Finally Scored A Revo Shaft!

DJSTEVEZ

Professor of Human Moves
Silver Member
And although the haters are gonna hate, hate, hate...

I'm still thrilled to report that through the benevolence of a good friend I now have a Predator Revo 12.4 for my Jedi Cue.
How he managed to wangle such a thing(?), I'm probably better off not knowing ;) . I'm sure he made someone an offer they couldn't refuse.
I'm just grateful (very grateful) that he chose to share share his good fortune with me.
He made me sign a NDA, so I can't share from whom I got the Revo Shaft, lest I have to return it without a refund :rolleyes:.

I picked it up yesterday and with today being Mother's Day & all I haven't had time to hit with it...at least not with it attached to my cue butt.
I've been swinging it wildly at the my kid's behinds all day.
It's performance in that capacity is outstanding, LOL.
I'll give it a review after I've had some time to horse around with it a bit. -Z-
 

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Marky Mark

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Welcome to the dark side! Probably won’t go back to maple if you can adjust and read how the shaft plays in a short period of time.

One thing I suggest is to condition the soft tip by hitting about 60 shots prior to using it. I did this to my brand new shaft before playing for 5 hrs. I didn’t use chalk as I was mainly hitting CB, half a tip below & above center. The shots were medium to slighlty firm. After the fact, I shaped the tip to a dime using the Last4ever tool. To my surprise, the tip Predator Victory tip has held up pretty well, with very little to almost no deformation or mushrooming.
 

LeonD123

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Nice looking coal stick !

I wonder if Predator will ever make the Revo with small diameter. I play with a Z3 11.85mm. I'd love to try that.
 

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And although the haters are gonna hate, hate, hate...

I'm still thrilled to report that through the benevolence of a good friend I now have a Predator Revo 12.4 for my Jedi Cue.
How he managed to wangle such a thing(?), I'm probably better off not knowing ;) . I'm sure he made someone an offer they couldn't refuse.
I'm just grateful (very grateful) that he chose to share share his good fortune with me.
He made me sign a NDA, so I can't share from whom I got the Revo Shaft, lest I have to return it without a refund :rolleyes:.

I picked it up yesterday and with today being Mother's Day & all I haven't had time to hit with it...at least not with it attached to my cue butt.
I've been swinging it wildly at the my kid's behinds all day.
It's performance in that capacity is outstanding, LOL.
I'll give it a review after I've had some time to horse around with it a bit. -Z-
I hope you can stand the sound and feel of it - other than that it's great. I could never quite accept that completely different sound/feel on mine compared to a maple shaft. I gave up on it and sold it after about 6 months.
 

MOJOE

Work Hard, Be Humble. jbk
Silver Member
Gotta say, I was one of the haters. After spending a month or so with my 12.9 Revo, I'll likely never go back to a traditional shaft but who knows. Congrats.
 

zeeder

Will queue for cues
Silver Member
I got an itch to try one of the carbon cues and since I play with 60" cues I went whole hog and just placed an order for a Becue with both shafts and the extension. Hopefully I'll like it...lol!
 

DJSTEVEZ

Professor of Human Moves
Silver Member
Welcome to the dark side! Probably won’t go back to maple if you can adjust and read how the shaft plays in a short period of time.

One thing I suggest is to condition the soft tip by hitting about 60 shots prior to using it. I did this to my brand new shaft before playing for 5 hrs. I didn’t use chalk as I was mainly hitting CB, half a tip below & above center. The shots were medium to slighlty firm. After the fact, I shaped the tip to a dime using the Last4ever tool. To my surprise, the tip Predator Victory tip has held up pretty well, with very little to almost no deformation or mushrooming.

I'm following your advice on that. I have 2 Last4Ever Tip Tools and love them.
I'm glad you shared this b/c given the soft tip, I was extremely concerned about mushrooming. I've hit a few today between patients (w/o chalk) and so far I'm really liking it.



I hope you can stand the sound and feel of it - other than that it's great. I could never quite accept that completely different sound/feel on mine compared to a maple shaft. I gave up on it and sold it after about 6 months.

I'm finding I really like the hit, the feel of the hit and especially the feel of the shaft. I think the deflection issue aside, the non-wood material will make for a better, longer lasting, more consistent glide of the shaft through my bridge hand. That's a big thing for me given that my hands perspire a lot when I play. -Z-
 

jrctherake

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Congrats on the new equipment.

It's always fun to buy new pool equipment but it is a whole nother level of fun when it actually becomes a positive in our game and not just another cue/shaft etc... that sits around collecting dust.

