I haven’t used mine yet. I installed the Sanwa Silent OBSC’s and back in the box it went. 
The VLX Diamond is like money in the bank!
Love the silent transcluent blue OBSC’s! Matches perfectly with the VLX Diamond & ButterOJ blue/white swirl 38mm balltop! It’s in an enclosed shelf (with glass doors) along with all the other sticks. I stare at it more than I use it since it’s purty, LOL!
I just ordered my VLX Diamond Edition Friday will be here wednesday can’t wait now i just gotta get some of those silent buttons from AS and im good
Just ordered mine. Hoping to see it arrive soon 
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/555988_492631734118657_1583022318_n.png
We have two new Sanwa balltops. One gold and one silver, they will be available on the site and at NCR. If you want a chance to win a ball of your color like us on facebook and comment on the picture letting us know which one you want. We will be giving out one of each color.
When will they be available to buy? Thanks!
They’re in the store right now for $14.95 a piece.
The bad news, the Diamond VLX Premium will be completely done by NCR Week (yeah Nor Cal, we held back the main remaining sticks so you can buy them in person). The good news though is the EXCLUSIVITY does NOT stop there.
Once again, we were able to lock up not one, but three exclusive Amazon Japan only Hori Sticks. Like the Diamond VLX Premium, these are Japanese Imports (Japanese packaging and writing), but the sticks play on any system worldwide.
We are getting less of these sticks in compared to the Diamond VLX, so pre-order one if you are interested. Shipment will arrive within 5 weeks time. First come, first serve, LIMITED to ONE per customer please.
Wait, you are out of VLX Diamonds for the site? That sucks, I was probably going to order one after I got my tax return.
Direct images to the new batch of Hori sticks that are up for pre-order:
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/44804_497440140304483_1042957870_n.png
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/525230_497440133637817_1918914089_n.png
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/3617_497440126971151_650337189_n.png
Guys,
I bought the LE Sanwa Silver and Gold balltop handles from Arcade Shock and they look very nice in person. The Silver balltop doesn’t have quite as much silver as the Gold balltop has, well, gold(!) but I’d still take this balltop over a white meshball any day of the week… Both LE balltops are nice and will eventually top some Seimitsu joystick levers; I’ve already installed the Silver balltop on the LS-32-01 I have in the Diamond VLX I bought from Arcade Shock last year. Now, if somebody could resurrect the Pearl-style balltops butteroj used to sell…! (I kick myself for not at least getting a Red Pearl balltop… Did I mention red’s my favorite color?)
The new Amazon.jp joysticks all look nice but I have a preference for Seimitsu joysticks… just not so crazy about the HRAP V3/VX case. It’s all about comfort. I like the HRAP N3 design, though. It’s a toss-up for me between the HRAP N3 case, the Hori Fighting Edge, and HRAP VLX Diamond as to which is the best design… (Honorable mention: the Mad Catz FightStick V.S. is nice, too.) They’re all very nice case designs and fairly comfortable. Mad Catz’s entry into the higher-end, mass-market joystick marketplace may have been the best thing that happened to Hori; MC forced Hori to up their game and design new joystick cases instead of continuing with their HRAP Astrocade design forever! The old HRAP 1/2/3 case really had to be retired. 5 years running…! The last two generations of consoles have had more case redesign and color changes in 5 year spans!
(Still holding onto the HRAP V3 SA I have but it may get an art swapout in the future; my original sticker is getting rubbed raw. I’ll replace it with the art theme I already have designed AFTER I recreate the original art pattern in Photoshop. You gotta do what you gotta do…)
Once again, the X360 gets Seimitsu love! Must be about the third or fourth Hori XBox 360 joystick that’s had Seimitsu parts. By my count, I think there have been two PS3 Seimitsu joysticks (HRAP 3 SE – I have one of these(!) – and green HRAP V3 SE/rarest PS3 Amazon.jp exclusive seldom seen out of Japan… Markman has a few of these but he’s not parting with them as far as anybody here knows). I think there was another Hori joystick (another XBox 360 exclusive?) recently solicited with a mix of Seimitsu LS-32-01 and Sanwa pushbuttons…
Is there any chance that Arcade Shock could get the Hori WRAP V3 SA for sale in the U.S.?
http://www.hori.jp/products/ps3/controller/wrap/
My understanding was that they didn’t get enough pre-orders and cancelled that stick. Was that mistaken?
aw, I would have had the money on the 17th to order the VLX Diamond … that is indeed a shame it’s sold out though, because I really wanted that over everything else.
I’m actually in the market for a new stick, as I have a aging TE-S that’s being retired. Maybe I’ll consider the new Hori’s if there are indeed no VLX Diamonds left.
I’m pumped for the N3 SA. Love the other ones with that case, and with something that isn’t goofy game art.
I think you can still order one.
Yeah, the button is still there. If you really want one, hit the order button. If they’re sold out, the worst that can happen is that they’ll refunded you.
Yes,
If you really want a Diamond VLX, now is the time to get it!
I’ve gently “bugged” Arcade Shock about this and apparently the following proclamation is for real (I have absolutely no reason to doubt the shop employees’ words on this) — Hori is NOT going to do another run of VLX joysticks, red, blue, green, or whatever other color you’d like. The design has been retired and is out of production… PERIOD.
Yeah, a big shock to me, for sure. This coming from the company that used the same astrocade-style case design over six-odd years or so with the only changes being the internal PCB and faceplate button layouts!
They’ll have to work hard to really top the VLX.
I kind of like the fact that Hori has gotten away from the VLX style that its competition initiated with its Round 1 Joysticks. However, they should consider redesigning the layout of the new Soul Calibur V-style HRAP’s a bit. For modding/art purposes, I really don’t care for the positioning of the START button and the Turbo/Home panel, either. The Turbo panel is far too big and obstructive on the faceplate (for art mods) and I think they should keep START on the Turbo panel or move it to a less conspicuous location to the side of the case OR rear like Mad Catz did for the TE designs. Other than that, it’s a nice design… I just don’t think we’re going to see it last past 3-4 years production. I think Mad Catz kicked the case design/production cycle up quite a bit and we’ll hopefully continue to see more variety in case designs… No more of the six-year production case cycles!
Finally put the silver balltop to good use & mounted on an AiAB stick. Looks good, thanks again for the prompt & excellent service!