Hi Benjamin. Are you certain that you are not overloading the phono preamp? 78's can generate surprisingly hot outputs from the cartridge. The preamp we use has adjustable gain, and I routinely have to turn it down when I transfer 78's. I suppose you could just look at the waveform and determine if the distortion is caused by clipping. Ellis On Thu, Jun 30, 2016 at 1:45 PM, Paul Stamler <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > 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. >> > > Grado 78 RPM cartridge w. elliptical stylus. If it doesn't come out clean > with the Grado, It's probably worn beyond hope. > > Do you have a microscope you can use to inspect the grooves? > > Peace, > Paul > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > -- Ellis [log in to unmask] 818-846-5525