This is my first Ebonite ball since I tried the old blue Omega about 8 years ago. I was looking for something to give me some carry when the oil goes down the lane and my storm stuff goes too long. This particular core and shell seemed to be a good candidate for experimentation. My favorite layout is usually a 4x4 or 4x3 with weight holes on or a couple inches below the axis. I was going to go 4x2 with a hole on the axis, but at the last minute decided to use the recommended arc drilling from Ebonite. I put the pin at 1 3/4 from my pap and kicked the cg about 1 inch straight over from the center of grip. Result was 1 3/4 x 3 1/2 with a hole on the axis. I left the shell in box condition which appears to be about 800 matte. My first effort was on Anvilane with a long heavy crown around 10 board. I immediately got a very strong reaction comparable to my ER. Over a couple of games I noticed that it pushed threw the heads cleaner than I expected, and had no quit when it turned the corner. However, it was a little jerky at the break point and tended to over under when I got it wide or played a little more in the oil. Carry was spotty, with one good string of 6 where I kept many of the shots very loose in the pocket. Overall impression was that it was strong, but not as smooth as I expected. My second effort was on a much flatter WIBC 37 foot pattern. There was still a decent crown, but the back ends play much stronger initially with noticeable carrydown setting in quickly, and a definite ob around 6 board. On this condition the ball rolled much smoother and clearly had the early angular turn I was looking for. It reminded me a little of my Brunswick stuff. I had to be careful of skate out because the heads were really juiced, but I was able to square up and go down the boards without getting the over reaction I had noticed on the more walled condition. Carry was excellent for the first game right up 10. However when the carrydown came I started getting the same flat 10's that had been giving me trouble in this house with my Storm equipment. I tried looking longer, looking shorter, and cupping up a little bit more with my wrist to no avail. Finally, I settled on looking moderatly short with my normal release, but consciously cut my ball speed by about 1-2 mph from 17+ down to the 15 range. Suddenly I had a little bit of swing at 12 and finished the 4th game off the sheet from the 5th. I carried at least 2 weak 10's that would have had no chance with a touch more ball speed.
Overally impression, a good low rg ball that revs up and has a nice strong shell out of the box. If the shell holds up reasonably well this will be way up at the strong end of my reactives. Even if the shell goes a little it should be a good control ball where I have some back end. Very similar roll pattern to my Tour Power, but much stronger shell in box condition.
