Well, didn't get to play with the Tour Status setup last night, but did play the Black Knight. Funny enough as I was stringing them, the BK has a touch of grey color w.r.t Tour Status which is definitely darker. The other noticeable thing to me was the string shape. Even though BK is 6-sided and TS is 8-sided, TS has the sharper feel on the sides as you roll the sting on your fingers. Both pretty similar while stringing, though I can tell TS is stiffer; i.e., it didn't stretch much while pulling tension while BK had just a little bit of give. I reached out to Tier One and they confirmed this. Specs are as follows:
String Gauge Diameter (mm) Tension Maintenance Stiffness
Black Status 18g 1.18 17.84 173
Tour Status 18g 1.20 15.86 206
Keep in mind I'm coming from a setup of Concept mains and Velocity crosses which is the most comfortable setup I've been able to find for my arm that still uses some sort of poly.
So, BK was ok. Kind of how I remembered it: good but not great for me. Maybe it was the tension I used (though I went with what I'm using now, 43lbs) or needs a little more time to settle in. But felt much more on the firmer side than I expected or like. Quite crisp I'd say but not much give. Spin and power were no problem, a tad more bite on the ball than the Concept/Velocity, although I'd say livelier than my baseline setup. I had to put a focused effort of driving more topspin on the ball to keep the ball inside the lines. The one thing I was not pleased with, and again may be that the strings need a little more settling, was ball pocketing. Didn't feel there was a lot which I've grown accustomed with my setup. I'll see if there's any change in the next few sessions with it.
After about an hour of playing with this setup I decided to grab a stick with the Concept/Velocity to finish out the night. This is where I noticed that I was overall more comfortable and more at home with this setup.
In any case, I'll use the Tour Status next time around, as well as give the BK a second go and report back again.