Review: BBC Ultima Plus
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Topic: Review: BBC Ultima Plus
Posted By: JimT
Subject: Review: BBC Ultima Plus
Date Posted: 02/04/2012 at 10:09pm
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Brand: BBC (Blades By Charlie, http://www.bladesbycharlie.com/ - www.bladesbycharlie.com ) Model: Ultima Plus (or Ultima-5; don't look for it on the website, it's a unique name, (c)  )Class: OFF+ Handle: FL, 100 mm Weight: 89 g Face dimensions: 159 x 148 mm (about 1 mm less than regular Butterfly dimensions) Thickness: 7.8 mm Plies: 3+2, ie, WRC 1.25 mm + carbon + WRC 4.75 mm + carbon + WRC 1.25 mm This blade is my custom variant of BBC 9-10-9 (which is built the same way, from the same materials but with thicker outer plies and thinner central ply; specifically 2.25 mm - C - 2.5 mm - C - 2.25 mm). My main blade is BBC Ultima (Ultima-7) built the same way but with thicker (than Ultima Plus) outer plies - 1.75 mm of WRC instead of 1.25 mm. See review on Ultima here http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=44760 - http://mytabletennis.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=44760 I wanted to get more or less the same blade, with the same great balance and handle, same materials but a bit faster - so I asked Charlie to make the outer plies thinner. My intention was to try it out with slower rubbers a-la Mars II 37-39 deg, or medium-fast tacky rubbers like LKT Rapid Speed or Gambler Wraith. Ultima plays OK with this rubber but only close to the table, step away and you will lack some oomph in attacking shots. Also I liked Nexy Sahara very much in everything except for the handle - I am pretty choosy guy... - so this was my attempt to get a blade that plays about the same as Sahara but with better (for me, of course) balance and grip. ------------- Single Ply Hinoki Club, Founding Member Say "no!" to expensive table tennis equipment. Please... |
Replies:
Posted By: JimT
Date Posted: 02/04/2012 at 10:09pm
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Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/JimT2008/BBCUltimaPlus - https://picasaweb.google.com/JimT2008/BBCUltimaPlus and here:    ------------- Single Ply Hinoki Club, Founding Member Say "no!" to expensive table tennis equipment. Please... |
Posted By: JimT
Date Posted: 02/04/2012 at 10:09pm
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First impressions: First of all, I must say that I think I achieved at least one of my goals - this blade basically plays the same as Nexy Sahara. Speedwise it is as fast. But I think that control is better than with Sahara, and it plays better in the short game. Naturally Ultima Plus has absolutely no problems delivering the ball from far away - I have it now paired it with Mars II 39 deg Red 2.3 mm on FH and Mars II 41 deg Black 2.0 mm on BH (first combo was with Xiom Omega IV Asia but that turned out to be rather uncontrollable for me). The only problem I have with U+ right now is lack of control in BH game - short pushes, passive game over the table, and even BH looping as the faster blade requires a better angle control. Perhaps I need a different BH rubber. Will play with it some more soon, and more info will follow. ------------- Single Ply Hinoki Club, Founding Member Say "no!" to expensive table tennis equipment. Please... |
Posted By: Carryboy
Date Posted: 02/04/2012 at 10:31pm
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That is truly a lovely looking blade Jim T, They look well made but then again you would not expect anything less from Charlie/BBC
------------- Spin Master Carbo Power (Stefan Elsner Custom) Donic Acuda S1 Max Donic Acuda P1 Blue Max |
Posted By: JimT
Date Posted: 02/05/2012 at 9:27pm
Yes, Charlie does great job there. I especially love the balance and the handle of his Ultima series (9-10-9 and variations) blades. Played a bit more with Ultima Plus today - Mars 41 Red on FH, and Mars 41 Black 2.0 on BH and confirmed my earlier suspicions that BH rubber has gotta be something else. Too bouncy and unpredictable... and then sometimes the ball drops dead into the net all of a sudden. Put LKT Rapid Speed there - will check it out later this week. Later: LKT Rapid Speed works pretty great, especially 2.0 version. ------------- Single Ply Hinoki Club, Founding Member Say "no!" to expensive table tennis equipment. Please... |
Carryboy wrote: