OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I was very much tempted by this beauty as soon as I saw it advertized. Why ? Maybe because I like Korbel blade and clipper too. However I find Korbel a bit too soft and flexible and clipper a tad too stiff and "hard to loop with poor level". I was expecting KSK7 to be, as a seven ply blade, as rigid as clipper, good for blocking and hitting. Also as soft as Korbel, good for loop and control due to....Korbel name and I'm a silly idiot who still believe on adv...
In short, I hoped for something in beetwen these two, and ....That's what I exactly got !

Ok, here goes.
Come in the classic bty yellow box. Jee, that was years I haven't got this stuff in my mail box. I'll post pictures later. It's a beauty. Took it ST handle. It just fills in my hand perfectly. Has an ovoid shape. Size is bty classical : 150mm / 157mm, handle 100mm. Thickness, sorry I haven't got the exact tool for that, I'd say similar to clipper, around 7mm. Outer ply is def Limba. I dunno it's exact compo, but I suspect a lot of Limba in, maybe a thin center ply of ayous ?
Weight is 85,28g !
It's not head heavy, the balance point comes at 3.1cm to the end of the handle. Compared to my acoustic and clipper, 4cm, it's good.
I"ve had a 2 hours session yesterday with it and I'll another one tonight, I'll give you my 1st impression after that one. All I can say on 2 words :
VERY GOOD.
Keep you posted with pictures tomorrow.

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Joola Rossi Emotion
T64 + Express one

Yeah, I remembered seeing the ad for it. But haven't heard anyone got it. I'll be looking forward to read your reviews...

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instagram: rokphishtt

Sounds good. I'd be interested in a review of it too!

Have you played with the "original" Korbel, if so a comparison to that would be great

Cheers!

Yes, I have played with Korbel, but I must say this blade sounds more like a "soft" clipper than a "hard" Korbel.
I've had my second session yesterday. Allthough I haven't lost 1 set, my feelings are mixed up. I'll try to explain.
On thursday, I dressed it with sinus alpha 2.0 and JP gold 2.0. Sinus alpha is too fast (to my taste) on acoustic and JP gold is my actual reference so I believed I'll have a clear idea of it's capacity.
It appeared quickly that ksk7 is slower than clipper cr and acoustic. About the same as a Korbel. But it def behaves like a clipper.
I find this solid feel when blocking and driving but when the clipper goes "click", ksk7 gives "clock"....See what I mean ?
In short, it feels much softer than a clipper, and I found it much easier to loop with.
The blade is VERY well balanced. Not head, not handle heavy, just perfect. Much better than clipper cr wrb than I've had to "customized".
Control is superb, blocking is soooo easy that it becomes a joke. Thursday I played young attackants and , despite I'm a poor blocker, I was controlling the game, blocking and pushing easily when needed and looping safely when offered. The JP gold went naturally on BH and gave me this extra dwell time I was missing. On FH, sinus alpha was good at the table when kill looping or counter looping, but more difficult 3 or 4 feet away. I really had to force. Opening loops were also uneasy.Then came this guy who is washing me every time we play. He's so good and nice fellow that it's a pleasure to be kicked. 1st set went as expected, 11/4 for him. Second set was weird, I started to control the game, blocking his loops safely, that I've never been able to do, and counter-attacking. He still made it 11/9 but I felt I was close. I took set 3 and 4 (first time ever I take him a set ! ). On the fith, I was leading 7-5 for finally loosing 12-10. For a first time I must say this was quite unexpected and I was much happy.
Yesterday, I took off JP gold, which was 10/10 ok, and tried JO platin soft, which is also too fast for acoustic. Naturally platin soft went to FH and sinus alpha to BH. I must say platin soft is liking ksk7 much better than acoustic. But still, I was missing some dwell time for slow and opening loops. Fast and kill loops are ok with this set up, but I really had tough time slow loop.
Next time I'll put a max JP gold on FH and 2.0 on Bh. I suspect, that'll be perfect.
This blade, so far, is a clear winner. Do I prefer it over my clipper and my Korbel ? Yes ! It has both qualities without the defaults. Will I swap from acoustic ? No ! Acoustic is still a class of its own and matches my needs 100%.
Sorry about being a poor reviewer, my english isn't as good as yours, so if I missed something or have been unclear, just say it so and ask.

