Introduction

Just when you thought that there couldn't be a another new slipmat to review, Thud Rumble go and push their own Butter Rugs through the ideas machine - and out the other end comes... well white Butter Rugs. But wait - there's more to it than that.

I'm not going to go over previously well trodden ground, breaking down all the various types of slipmat "technology". Check out my previous review of Butter Rugs so that I don't have to repeat myself. All you need to know is that these Frosted Plates are a mixture of Butter Rugs and Thud's own super slippy helper sheets called Flying carpets. In the pack (an homage to Tony the Tiger) you get 2 white rugs and 4 Flying Carpets.

Butter Rugs won the hearts of many a scratcher - partly because scratch VIP DJ QBert swears by them (and designing them you'd expect him to) but also because they actually work. The thin material is less forgiving for heavy handed scratchers, but the response is much better i.e your downward pressure is actually more effective.



But despite being stupidly slippy, Butter Rugs apparently aren't slippy enough for some - thus Flying Carpets were born. For those not down with slipmat geekery, Flying Carpets are thin plastic sheets, much like the plastic sleeves you sometimes get in 12" and LPs, cut into a slipmat. So if for some reason, Frosted Plates aren't slippy enough on their own, you can adjust the slippy factor by adding one or even 2 Flying Carpets.

Material wise, Frosted Plates are the same as their older sibling. One side is very smooth, the other slightly rougher. I still don't think there's a right or wrong way to put them on your platter - just seems correct to put them logo up.

They will no doubt have a tendency to fray a little and the centre hole to expand quite a bit. But to me, slipmats are consumables and not really built to last. So if you get 12 months solid use, buying a new pair is no big thing.

Break out the colouring pens

Living up to their frosted name, these mats are white and for a very good reason. Now you can unleash your creative side and vandalise these mats with whatever artistic endeavour springs forth from your hands and mind. For the sake of your vinyl, I wouldn't recommend wax crayons or anything that doesn't dry too well but I see no reason (although I haven't tried it) why you couldn't print designs out onto special inkjet paper that allows you to iron your designs onto t-shirts.



Again, without testing I'd say there's an outside chance that you could feed these through an A3 desktop inkjet. Although I would steer clear of pushing them through the colour copier at work unless you want lots of spare time on your hands.

I suspect though that the graf heads out there will have a field day with Magic Markers. But it wouldn't be a real test unless I busted a tag and bombed the plate fo realz yo. It has been some time since I did anything resembling graf but in the name of good journalism, I decided to apply pen to slipmat.

Some things to note - use the rougher side. Applying pen to the woven side makes it bleed like mad. The rougher texture keeps the ink stable. And sketch with a pencil as mistake cannot be rectified - unless the Frosted Plates will survive a spin in the washer and an ironing to start over. I think I'll stick to Photoshop.

If you do leave your Plates Frosted though, being white I'd expect them to quick gunk up with handruff and other assorted DJ rubbish that pollutes our existence.

In Use

Well they work just like Butter Rugs, but slippier if you want them to be. Adding the Flying Carpets does add some extra noise under your vinyl, but only audible in silence while the platter is moving. And on my TTXs, the Carpets don't make the Plates too slippy - just a little slipper. On a new PDX for example, the platter may feel like an ice rink.

But the Flying carpets do have a very positive side effect - the static issue that happened with Butter Rugs has been neutralised. The Flying Carpets stick to the platter, leaving the Frosted plate in place, rather than attached limpet like to your vinyl.

Summing Up

Obvious comparisons will be drawn with D-Style's Table Cloths and rightly so. Whilst being a different material for the slipmat, the same principle is used by both - and they feel identical. I guess it's down to which former member of the Piklz you want to support.

Butter Rugs have always had the price heavily criticised. 20 of whatever your local currency is seems quite steep for slipmats, even if they do come in a nice sleeve. And with Table Cloths coming in at the same price and offering more, Thud Rumble have just announced a new pricing structure - seemingly to celebrate 10 years of Thud. These Frosted Plates are coming in at $19 and the original Butter Rugs are slashed to $15. These prices have just been announced this week (17th May 2007) so they may not have filtered down to the retailers just yet. If in doubt, buy from the Thud online store.

Ratings

Build Quality - 9/10
Feel rigid and unlikely to tear. Get some paper hole reinforcers.

Features and Implementation - 9/10
Slippy, slippier or slippier still without static. Can't say fairer than that.

Value for Money - 9/10
With the price drop, they're cheaper than the nearest rival, offering equal performance.

Pros: You can pretty them up and they slip very well.
Cons: They might fray and without the Flying Carpets, they sometimes get static.

Bottom Line

Better than Butter Rugs , cheaper than Table Cloths and they work.