OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I asked Dr N about the differences between these rubbers, this was his reply:

Our new Anti-Spin rubber 'A-B-S' was specially developed for short blocking close to the table. It provides a very good control and is yet again a bit slower than 'Anti Special'. This makes 'A-B-S' a bit more effective for short blocking, the ball can be returned short and low over the net.
'Anti Special' is more of an allround rubber. It is also very good for blocking but can also be used very effectively for chopping and attacking through aggressive pushing and lifting, especially on chopped balls.

In summary 'A-B-S' is a very good choice for passive short blocking close to the table with very good control and spin reversal. It comes very close to our old frictionless long pips 'Super Block' and 'Inferno'.
'Anti Special' would be the best choice for players with an allround type of game, that is to say blocking, chopping and attacking. It is similar to our old long pips 'Boomerang' and 'Monster'.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

The problem with A-B-S compared to Super Block is it gives probably 25% of the spin reversal against drives and maybe 66%-75% of the spin reversal against loops. On aggressively pushing underspin, I'd put A-B-S at about 85% compared with Super Block. A-B-S attacks better against no-spin, although I think Super Block is slower and has better control off the bounce. You can also do a nasty bullet no-spin serve with the A-B-S. The A-B-S is the closest anti to frictionless. The deal-breaker for me is the weak spin-reversal against drives. If there's some technique for overcoming this limitation, I haven't found it yet.

_________________



The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

whats the difference between a loop/topspin and a "drive"?

_________________
Blade: Barna Original Triumph Forehand Yasaka Razka Po Backhand Der-Materialspezialist Störkraft 0.8
http://www.instagram.com/dragontattooguy

A drive (or counterdrive) is a topspin shot hit against topspin with a solid contact on the ball.

A loop is a heavy topspin shot hit against underspin with a brushing contact.

A reloop is a heavy topspin counterhit against a loop with a brushing contact.

_________________



The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

You did realise I was comparing the Anti Special the to the ABS here right? Reason I asked was that there were claims that the ABS was better in every respect, so why would people choose the Anti Special...

I think that it an excellent summary though, and highlights the problem people are having changing over from frictionless to anti...

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

My comments were addressing the above statement/claim from Dr. Neubauer that A-B-S "comes very close" to Super Block, which I thought 1) shouldn't go unanswered, and 2) were still on-topic.

_________________



The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

or to put it shortly
A loopdrive has less spin but more speed
A loop has more spin, but less speed.

So I guess the problem with blocking loopdrive is, the incoming loopdrive already has less spin, and only blocking back with 25% spin reversal would mean the ball will not have enough back spin to be a dangerous shot.

I would need further testing on this myself to proof or disproof this, or to find ways to add more or less spin reversal.

My initial tests of the A-B-S seems to be the A-B-S is more unpredictable than Super Block. Super Block pretty much gives everything back. So for an opponent who knows how to play against Super Block, it is very easy, if he knows how much spin he is putting into the ball, he knows how much is coming back. With A-B-S on the other hand, how you block the ball seems to make quite a bit of difference as to how much spin you send back.

Conclusion, I need more time to figure out how to manage this unpredictability

Exactly. LPs, such as Tibhar Grass D.Tecs, have massively more spin reversal against topspin drives.


I hope you can figure something out. Other than the problem with topspin drives I quite like the A-B-S.

_________________



The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Haggisv, since you have the direct pipeline to Dr. Neubauer, maybe you can get his input for us on how to deal with these drive-type topspins. The frictionless-style block doesn't get it done (although it works well against brush-type topspins).

_________________



The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

My Theory:

A topspin drive comes in faster with less spin AND digs hard into the A-B-S, which sucks out a lot of the spin-reversal.

A topspin loop has more spin AND the impact on the A-B-S is not as hard, therefore much more spin-reversal is created.

_________________



The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Sure thing, I'll ask...

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

If this is the case, then if you can pull back the racket a bit on the point of contact, it should increase the spin reversal.

Of course, being able to pull back the racket from blocking a fast loopdrive during a match is quite difficult

That does help a little bit, but nothing dramatic.

_________________



The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Since a passive block against a drive isn't very effective, I've been experimenting with some other ideas.

Pullback block
Solja-style sideswipe
Block off the bounce
Block off the bounce with a bit of wrist
Slow chop with closed blade
Heavy chop with closed blade
Kind of a lift/push forward block

Th rubber is supremely controllable and all of these shots seem to work in varying degrees, so maybe the answer is while there is no killer default "go to" shot, there are a lot of options available to keep the opponent guessing. Will keep testing.

_________________



The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

I think in the end, if you/we can learn to master the variations of A-B-S and properly control it, it could make us better players than using Super Block. Because if you think about it, Super Block is quite one dimensional, against player who has really figured out the Super Block, it was really tough to not get killed.