The following is my "adjustment" story:

With some pretty high end cues that range in price from around $1,600 to around $8000 I was beating 10 ball ghost around 50ish% on real good nights in cheap sets of $50 to $100 at certain bars / halls.

Then,

After not even knowing what LD meant, I bought a pechauer cue/shaft. It was the P/Light 11.75 version. ~$600 for entire set-up

It was like playing with a wet noodle. My 10 ball ghost % fell to around 30% (excel program that tracks it).

After a couple weeks of daily playing (couple hours a day of drills) my ghost average started getting back to my 50ish% but then improved even more till I was hitting almost 60%.

ok,......now the revo

A friend let me use his and I again could feel a difference in the hit/feel and seen even lower deflection. I thought to myself, would it cause another jump in performance?

Well, I bought one and at first, just like with the Pechauer, my performance fell a lot. I stayed with it for what seemed like forever. I threatened to throw the damn thing in the garbage more than once.

LOL.........I am glad I stayed with it because now my 10 ball ghost average with BIH is hanging around 81% and my excel program has me at 84% in 9 ball.

Like you said..........the haters are gonna hate.

Keep in mind, I was not a real strong player to begin with (and still am not IMO) so, I may have shown the second jump in skill with the pechauer if I had stayed with it but I really never did get use to that damn whippy feeling that most all true LD shafts possess. Which is one of the main reasons I stay with the revo. It is real LD but it hits very stiff and has lots and lots of energy. I really love it.

I hope you end up improving with your new equipment. I'm sure you will if you actually give it a go.

Rake
 

DJSTEVEZ

Professor of Human Moves
Silver Member
Congrats on the new equipment. It's always fun to buy new pool equipment but it is a whole nother level of fun when it actually becomes a positive in our game and not just another cue/shaft etc... that sits around collecting dust. The following is my "adjustment" story: With some pretty high end cues that range in price from around $1,600 to around $8000 I was beating 10 ball ghost around 50ish% on real good nights in cheap sets of $50 to $100 at certain bars / halls.

Then, After not even knowing what LD meant, I bought a pechauer cue/shaft. It was the P/Light 11.75 version. ~$600 for entire set-up
It was like playing with a wet noodle. My 10 ball ghost % fell to around 30% (excel program that tracks it).

After a couple weeks of daily playing (couple hours a day of drills) my ghost average started getting back to my 50ish% but then improved even more till I was hitting almost 60%.

ok,......now the revo

A friend let me use his and I again could feel a difference in the hit/feel and seen even lower deflection. I thought to myself, would it cause another jump in performance?

Well, I bought one and at first, just like with the Pechauer, my performance fell a lot. I stayed with it for what seemed like forever. I threatened to throw the damn thing in the garbage more than once.

LOL.........I am glad I stayed with it because now my 10 ball ghost average with BIH is hanging around 81% and my excel program has me at 84% in 9 ball.

Like you said..........the haters are gonna hate.

Keep in mind, I was not a real strong player to begin with (and still am not IMO) so, I may have shown the second jump in skill with the pechauer if I had stayed with it but I really never did get use to that damn whippy feeling that most all true LD shafts possess. Which is one of the main reasons I stay with the revo. It is real LD but it hits very stiff and has lots and lots of energy. I really love it.

I hope you end up improving with your new equipment. I'm sure you will if you actually give it a go.

Rake

Thank you for your post & sharing your experience. I found it inspiring.

My story is this. I have 1 prior go-around in Pool. Life got busy, I was putting my career together, I was eyeball high in student loan debt, I had little time & even less money. As much as I loved this game, any real or significant advancement wasn't going to happen. I put it on the shelf. That was circa 1995.

Fast forward some time later. My life is very different today. I have the some time and a little bit of money to dedicate to pursuing advancement in my game the way I always wished I could. The path to advancement in this sport, or in anything else in life when you get right down to it, is not a secret. I've gotten a coach, I'm trying to play an hour a day, I'm re-reading my books, re-watching my DVDs, basically, just applying myself. I've made commitments to myself and I plan on keeping them. That being said, I'm not doing so to the exclusion of everything else, because that just won't work for me. I've no ambition to be a Pro and gambling doesn't interest me. While I'd like to do OK in local & maybe even regional tournaments, it's really about the game inside me more so than anything else.

