OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hello guys,

My name is Tony and am new here.
I need some help with new equipment

Im looking for LIGHT WEIGHT carbon blade with medium-hard rubber for fh and medium soft for bh.

Am thinking of

Tsp balsa 6.5 + xiom vega asia DF for fh and xiom vego euro DF for the bh.

What do u guys think of this combination and if you guys have any suggestions, ill appreciate that.

Thanks

Welcome to the forum aghaly!

Without knowing anything about your style or level, it's very hard for us to comment. Choosing a bat for yourself is much more about selecting something that suits your style and level, rather than selecting a blade & rubber that combines well together.

The combination you propose should be quite light-weight. The backhand might be quite bouncy since both the blade and rubbers are quite bouncy. Using a thinner sponge would help make it less bouncy, but we have no idea about your needs.

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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

Welcome.



What's wrong with your current equipment? What is it?



That's quite a specific requirement - is this something you've had before, and has worked for you? Is this the guidance of your coach? Is this on the basis of some research you've made? Is this something that a friend has, and you like?



The TSP Balsa 6.5 isn't carbon... but other than that you've described a lightweight blade with a medium-hard rubber and medium-soft rubber. You could have picked one of dozens of similar blades, with medium hard and medium soft rubbers, and they'd all be absolutely fine.

As a general rule of thumb, all major manufacturer's version of a modern inverted rubber are pretty much drop-in replacements for each other, and are often made in the same factory. You'd likely not tell the difference between them in a double-blind test. Which you choose is more likely to be a function of what is available where you live, whether your club or coach has some kind of sponsorship deal, and/or your historic brand loyalty. I've not used Xiom rubbers, but I have no reason to doubt they be just as good as anything else.

It would help if you gave some background... how long have you been playing, what are you using at present, what level do you play at, how much coaching have you had, where do you live, what sort of style do you play, etc etc.

_________________
Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Sure, that should work just fine, then again so would a couple hundred other combos.. Out of curiosity though.. why balsa and why carbon? Come to think of it, the TSP balsa blades don't have any carbon (fiber ) in them, but use glass..

Iskandar

I would stay away from a TSP balsa 6.5 especially with tensor rubbers unless you have tried one as it is quite fast and bouncy being thick balsa with a couple of fibre layers (not carbon). Suits an attacking block and hit style.

Vega Asia DF is also fast and quite bouncy (I use 1.8mm on a TSP 4.0) so paired with a TSP balsa 6.5 unless you are quite a high level player you will suffer a lack of control.

However I can partly recommend a TSP 6.5 with classic rubber e.g. Musa 1.8mm or 2mm. Still plenty fast but much better control.

First i would like to thank all of you guys for your fast replies.

I live in California.

Allow me to give you guys an idea about my level.

I have been playing table tennis for about 20 years since i was a kid but i have never took any classes or anything.it was all self learning. So i play good but more on the amateur side.

My current equipment is
dhs pg 9
hurricane 3 neo tunned on the fh
hurricane 3 tunned on the backhand.

Previous equipment was
Stiga all-round classic
H3 neo on the fh
Xiom vega japan on the bh

The equipment with stiga blade was so slow thats why i switch to pg9. And reason i have chinese rubber on the bh h3 tunned cause i read online that with the new ball harder runner is preferred.

But after playing with the current equipment for almost a year now, ive decided to change it for couple reasons:

1- it is toooo heavy
2- chinese rubbers need lot of physical effort which makes my game so hard.

I tried an equipment from one of the guys i was practicing with the other day. I dont know the exact equipment but blade was ITC i believe and rubbers where donic acura 1.8 or 1.9

It was pretty light and i felt the difference in my strokes right away.

The reason for carbon blade cause i want a fast blade cause im kinda on the modern offensive side. I play close the table.

Soft rubbers to give me more control and extra dwell time and more spin.

So thats what im trying to look for in the new equipment.

Do you still have the all round classic?

If so I would just put modern euro/jap rubbers on the all round classic. It will be way lighter than your current setup, and will be perfectly fast enough, with plenty of control.

Given the context, I agree with ChasFox - I feel like the TSP 6.5 will be mega fast, and if you've never played with balsa before, will feel rather different.

Of the major brands, I have experience of Donic, Nittaku and Andro - each of whom offer a modern rubber in hard, medium, and soft, which you could get in a sensible width (like say roughly 2mm). However Xiom, Tibhar, etc will be absolutely fine too.

Good luck.

_________________
Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Thanks LordCope

So if i put Japanese rubber on all round all wood blade it wont be slow??

Specially the rubbers i mentioned are soft.

Xiom vega euor df is 37 hardness
Xiom vego asia df is 42 hardness

Or should i change those rubbers and get harder rubbers to make sure the racket is not gonna be extremely slow?

On a pedantic point, Xiom rubbers are almost certainly made in Germany...

Incidentally there's a great interview with Xiom here: https://tabletennisshop.com.au/blog/interview-xiom/

Many very very strong players use rubbers like the ones you're suggesting on an allround blade. It won't be slow. You will generate plenty of speed and spin, and with improved technique you'll get even more. There are plenty of good players and good coaches in California - a couple of hours with good coach will enhance your speed and spin generation more than a fast blade, as will videoing yourself and posting it here, or on other forums for strong/experienced players to comment.



That's pretty soft, but not terribly soft.



That's medium-ish.



I think the rubbers you suggest will be absolutely fine. Don't over-think it. Modern, good quality rubbers in a sensible thickness on a good quality all-round blade, will set you up perfectly.

_________________
Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Okay perfect will try that.

Thanks lordcope.

And thanks everyone

Vega Asia df and Euro df are very light compared to Chinese rubber such as Boosted H3 e.g. about 42gm cut in standard size so would make your PG9 blade feel a lot lighter.

I actually checked the weight of the 2 blades and the difference is about 9 grams.

Can the rubbers add such a heavy weight to the blade?

Yes, rubbers are typically half the weight of the bat.

_________________
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

Are the weights you used for the blades the catalogue weights or actual weight of your blades. Blades being wood can easily vary 5gm either way from the manufacturers specification and sometimes by as much as 10gm.

Weights that i found online.
I dont have a scale ro check their actual weight