Killerspin Blast Review

Thanks to JimT for sending the rubber. I just got it today, pictures will be up soon and a first impression review. As i am now known as a "killerspin hater" of sorts, you will expect to see a very unbiased and harsh review.

So far the sponge is a bit pink..reminds me of hammond pro alpha. out of the box the rubber is already domed so i will have to stretch out the sponge in order for it fit flat. topsheet feels nice and grippy a-la mambo H. feels a bit heavy too like mambo H. Actually, the sponge reminds me of Mambo H too...we'll see how it plays. if it's anywhere close to mambo H, i know i'll like it a lot on the bh. i'll try it out tomorrow and let you guys know.

Sounds good! Could you fix your title then? "Killerspin Blast review" ?

Let us know more !! and don't forget to mail me the cut off pieces of rubber!!

tpgh2k - I hope you could give us a more in depth (and hopefully, in detail) review. You know, perhaps compare it by points with other rubbers you have played with in control, speed, spin, sensitivity, catapult, hardness, feel etc etc etc. How it behaves in attack, pushes, blocks, defense, chops, looping, flat hits and such.

Thanks!!

let's see....i'll do my best to explain those points when i played with it.

this rubber is only good if you swing hard...i tried playing soft with it, and the touch shots are really hard to perform. Blast truly lives up to its name....you need to blast the ball in order for it to perform right.

it is very hard to control. the catapult for this rubber is very high. it's not as sensitive towards spin as i would have thought...this could be a good thing or bad. good because you won't have to worry about all the funky sidespin or the large amounts of topspin your opponents generate. but the problem with this is that it'll be harder for you to use your opponents spin against him.

the rubber trajectory is EXTREMELY low. even after my friend tried the rubber, the throw is pretty much as flat as it gets. you can try to arc the ball and it ends up going in a straight line.

the hardness of the rubber is as hard as my bryce speed so that's a good thing for me. this is purely an attack rubber, i highly recommend against trying to use this thing for chops. i would say that it would be a faster non-tacky version of bw2 minus the tack, touch shots, or arc.

when i tried to use it on my fh (briefly) it was hard to really loop the ball with a lot of margin away from the table. anything over the table is pretty much cheese as long as it's above net height. i tried to attack short and low topspin serves and it was almost impossible for me to attack with conviction. so all i could do was guide/sissy flick the ball. it would end up with the guy looping the ball past me.

since the rubber is insanely fast, blocks are basically easy. the only thing you need to worry about is making sure you aim it correctly. i didn't get a chance to flat hit the ball but i can pretty much guess that the ball will rocket off the racket with ease...

so from my point of view, this rubber only excels when you attack. it lacks the all-round control required for the other aspects of the game. touch shots are going to be extremely difficult especially if you want to keep the ball nice and short. don't expect to be able to loop a ball that barely clears the table with any ease or comfort. all you'll end up hearing is a tiny chirp from the rubber and it'll just roll....

if you have any other questions, i'll do my best to answer them. i'm still waiting on Austin's PM for the address so that i can send the rubber to him.