To the haters, no, I don't expect the gear to do it for me. Like I've learned in business, I will utilize thee best tools that I can financially afford to buy, but it's more about how the tools are used. -Z-
 
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gregoryda

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How are you guys adjusting to the dark shaft color? Any issues with alignment or seeing the tip? I would think white or light grey may be easier to focus on.
 

gregnice37

Bar Banger, Cue Collector
Silver Member
How are you guys adjusting to the dark shaft color? Any issues with alignment or seeing the tip? I would think white or light grey may be easier to focus on.

Adjustment was easy. Don't think I ever want to go back. Anytime I hit with a wood shaft I ask myself why
 

poolhustler

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How are you guys adjusting to the dark shaft color? Any issues with alignment or seeing the tip? I would think white or light grey may be easier to focus on.

For me ... not a problem at all. I have seen some comments that the sound and color have been an issue for a few though.
 

jrctherake

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How are you guys adjusting to the dark shaft color? Any issues with alignment or seeing the tip? I would think white or light grey may be easier to focus on.

I didn't really have issues with dark shaft and tip but after adding white c.f. pads it now is just like a super small ferrule. And no, the pads do not change the cues deflection properties, hit or feel.

I tried to show a pic of my revo tip with c.f. pads but didn't know how to resize.
 
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MattPoland

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How are you guys adjusting to the dark shaft color? Any issues with alignment or seeing the tip? I would think white or light grey may be easier to focus on.


It is 100% a matter of personality. If you’re a traditional* person, you’ll find every reason not to like it from color, to feel, to sound. If you’re more progressive* then you’ll likely adapt to those things and not notice very quickly. I stroke at a white ball over a green or blue cloth. A black, yellow, red or purple shaft contrasts well enough to SEE where things are. Not to mention feel, fundamentals and/or systems is how you KNOW where things are. So that’s all fine.

The only thing that requires a commitment to adjustment is low deflection. The rest feels natural very fast with an open mind.

*I use these words in the denotational sense, not with political connotations.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

LeonD123

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I asked Predator about smaller Revo shafts:

"At this time we are only producing the Revo shafts in the 12.9 MM and 12.4 MM configurations. It is challenging to produce the Revo Carbon Composite technology to be agreeable with the various demands of shaft performance. We are diligently working to solve the challenge of producing the Revo shafts for other possible sizes in the future."
 

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My Experience Trying Revo Shafts.

I recently got to try the Revo shafts in both sizes with a uni-lock joint.
Over the years, I tried different LD shafts and I prefer original maple.

The Revo shaft played much better than any LD shaft I've tried. My
pool game is strictly played on larger tables (9' & 10") and I found the
shaft to be very accurate on long shots even using extreme English.

There are three (3) aspects of the shaft that just didn't click for me and
for the price of this shaft, it should dazzle me which it never really did.
Nonetheless, for some players, this shaft will be nirvana and I see why.


My shortfalls are material feel (tactile) , etc.. I actually prefer the feeling
maple shafts which I meticuously maintain. The shafts on my cues are
all better than new in smoothness and feel. The wood has a warmth to
it and it just feels natural after almost 6o years of playing pool. The Revo
shaft felt cold in my closed bridge and no where as slick or smooth.

The next aspect was the absence of a ferrule. For me, the end of the shaft
is my sightline for aiming and on maple shafts with ferrules, the end of the
shaft, i.e., tip, stands out and there is a distinct picture formed when you
stroke the cue ball. Practice strokes and actual strokes are presented to
you with a different sight picture since the end of the shaft is very distinct.

The Revo shaft does not offer the same sight viewing and one of the shafts
I tried had a Kamui black tip whereas the other shaft had a orig. Predator tip.
With the Kamui tip, I did not care for the sight picture at all. It was not easy
to practice stroke since the end of the shaft was almost non-distinguishable.
This combination I found to be very distracting and almost bothersome to use.

The orig, Predator shaft was a big improvement and I had a sense of where the
shaft tip was aimed and I could measure and deliver my stroke much better , Overall
I definitely liked the Predator tip more so since the gold color helped distinguish
the end of the shaft when I stroked the cue ball. Personally, I think if the tip had
even used a bright colored pad, it would have helped even more, at least to my way
of thinking. I could live with the Predator tip but I really wasn't thrilled with the sight
picture either. I also think the absence of the ferrule made disguised my sight picture.

The final aspect of the shaft is just my own personal idiosyncranicity which is it's just
very hard to change from 6 decades of allowing for deflection in aiming the cue ball.
I also found that the feel of the hit of the cue felt different and I did notice that playing
with the shaft on a custom Sly custom cue butt felt much better to me than on the
Predator cue butt, Nonetheless, having to adjust my aiming with both was necessary.


