Comprehensive details and review of the new Dr Neubauer Buffalo Anti-Spin rubber. The rubber is designed for maximum spin-reversal with high control, and offers a great alternative to the old frictionless long pimple rubbers when it comes to spin reversal.
Reviews are provided by Matt Pimple & haggisv from OOAK Forum.
Dr.Neubauer BUFFALO
The new alternative for blocking close to the table! The perfect combination between spin reversal and control
BUFFALO provides highly interesting playing characteristics thanks to a completely new rubber composition.
A long and tedious development program finally enabled us to combine the strong points of all our existing Anti-Spin rubbers. This results in an exciting new rubber that will set a new benchmark both for control and disruptive effect.
BUFFALO produces excellent spin reversal while blocking against topspin shots with a lot of rotation thanks to its completely frictionless surface. Also control was decisively enhanced to ensure safe and disruptive blocking close to the table.
In that regard BUFFALO can be considered as an alternative to our old frictionless long pimple rubbers especially as far as spin reversal is concerned.
Furthermore BUFFALO enables to produce deceptive attacking shots. The most effective technique is aggressive pushing on chopped balls but counter-attacking against float balls will also put pressure on your opponent.
All in all BUFFALO is a fantastic weapon for blocking close to the table – try it out!
Available with dampening sponge with the following thickness: 1.2, 1.5 and 1.8mm
The version with 1.8mm is the slowest, while 1.2mm will produce the best spin reversal.
The 1.5mm sponge version is a very good compromise.
Price: €46.00
Category: Anti-Topspin
Colours: red+ black
Sponge: 1.2+1.5+1.8mm
Speed: 65
Control: 83
Disruptive effect: 100
Review by Matt Pimple
(published with permission)
Dr. Neubauer Buffalo Review (in comparison with Dr. Neubauer ABS)
Disclaimer: I received the rubber from Dr. Neubauer for testing
About the reviewer:
My USATT rating is around 1900. My strength is my forehand with which I score the majority of my points mainly through looping; my serve is probably above average for my rating. I play close to the table with blocking and looping. I play with frictionless anti on backhand, mainly for returning serve and blocking topspin loops.
Setup:
Both Dr. Neubauer antis were played in red with 1.2mm sponge on a Butterfly Schlager Light blade with Nittaku Hurricane III Neo max on forehand. I have played with the ABS for the last couple of years on various blades recently on Dr. Neubauer Hercules.
Speed:
The Buffalo is slow and I mean it is really slow, quite a bit slower than ABS. This is probably due to the combination of a hard topsheet with very short pips on the proven hard and dead ABS sponge. To me this is THE most outstanding feature of the new Buffalo as it can played on a fast OFF blade without any problem. The ABS seemed too fast on the Schlager Light and many blocks against fast loops went long with still drop in with the Buffalo. It is Buffalo to block very short against loops which I have not experienced like this with any other anti. It is still fast enough though to attack with
Control:
The Buffalo has the best control, also because it is so slow, of any anti I have tested so far. The control with ABS is good but with Buffalo it is great. I personally like the crisper more direct feel of it. However, you have to understand that it is still a frictionless anti so it takes quite some time to master it despite its very good control. However the Buffalo is less sensitive to the blade angle than the ABS and therefore it is easier to play with. Most frictionless antis including the ABS are quite sensitive to the blade angle so that the margins for error are smaller. This has definitely been improved with the new Buffalo.
Spin Reversal:
The reversal with Buffalo is absolutely brutal due to the hard and slick topsheet; it is definitely higher than with ABS which actually already has a pretty good reversal. I think it is on par with the reversal of Grizzly.
Throw Angle:
The throw angle of the new Buffalo is quite low and definitely lower than with ABS. This makes it possible to block loops very short and low over the net but it also allows to attack underspin with an aggressive push were the ball stays very low. On the same strokes ABS shows a higher throw and more adjustments have to be made. At the beginning I actually pushed a few balls into the net with Buffalo but you get used to the lower throw very fast and it makes it a more dangerous rubber.
Blocking:
This is what the Buffalo is made for and this is where it really shines. It does not block by itself, but with the right technique the block against topspin becomes a real weapon even better than with ABS. You have more control and can drop the ball shorter to disrupt the attacker but most importantly you can also block fast loop drives because it is so slow.
Attacking:
The Buffalo is certainly not primarily designed for an attacking style of anti-play like Grizzly for example, but on a fast blade attacking of underspin balls is actually very good. You can either attack underspin with an aggressive push or with kind of a “lift” where the ball is driven with a fairly open blade face. Both techniques will reverse the underspin into topspin. Even though the Buffalo is slower than ABS, I liked the attack with it more because it seems to have more margin for error which allows you to be more aggressive on the stroke. Again, if you primarily want to attack with anti, there are probably better options like Grizzly or Gorilla but blocking is much more difficult with those.
Conclusions:
After only one session, having played ABS for a couple of years, I immediately knew I would switch to the new Dr. Neubauer Buffalo. I played the ABS on faster OFF blades because I liked it for my forehand attack but then my anti play suffered so I switched to a slower blade (ALL+ to OFF-) but I did not like my forehand as much. Now with the Buffalo, because it is so slow, I can play an OFF blade and still control my backhand side nicely. I also like the high reversal coupled with the good control and seemingly less sensitivity to the blade angle, which is something most frictionless antis suffer. The Buffalo might not only be interesting for frictionless “veterans” but also for players coming from long pips ox or classic anti who want to make their game a little trickier.
Below you will find 2 videos showing some techniques the new Dr. Neubauer Buffalo on backhand. My practice partner in the video has a USATT rating of 2400. We are using YinHe and Gambler plastic balls.
- Backhand drills, mostly block against loop to demonstrate reversal and how short you can block the ball:
2. A couple of practice games
Review by haggisv
This is only a brief review, as I only had a short session just to test out this rubber.
Setup:
Dr Neubauer Phenomenon, with Buffalo 1.2mm red on backhand, and 802-40 1.0mm on forehand. My usual setup is Re-Impact Smart with Dtecs OX long pimples backhand and Victas 401 1.8mm forehand.
Review
The sheet feels very slick to me, but when I push the ball, I could keep it very low. The rubber is very insensitive to incoming spin.
Blocking loops was effortless and with some decent spin reversal and it took the pace off very well.
Even chopping against loops was very controllable, and the backspin builds up every chop.
Attacking backspin or no-spin balls was very similar to doing it with Dtecs OX, so it did not take me much adjustment.
The only thing I could not get working was aggressive pushing against backspin…. I don’t think the reversal was enough to keep it on the table, but I did not have the time to experiment further.
All in all, it’s the easiest to use slick anti that I’ve tried.
