Decca Blue & Decca Gold

[johnjhazel]

The general run of them look like Cracker Jack prizes made to sell for maybe $12, $20 tops. Not confidence inspiring with inconsistent QC . Yet, their direct sensing principle reputedly produces a coupling with what is engraved way beyond their unpromising construction that compels a consistent following.
There is a much better constructed line using the same principle for those put off by the cheap plastic plus tin can build of the original line.
I've never fooled with them myself, but have an ongoing interest in all things phonograph, especially pickups. The Peter Pritchard GE VR mono pickups are likewise interesting as direct tip sensing pickups.

The GE VR 1000 is Peter Pritchard's last direct sensing STEREO cartridge. It is excellent.

 

[johnjhazel]

At needledoctor, the Deccapod is a $100 option at order time, installed. It solidifies the whole package, makes mounting easier, and looks better, IMO.



It also converts the unusual three-wire setup to a conventional four-wire one, albeit still splayed out at an angle.

London's are much cheaper here: https://www.divineaudio.co.uk/product-category/brands/london/

 

[johnjhazel]

The Jubilee and Reference are not of the tin can construction and I believe that both have 4 pins. The cheapest Maroon received a CLASS B rating by Stereophile. Stereophile also found that one version worked very well in a Rega RB300 tonearm. As I mentioned, prices are much better here: https://www.divineaudio.co.uk/product-category/brands/london/

 

[johnjhazel]

Agree totally, I would say 95% of bad rep comes from people trying to make a Decca work with a loose tieback. Also one of my pole pieces had moved too all from bad QC. QC on new Decca is good, if anyone gets a used Decca get it serviced full stop.
Chris

John Wright builds them by hand in Shropshire, England.

 

[cafe latte]

One problem with them is that the horizontal and vertical compliance is very different, so it’s hard to match them accurately with tonearms. But having heard one, they do sound marvellous. They work best in a tonearm with damping, either fluid or electronic, due to the fact that the cantilever has virtually no damping. Putting them in an undamped tonearm results in the low frequency resonance being very high in level, resulting in high distortion and poor tracking.

I’ve seen the left drawing which Pio1980 posted in several old reviews, dating back to the 1970's, as well as some more recent ones. They are certainly very different cartridges, but the way that the cantilever is sprung and very lightly damped contributes to the very ‘live’ sound they produce. They also have a tip resonance which is above the audio band (typically 23kHz), so their frequency response is quite flat over the audio band until above 15kHz, and I've seen several reviews which show similar responses, despite them being for cartridges produced 30 years apart!

My fellow former Tasmanians, the late Garrott brothers, were the acknowledged experts on them until their deaths in 1991, and their modified and improved Deccas were very sought after.

Issues are exaggerated it is normally when tieback has problems causing distortion cart is fine with most arms.
Chris

 

[mcdan]

I agree with cafe latte. I have a 4RC retipped by Sir John with a Paratrace diamond. I have used it mounted on a Rabco SL-8E, SAEC-308 with knife edge bearings and most recently on a VPI Prime Signature with JWM Memorial uni-pivot. Excellent results on all three arms. Once you hear a properly working Decca you’ll never look back! Even great MC pickups sound slow compared to a Decca.
Also have a spherical London, amazing detail from such an arrangement!
Dan

 

[johnjhazel]

Just yesterday received back from the UK a serviced Decca Blue conical and Decca Gold elliptical cartridge. The Blue I picked up here from member 2020 and picked the Gold second hand elsewhere. I have read a rather extensive thread on another forum... 236 pages of Decca info. Rarely do I see AK postings regarding these Decca's. I know from searching there are some fans of the Decca lineup here but I was curious why it seems to be a limited discussion since they seem to be so highly regarded in other circles. I will be setting up and dialing in the Gold this weekend on a Sony TTS3300a / Rabco SL8e combination and will provide some additional comments when I have a chance to evaluate the setup. Looking forward to it...

I have been waiting for a person to have both (a) London Decca(s) and a GE VR 1000. Please let us know if the GE VR 1000 has some of the qualities of the Decca's as both generate the signal at the stylus tip.

 

[Pio1980]

The GE VR 1000 is Peter Pritchard's last direct sensing STEREO cartridge. It is excellent.

I may have one of those somewhere, I've also heard otherwise.

 

[MRL_Audio]

I may have one of those somewhere, I've also heard otherwise.

