Was able to make it up to Manassas and partake in my first bowling ball demo with Sean Friendly, Ryan Press, Ron Baer and others with Seismic. I enjoyed my entire time there. Thanks Sean for hosting the event and thank you Ryan for helping make Seismic who they are. I got some great tips from Ryan while there that I hope to implement in my game for the rest of the year. Seeing the direction that Seismic continues to take only makes things more exciting to know that they have bowler's best interest in mind. It won't be long before the brand is off and running in a greater percentage of the bowling market here in the US and relavant pro shops.
I took my time there to throw as many of the current and 3 future releases...mainly to compare the layouts they had on equipment that I already have. I've been toying with making a few changes in layouts and eventhough the spans at the demo are just guesswork, I was able to make some assumptions based on what I was throwing. For example, the layouts on both the Longhorn and original Raging Bull there rolled better than the layouts I currently have. The Aftermath Pearl they had there was an absolute monster on the lanes as well. I do have an honor score with my personal AMP, but with that in mind, I have a very very controlled layout on it vs the one that was on the AMP at the demo. I've always wondered how my ball would roll with a more agressive layout on it and damn did that ball get busy.
Demoing the Euphoric, I got a chance to throw it on the 45' Mexico pattern and it handled that well. Suprised at the aggressiveness that ball had on the lanes, though the demo pieces were sanded to 2000 abr vs what the OOB once shipped will be at (around 3500-4000). On the THS there....ball was aggressive out of the midlane and towards the pocket for me. Had me playing much deeper than I had anticipated on a THS with that ball. Would be curious to throw it again at the OOB to see the difference in length.
The Raging Bull TSE was a very nice looking piece on the lanes to my eye. The solid black with gold speckled lettering made the ball stand out on the rack....and looked smooth and effortless going downlane. You noticed the power of the HORNcore through the pins and the new coverstock gave the ball a different feel rolling down the lanes coupled with a different sound when carrying the pins (to me at least) than other pieces in the Seismic lineup (not negative at all, just noticeably different for me since I have had pretty much every Seismic release to date).
Weekend Winner - The Desperado TSE
The idea behind this series of equipment is great, and Seismic has done an excellent job with the first two releases. The Desperado TSE has the same great shelf appeal as the Raging Bull, and for me, made a slightly greater impression on the lanes. Currently, out of all of the pieces I have, nothing rolls like the Desperado TSE...nothing. That ball was super clean through the heads and equally as clean through the midlane, though from what you know about the core, it is still rolling pretty good. The exit from the pattern was even cleaner and this cover on the TSE series didn't change the look I got visually from the Raging Bull to the Desperado. Carry for the Desperado was what we have come to expect from Seismic as well. I'm just thinking with a true solid or pearl for the lower end of an arsenal missing from Seismic's collection, this Desperado TSE will do more than fill that void. This will in fact be my next ball from them.
Can't wait for video of all upcoming releases for everyone to see what I had a chance to experience this weekend from the demo.