Shibata vs. Fine Line stylus , replacing an Ortofon OM30 stylus with a Shibata one

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My recommendation is the ol standby I have used since the 70's. Works very well on Technics SL turntables. Buy once, cry once,

Pickering XUV/4500 Q Stylus

it looks great! kap's running a linear tracking Technics so he needs a p-mount solution, maybe there is a suitable p-mount body that can accommodate that stylus?
 
well, the AT3003 replacement is here and I think it looks promising...yesterday while ripping the Steve Perry one I noticed quite a bit of distortion/sibilance while playing it with mt trusty OM30 which needs replacement and I installed the old OM10 I bought a long time ago with the cart(which I did not use for too long because I replaced it with an OM20 that I gave to a good friend of mine because I replaced it with the OM30) and , although it did not go away totally, was still there, so I am thinking it's a pressing faux pas. I will rip it again with the Shibata for my Audio Technica 3033 cart I got-check out the quite worn out elliptical (black plastic) 3003 and the new Shibata (red) stylus.. it looks much better than the other replacement one I exchanged for this!
IMG_2748.JPG

IMG_2749.JPG


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I guess I will have to rip the Boston Double Wally again for Spectogram comparison!

BTW, the other cart had a "recommended Tracking Force of 1.6 to 2.3 g and this one has it starting at 1.5 which I will adjust accordingly on my TT...
 
The black one looks angled in, like the arm was pulling back too much. Or maybe the suspension just got weak. I don't know but an AT440 looked like that after a while on a TT I don't use anymore.
 
well, I did what I always do since I left my Test LPs back in Madrid (silly rabbit!); I rip the same LP and compare it to when the OM30 was still "on" and compare it to the new one...
Here is the spectrogram of the OM30 of "More than a feeling"
Screenshot 2023-05-07 at 9.30.59 PM.png


and the same with the Shibata for the AT3003 cart which does not have that weird bump the other one had:
Screenshot 2023-05-07 at 9.30.37 PM.png


To be honest, I still prefer the OM30's linearity, the Shibata goes a bit higher around 10K, although it has some SLIGHT dips around 20K and 30K, but hey...I think it sounds much better than the other shitbettah...
 
Well, for about less than $190 I ordered a REAL (NOS) OM30 from Thakker in Germany (highly recommended, I used to get stuff from them when I was in Madrid and S&H to the USA is quite reasonable, about 20 Euros--- I also ordered some LP sleeves)
and, to be honest, there's VERY little difference between what my iphone camera can see between the OLD one and the NEW one (below)!!!
om30.jpg
 
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