What makes more difference - rubbers or blades

[PhoenixTT]

Really very subjective. One can also ask, which makes more difference, replace a crappy playing venue or replace a crappy regular playing partner.

 

[Loop Lob Smash]

If you change the question slightly, is the original question easier to answer?
Is it harder to find the right blade or the right rubber? Which search have you invested more in?
Speaking for myself, it has been harder to find a blade that I am happy with than finding a rubber that I am happy with. I would be reasonably happy playing any one of a number of rubbers on my blade that I am happy with.

In addition, two same-spec rubbers will play the same. The same cannot be said of blades. If you buy two same blades, you will likely prefer one over the other. I had the experience of loving a club mate's blade (Ma Lin Soft Carbon), and when I bought one being a bit disappointed.

So my vote goes to the blade being more important.

 

[PoppaChubby]

Rubber. That's what hits the ball.

Now we know why the USA sucks at table tennis...

 

[merlin el mago]

Is a combo so each one have is important role.

Only blade can't brush the ball & only rubber can't power the ball....

 

[PoppaChubby]

Then you should get better performance from D09C than G09C on the dead blade. Also ‘performance’ is ability biased. A blade or rubber does nothing until used by a person.
A strong player is still way more likely to play better with a poor blade/good rubber combo or good blade/poor rubber combo than a weaker player.

Dima showed Dan once what he could do with a beginner pre-made bat.

An A-list pro musician will make any cheapy Aliexpress musical instrument sound good after some tweaking, this swede guy tweaked a cheapy 80€ bass bought new, here's what he does with it. But all in all, like the blades matters more than the rubbers, he'll tell you that the neck and specially the frets levelling matters way more than the pickups or the woods. That's why he did some fret job on it, and here's the result. He tours internationaly with Harley Benton's basses, it does not cost more than 150 bucks for any model made in China. BUT, he always does a fret levelling job once he receives them.

And for this particular guy on TTD forum that always tells me I'm Simon Gauzy biased, yeah sure blade+rubbers combination matters, but he had to replace the blade after upgrading the rubbers for harder hybrid ones. Blade ALWAYS matters first.

 

[WingTT]

The blade is the basis of the racket but it does not reach it's potential unless matched with the right rubbers. It's like asking what is more important? The car or the tires? Sure the car is very important but if you are going for performance and driving feel, going with cheap crap tires will not allow you to enjoy a really spirited drive or allow you to get good cornering speeds.

 

[chandyrandy]

I'm putting my vote in for the blade

 

[NDH]

Relatively open question, so it's hard to answer.

It's a little frustrating when people start talking about what the "Pros" think..... None of us are pros.... None of us will ever be pros..... So just because a certain pro would find the blade more important (or whatever), it really doesn't make much difference to us.

My opinion would be that for 99% of us, the rubber is more important.
I can play with SO many blades from Allround to Offensive Plus with VERY little change in how I need to play.

But the rubber will require more adjustment - Still no where near as much as people like to think, but more than the blade.

That being said, I think people on forums massively overthink how important it is - The changes between blades and rubbers are very small, and the "gains" that people look for are generally negated by the lack of ability in the first place.

Not to say people are BAD.... But to get the MOST out of the different rubbers, you'd need to be semi pro level or better (in general).

 

[merlin el mago]

The most important it's to have a lot of skills and be in good shape.

 

[RefereeNumber2]

To the extent blades matter, it is mainly due to personal preference, which perhaps explains why a forum full of EJs thinks blades matter so much. Rubbers objectively matter more for how much quality they can handle and produce.

There are technical adaptations you can make to produce quality with a harder or softer blade. But if a rubber is too soft or doesn't have enough grip, you will face a lower ceiling in how much quality you can put on the ball no matter what you do.

 

[Souther]

Just an opinion, and yes one person does not represent everyone, but... in the case of
Ma Long, he used H3 throughout his career, but slowly upgraded his blade speed. He did not keep the same blade and upgrade the rubber speed. Although both are important, I think the rubber is more critical to the player's style.

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

Just an opinion, and yes one person does not represent everyone, but... in the case of
Ma Long, he used H3 throughout his career, but slowly upgraded his blade speed. He did not keep the same blade and upgrade the rubber speed. Although both are important, I think the rubber is more critical to the player's style.

If anything there was a point at which his equipment choices became more conservative. During the speed glue era the fastest blade he used was Rutis (after Violin and Acoustic), then he switched to TBS/TBALC before transitioning to the 7 ply wood Long 3/506 and finally settling on W968. He also switched from Tenergy to Hurricane on bh, and there was a period where he used TG3 fh and not H3

 

[ThePongCommenter]

To the extent blades matter, it is mainly due to personal preference, which perhaps explains why a forum full of EJs thinks blades matter so much. Rubbers objectively matter more for how much quality they can handle and produce.

There are technical adaptations you can make to produce quality with a harder or softer blade. But if a rubber is too soft or doesn't have enough grip, you will face a lower ceiling in how much quality you can put on the ball no matter what you do.

It is hilarious to me that this is even a discussion. I invite anyone who thinks the blade plays a bigger role to build two rackets:
1) premade blade with Dignics/Hurricane or their rubber of choice
2) their favorite blade but with premade racket rubber

and play matches with each one and compare the results. Guess what, it's going to be racket 1 that is much more playable.

 

[ThePongCommenter]

You get better performance out of a Glazyer 09C with a good blade then you will out of a Dig 09C on a dead blade.

Why are you comparing Glayzer 09c which is a playable, though slow, rubber to a "dead blade"? The fair comparison would be comparing Glayzer 09c on a "good blade" to Dignics 09c on an all-around to off- blade.

And any competent player will have better capabilities with the latter.

 

[IB66]

Just an opinion, and yes one person does not represent everyone, but... in the case of
Ma Long, he used H3 throughout his career, but slowly upgraded his blade speed. He did not keep the same blade and upgrade the rubber speed. Although both are important, I think the rubber is more critical to the player's style.

DHS sponsorship of CNT meant he HAD to use a DHS FH rubber.

 

[IB66]

The spectrum of available rubbers types ( LP, MP, SP, inverted, sponge / no sponge etc ) means that the ‘effect’ a rubber has is WAY more than that of a blade.
if you ‘upgrade’ your blade it’s usually (not always) for more speed. TT is a fast game, any time you can take away from your opponent is a boon.

All said and done, it’s a personal preference regarding a set up. You either like it or don’t!!

 

[PhoenixTT]

1) premade blade with Dignics/Hurricane or their rubber of choice
2) their favorite blade but with premade racket rubber

and play matches with each one and compare the results. Guess what, it's going to be racket 1 that is much more playable.

IT computer testers will be inclined to also include edge cases, ensuring complete coverage of testing of which matters most:

1) Play with a blade that has no rubber.
2) Play with two rubbers without any blade.

 

[XpingpingpongpongX]

This is not a valid question. They are both important for different reasons. For non professional players, as long as your blade is decent, you would feel bigger impact from rubbers than the blade until you start power looping/smashing/blocking.

 

[Souther]

DHS sponsorship of CNT meant he HAD to use a DHS FH rubber

DHS also makes many different rubbers. Ma Long can choose to switch between those different rubbers as frequently as he did with his blades, but he didn't. It seems the specific rubber plays a more important role than the blade at least in his case.

 

[IB66]

DHS also makes many different rubbers. Ma Long can choose to switch between those different rubbers as frequently as he did with his blades, but he didn't. It seems the specific rubber plays a more important role than the blade at least in his case.

Maybe, but why did he change his blades more than the rubber? Obviously, it appears the change of blade was making a difference not the rubber.