LP Gear "Vessel" Cartridges

The cart in my profile pic a Sony VL-45G. The ubiquitous Audio Technica P-mount cart. I don't know if Pfan still makes it or not I think I got the last one at voice of music dot com.

 

You won't be sorry. I'm at the 25 hour mark on mine, and it probably won't sound better than it does now. It replaced my Grado Prestige Gold, and I shan't be installing the Grado again. It's not that the Grado doesn't sound good because it does. The A3SE just sounds better with a mix of older records, and new 80-180gram records from the past two years. What I like most is the smoothness of sound. I can accept an imperfect cartridge if it does well throughout the listening range, and the Vessel does.

 

If you own the 440 you might try the AT-7V stylus (it fits). The .2 x .7 mil is very narrow, and like the Vessel it has a very smooth sound. They say in Japan the AT-7V is a cult cartridge, and I can see why. I retired my 440 and use the 7V exclusively now on my Rega.

 

Hmmm.... Pfansteihl makes a .2x.7 replacement in Switzerland also. That's quite a big difference from a .3x.7 elliptical! Worth a try.

Question: Why did you retire the 440 instead of just replacing the stylus?

Anyway - I have a bad taste in my mouth about LPGear these days. They gave me a great deal on my 440MLa a few years back, and I've gotten some good accessories from them (stylus brush, etc), but the Stanton D73S replacement I bought from them sounded like deep fried poop and they gave me a very hard time about replacing it charging me a restocking fee. I tried them again with a replacement for my Pickering TL-2 and it sounds just as bad as the Stanton replacement. I don't want to contact them because they were so unpleasant about their defective cart. I know they sell some good stuff but I've had bad experience with them lately and their customer support is lacking.

 

I use my Signet TK3EA with the 440 stylus. I don't have a 440 body, but the Signet specs are similar. Never tried the AT-7V stylus, but I doubt the .2 x .7, though better than a .3 x .7 or .4 x .7 would meet my needs.

 

I've had the cart awhile and wrote a review in a subsequent post:

LP Gear "Vessel" Cartridges

 

My dealings with them have been limited, I would probably just move on to another vendor if you're not getting the service you want. Likewise I would've simply filed a PayPal claim if I received an item I thought to be defective.

 

I've probably got 15-20 hours on my A3SE. No way does this sound like any $99 cartridge I've ever heard. I'd wholeheartedly recommend it.

I'm wondering what happens when moving up the line. I'm hesitant to find out. Honestly, its priced too low. Lots of folks will pass it by because it's too inexpensive to be any good. Lots of folks will also be making a mistake.

It does go through a break in period though. Around 10 hours, I wanted remove it. I stuck with it though and it's going to stay.

 

I get the impression that the owner is a cranky old coot with a business out of his home shop who loves vinyl. Some of those guys are the best in the business. I have a pickguard from "Jamie's Pickguards" on one of my basses, and I've had Jamie's on other ones. They are famous for ...abrasive... customer service - and making some of the best plastic cuts and materials in the business. I have a 5 string fretless Banana bass from Wishbass.com that's an American Folk Art instrument masterpiece. But Steve Wishnevsky is a cranky old coot. I love doing business with people like that. That's why the A3SE piques my interest. How is the IGD? Sibilance? I don't expect it to track like my 440MLa but how far off is it?

 

No issues with silibance or IGD. I will say that some say it's warm of neutral. It's more than a bit on the warm side of neutral.

 

Well you convinced me. Taking a flier on one of these; it should arrive next week. I haven't used a MM regularly since my Dual days.

 

There is IGD on aggressively cut records. Any record with narrow deadwax and female vocals - you will hear sibilance on that. It's not nearly as fine as the AT microline, you'd have to move up the Vessel line to get something comparable.

 

I recently purchased a Shelter 201, and I must say that old-school Excel "body" – while ugly – must be an amazing engine for all of these various iterations. I am extremely impressed with this cartridge.

 

Follow-up. The replacement stylus for the Pickering sounds great at 2.25 tracking force. I'm using it on a standard mount table through a P-mount converter and it sounds wonderful. Since it's supposed to fit a P-mount cart it should sound great at 1.25 tracking force, but it is too light there. So it's a great sounding needle but doesn't meet the specification of the cart it's supposed to be designed for.

 

I've now spent a few months living with this cartridge and comparing it to another MM that I had on hand, a Shure M44-G. My thoughts:

The Vessel A3SE is not a giant killer or tremendous value, and it does not acquit itself with all genres of music. It's not neutral, and the "warmth" that others have described is due to an aggressive roll-off of upper frequencies.