tpgh2k wrote: let's see....i'll do my best to explain those points when i played with it. this rubber is only good if you swing hard...i tried playing soft with it, and the touch shots are really hard to perform. Blast truly lives up to its name....you need to blast the ball in order for it to perform right. it is very hard to control. the catapult for this rubber is very high. it's not as sensitive towards spin as i would have thought...this could be a good thing or bad. good because you won't have to worry about all the funky sidespin or the large amounts of topspin your opponents generate. but the problem with this is that it'll be harder for you to use your opponents spin against him. the rubber trajectory is EXTREMELY low. even after my friend tried the rubber, the throw is pretty much as flat as it gets. you can try to arc the ball and it ends up going in a straight line. the hardness of the rubber is as hard as my bryce speed so that's a good thing for me. this is purely an attack rubber, i highly recommend against trying to use this thing for chops. i would say that it would be a faster non-tacky version of bw2 minus the tack, touch shots, or arc. when i tried to use it on my fh (briefly) it was hard to really loop the ball with a lot of margin away from the table. anything over the table is pretty much cheese as long as it's above net height. i tried to attack short and low topspin serves and it was almost impossible for me to attack with conviction. so all i could do was guide/sissy flick the ball. it would end up with the guy looping the ball past me. since the rubber is insanely fast, blocks are basically easy. the only thing you need to worry about is making sure you aim it correctly. i didn't get a chance to flat hit the ball but i can pretty much guess that the ball will rocket off the racket with ease... so from my point of view, this rubber only excels when you attack. it lacks the all-round control required for the other aspects of the game. touch shots are going to be extremely difficult especially if you want to keep the ball nice and short. don't expect to be able to loop a ball that barely clears the table with any ease or comfort. all you'll end up hearing is a tiny chirp from the rubber and it'll just roll.... if you have any other questions, i'll do my best to answer them. i'm still waiting on Austin's PM for the address so that i can send the rubber to him.

i sent you my address but i guess you didnt get it i will send it again right now =]. thankyou for putting this up it gives me a good idea for what to expect from it.

What blade did you put it on? YEO?

yep, it was on the YEO. it's a great blade with plenty of speed and feel. i would love to have my old TBS back but i dont feel like spending money...besides, this blade is great with my haifu so i'm not changing any time soon...

got it. sending it tomorrow

austin wrote: ok thanks a lot i will make sure to tell you guys how it is just wondering i forgot what color it is lol. im hoping its in black since i never decided to invest in glue lol. and i really dont want to be stuck with a hard decision of what to do with the rubber placement.

For testing purposes I am sure the other guys will forgive you if you have same color rubbers on both sides...

i thought i saw him play with tibhar sinus at nctta nationals a few weeks ago but he might be using it on the reverse side. who knows...

I will ask Mark to respond.

i will be making my review after tommarow. =]

 

I�m using it on a Butterfly Grubba All to start, since it�s my widest blade.  I�ll try it on my Stiga next week. 

 

The rubber is nicely made.  I see no bubbles or imperfections.  It�s glossy and not tacky. 

 

I think one of the questions that people are going to ask it how does it compare to Tenergy?  I don�t think it does.  It plays more like Bryce.  But my last sheet of Tenergy lasted 2 weeks, so I�ll never buy another sheet unless they can do something about the tearing. 

 

I put it through its paces for a couple of hours today.  It can chop, it can push, it can loop, and it can smash.  The throw is low when looping.  I felt in control of this rubber the whole day except on a few pushes.  The sponge is hard and that's nice - I really didn't need to worry about what my opponent was doing to their serves, only what I was going to do.  I was able to loop or flip all but the choppiest of serves.  It is hard to say, but I think I usually can put a bit more underspin on my pushes off choppy serves than I could with Blast.   I noticed no difference in my serving. 

 

In summary, I like this Killerspin Blast.  I like it a lot.  I compared it to Bryce Speed, but I prefer it to Bryce speed, because Blast gives you much more control. 

 

On day 1, I can�t find any weakness with Blast, except maybe pushing.  Something else I noted, Blast has some gears in it.  Toward the end of the day my confidence grew and I started using this rubber the way it was meant to be used.  Killing those loops and smashing.  I play close to the table and pick shots off the bounce.  I had no problem doing so and pulling them back on the table. 

I'll tell you where this rubber really shines.  My usual FH rubber is Roundell  but I've used a lot of others, and I�m usually terrible at smashing and will almost always go for the loop drive.  However today, I tried smashing as part of this review and I discovered something.  Blast can smash and I was killing it.  One of my playing partners asked, �Who is this I�m playing?� because I don�t usually hit those shots. 

 

I plan to try it on my Off+ blade, but I don�t think it's necessary.  Blast is plenty aggressive even on an All blade.

 

Thanks Killerspin and JimT! 

Austin, weren't you doing a review?  :)