Of course but afaik speed glue only affects the rubber not the blade. I think you are missing the point I am making.
Ma Long using a Grubba now would hit absolute cannons with a sheet of unboosted Sriver. There is nothing wrong with an amateur using pro equipment, it's fun, it's fine to play with. But of they think they need it to play to the best of their abilities they are mostly (not always of course) dead wrong.
Most amateurs that feel they need more speed from their blade are just plain wrong. This is a hell of a lot of amateurs as the amount of ZLCs on low level players attests to. They don't lose points because they didn't have the speed on the ball, they lost because they made an unforced errors over and over again. This is exaggerated not helped by their fast equipment.
Using slower equipment would not only mitigate this causing a usual instant improvement in results but also help then improve their technique more quickly in the long run.
Of course it's not as glamorous using a Grubba and control rubbers than a boosted H3 national, Dignics 05 on a Mizutani Super ZLC.
This is one take. There are others. Consistency is not the only thing that wins points, spin and speed do as well. It is very hard to get a topspin ball moving with a slower blade. In the men's game, it is also conventional to step back a little and play larger strokes. Again not as easy with a slower blade. Grubba Pro or Grubba, which are different blades are both relatively slow and are more all round than they are offensive.
The other thing is that consistency is not necessarily improved by a slower blade and even if it is, there is no point in consistent easy balls that the opponent can snack you around with. Your opponents' winners count as much as your unforced errors.
Of course Ma Long will beat most players with a slowe blade. Does that mean a slower blade is ideal for him? Moreover, with the plastic ball, it isn't clear what a slower blade is anymore. Some players may get injured trying to get the ball moving with a slower blade. I don't think it is completely an accident that many pros using all wood blades or slower composites started testing blades again and moved to ALC or ZLC after. Maybe amateurs should be using 7 ply blades?
My point is that while many people are using setups that are too fast for them, there are also people using setups that are too slow. But you can't tell this unless you watch the player in question and make some conclusions about their quality of play. Playing style does matter.
One of the benefits of composites is that it is easier to make faster looping blades. Composites can keep blades relatively thin while supporting faster speeds. In the past you needed a thick 7 or 5 ply to get the speed performance of a Boll ALC.
The thing is that the OP has put his level around 1600 to 1700 USATT. At that level, what he should be using is up to him.
When I went to a coach early last year before I quit from pain, a coach asked me to switch to a faster blade or a faster rubber or both because she felt my.output was too poor for my input. I didn't agree back then but I am experimenting with it now. Sometimes using faster equipment helps you understand your game better. It is not a one-way street.
In general part of the reason why people are encouraged to use slower blades is that they often struggle to loop backspin and no spin with faster setups. But even with that, sometimes it is just technique that needs to be improved and once that is fixed, the blades may not be as much as an issue. Foot work and ability to get to the ball may be another issue. But OP is not looking at Schlager Carbons and Garaydia T5000. He is looking at reasonable seven ply or composite looping blades. He doesn't need one but he might enjoy using one. Nothing wrong with that at all and he may play better with them too. And if not they tell him something about his game. But it is hard to find a good player who had not at least tested different equipment whether he has decided to switch is another story.
