those of you that have used it, is it stronger than the GB2?
looking for some more downlane motion out of my next piece

The Bad Ass is actually about 6-8 more boards than a First Blood, but with a little different motion...  If you are looking for a ball with more backend, but rolls similar to the GB2, this WILL be the ball you are looking for.

For me, the Bad Ass reminds me of the original Ebonite V2 ball, but with a little more angle in the backends. The cover is very tunable and can play on a variety of medium-medium heavier patterns.

I was a little skeptical at 1st when I heard the numbers on this ball (compared to the Absolut series), but after throwing mine for 2 weeks now on a variety of lane patterns (PBA Bear, Highway to Hell, USBC Nationals Team, & THS), I am impressed with the motion that I see with this ball - very clean with a strong continuous motion in the mid-lane with a pop in the backends. This ball has now replaced 2 of my Absolut balls in my arsenal & plan on drilling up another one in the near future.

Out of box, this ball is about 3-4 boards stronger overall than my Legend / Deadly Aim ball, which is saying a lot since I LOVE those pieces from Hammer.

With the new symmetric core and the new coverstock combo, this will definitely turn some heads on the lanes. I have already pre-sold 8 of these at my pro shop & I think Hammer has a possible Ball of the Year with this new release....

If you want something similar but more downlane motion, I'd look at the Track LX05 or a HyRoad Solid

im sticking with EBI & the LX05 is for medium or light oil patterns?
diff is only .038

going to go with Bad ass and a stronger layout, adjust surface if need be

LX05 is for medium oil and can play on med-light or med-heavy depending on surface prep and bowler, it has a fairly strong cover.

We have an Ebonite brands demo day here on Sunday, the Bad Ass will be there and I'll be able to make a better evaluation, but if you watch the Hammer ball videos, the First Blood and Bad Ass being thrown by the same people on the same shots, they're extremely similar, though the Bad Ass appears to roll a little heavier and a little earlier.  . 

Bad Ass 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TzooI5tlSs

First Blood
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzGoLBrt5qQ&list=UU8rXuufydJNClQZhy8o8NNw 

I saw this video today from Ronald Hickland about the Badass:  http://youtu.be/QiMejES2VrM

It sounds like he is saying they got more with less, not sure I understand that.

What do you think?

Seems to me the Bad Ass overlaps a lot of other balls in the Hammer Line Up. That's one issue I see. But I would like to see it in action personally, but I already have both current Black Widows and the Bad Ass seems to either need to replace one (BW Assassin). If this is a replacement for their current upper level line I'd be interested in seeing where it goes because I'm a fan of these types of core shapes.   

If there is any reason why I would get the Bad Ass, it would be because they took the original Faball core and updated it a bit (per Ron Hickland's video). Outside of that, you're looking at a similar coverstock and a next-gen Faball core.

I was tempted, then saw a DV8 rep throw the Thug. Both are impressive, but I'll more than likely pass on both, as well as the Salute.

BL.