I'll defer to johnhazel here but a properly fitted GE 1000 stylus is the key to using the cartridge. There were some production changes that occurred that utterly ruined the reputation and performance of these cartridges. John is passionate about the GE and passed that along to me. I have two cartridges and a half dozen stylus assemblies that have been modified by John. They are wonderfully balanced, clean, open and fast cartridges that have tracked anything I've thrown at it at 2.0g including some pretty nasty warped LP's. I have it in a heavy arm and I think the same attributes of this arm are also favorable to playing the Decca. High mass arms are used in both situations. I am not planning on using the Decca in the same setup at this point since the Rabco SL-8e is a well documented match for the Decca and I happen to have a nice setup for that. More to come on the Decca after the weekend. No time during the week.

 

[Pio1980]

I may have one of those somewhere, I've also heard otherwise.

Can't find it, thot it was with the strain gauge stuff but not.
Checking the pix, my cart may be a VR-22.

 

[jrtrent]

Issues are exaggerated it is normally when tieback has problems causing distortion cart is fine with most arms.

At one point I thought it would be fun to try a Decca. The USA distributor at that time, whose name I don't remember, said it would not be a happy combination in my Linn LP12 with Ittok arm, so I never took the plunge.

 

[johnjhazel]

I may have one of those somewhere, I've also heard otherwise.

I have two of them. I wrote a book about them on LencoHeaven where I no longer post. Updates are on Steve Hoffman forum. The GE VR 1000 is a great cartridge that was doomed by bad styli. With a good stylus, they sound incredible. I like my two better than any other cartridge that I own.

 

[johnjhazel]

I'll defer to johnhazel here but a properly fitted GE 1000 stylus is the key to using the cartridge. There were some production changes that occurred that utterly ruined the reputation and performance of these cartridges. John is passionate about the GE and passed that along to me. I have two cartridges and a half dozen stylus assemblies that have been modified by John. They are wonderfully balanced, clean, open and fast cartridges that have tracked anything I've thrown at it at 2.0g including some pretty nasty warped LP's. I have it in a heavy arm and I think the same attributes of this arm are also favorable to playing the Decca. High mass arms are used in both situations. I am not planning on using the Decca in the same setup at this point since the Rabco SL-8e is a well documented match for the Decca and I happen to have a nice setup for that. More to come on the Decca after the weekend. No time during the week.

Thank you for the comments about the VR 1000. I am curious to read your comments about the Decca's compared to the VR 1000.

 

[johnjhazel]

Can't find it, thot it was with the strain gauge stuff but not.
Checking the pix, my cart may be a VR-22.

I have a VR-22. Terrible cartridge.

 

[johnjhazel]

At one point I thought it would be fun to try a Decca. The USA distributor at that time, whose name I don't remember, said it would not be a happy combination in my Linn LP12 with Ittok arm, so I never took the plunge.

There was a distributor that I had contacted a long time ago who stated that the London Decca's would not work well on a suspended turntable. No one currently states that. We had probably both contacted the same guy. LOL.

 

[Pio1980]

I have a VR-22. Terrible cartridge.

That's the one I think I heard negative comment.

 

[orthophonic]

I have several Decca's, a Maroon, Super Gold, Super Gold VDH and a Garrott Brothers modified Gold, they all sound excellent. They do not work well on any suspended table (tried five different ones), they
work perfectly on non suspended tables.

 

[cafe latte]

Problem with Decca and most things to be honest is there are a lot of experts who have no personal experience at all but give people advice with conviction. I am quite sure a serviced Decca will work on most arms (mine works on ALL my 5 turntables) compliance correct of course. One of my turntables is suspended too and the Decca worked great on it so another myth busted.
Chris

 

[johnjhazel]

Problem with Decca and most things to be honest is there are a lot of experts who have no personal experience at all but give people advice with conviction. I am quite sure a serviced Decca will work on most arms (mine works on ALL my 5 turntables) compliance correct of course. One of my turntables is suspended too and the Decca worked great on it so another myth busted.
Chris

I went through the same thing with the GE VR 1000. Everyone who does not own one insists it can be no good. My next cartridge will be a London. Nothing else would be good enough for me after hearing the VR 1000's.

 

[Crestwood23]

I have my Decca Super Gold mounted on a Karmadon 206 (Grey clone). It’s heavy mass magnesium, and is a unipivot design floating on a cushion of silicone goo. The Decca really sings on this arm!

http://www.karmadon.net/shop/klon-tonarma-gray-206/