Ebonite Adrenaline

A little background information.  This is my first Ebonite ball in almost ten years.  I have bowled mostly with Columbia, Brunswick, and Storm during those years.  In fact, my last Ebonite balls were the Blue Nitro and the Turbo X.

I was in need of a pearl particle ball for my arsenal.  When I heard about the Adrenaline, my interest peaked.  After some research, I bought my Adrenaline about two weeks ago.  I chose the Adrenaline because I did not like what I saw in the Columbia and Brunswick lines.  And, I did not want another Storm ball because I already own a Storm Trauma and I thought the Trauma Recovery was similar in reaction.  I had seen and heard good things about the Apex line and I wanted to give the Adrenaline a shot.  Anyway, let me say that choosing the Apex Adrenaline was one of the best bowling decisions I have ever made.

Ball Specs – 15 lbs.  3 inch pin out with 3 ¼ top weight.
Drilling – (Pattern #5 from drill sheet in box.)  Pin is located directly above the finger bridge.  The CG is swung out to about an inch or so from the center of grip and the Bomb is located in the “Strong” position.  Bomb is located about halfway between the right of the thumbhole and the VAL.  A balance hole was drilled on the PAP to keep it legal.
The surface was immediately polished out of the box, then the polish was stripped a little and broken down to a very light polish.

On to the lanes!  First house.  I used the Adrenaline on synthetic lanes first.  The shot was a typical house shot where they oil and buff to about to 40 feet.  When I arrived, the lane crew had just finished oiling the pair.  Great!  On a fresh shot, the Adrenaline was fantastic!  The ball got down the lane with complete ease.  I didn’t have to work hard at all to get it up the boards.  The mid lane was completely even and the back end was a hard arc type of hook.  No snappy over-reacting stuff here.  When the Adrenaline hit the back end, the move was hard and precise.  The move to the pocket was absolutely perfect for me.  After getting acquainted with ball the first game, I rolled a 297 in the next.  (Choke – Cough – Cough!)  Anyway, the ball hits HARD!  

Next house.  Synthetics with carry down and slightly burned up heads.  The Adrenaline did not like this condition at all.  Because of the lack of oil in the front part of the lane, the move to the pocket started too early for any type of good action.  Regardless of the move with my feet, the ball wanted to roll a little too early for me.  This ball really needs some head oil to play well.  I had to put in the bag.

Last house – Wooden lanes oiled to about 40 feet with fresh back ends.  The shot and carry on this pair was great.  The Adrenaline was very smooth and consistent.  Hit and carry was excellent.  I averaged 221 a game over ten games of practice.  I think I moved about two boards the whole time.  Anyway, this is one absolutely great ball from Ebonite.  I highly recommend this ball to anyone who is serious about bowling and needs to add a pearl particle ball to the arsenal.  Good Luck!

A few weeks ago I got my second Adrenaline. I was so impressed with the first one that I had to have another one.
The second drilling has the pin below and between the fingers, for me, the drilling has always helped the ball get down the lane and BOOM on the backend. I get about 3-4 ft further down the lane with this ball than I do the other one. MAYBE even a little more POP into the pocket. All I can say is this-I am very impressed with Ebonite, particularly the Apex line almost to the point of never wanting a ball from another company.

15 Lbs
Rev Leverage drilling
Medium speed and revs

   I got this ball on a trial basis from my local pro shop last night. I needed a ball that would get through a long heavy oil pattern and still give me a hard break to the pocket with very slick backends. This is the ticket. This ball out turns anything else in my bag(Tiger,Pantera,Apex). I also shot this ball on a medium pattern with fresh backends and I had to fire it down the lane to keep from going high. In both conditions this thing obliterated the rack even if the shot wasn,t perfect.


                                                    Bowl to Win!

Had this ball for a while now-

This a definite change of direction big hooker

This is the biggest hooker i have thrown more than my Colossus

The Adrenaline gets great length for a sanded ball and makes a very
distinct turn at the breakpoint. It is great for heavier patterns or synthetics

I rarely use it for not enough oil around to throw it on.

hook-9.5
carry-9
control-4
change of direction/snap-9.5

1 problem- this is the 2nd one , the 1st one the shell cracked and spearated from the core.

This review is not on my personal ball, but on two that I have thrown from the same friend of mine.