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Joola Rossi Emotion
T64 + Express one

What color is your SK7?
Have you tried the SK7 Alpha? I wonder what would be the differences... It's said to be the improved version of SK7...

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instagram: rokphishtt

Handle is dark brown and blade surface is very clear limba. Doesn't come pre-varnished so : caution !
No, I've never played either with SK7 or SK7 alpha. According to iruiru pictures, it doesn't look 100% similar, but I suspect it to behave about the same if I follow what I've heard about them.

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Joola Rossi Emotion
T64 + Express one

rokphish, the KSK7 is a different blade (or at least different handle) to the SK7 and SK7a. Looks like it's a bty europe blade only.

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Chasse Patate

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instagram: rokphishtt

Guys, I got a problem here and I need your piece of advice.
I've had session 3 and 4 with Korbel sk7 and still haven't lost 1 match. I play very safe, don't miss much, got this extra control I was looking for years without sacrifying speed. The feel is OK, everything should be OK, but...I miss my acoustic.
Basically the problem is that I got 2 bats. 1 gives me tremendous pleasure but it doesn't help me to correct my weaknesses and I happen to loose some matches I shouldn't with. Bat n°2 obviously fixes the problem but the sensation isn't there.
Have you ever faced such problem and what did you do ?

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Joola Rossi Emotion
T64 + Express one

My advice is go with the one that wins you matches...I would...

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Send me your Acoustic. Problem solved.

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instagram: rokphishtt

Over my dead body !
Besides, I got 2. Therefore, sending you 1 would only solve 50%...

I realize my problem shall sound a bit silly and isn't really a big issue, but for the first time in 3 years, I hesitate before picking up a bat in my sport bag . Isn't good for confidence, isn't good for my wallet either. Now I start considering new combos and I feel the former EJ running back in me...
Shall I go to rehab ? (no, no, noooo)

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Joola Rossi Emotion
T64 + Express one

Then send me both and leave your dead body over there. Problem solved 100% hahaha...

EJ virus is irresistible...

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instagram: rokphishtt

Is the (European) Korbel SK7 a somewhat 'harder' wood than the regular Korbel?

What I'm really after is to know whether it would be more suitable to put soft tensors (Desto F2, Joola Express 2) on the SK7 than on the regular Korbel?

The reason I ask is that I've noticed that with a soft tensor I lose touch in my FH when the ball's not long and I need to flick it or topspin it over the table. (But part of that is a lack of technique for sure.)
I like the regular Korbel very much, but I like to play with soft tensors to generate more spin, too.

Finally: is the SK7 heavier than the regular Korbel?

Cheers!

Jolan, with Borko and Acoustic in your arsenal, you still flirt with another blade ?!? Shame on you

Well, I think it's back to your personality. Are you the "process" or the "final result" guy? If you enjoy the process and don't really care about the end result (well, you actually care but you value the process more) then play with Acoustic. It gives you the best feeling, but you might not win as many matches as you can. If you the final result guy, then play with Korbel SK7 and win as many matches as you can, without the good old feeling of Acoustic. See, that's what you get when playing around with new mistress. By the way, what happened to your Borko? I thought you were using it now.

EDIT: Sorry, I just realized that this is an old thread brought back again.

Here is my theory about Korbel SK7. I remember reading somewhere that SK7 is very popular in Japan. Many national players switched from TBS to use it (later, some switch back). There are many versions of it: SK7 (blue handle), SK7-Alpha (Black/dark handle) and SK7 Light (natural wood color handle). Learning the popularity of this SK7 in Japan, BTY decided to market it in Europe but thinking that having a pro endorsement would help boosting sales, so they put Korbel name on it. Of course, they change the handle color and the printed letter on the head. Does this make sense?

Once I asked this to a BTY representative, well, he didn't confirm nor deny. He just said that the construction is very much similar.