Update: The Jelly Bean 2 Ultré will be restocked today at 8 pm EST!
I've had the Jelly Bean 2 series in hand for a little while now. The series comes in the usual four 11SIX24 shapes: Hurache-X, Vapor, Ultré, and Pegasus, and I've mostly been playing the Hurache-X and Ultré.
A few things are clearly rising to the surface.
First of all, the Jelly Bean 2 is definitely one of the better-looking paddles to me. The little jelly carvings/details across the paddle face, the JB design worked into the edge guard, and especially that cornflower blue colorway really make it stand out. It feels like they actually put some personality into the design rather than just throwing another logo on a black paddle.
More importantly, I think the JB2 could appeal to a massive pool of players.
There are plenty of people who want Tier 1 grit and long-term spin durability, but don't necessarily want another stiff, poppy, explosive, non-linear/trampoline-like power paddle. If you've been waiting for something with a genuinely soft, controlled response, lots of dwell, a forgiving sweet spot, but still enough offense once you commit to a swing, the JB2 fits into a really interesting space.
Short version: low pop, soft, dense, very spinny, big sweet spots, Tier 1 grit, and more power after break-in than the series initially feels like it should have.
That last part is probably the most interesting thing about the JB2 series.
The Deceptive Power Thing
When I first picked up the Hurache-X and Ultré, I honestly thought the JB2 series was low pop and low power. Coming off paddles like the Power 2, Enhance Turbo MPP, and Pakle Fuse, the ball just doesn't jump off the face the same way. Then after roughly six hours of break-in, I started finding what I'd call deceptive power.
You don't get that immediate trampoline response where a short punch sends the ball flying. But when you actually swing through a drive or serve, there's noticeably more behind the ball than the soft feel suggests. I'd put the JB2 series firmly in the all-court category rather than pure control or pure power.
The generally higher swing weights compared with the Power 2 series also give the different shapes plenty of plow-through, so I suspect some of the power I'm feeling is really the paddle's mass carrying through the ball rather than an exceptionally hot core.
And that distinction between pop and power matters a lot here.
Pop is low. Full-swing power is considerably better than you initially expect.
Why the JB2 Series Rewards Creative Players
This is the part I keep coming back to.
The JB2 series is built for players who like the ball to sit on the face. Players who want that extra beat of dwell to decide where the ball is actually going instead of simply reacting and hoping. If you're the kind of player who wants to redirect, disguise, roll to a specific spot, create angles, or turn a defensive ball into something offensive, the JB2 gives you the time to do it. The ball stays on the face long enough that placement becomes a decision rather than an accident. And when you combine that dwell with HexGrit, which is genuinely gritty, the result is pretty lethal.
Long dwell gives you control over direction. Heavy grit lets you shape the ball once you've decided where it's going.
Dwell without spin is just a soft paddle. Spin without dwell can feel like the paddle grabs the ball before you've really had time to manipulate it. The JB2 gives you both at once. Players who primarily want effortless pop and just want to blast through every hands battle might be annoyed by it.
Creative players are probably going to love it.
And I think that is why this construction could work for such a large audience. There are a lot of intermediate and advanced players who don't need maximum power. They want control, forgiveness, spin durability, and predictability, while still having enough power to finish points when they swing properly.
That's exactly where the JB2 makes sense.
Compared With the Power 2
The JB2 series is very different from the Power 2 series.
To me, the Power 2 was really poppy, especially at the kitchen, but I never thought it had the same outright driving power as some of the MPP paddles we've talked about before, like the Enhance MPP Turbo or Pakle Fuse. Those have that louder, hollower, more explosive MPP response. The JB2 goes in the opposite direction.
Power 2: high pop, easier counters, quicker response, more immediate rebound.
JB2: low pop, softer and denser, more dwell, easier resets, but surprisingly decent power when you actually commit to the swing.
That's why I don't want to call the JB2 a pure control paddle.
It feels like one initially, but once it breaks in and you figure out how to use it, there's enough offense there to push it firmly into all-court territory.
It also changes hands battles.
With the Power 2, you can sometimes simply hit through someone. With the JB2, I found myself relying more on placement, angles, and actually aiming the counter.
On the flip side, resets, blocks, and absorbing pace are considerably easier.
