Defender Set Up

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@chopchopslam: I'm not really a big fan of CJ8000 on the forehand side as it does feel quite high in throw.

I see, thanks. Would you recommend sealing the Defplay Senso? By how much will its playing characteristics change if it had been sealed (like if I had it sealed by Megaspin, etc.)? 

Yep, I do understand that and I found that the non-Classic one is what I'm leaning more towards. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it. Although I still am not sure of what to put on the forehand, something that has both offensive and defensive capabilities. I thought of Tackiness Chop II because of its medium-low throw angle and about medium hardness. I think medium to hard rubbers would suit the Defplay Senso more. Also looking for something that is very durable. Not a huge fan of DHS Neo H3 - again, because of its throw. DHS Skyline Tg2 Neo seems to fit my descriptions, not sure of its chopping capabilities, however. Which of the DHS rubbers you were mentioning that may fit what I'm looking for? Or even non-DHS ones are open for suggestion.

bluebucket wrote: 1.5mm 802 isn't suitable for looping or counter looping. 802-40 is better. 802 is more a chopping and hitting rubber, 1.5mm is more for alround play with chopping. For chopping only you want thinner.  For an aggressive hitting game 802 in thick sponge on a hard blade is good. For defence a soft blade and thin sponge is what you want. Many many professional defenders use the defplay with 802 on the backhand, it works

Agree, even though I think that even 1.5 might be to thick. I would rather suggest starting out with 1.0. I have chopped with LP' and anti's and then tried to learn to chop with SP. Tried it with a 0.5 sponge, and even that felt a bit hard to control, compared to LP or anti.

As for sealing the blade, I have sealed all my blades and I haven't been able to feel any difference between a sealed and a unsealed blade. Might depend on how heavy you seal it. I usually use 2-3 very thin layers.

Speedplay, to be fair your blades may as well be steel. The defplay is a much more delicate machine. I've rubbed the finest coat of sealer you will ever see and then rubbed all the excess off the wood. Even that is enough to noticeably harden the outer ply.

Switching from inverted to short pips for chopping is very natural and instinctive, only takes moments to adjust. Going from anti to lp probably works in a similar way. Inverted to lp is much more a problem and takes most people two years to adjust fully.

Continuing with hard bat is an option, might be a bit boring on the forehand thats all

Edited by bluebucket - 03/02/2013 at 8:04am

Yes well for chopping sp is better in 1.0mm or less even if you haven't used hardbat. Sp and inverted are nearly the same for chopping only sp is easier. The control on 1.5mm 802 is so great its almost no point going thinner but 1.0 is just a little better control wise

Defplay is a great choice for a balance between  loop attack/chop and block,although it`s difficult to gauge where your at without a little more info,but I can tell you for intermeddiate players this blade works very well.6 years ago when I started with this blade I too was an inverted bh chopper using tackiness c 1.1 which was great till we moved up a couple of diivisions then it was a struggle especially on serve return,enter long pips and an immediate improvement in everything and again I was competing but still searching for a more competitive f/h rubber.You are considering tack c 2 but I suspect that will not be strong enough and a tensor or high tension rubber is needed to loop effectively,the one that does it all for me is Tenergy 05fx spin and control/looparc  is better than anything I have tried(at least 50 rubbers)and it chops as wel and dosn`t feel like a 32 degree rubberl,the thin sponged feint 3 makes a lot of backspin with a lot of control but does take time to master.The anigre top plies are very smooth and sealing them won`t really help imo,the problem is if you get a ding in the side the plies can lift when pealing a rubber off,solution?peal from a different side

Edited by firetack - 03/02/2013 at 3:37pm

I'm also wondering what if instead of an inverted rubber I stick 802-40 2.2mm on the forehand instead? Any idea on how that would play?

My friend uses joola k5 with stiga chop and drive for bh and normal magna fh.

NBSR wrote: I'm also wondering what if instead of an inverted rubber I stick 802-40 2.2mm on the forehand instead? Any idea on how that would play?

I use Victas VS 401 on my forehand coupled with Curl P1R on backhand. Excellent chopping ability, good attack properties (I use 1.5 mm).

asifgunz wrote: Tvet. I forget. Is it p1r or p4 that is grippy and has loopability similar to inverted? How does victas compare to your p1r?

I am not familiar with P4, sorry. When I converted to LP backhand I was advised to use P1 R for chopping. I figured I'd might as well, considering the long learning curve. Now it is just a matter of sponge thickness fine tuning.
Not to get too off topic to the OP's original questions, I have these rubbers on a BTY Grubba Pro, which has a similar top ply as the Defplay, if not the same construction. The Victas VS 401 does well for me on this blade. The VS 401 is inverted, so I can't compare it to P1R but I can say that for me they complement each other quite well.