The Winna Mon

Does anyone know if there's a noticeable difference between ps2 and ps3 pads? I'm attending a 360-only tournament and looking into converters. My favorite pad is the Hori Fighting Commander 3 Pro, but no converters seem to be able to work with it and I may end up needing to use a wired ps2 pad (I can play on the ps3 pad, but I just wanted to know if they really feel at all different). Another option is picking up a used Madcatz SF4 pad for cheap and using that (though I'm not as used to circular dpads and the 6 button layout doesn't seem as necessary for a 4 button game like Blazblue).

Thanks a million to the people who helped me out. I'm probably going to start by maining Ragna and subbing Bang. Much as I like having zoning options, Ragna's just got some very solid tools and a very tempting meterless reversal. Also, I'm starting to get the hang of big people combos with him.

I've mostly been a Marvel vs Capcom player up until now. I've played a bit of CT/CS (mostly just for story mode shits and giggles) and I'm looking to get serious. Who's a character that's easy to pick up and play in terms of execution? I know BB is notorious for having long combos, but is there a character that keeps things fairly simple? I'd like some zoning ability but it isn't absolutely necessary: I can rush down if I need to. I hesitate to use the word braindead, but it's kind of what I'm looking for (sort of like Wolverine, Wesker, or Ghost Rider difficulty, if anyone here knows Marvel 3).