Personally I like what I've seen with the Crux and the Intellect.  Both balls are definitely cleaner through the heads, will give you more length and store energy better on the back.

2 other balls you could potentially consider are the Storm Zero Gravity and the Motiv Covert Revolt.  Both of these choices are very similar in that they're solid covers and have similar motions (Zero Gravity slightly more angular, Covert Revolt smoother overall) and they also allow you to still chase the oil. 

All of these will be a step below the Hyper Cell.  It'll just depend on the overall motion you're looking for.

For the little bit that I have seen of the Bad Ass (watched some of the tournament online from Abu Dhabi and Tommy Jones was throwing it), it seemed to check up a bit early on the 43' Tokyo pattern.  It reminded me of what my VG Nano did when I had it in terms of motion.  A few people in my league that have tried it also have mentioned it tends to be early and not exactly as advertised. 

You have me a bit perplexed because, from what I've seen, Hyper Cells are usually earlier and smoother than balls like the Crux. Being a hybrid, the Crux clears the heads fairly easily, picks up in the midlane, and provides strong movement through the back end. If you're finding your Hyper Cell to be too late, then you're seeing something totally different from what I've seen out of that ball. As such, it makes the suggestion more difficult.

Personally, I think that both the Crux and the Intellect would be later than the Hyper Cell. Now, you could certainly put a really strong surface grit on one of those two and/or drill it to pick up early, but that would be forcing the issue a bit and possibly taking away what makes each of those two balls (Crux and Intellect) special.

With that being said, if you're set on the current list of options, I would go with the Bad Ass. That ball tends to be fairly early and smooth. If you don't want to stick with those options, you could consider an IQ Tour Nano, a Marvel-S, or the original Mastermind. I think that those balls would be a bit earlier than both the Crux and the Intellect.

You may want to look at a pin down DV8 Ruckus Feud. I think that would be earlier than a Hyper Cell.

You can also look at the IQ NANO.  With the same drill as the Crux, I have found it stronger earlier and it has great continuation.  The Hybrid cover on the Crux makes it smoother all around and you can use it longer.