i used to think that the red-circle was lighter but its not. maybe an old one but not a new one. look at rex31's #'s, they're all within 1gram.
What is the Best Cue Ball? We have the Red Measles, but let's hear your opinions.
- Thread starter Bobkitty
- Start date
Rexus31 has actually weighed about every ball in existence. His data shows just how close modern phenolic balls are.
I saw the link in your post. I was just pointing out that Saluc confirmed his observations.
Elasticity changes how a CB reacts than it’s weight does.
Weight is insignificant at +/-0.5g would be my guess. Could be higher before weight has much effect in actual play.
Take a blue circle and a red circle CB hold them up 6’ from a steel plate and drop them at the same time. See which one bounces the highest. Do this with all CB’s and you will get much more noticeable differences that weight.
Too much emphasis is wrongly assigned to the weight of a CB. Of course the heavy ball on a coin op table is about liar and will play VERY differently than a normal CB. But the difference in weight is way more than a few grams.
Best
Fatboy
Dr Dave needs to do a deep dive on this, if he did I apologize as I don’t recall
Weight is insignificant at +/-0.5g would be my guess. Could be higher before weight has much effect in actual play.
Take a blue circle and a red circle CB hold them up 6’ from a steel plate and drop them at the same time. See which one bounces the highest. Do this with all CB’s and you will get much more noticeable differences that weight.
Too much emphasis is wrongly assigned to the weight of a CB. Of course the heavy ball on a coin op table is about liar and will play VERY differently than a normal CB. But the difference in weight is way more than a few grams.
Best
Fatboy
Dr Dave needs to do a deep dive on this, if he did I apologize as I don’t recall
I totally agree with Fatboy statements.
I like the Blue Circle for 14.1 because it drives through the rack on break shots.
I like the red circle for 8, 9 and 10 ball because it is easier to draw with.
The ball material is different between the blue circle and red circle more so than the weight. The material is what make the most difference.
How??? i'm being serious. How could a SLIGHT difference in the phenolic mix make it do what you're saying? the contact time is SO short there's no way these differences could occur.
I have been playing for 40 years with lots of different sets of balls and cue balls. Trust me you can tell the difference.
On an unrelated note shaft diameters make a huge difference to players as well. Try a 13mm shaft then go to a 11mm shaft. Very small differences in size (2mm) but feel hugely different in your hand. Lastly try a 16oz cue and a 20oz cue, again small difference in weight 4oz but feels hugely different in your hands.
It is amazing what you can feel after you have played for a lot of years.
Everyone has their own likes and dislikes.
Kevin
Since our sport lives/dies on small details, I'm surprised you said this. EVERY cue ball that I've played with plays a little different. One is better depending on play conditions than another.
People get weird about cue balls. Very often forming opinions based on nothing factual. A bar I play in just got 4 brand new sets of dynaspheres and the cue balls play perfectly. Sunday during the tournament, some of the players insist on putting their red circle balls out. They are convinced that nothing else will do.
I've always been able to adjust to the subtle differences between quality cue balls. It's not that big of a deal.
I've always been able to adjust to the subtle differences between quality cue balls. It's not that big of a deal.
I use the Aramith tournament ProCup set but I don’t like the red measles ball it comes with so I use the black measles ball that came with the Aramith Black set. I just think that red is unpleasant to look at ever since a colleague pointed out that he didn’t like red ink because it was unpleasant to read.
Exactly.
I bet the red circles were much easier to draw if they were worn down and light. That would be evidence to the believers that they are better. I remember seeing a red circle that was more of a "pink half moon" it was worn down so far.
As mentioned above, how clean or polished the cue ball is can make a huge difference in how it plays. I used to play where the table was dirty and the cue ball needed to be cleaned after a few hours of play or draw shots were really tough. Some balls seem to stay cleaner, but that depends a lot on conditions which might be different from day to day.
phreaticus
Well-known member
Agreed. Folks certainly seem to get passionate about CBs... From my experiments with all the main ones, I concluded the same as Fatboy. The red circle has always seemed to draw around easier which is why many folks have always loved it, and most folks always say its because its lighter or smaller - but weighing several of them myself and all the data shared in these threads (@rexus31, etc), clearly they don't. Seems to be something associated more with the hardness/elasticity vs weight. I've also always liked the old Centennial blue circle, just because I like the classy simple look of it, but over time I noticed that it holds chalk smudges the worst out of all of them. It might be psychological on my part, because I never hear anyone else say this - but the measle balls always feel slightly slow & sluggish to me and they've always just looked annoying & goofy to me, but everyone seems to love them and the the actual differences in play are so minor its just not a real issue...
Yup we both see the same differences between those 2 balls. I like the blue circle for everything. But the point is we have made the same observations. They weigh the same.
Everyone is hung up on weights when it comes to balls, and that’s a very common mistake. The weight difference is negligible. The resin and it’s properties are what make different balls play differently. Not the weight!
Best
Fatboy
boogieman
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
Aramith red circle (real ones not fakes) are supposedly made closer to their carom phenolic. They are also slightly (like a gram or less) lighter. It's a good idea to get one if you plan on playing in tournaments as they mostly use this. Personally I prefer the cue balls that came with my Cyclop hyperion set. Perfect weight and stays unbelievably clean. I'd assume the Dynasphere cue balls are also really good.
I'm not the biggest fan of the old Aramith tv measles ball with the red dots, it's a good cue ball but it gets dirty.
EDIT: Forgot to add, for 9B and 10B we almost always use red circle as it's what's in tournaments here. For everything else we use the Cyclop that came with the ball set. They came with two, so one is reserved for serious 1P only, the other one has hit the concrete a few times.
I'm not the biggest fan of the old Aramith tv measles ball with the red dots, it's a good cue ball but it gets dirty.
EDIT: Forgot to add, for 9B and 10B we almost always use red circle as it's what's in tournaments here. For everything else we use the Cyclop that came with the ball set. They came with two, so one is reserved for serious 1P only, the other one has hit the concrete a few times.
The difference between a Red Circle cue ball and a Blue circle Centennial cue ball is night/day. I remember when I first saw a Red Circle CB. Bob Osbourn came to Colorado Springs to play Grady some 9 ball, he had one with em. With the blue circle, it was very difficult/impossible to draw a cut shot with a fairly steep angle to come back up table, you were forced to play a safety because your follow shot had too much traffic. It was probably, mid seventies when Black Bart came to town. Many rolled thru the springs because of the professor. Gurgling laughter man 
. His wife red ran a tittly bar two blocks away, selling the Ft. Carson Youth, $30 of champagne for one bottle, they cost $3 at the liquor store . When you bet with Grady, often you had to fade her, she would stake em.
. His wife red ran a tittly bar two blocks away, selling the Ft. Carson Youth, $30 of champagne for one bottle, they cost $3 at the liquor store . When you bet with Grady, often you had to fade her, she would stake em.
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For play any aramith will be fine.. for practice it's measles all the way you can see the spin you actually applied not what you tried for but what you got, and even better you can see when and where the spin grabbed. Extremely useful information that all white cue balls can't give you.
I would rather play with the cueball that came with the set of object balls I'm playing with. You start mixing and matching and you start getting a permutation of results. The last thing I'm about to do is carry my own cueball around with me.
Play with the cue ball you will be using in your next match or tournament. I have an assortment.