‘Foundation’ series is a new blade family of KTS (Kim Taek Soo) which is the Korean table tennis brand. It is positioned between the two blades families of KTS – high-end ‘Problade’ series for professional or highly skilled players and entry-level ‘Ngineered’ series for entry ~ middle class players. The concept of newly added ‘Foundation’ series is to provide professional class blades like ‘Problade’ series at a reasonable price close to that of ‘Ngineered’ series. ‘Foundation’ series consists of four fiber blades, and among those four three models – ‘Foundation ALC’, ‘Foundation GF.K’ and ‘Foundation GF.K Ebony Special’ – were first released in October 2024. And ‘Founcation AMC’ which is the fastest model in the series is released in January 2025.

‘Foundation AMC’ is an outer-type blade whose artificial material is AMC (= High-density Aramid Carbon). According to KTS, AMC is more elastic than ordinary ALC or Aramid Carbon, and ‘Foundation AMC’ which is equipped with AMC provides extremely high speed as a thin 5+2 ply outer-type blade. (It seems that KTS is giving AMC the role of Super ZLC.) ‘Foundation AMC’ is much faster than ‘Foundation AMC’ which has been the fastest one in ‘Foundation’ series.

‘Foundation AMC’ is a fiber blade whose artificial material is High-density Aramid Carbon (= AMC). It lays emphasis on the speed and destructive power of the ball. Four models in ‘Foundation’ series share the same graphic design, and each model is distinguished by the point color of the handle wood block and the head printing. The theme color of ‘Foundation AMC’ is yellow.

‘Foundation AMC’ is an outer-type fiber blade of 5+2 ply construction. The top layer is Limba, the middle layer is Ayous, and the center layer is Kiri. High-density Aramid Carbon is inserted directly under the top layer. Overall thickness is around 5.6mm. Except for the color of the fiber, this construction look very similar to that of ‘Problade Fury LC’ which is another model in KTS blade range. But, the actual playing characteristics of ‘Foundation AMC’ is much different from that of ‘Problade Fury LC’.

The size of head is around 157mm x 150mm. There can be small differences by piece.

This FL handle is completely flat on the top and bottom, and it doesn’t have bulged section between the root section and the narrowest section. The width of FL handle is around 27mm (at top) ~ 26mm (at narrowest section) ~ 34mm (at the end), and the thickness of handle is around 22mm (at thumb) ~ 23.5mm (at the end). The unique FL handle whose top and bottom are completely flat reminds us the handle of old Butterfly blades such as ‘Gergely’ or ‘Primorac Carbon’, although the FL handle of KTS blade is rounded at the edge differently from that of ‘Gergely’. Although this FL handle isn’t a wide or semi-wide handle, it provides quite good stability thanks to the flat top and bottom.

The Tiger Face ‘金擇洙(Kim Taeksoo)’ logo which is also applied to the top blade family – ‘Problade’ series – is printed on the top of the foreside of blade head. And, on the bottom of blade head, the logo of ‘Foundation’ series, the name of blade model, the name of artificial fiber, the construction and speed sign (= OFF+) are printed. In the standard of KTS, the speed sign ‘OFF’ means that the blades is for offensive play by topspin, and the speed sign ‘OFF+’ means that the blade lays emphasis on speed.

The aluminum plate that includes the Tiger Face ‘金擇洙(Kim Taeksoo)’ logo is applied at both sides of handle.

Aluminum logo plate that includes KTS logo is applied at the end of handle.

The printing and the aluminum panel are applied also at the backside. Because the backside of handle is same as the foreside of handle, we can’t tell the foreside from the backside when the rubbers are attached on the head.

On the backside of head, the information on brand and company is printed at top, and the kind of artificial material and the name of series are printed at bottom.

‘Foundation ALC’ (left) and ‘Foundation AMC’ (right) are the standart thin 5+2 ply outer-type blades with Koto top layer and Limba top layer respectively. But, those two are significantly different from each other in overall concept and elasticity. ‘Foundation ALC’ (left) pursuits the balance between the power and the stability of topspin, while ‘Foundation AMC’ (right) pursuits the high speed and destructive power of offensive shots.

From above pictures, we can compare the constructions of two models – ‘Foundation ALC (left) and ‘Foundation AMC’ (right). Both of two are thin 5+2 ply outer-type blades, but there are differences in top layer and artificial fiber.

Both of two models – ‘Foundation ALC’ (left) and ‘Foundation AMC’ (right) fits for topspin. ‘Foundation ALC’ (left) fits for balanced offensive play, while ‘Foundation AMC’ (right) fits for power-oriented play. KTS is also recommending ‘Foundation AMC’ for the players who frequently uses smash but wants to use the blade which also fits for topspin.

‘Foundation AMC’ is a speed-oriented outer-type blade which lays emphasis on the destructive power of the ball. It is somewhat stiffer than ordinary thin 5+2 ply outer-type blades, but it hugs the ball very deeply when the player hits the ball very strongly. Therefore, the topspin like ‘catch and throw’ from mid-distance area is very easy and powerful. Further, the smash at close-to-table area is also very destructive thanks to its very high elasticity. The overall characteristics of ‘Foundation AMC’ remind us those of Super ZLC blades of Butterfly or Carbonado 290/245 of Stiga. TTGearLab will further analyze ‘Foundation AMC’ and the other models in ‘Foundation’ series and compare those ones with the blades from other companies in near future.

Following are the performance indices of KTS Foundation AMC (avg.weight = 86.8g) :

– Ep = 2.43

– Ec = 1.96 (Ec/Ep = 0.81)

– Vp = 1.34

– Vl = 1.54 (Vl/Vp = 1.15)

Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.

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