Bugger!

[Ammonite Audio]

Be interested to hear what you think of it.

Be very careful as mine had no stylus guard and the stylus is very proud, you would not want to repeat the demise of AT33PTG.

Good luck

Indeed! The demise of the AT33PTG's diamond tip was actually due to a sideways swipe across the Clearaudio alignment gauge while aligning the cartridge body in the headshell, caused to a significant degree by faffing around with the archaic bolts from below. No such problem with the Benz, even if it is vulnerable in other ways. I presume that, sticking out at the front, the Glider's cantilever can be used easily to align the cartridge correctly?

Expert Stylus will take a look at the AT33PTG for their standard charge of £35 - the cantilever is undamaged and straight, and the diamond may still be there, in which case they will glue it back on if it's OK. If it needs a new tip, the cost will be £280, which is cheaper than a new cartridge, but not much. I shall spend the £35 and take it from there, but it will be at least October before my turn in ESC's queue is called. So, in the meantime I shall get the Benz and I admit to still being tempted by a new AT33EV (horrible bolt mounting and all).

[Flyfisher]

Shuggie

I fixed both my AT33PTG and Benz Micro Glider L2 in the same way with fixing through the headshell from the top with just a small nut and in the case of the Glider a circular nut.

Once I had the nut attached all I had to do was use the allen key above the headshell to tighten up. I always try and fix from the top & keep fingers off the cantelever.

[Ammonite Audio]

Ooh! I thought that the Benz had threaded holes, but I can see now that it has lugs. Still a good cartridge at a good price, though.

[Ammonite Audio]

I took some photos of the AT33PTG, using a cheap USB microscope. That device won't zoom in on the actual diamond, but it's definitely there, so maybe I haven't damaged it at all. The astonishing thing about the AT ML stylus is its tiny size - it's dwarfed by the large blob of adhesive holding it to the cantilever. If I can get hold of a decent microscope, it will be worth having a very close look at the state of the tip.

[MartinT]

Bugger! And we were just chatting about the withdrawal of the AT33PTG the other day. From your microscope shots I would say it's definitely worth getting Expert to look at it, the cantilever is good and they should be able to replace what's left of the stylus.

How does the Benz sound?

[Ammonite Audio]

Martin

The trouble is that ESC cannot look at it until at least October, possibly later. I might send it up to Johnny at Audio Origami for a check, when I send the KD-750 arm for a fettle. It would be lovely if I have not damaged the AT33PTG, but I'm not prepared to risk any vinyl in the short term!

I haven't got the Benz yet. I need to send in a trade-in MC which means either the AT-OC5 (which I'd rather keep), or the DL-103, which will never really flick my switch. The Denon is brand new, fitted with an Isokinetik stabiliser, so maybe I should sell that to someone here who will trade in a knackered MC cartridge for me to trade in.

Does anyone have a knackered MC cartridge that they don't want to keep? Does anyone want to buy the DL-103?

[MartinT]

I'm fairly sure I have an AT-OC7 lying around, but finding it would be another matter. I also have a Grado Prestige Gold doing nothing, but that's still got many hours left on it.

[Reid Malenfant]

The Denon is brand new, fitted with an Isokinetik stabiliser, so maybe I should sell that to someone here who will trade in a knackered MC cartridge for me to trade in.

Does anyone have a knackered MC cartridge that they don't want to keep? Does anyone want to buy the DL-103?

Hi, tell me about this modded Denon if you please I have a rather unserviceable JVC MC2E I'm interested as i'm looking for a new MC cartridge & i was just reading this.

Call it luck or fate or possibly being in the right place at the right time

[DSJR]

I have an OC30 with the diamond missing. Unlike your 33 Hugo, all there is is the adhesive and a tiny crater where the diamond was. The OC30 sounded a tad beefier than the standard OC9 as I recall and one day I shall send it to EsCo to find out.

Can't wait to see what Johnnie can do for your KD750 tonearm. perhaps he can use yours as a guinea pig If the tonearm base can take a mini-din cardas plug then that would be great as I have a cable ready made..

[Tea24]

Commiserations! I did the same thing with my Dynavector 10x5 the other day when giving a good dust to my Notts Analogue with the platter off whilst changing the oil. Luckily the 10x5 was getting towrds 2000 hours anyway & Dynavector do an exchange scheme which helps. And lo & behold -Hurrah- the new 10x5 has captive bolts from the top AND a stylus guard which makes mounting a pleasure rather than a heart in the mouth operation. In addition it comes with a good stylus brush & 'green sandpaper' for stylus cleaning. Anybody know about the 'green sandpaper' by the way - its the first I have seen of it?