An album like Joanna Newsom's Divers highlights the A3SE's strengths and weaknesses. Newsom's unique voice can be piercing and sibilant, but the A3SE rounds it off in a pleasant way, and it portrays the arrangements on Divers' softer moments with a gentle, involving touch. However, the Vessel falls on its face when the arrangements get denser. Its presentation becomes hazy and 2D, with limited low and high end.

Some listeners may find that the Vessel is a fine pairing with their favorite genres of music. On some of my albums, like the THESIS series of 10" releases from Gregory Euclide, the Vessel shines. The A3SE can portray the emotion and life in intimate, sparsely arranged music (folk/jazz/ambient) in a way that melts me into my listening chair and pulls me deeper into the musical phrases.

But move out of the Vessel's sweet spot and you'll immediately know it! Don't try it on albums with loud, distorted guitars, like Music On Vinyl's repress of Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop by Stone Temple Pilots. You'll wonder if something drastic has happened to your speakers.

The Shure M44-G is like the mirror opposite of the Vessel A3SE: it has an ecstatic sound with rock and pop music, turning my system into a jukebox on acid. It brings me to my feet to dance without fail. Albums like Elvis Costello's Get Happy (the original Columbia cut) positively buzz with sweaty R&B excitement. But the Shure has difficulty portraying the emotion and weight to intimate, well-recorded performances and tends to over-emphasize sibilant cuts, like Bjork's Vespertine (One Little Indian).

So, for now, when I'm in the MM mood, I swap between the Vessel and the M44-G. But I can't help thinking that for a bit more money, a MM from Soundsmith or Audio Note would be able to do it all. And is that too much to ask?

 

I wound up selling my A3SE. Not because it was a bad cartridge, but because I'm spoiled by advanced stylus shapes and can't deal with the IGD on standard ellipticals. I could've moved up the line but chose not too, mainly due to the expense.

I'm now using a Goldring 1042 as my primary cartridge.

Those options are going to be more than "a bit more" than your Shure or A3SE, to put it lightly.

Soundsmith are technically MI designs.

Audio Note, as you may know, use the same cartridge internals as the Goldring 1000 series.

 

There’s not much cost savings benefit to moving up the Vessel line—keeping the same body and upgrading the stylus really only saves you about $50. You made a good call in switching to the 1042.

Yes, “a bit more” is relative... but worth it if you want to have a cartridge that can handle all genres with the same refinement. A Shure m97xe is an option at that <$100 pice point, but didn’t really fascinate me when I owned it previously.

 

Moving one step up on the styli only saves about $30. The Vessel was always a secondary cartridge for me, but when I figured out that I'd have to move to one of the $500+ models to get a true line contact or better stylus I lost interest. The A3SV, which LPGear calls a "Nude Super Vivid Line Contact" appears to be nothing more than an elliptical if you look at the published measurements.

Never heard it with any aftermarket styli but wasn't too impressive in stock form IMHO. It's now out of production and prices have shot up.

As far as handling all genres goes, I've found cartridges that work well for that, for me anyway, and none of them are at the Soundsmith or Audio Note price levels.

 

Sounds like you have a lot of experience at this price point. Mind sharing? You must not be talking about your Goldring, since there are a few Soundsmith cartridges that are priced below it, and the AN IQ1 is right around the same price as far as I can tell.

 

The Goldring 1000 and 2000 series cartridges are way overpriced here in the U.S. I ordered mine from the UK and got a much better deal. I'd encourage you to shop around if interested.

RE: Soundsmith, the carts designed for B&O are affordable, at least the lower end ones, but they get expensive very quickly once you add in the adapter to fit them to a 1/2'' mount and the fancier styli. The main line of Soundsmith is generally very expensive. The Otello is $400 but only comes with a bonded elliptical stylus. If you want something better be prepared to fork out $1,000+.

RE: AudioNote, it is my understanding that the IQ3, the closest thing to the 1042, retails for ~$900 USD. It does have a better cantilever than the 1042.

 

I’m curious about this cart. I currently have the Nagaoka MP-110. How would the Vessel compare?

 

It would be a sideways move from the MP-110. Both cartridges have okay but not amazing stereo separation and bonded elliptical styli. The main difference is the 110 is a moving iron design while the A3SE is an MM cart. I don't really see one as being superior to the other. If you want an upgrade, you need to spend more $.