Hi, Ben,

This will require a little soldering or at least twisting together some 
wires.

If you are having this distortion, make certain nothing is being 
overloaded. You can make a quick and dirty pad (not for production use, 
but for testing). Somewhere in the circuit between the cartridge and the 
preamp, place a 33,000 ohm series resistor in the hot lead. From the 
preamp side of that resistor, connect a 15,000 resistor to ground. The 
values are approximate and semi optimized for a few parameters. If you 
are still hearing the same distortion, then I would be 99.99% certain 
you don't have a gain/clipping issue.

The level will be (in round numbers) 10 dB lower. The frequency response 
might shift.

If it is an overload, then you might be able to work with your 
preamplifier manufacturer to reduce the gain without hurting anything.

You might also like to try "DeClip" in iZotope RX5 advanced.

Cheers,

Richard


On 7/1/2016 9:38 AM, Benjamin Roth wrote:
> Hello again, everyone.
>
> This is a response to the 3 suggestions I received in response to my problem.
>
> I am able to play other 78s without distortion.
> We have symphonic, jazz and spoken with dynamics that don't distort.
> I would be sad to think that the distortion is in the record, but I don't see any other explanation.
>
> I’m playing a 3-record set and all 6 sides have some distortion.
> I wonder if that set has ever been reissued on LP and is the distortion on that LP as well.
>
> We don't have a Grado cartridge, Only Shure, Stanton and GE.
> Maybe I should look into buying one.
>
> Thanks for your suggestions and input.
>
> Regards,
> Ben
>
>
>
> On 6/30/2016 3:20 PM, Benjamin Roth wrote:
>> I'm having a distortion problem with some 78s I'm transferring on a Technics Quartz SL-1200 MK2.
>> The records are 10-inch 78s from an album - "Mildred Bailey with Red Norvo and his Music".
>> The label is CROWN.  The records are in good condition BUT I can't find a stylus that doesn't give a distorted sound.
>> The styli I've tried so far are Shure .0028 EDT, .0028 CTD, GE VRII and Stanton 500 3.3 ET.
>> I have other styli, but can anyone make a suggestion.
-- 
Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada                             647 479 2800
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.