Which one to choose Garrard 301 or 401???

[Will]

Thanks for the kind words Marco

I had to Google SL150 em..er..

.

[Marco]

Thanks for the kind words Marco

You're welcome... It's the truth, mate, based on what I've heard

Dave's SL150 wouldn't have a prayer - sorry, Dave!

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

Hi Andre,



Out of interest, why? I'm trying to learn more about Garrards here!

Marco.

At the end of the day the 401 & 301 are of the same thing, early '301' had grease bearings tho, technical differences are fractional..My attraction to the '401' is purely asthetic driven, i like that chunky strope platter on the '401' aswell..

[Alex_UK]

The name plate is some sort of tin/metal, and as far as I can tell the switches are cast metal? Years ago I obviously thought the switch plate looked strange chrome too, 'cos I sprayed mine black!

[Beobloke]

I guess also what I'm looking for is someone with the relevant knowledge to list a set of bullet points (or similar) which show the definitive differences between the two......

Marco.

OK, I'll have a bash!

(1) Garrard 301 was manufactured between 1954 and 1964 and build was split into roughly three groups - grey finish/grease bearing, ivory finish/grease bearing and ivory finish/oil bearing.

(2) The standard platter was smooth at the edges and the stroboscopic type was an extra cost option.

(3) The Garrard 401 was introduced in 1964 and featured improved styling, courtesy of Eric Marshall (who also did the Lab 80). The motor featured improved magnetic shielding so that it caused less hum in sensitive cartridges and the range of speed adjustment was changed from +/-2.5% to +/-3%. The stroboscopically engraved platter was also standard on the 401.

(4) Early 401s were sturdily built and had their strobe light mounted neatly under the chassis, shining on the strobe through a system of prisms/mirrors.

(5) Later 401s had the lamp placed on tiop of the chassis and the nice engraved name plate was chanegd for some plastic stick-on letters.

Basically, There were good and bad of both types, but there are likely to be more bad 401s around as they were made at a time when Garrard were slowly sinking into financial trouble and cost-cutting was creeping in. Component quality suffered and the later decks can require more work to get performing decently.

From my own experience, I have owned 4 301s (I was given the 4th yesterday!!) and all have required very little work to get spinning sweetly and quietly, even though one was in particularly bad physical state. My first 401 was a rumble-prone monster which I passed on pretty sharpish and the second isn't looking promising either, although obviously there are far more options for quietening the thing down than there were 15 years ago when I owned the last one, so this one will be saved.

In summary, I prefer the 301 from a build and technical point of view, although the 401 was definitely a bit sleeker. Good results can be had from any of them but experience suggests that, the newer they are, the more time this will take. Well worth doing, though, as a good one will wipe the floor with most modern ultra-decks, and most of the vintage ones, too!

[Alex_UK]

Great post - thanks for that Beobloke.

(5) Later 401s ...the nice engraved name plate was chanegd for some plastic stick-on letters.

Ah, so mine must be an earlier one - cool!

[Rare Bird]

The name plate is some sort of tin/metal, and as far as I can tell the switches are cast metal? Years ago I obviously thought the switch plate looked strange chrome too, 'cos I sprayed mine black!

Those control pannels were plastic chrome plated yes & the knobs aluminium..I had a later one with raised strobe light also plastic chrome mounting surround to it.Their was a guy in Oz if i remember selling copies of pannels & knobs which were very good.

[selfaddict]

Thanks Beobloke from a great post.

My resent purchase is early model as well with hidden strobo light and non plastic name plate.

I was so convinced about the Jelco SA-750L paired with 401, that I went and bought one yesterday, in black .

Now I just need to get the tonearm cable. Jelco's will take any 5 pin SME type cable. Would anyone had recommendation which way to look ? It needs to be RCA at the moment but in the future I am planning to go fully balanced and thennaturally I need another cable.

[Primalsea]

That makes sense now as my 401 has metal knobs and the logo is cast into the chassis.

As touched on the weak point of the 401 is that the mechanics have to be clean, throughly clean. If you do it yourself its a strip down, through de grease and then assembling it all on a clean white sheet of paper on a well hovered work surface and a re greasing.