OSP Expert vs. Virtuoso

I tried both of them. After some time playing with Expert I came back to Virtuoso. Expert is slower, more flex, too slow for modern agressive allround play. If you drive and block a lot, go for Virtuoso.

having used the virtuoso for a year and the expert for ten hours, I found that the expert was more powerful at mid distance due to catapult. I would guess that attackers and modern defenders or bh choppers would love this blade the most.

the virtuoso blocks crisper off the bounce, flat smashes over the table a little better and while it lacks some of the whip effect, still does nicely at mid.

if you were a mid distance two wing looper who wins points with consistent drives from both sides and enjoys changing spin variation then the expert would win hands down

I'd guess you could put a superfast rubber like coppa x, t64 or calibra on bh to improve pace of blocks on expert.

I really liked blocking on the expert best with a medium firm japanese rubber though... mambo h.

blocking off the bounce with soft tensors on the virtuoso might not be as fast as an off blade like the clipper, but it's stupidly easy to do and place it. whether your opponent loops or flat smashes...

Anton Chigurh wrote: icontek wrote: having used the virtuoso for a year and the expert for ten hours, I found that the expert was more powerful at mid distance due to catapult. I would guess that attackers and modern defenders or bh choppers would love this blade the most. the virtuoso blocks crisper off the bounce, flat smashes over the table a little better and while it lacks some of the whip effect, still does nicely at mid. if you were a mid distance two wing looper who wins points with consistent drives from both sides and enjoys changing spin variation then the expert would win hands down I had/have this very dilemma in choosing between the two. My forehand is more attack oriented whereas my backhand is more block oriented. It seems the Virtuoso might be the best compromise between the two?

That is basically what I want to know.

With ESN rubbers that are that fast, I would guess either blade would work up to a very high level.

Of the testers I chose, the players who were most comfortable with the expert both had very powerful loops (good weight transfer, torso rotation and whip-effect in their arms) and the blade gave them both more arc and more spin (meaning they could drive harder and still have the ball land).  The one who fell in love with it is a US1600 lobber who has a vicious FH loop from 7-10 feet off the table. But unlike the same loops with his usual Stiga Allround Classic, the Expert would consistently end the point in only 1 attack even from that range. The tester who had more trouble controlling the blade for passive play was used to a hard stiff OFF- blade. He could consistently attack and counter attack from mid distance, but had trouble when playing a passive controlled game off the table. The Expert is not for people who like a hard outer ply; and the expert is not for people who like a stiff blade.


From the feedback higher rated players gave me, it was better for active attacking and counterlooping play than controlled inverted counterhitting. Players who are saying that the Expert is slow likely are not engaging the blades catapult effect. And what confuses me about the Expert is that it's marketed as an All+ blade but it's really more a controlled attackers weapon.

Bear in mind that I celebrated my one year anniversary with the Virtuoso this month, and even a a brief romance with a mid 90's Yasaka Extra and 90's clipper weren't enough to end the marriage. The few hours I spent with the Expert were good; but nothing does everything so well with as few compromises as the Virtuoso.

P.S. How hard is the BH Tensor your are using? Acuda S3 is a little too soft for crisp passive blocks, but really starts to shine with an active block.

which Virtuoso is everyone talking about? 

If the OSP shop ever opens again I'm ordering 2 experts.  I might try a virtuoso later on but the expert suits my game so perfectly that's the one I need to get first

i prefer the expert than the virtuoso...