On me, 18-19 MPH, a whole lot of revs

First, I threw his stronger Adrenaline, set up for length in the front, with good midlane, and huge backend. All I have to say is man, what an animal! This ball absolutely flew for me. It hooked so much that I was sliding in the left gutter and peaking the ball between 2-4 board at about 45-48 feet. Obviously, from this angle, I rung a ton of ten pins, however I did carry well enough to post two clean 220s with it.

Next, on the same condition, which, by the way, was heavy oil 10 to 10, with moderate outsides, and decent backend carrydown, I threw his other Adrenaline. Interestingly enough, this one actually had a stronger set-up, with early roll and big backend (Ebonite's strongest drill pattern). However, this one hooked about 10 boards less than his other Adrenaline. I was able to square up much better with this Adrenaline than his other. A very solid and strong hit with this line, and two 260s after 2 bad shots and 2 solid 9s.

Overall, just from throwing this ball in two versions, I can say that, depending on how you set this ball up, it can be a very versatile ball. It will never be a light oil to dry lane ball, but you can get a vast number of reactions out of it depending on what you are looking for.

9/10 A 10/10 on heavy oil, and a 9/10 on medium oil.

This is my first review. I had Chris Forry from Buddies Pro Shop drill me an Adrenaline  to use at the ABC tournament. I am a 53 y/o average speed lefty with an odd PAP, 5 over and 1 down, so I left the layout up to Chris, who's never seen me bowl. He set the bomb at my 45 degrees with the CG and Pin directly in line above the bomb. The CG is on the centerline of my grip and the pin is 3" out. The x-hole is very slightly above my PAP. I used this ball in a scratch 24 game match play over-50 tournament this weekend. This ball was unbelievable!!! I had my first sanctioned 300 since 1984 and the front 10 and front 8 in other games. This was a center in Greeley, Co., where I've never shot a lick, but I averaged 227 and finished third. The lanes were wood, with a house type condition where the lanes were very different from one end to the other on both sides, i.e., break points, amount of hook, etc. I could use different releases and angles to fit the oil pattern without losing carry. I'm not a big Ebonite fan, but this ball is a definite 9 plus. The fit was like a glove except for some tape in the thumb ( my bad, not Chris'. I suggest you have Chris drill something out for you. This man is a ball driller and is smart about layouts, as he's helped me before. I'll post another review after Billings.

This is my first try with an Ebonite particle ball.  I drilled this one up because I wanted one more ball on the strong end of the scale for Tuscon, and I heard the seniors were having great luck with it.  I layed set this pin in ball up with the pin at 4 inches just below my ring finger and the bomb at 45 degrees.  I put a small balance hole on the axis just to keep the side weight well within legal tolerance.  Ebonite told me the mass bias was so strong in this ball that it would take a 3/4 oz swing in side weight to have a noticeable effect on the reaction using an axis hole.

Some people have described this ball as a particle ball that acts like a resin.  I can see why, but that doesn't really tell the story.  The ball does go long and flip with a reving action typical of a strong reactive.  However we are still talking about a heavy oil particle ball here.  True it is cleaner through the heads than than its predecessors in the Ebonite particle line, or the Storm hook monsters like the repsonse or X-it.  The strength is comparable to my Detonator, with the same angular break point.  While the Detonator stands up in the hook set style I love, the Adrenaline holds a little more tilt, and will cut through just a little more late oil with good hitting power.  One other thing I noticed about this ball is that you still want to be very firm when throw it, at least if you use the 45 degree bomb drilling.  I found that if I got a little bit weak with my wrist I ended up with not enough revs off a still sharp break point yielding tons of flat 10's.  On the other hand a good strong release off the back causes this ball to look like it revs up at the break point.  I love that look when I move in.  I think the Adrenaline will be an excellent oil ball for me, neither better or worse than my Detonator, but enough different to make it worth while.  If you are only taking 2 or 3 balls you would not take both the detonator and adrenaline, but if you are using 4 or more in your arsenal, having both really gives you some options on oil.

i have recently purchased the apex adrenaline for a meager portion of the original price. with it my average has increased 20 pins, in a few weeks. this ball is relativley easy to control, making it a combination of power, hook, and controlability that is unforgivin. i have been bowling for 2 years, and my last ball was the black messanger. even though the step from a urethane to a heavy load partical reacitve is a big step, it was one for the bettet.

i rate this ball 10 out of 10