TIBHAR Samsonov Alpha Review

Does anybody have a review of this blade? Thanks.

nice blade. i had it. Take it you`ll love it

I have two Samsonov Alphas with straight handles but they are the old version not the new.  I don't know if that would be much help.   I like my old versions, I bought two.  The head is a little small so rubbers cut for the Samsonov Alpha will not cover a normal blade.   The handle is long, about 100mm,  but a little narrow for my tastes because I am big with big hands.  I usually put a rubber grip around the handle to give the handle a larger circumference. The smaller diameter handle doesn't bother me at all when I start playing. If I take off the rubber grip the Samsonov Alpha twiddles well and the smaller head also means the rubbers will weigh less than those on my TBS.   I have a TBS+2xT05.  It is a little fast still.  I find the Samsonov Alpha just a little slower and more manageable in the close game because I don't play back where a faster paddle would probably be more effective.   I like my Samsonov Alphas with Rakza 7 regular or soft on them.  Rakza 7 soft Max on a Samsonov Alpha loops well and it would be hard to tell the difference by result when comparing my TBS+2xT05 as the spin to speed ratios seem to be the same.  I must simply use just a little more energy when I need the big strokes which isn't often compared the the amount of close to the table play I do.  My Samsonov Alpha works well with many kinds of rubber.  I have played with SP a lot, MP, anti, and many inverted and all seem to work well except for a few really dead Chinese rubbers.   Now that I have played more with more paddles and rubbers I think the Samsonov Alpha is best with two regular inverted rubbers.  The Samsonov Alpha loops well close to the table.  It would probably do well further back but I don't play back more than 1.5m.  When playing with people I get comments about how my BH loops jump out at them even when playing with IQUL reg 1.8mm which I think is an under rated rubber but not as ultra light as the name claims but the weight doesn't hurt as much on the smaller head.  FH loops are good too as it is easy to hit loops that dive under the opponents paddle or off to the side.  The big thing is feel at contact.  Other than the small diameter handle it feels right at impact and not too fast.   The only other blade that 'feels right at impact' is my Firewall Plus but it is not a looping paddle.  I have 7 or 8 other paddles.

Yes, the Samsonov Alpha blocks well even with T05 on it but I really think this is more up to the individual skill level than the blade.  Blocking is more a matter of reading the opponents stroke, spin and trajectory on the ball so you open or close the paddle properly so the blocked ball will go  low over the net.  The only thing the blade affects is how fast the ball will rebound off the blade.

I would say the sweet spot is fairly typical of a wooden blade that flexes enough to be good at looping. I have no problem blocking if I can get my paddle in front of the ball.  If you want a blade with a big sweet spot then you want a big 9mm thick blade like the Firewall Plus but it doesn't flex much if at all.  Everything is a compromise but I have no problem blocking for loopers.