shoes should I get?" how would you answer me? That is really much more akin to someone asking what equipment they should use or if new harder rubbers will help fix an issue that is likely an issue of technique than most people realize. If we cannot see the issue, we cannot tell what equipment will be useful for the person or what will fix the issue that causes the ball to go long.
But in the end, everyone has a right to choose their own equipment even if what they choose would be suboptimal for their development.