The EMA Foam Is Genuinely Different
This isn't the same foam feel we've been seeing everywhere else. 11SIX24 is calling the core EMA foam, and across the JB2 series it feels noticeably different from both EPP and MPP to me. The closest thing I've hit conceptually is probably Kiwi Labs Dwell Pop EPU, or Expanded Polyurethane. I'm not saying EMA and EPU are literally the same material. They aren't marketed that way. But that dense, damped, almost deadened feeling is much closer to that style of foam than to the springier response you can get from EPP or the hollow, explosive character I associate with MPP.
And that's an important distinction.
Foam paddle does not automatically mean stiff, explosive, or trampoline-like.
If you've hit a bunch of foam paddles and concluded they all basically feel the same, they don't.
The JB2 definitely doesn't.
The Four Shapes
This is one of those constructions where you really can't review one shape and assume all four play the same.
The Jelly Bean 2 comes in four shapes: Hurache-X, Vapor, Ultré, and Pegasus.
Hurache-X: My Favorite JB2 Shape
Elongated aero shape, roughly 16.4ish x 7.5.
The extra leverage works really well with this lower-pop EMA core. You get more drive and serve power, which helps compensate for the softer response.
This is the shape where I noticed the deceptive power the most.
Vapor: The Easy Recommendation
Really good.
If you like traditional hybrids, this is probably the safest recommendation in the JB2 lineup.
You get a very nice balance of maneuverability, stability, forgiveness and enough leverage to access the power.
For the largest number of players, the Vapor might actually be the easiest JB2 to recommend.
Ultré: Just Okay in JB2
Roughly 16.35 x 7.65, flat-top.
Funny enough, this was easily my favorite Power 2 shape. It was quick, excellent in hands battles, and seemed to extract a lot from that poppier core.
In the JB2, it's fantastic for resets and control, but the same shape doesn't reward drives, serves and counters quite as much when the underlying core already has lower pop.
I found myself missing my Ultré Power 2.
Pegasus: Pegasus Is Pegasus
Widebody.
Maximum control, stability, forgiveness and sweet spot.
If your priority is resets, blocks and having as much paddle behind the ball as possible, that's the one.
My JB2 Shape Ranking
Hurache-X > Vapor > Ultré > Pegasus
Not because the Pegasus is bad.
I'm just not much of a widebody player.
For the Power 2 series, though, I'd still take the Ultré.
HexGrit Is Still a Huge Part of the Story
Regardless of which of the four JB2 shapes you choose, you're getting the thing that made the Power 2 particularly interesting:
Tier 1 HexGrit.
The JB2 is around 2,300 RPM, with the surface landing in the Tier 1 durability category. And I think this may actually be one of the biggest reasons the JB2 will appeal to so many people. We've had plenty of soft control paddles. We've had plenty of high-spin paddles. We've had plenty of foam paddles.
But combining a genuinely soft and controlled foam response, huge dwell, forgiving sweet spots and Tier 1 grit durability is much less common. For players who have been avoiding newer foam constructions because they don't want something stiff or excessively poppy, this could be exactly the kind of foam paddle they've been waiting for. That matters because $169.99 isn't cheap, especially when paddles like the Turbo, Fuse, Spitfire and Vatic Pro Tour are sitting around the $100 price range.
But with the JB2, you're paying for a different type of full-foam experience plus a surface that shouldn't disappear after a few weeks.
One Pricing Tip
The Jelly Bean 2 series is $169.99.
If you're a new 11SIX24 customer, check their website offer first. The 10% discount is roughly $17, bringing the paddle to about $152.99.
That's actually better than the normal reviewer codes, which are generally $10 off, including mine.
If the 10% offer isn't available to you, SLICE10 gets you $10 off.
I'd rather people take the bigger discount if they can get it.
The Jelly Bean 2 series launched August 21st, and after spending more time with it, I think its biggest strength is pretty simple:
This isn't another foam paddle chasing maximum power.
It's aimed at the much larger group of players who want soft feel, control, dwell, forgiveness, and Tier 1 spin, but still want enough power available when they decide to attack.
And I suspect that's going to make the JB2 series appealing to a lot more players than just traditional control-paddle users.