I think the shaft had a distinct advantage shooting at object balls 6, 7, 8 diamonds away
for extreme cuts, frozen rails or lots of follow. On 1/2 table shape and shots in general,
I prefer playing with original maple shafts which provided me with more tactile feedback.
If I was a new player, or experienced say less than 10 years of playing with maple shafts,
I'd give this shaft a try. But after 20 years, 30 years, 40 years and in my case, almost 60
yrs of playing orig. maple shafts, the switch seems to be more annoying than being helpful.


Matt B.


p.s. I'm also a strong proponent of weight proportionality between the cue butt & cue shafts.
Light weight cue shafts do not feel or perform as well if mismatched with too heavy of a butt.
 

jrctherake

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I recently got to try the Revo shafts in both sizes with a uni-lock joint.
Over the years, I tried different LD shafts and I prefer original maple.

The Revo shaft played much better than any LD shaft I've tried. My
pool game is strictly played on larger tables (9' & 10") and I found the
shaft to be very accurate on long shots even using extreme English.

There are three (3) aspects of the shaft that just didn't click for me and
for the price of this shaft, it should dazzle me which it never really did.
Nonetheless, for some players, this shaft will be nirvana and I see why.


My shortfalls are material feel (tactile) , etc.. I actually prefer the feeling
maple shafts which I meticuously maintain. The shafts on my cues are
all better than new in smoothness and feel. The wood has a warmth to
it and it just feels natural after almost 6o years of playing pool. The Revo
shaft felt cold in my closed bridge and no where as slick or smooth.

The next aspect was the absence of a ferrule. For me, the end of the shaft
is my sightline for aiming and on maple shafts with ferrules, the end of the
shaft, i.e., tip, stands out and there is a distinct picture formed when you
stroke the cue ball. Practice strokes and actual strokes are presented to
you with a different sight picture since the end of the shaft is very distinct.

The Revo shaft does not offer the same sight viewing and one of the shafts
I tried had a Kamui black tip whereas the other shaft had a orig. Predator tip.
With the Kamui tip, I did not care for the sight picture at all. It was not easy
to practice stroke since the end of the shaft was almost non-distinguishable.
This combination I found to be very distracting and almost bothersome to use.

The orig, Predator shaft was a big improvement and I had a sense of where the
shaft tip was aimed and I could measure and deliver my stroke much better , Overall
I definitely liked the Predator tip more so since the gold color helped distinguish
the end of the shaft when I stroked the cue ball. Personally, I think if the tip had
even used a bright colored pad, it would have helped even more, at least to my way
of thinking. I could live with the Predator tip but I really wasn't thrilled with the sight
picture either. I also think the absence of the ferrule made disguised my sight picture.

The final aspect of the shaft is just my own personal idiosyncranicity which is it's just
very hard to change from 6 decades of allowing for deflection in aiming the cue ball.
I also found that the feel of the hit of the cue felt different and I did notice that playing
with the shaft on a custom Sly custom cue butt felt much better to me than on the
Predator cue butt, Nonetheless, having to adjust my aiming with both was necessary.


I think the shaft had a distinct advantage shooting at object balls 6, 7, 8 diamonds away
for extreme cuts, frozen rails or lots of follow. On 1/2 table shape and shots in general,
I prefer playing with original maple shafts which provided me with more tactile feedback.
If I was a new player, or experienced say less than 10 years of playing with maple shafts,
I'd give this shaft a try. But after 20 years, 30 years, 40 years and in my case, almost 60
yrs of playing orig. maple shafts, the switch seems to be more annoying than being helpful.


Matt B.


p.s. I'm also a strong proponent of weight proportionality between the cue butt & cue shafts.
Light weight cue shafts do not feel or perform as well if mismatched with too heavy of a butt.

As for the sighting issue. That is a very easy fix. Take cf pads and put under the tip. It does not change the performance but gives the player a very familiar look when down on the cue. That works especially well with dark tips.

As for the feel, sound...etc...etc.. there is nothing nobody can do about that.

I understand what, how and why you feel the way you do about your cues. I was at one time just like you. The performance mattered but I had to be "completely satisfied" with the feel of the shaft as for smoothness, taper, length, diameter...etc...etc. Same for the cue butt, it had to be balanced at a certain point and have a taper that "I" loved. No matter how well I played with it, if the above was not met I chunked the cue aside.....period.

Now, I'm more inclined to use what ever cue I can string 5 or 6 racks together on fairly regular basis.

Again, you would be hard pressed to find anyone that likes the cues you have more than I do. Very hard pressed.

Rake
 
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