I had another Melbourne arrive the other day and 2hrs later a BB Legend also arrived, happy days, you can imagine how excited I was, the postman looked a bit concerned when he saw my 6ft3 frame wearing the wife's dressing down come hurtling down the stairs with a manic expression of glee upon ones face...........fortunately he didnt turn and run!!
Anyways been trying out some poly/poly hybrd set ups.
The b5e/Iontec worked very well, nice feel, prob bit too soft.
Next up was Tourna7 mains Timo 1.10 crosses in my second Melbourne strung at 47lbs. Gotta say this is lively, so much power and spin, control was also there, I hit a few long but in the main, good depth, from some very hard hitting rallies, the ball coming back as fast as it came off my strings. My serve and fh liked this set up a lot, angles were great, pounding flatties also. My bh and volleys didnt like it as much, personally I think its the thin crosses, the feel is spot on, crisp from the tourna7, grippy like tour-bite-lite, but the feel wasnt full enough, it was on and off the strings too quick. That said it could be remedied with the Timo 1.22 gauge. Will try that at a later date as this set up had so much going for it.
Next up in the Legend was supposedly the best of the last two play tests, Tourna7 mains/Iontec crosses but unfortunately I didnt have enough Tourna7 so I went with what Im used to and a string that is close to the Tourna7.
So Tour Bite took its place once more and I crossed it with Iontec @49lbs.
I felt originally that TB was a bit harsh in a full bed, hence the playtests but crossed with the Iontec, a plush, semi-powerful co-poly with a great shelf life, this set up was just bliss. Ball on a string type of tennis, powerful but not overly, spin was great but feel is what I was looking for and this produced the goods, more thudding than twanging, everything just worked real well.
It was also my first outing with the Legend, I modded it a bit, several grams at 12, some in the handle, og, damp, leather grip, just a super stable rock of a racket. Both the Melbourne and Legend modded to a similar spec play the same, they are the same racket imo just lay ups are different. Again like Volkl did with the pb10mid from the dnx10 mid, they have made the Melbourne an easier to use Legend, leaded up they play the same.
The two new sticks are super stable, unfortunately my original Melbourne has the slightest of vibration in the upper hoop, its not affecting my game but its an annoying flutter, anyone else have this, any remedies??