Garrott Bros P77

[fiddlemaker]

Is the actual generator of this cartridge any different from the bog standard A&R P77, or is/was it just fitted with a better stylus?
Anyone know?

[Chris]

I don´t even know if they are one and the same cartridge but if they are I remember reading somewhere there was a JICo SAS stylus for the A&R one. Also that Expert have some of the original A&R replacement styli left. maybe they could help you. Please let me know what you d¡scover as I´ve got one somewhere.

[PaulStewart]

Same cart different stylus, I had one with a new Expert stylus on it which was the equivalent of the Garrott one. Not bad but not anything I would rave about. I sold it to a guy in Denmark.

[fiddlemaker]

Same cart different stylus, I had one with a new Expert stylus on it which was the equivalent of the Garrott one. Not bad but not anything I would rave about. I sold it to a guy in Denmark.

Hi Paul
So was all the hoo-haa they made at the time about dynamically balancing the coils and applying optimised internal damping etc etc just marketing BS?

[PaulStewart]

The discussions I have had about this suggest it was just hype, the thing had a way better stylus but that's it. In the past I was told that the ones they did had the stylus fixed (glued) in, but the only genuine Garrott I've heard didn't and when the stylus from that was put in a standard P77 it sounded the same.

[rubber duck]

I owned one when the brothers were still alive. It was fine but even then seemed to me to lack the life, air and refinement of MCs. Can't even remember what I did with mine now.

[DSJR]

It's a very vintage generator now and shows it in the performance. Not that there's anything wrong with a hf droop, but it is there :)

ESCo MADE the later P77 styli for A&R and apparently still do.

A&R used to grade the bodies for channel matching/inductance whatever.. The best bodies had a black spot at the bottom rear of the screening can and these went into making the P77 model. The others won't be a disaster, just that the channels won't be quite as precisely matched I understand.

[fiddlemaker]

It's a very vintage generator now and shows it in the performance. Not that there's anything wrong with a hf droop, but it is there :)

ESCo MADE the later P77 styli for A&R and apparently still do.

A&R used to grade the bodies for channel matching/inductance whatever.. The best bodies had a black spot at the bottom rear of the screening can and these went into making the P77 model. The others won't be a disaster, just that the channels won't be quite as precisely matched I understand.

I'm taken with the idea of trying a Jico SAS1 stylus on an old P77 body i've had lying round since god knows when. I gather this can work really well. My question about the Garrott was based on the fact that folks used to go bonkers about these back in the day (and they still sell for about 600 aud from oz), so if I can get a comparable cartridge for the £70 it costs me for a Jico stylus that would be a good result, I guess.

[Spur07]

I'm taken with the idea of trying a Jico SAS1 stylus on an old P77 body i've had lying round since god knows when. I gather this can work really well. My question about the Garrott was based on the fact that folks used to go bonkers about these back in the day (and they still sell for about 600 aud from oz), so if I can get a comparable cartridge for the £70 it costs me for a Jico stylus that would be a good result, I guess.

I've got a Jico SAS1 on a A&R P77 and it's very good. I was recommended the combo by a friend who has experience of a wide range of expensive MM/MC carts. It's a class act.

Just watch the Jico quality control (and I'm not the first person to mention this) - I have to twist my headshell considerably to achieve perfect azimuth - they really didn't put the stylus on very straight. The result is the A&R body isn't perfectly level with the plane of the record.

[anubisgrau]

i know the guy who visited garrott bros in australia (we are talking about at least 25 years ago). he told me that the brothers showed him what they were doing with it, not only having a different stylus profile but also filling up the cavities inside with damping. there was a plenty of unfinished garrott P77 after their suicide so most likely those were sold without being internally modified, just with a garrott needle.

i have to say i liked it a lot at the time but i cant remember any HF issues, on contrary. this was either an impedance mismatch (as usual with HF roll offs) or a system mismatch as the cartridge itself has quite an lively bass that could easily overpower if not being careful with the rest of the system. what i remember is that it even had a trace of that crazy decca energy in the upper mid. i regret for not buying a NOS one that appeared on local ads for some 150e, that was dirt cheap.

[anubisgrau]

as we are talking about garrott p77, does this styli look unused to you?

http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag410/Gordan_Paunovic/77-3%201_zpsiyf5h2lo.jpg

http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag410/Gordan_Paunovic/77-2%201_zpsz3fjg13o.jpg

http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag410/Gordan_Paunovic/P77%201_zpsjaztmlc3.jpg

[anubisgrau]

anyone?

[rubber duck]

That's almost impossible to tell