The Blue Note Thread
- Thread starter stpaulbrowns
- Start date
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Mine definitely has a little bit of distortion at points (sounds like hot mic vs pressing error) but it is a great release!
HayesWeighsIn
Well-Known Member
Saw this one at my local the other day but didn’t grab it. Will be sure to next time.
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
I can't say enough good things about it. Title track opens this with a phenomenal piece.
Zero distortion, mic issues here.
Using the mono cart currently.
I'll try it on the SAE later this weekend.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Definitely heard an overloaded mic or something at certain points. Didn’t have the skips that everyone else is talking about though
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
I've played it 3x now.
I can see it may be pushing limits on people's setups but I've not heard anything but pure beauty.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Then maybe it is a pressing issue…can clearly hear something that sounds like mic overload on both of my setups. Happens on the MasterTracker and SAE.
I’ve been pretty curious ever since you said that modern mono records sound better with a mono cart than a stereo cart, even though those records are cut with a stereo head. It doesn’t really make sense to me. From reading Steve Hoffman himself talk about it, he seems to say that playing a mono album cut with a stereo head on a mono cart actually loses some top end, which would maybe make sense why you aren’t hearing what I’m hearing on it.
The whole release is strange though in terms of peoples’ issues with it. I’m glad it sounds wonderful to you. It’s a beautiful album. And about 99% of it sounds excellent to me. Weird so many people with some high end setups are have skipping issues though.
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
Yeah I'm not saying my set-up is superior to anyone.
Mono cart gets tossed around loosely IMO; devil is in the details.
My particular cart is a 0.65 mil conical stylus.
It's the best of both worlds for modern and vintage mono vinyl cuts according to AT.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Was mostly interested in your experience with the mono cart since I’ve always debated it then heard that nearly no records are cut with true mono cutting heads anymore so I didn’t really see the benefit for modern “mono” reissues.
The .65 stylus makes sense for working on modern pressings since the grooves changed from 1mil to .7 once stereo came out. If I ever get a different TT with swappable headshell, I’ll probably get the AT mono cart for my old jazz mono pressings
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
Yep it's a pretty cool device.
"AT33MONO cartridge only generates electrical signal with horizontal movement, yet it also has appropriate compliance in the vertical direction"
I can't explain that scientifically but I can say it works great.
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
No vocals.
For me, that's preferable on jazz albums. I just want to hear the instruments feed on each other.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Old mono carts and cutting heads only had horizontal grooves. Stereo grooves have both horizontal and vertical grooves (think they are cut on an angle instead of horizontal), Since mono records have no vertical grooves, when you play a true mono cut album with a stereo cartridge, the vertical groove information is just interpreted as noise since there’s no music there. It’s why people say playing an old mono album with a mono cart has way less surface noise than playing it with a modern stereo cart. So if you have an early 60s OG mono blue note, it would sound better with a mono cart even though you can play it with a stereo cartridge.
Modern mono carts, from what I understand, can work in a few ways. Some sum the signal inside the cart before it travels through the tone arm cables. Other “true mono” carts only have one coil that picks up the horizontal information but still has vertical compliance so that it won’t break the stylus if you play a stereo record with it.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
No vocals on this. I love some of the later stage Chet albums. That’s been my jam lately. Love his vocal albums too.
Chet Baker Sings and Plays will be on the TP list this year I think.
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
Yeah there's some black magic involved and I would like a true cutting engineer to weigh in one day. (Unlikely) I can only share my short experience with this little wonder.
On another Blue Note:
This is simply a fun spin.
Some latin, some blues, something for everyone.
Would recommend it highly.
Sound quality and music is out of the park again.
I saw an interview with BG today and he mentioned how disciplined Alfred Lion was on the Blue Note recordings.
The more I listen, they more he's correct. It's a sound so consistent across the board. He kept RVG on a tight leash it seems...
Jbraswell
Well-Known Member
So I have a note saved-
Modern monos cut on a stereo cutter, one coil of the cutter head is wired out of phase so that it creates only horizontal modulation when fed mono signal.
I don't know if it's true but I would be interested to hear some real world input on it.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Steve Hoffman claimed that's not entirely true and quite a lot of modern monos are still cut out with stereo heads IN STEREO and then play out of phase with a mono cart. It's a case by case basis I'm sure. You could probably email Kevin Gray and see if he gets back to you. Think his email is on the cohearant site or can't be too hard to find.
I don't think it is a case by case basis at all....modern mono must be cut with a stereo head, in stereo, as the vast majority of buyers don't have a true mono cart (like me). The returns for a general market record cut in true mono would be astronomical.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
right but aren’t there different ways to cut mono on a stereo head? Or not really…?
