A Look at the Grado Green - A Crate Digging Review

I've continued to upgrade my new turntable setup with a new phono cartridge: the Grado Presige Series Green. In this video, we'll review the Grado Green, how it performs and whether you should bother trying one. Includes needle drops from the cartridge and some audio analysis.

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MUSIC CREDITS
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Clips from the album "Trans AM" by VHS Dreams used at various points throughout the video.
Songs used (in order of appearance): "Vice Point," "Highway Lovers," "Ocean Heights (feat. Satori in Bed)," "Discorecord," "Trans A.M.," "R.E.D.M."

All tracks written and produced by George Dervenagas. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.

Other song credits as indicated.

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VIDEO CREDITS
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"Ars Visits Grado Labs" by Ars Techina

"Grado Labs: Hand-Built in Brooklyn, Part 1" by Grado Labs

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RESOURCES
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On aligning a phono cartridge:

Vinyl Engine Downloadable Cartridge Protractors (free membership required):

Unofficial Grado Hum Database, compiled by an alert Vinyl Engine user:

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Are you still reading this? I bet you're the kind of person who looks at the initials in deadwax, too. ;)

[johnhamill]

I had a Grado Green after a Nagaoka MP-110, the Green is more musical and as in this review just sounds very good. So good I had to slide down the slippery slope and get a Grado Sonata. And its just wow!

[passqualecaiazza]

I own several Grado's. In 1971 my Dad bought a Dual turntable with the Grado F+1. We loved it until 1976 a friend thought needle was a little bent. He said he can fix that with needle nose pliers. Yes, you guessed it, he snapped the stylus. Dad had hard time finding replacement and settled for a Shure M19ED. In 1980 I bought a Dual table like my Dads used in 1980 (1973 model), I bought a Grado G1. It was $150.00 and came in a jewelry type box. Loved it so much a year later bought a new Dual and put on the Grado G+1 ( again $150.00 and same box). Just love them. Later got my Dads old table and found a new old stock stylus for the original Grado from 1971. So 25 years after broken we found how much better that cartridge was to the Shure. I do like the Shure, but nothing like Grado. I have several Duals now. One has the Silver, One is FM3, and one F1. All sound great. I will say I do miss the packaging they use to use though.

[armanddimeo]

I love my Grado Green used on a vintage Pioneer PL-12 turntable. While it is true that Grados may not test as well as some other cartridges, they sound more like music than other comparably priced cartridges. This is particularly true of female voices and strings, including guitars. Voicing by ear works its magic here.

[justsumguyu]

I always buy Grado---good cartridges from a family-run American business.

[Mraustintexas]

I have a Grado Green mounted onto my Micro Seiki BL-51, and I've been enjoying listening to it for several years now. My other turntable is a Pioneer PL-530 fitted with a Denon DL-110, and since both are running through my Pioneer SX-1010 receiver it's easy to do A/B comparisons, and honestly, to my ears there is no discernible difference between the two.

Lately I have considered keeping the Green cartridge and upgrading to a "Gold3" stylus, so I emailed the Grado company to ask about this, and John Grado said the Gold3 will fit, that "the musicality will be the same", but I would hear an improvement "in terms of resolution and dynamics". He also said (and I really like this) "if the Green still works, keep using it"!

How's that for the "hard sell"? This is one reason I really like the Grado company. They make great products and they seem like really good people.

[johnschnader]

I've had the Grado Prestige Green phono cartridge for many years with zero problems. Great sound period. I have it mounted on my 1974 Techniques SL1300 semi automatic direct drive turntable.

[Tipharot]

I have to second what leyland said that the headshell seems off. I think some of those headshells have a screw that you can use to adjust the azimuth. Might be worth looking at.

Anyway on to the review itself. I've been using a Grado Prestige Black1 for a little while now and I have to agree with all your points. My only real negative for the cartridge was that like you I experienced some IGD and sibilance (although my cantilever is a little off-centre, so it's possible that this is making it worse) - but the sound more than made up for it, as it's an excellent sounding cartridge. I think you made the right choice choosing the Green over the 2M Red. The experience I had with the 2M Red showed it to have the same IGD and sibilance issues the Grado had, but the sound just wasn't as good as the Grado. Mids sounded flat and muffled. High end was great, if a little bright. The Grado on the other hand has been much more well balanced, and does well in all areas: highs, mids, and lows.

I hope you do some more cartridge reviews in future. You and HiViNyws are the only two channels I've seen to date that have done decent in depth cartridge reviews of any sort. Great video.

[ClayMationNation]

I am considering this P-mount cart for my "new to me" Technics Sl-7 turntable. It's a linear tracker so should eliminate any issues with tracking other's have mentioned.

[jameskroeger]

The Grado Green is a great cartridge especially at its price point. Along with the Schitt Mani phono preamp it’s hard to beat. I’m listening to mine right now.

[spazzychalk]

This was by gar the beat video on this cartridge. I have on the way for my P mount Technics BD20D... and bought myself some VHS Dreams

[christiandivine]

I bought my first Grado, the Green and it's a very clean clear sound on my Sony PS-X555. I love it even though I have far more expensive carts.

[tefltoulouse]

Suprised to read that nobody is talking about the lack of "air" with Grados. If you want to "hear the music" then you will love them, and also if you want a sort of "valve amp, jukebox" sound. But if you want sparkle and excitment at the top end then I wouldn't recommend. To their credit they have 3d depth (ie some instruments are nearer to you than others) rather than just width, and I do hear things I never heard before, so that has to be a good thing, even if the sound is hard to get excited about.

[Kiddomike]

Thank you for this review. Also, thank you very much for mentioning a possible issue with Rega turntables. I have a Rega P1 Plus and I am a fan of the Grado sound. I would do more research regarding the hum. I hope I can still be able to install a Grado cartridge to my turntable.

[leyland]

Good review. head shell seems not perfectly level. That means the needle isn't riding the groove as it should. It is leaning. So without any doubt the sound can be improved quite a bit. Furthermore, a cart/tone arm combo must form a happy pair. Apparently this is the case with your equipment. You mentioned the difficulty this cart has with certain pressings, maybe this problem can be solved if the head shell is positioned correctly. Regards from Holland!

[glenembrey]

Great video.. thank you. I just bought one of these in a P-Mount as I have a Technics SL-QD33 which is of course P-Mount. I thought about getting rid of the turntable but I do love it. I didn't know anyone made P-Mount cartridges except Audio Technica which I have but I find a little to bright. Sadly the original Technics EPC-30 cartridge was great but for some reason just sounds flat with the after market stylii and I tried a couple different ones. Looking forward to the Grado arriving soon. Thanks for the awesome review.

[eversosleight]

Sounds warmer than AT cartridges just from what I can hear from the video.

[scruttoxable]

Love this review, man. Informative, characterful - and I Shazamed a couple of your tracks. Thanks

[EddieJazzFan]

Quality controlled by ear? That's for me. I'd rather have a human instead of a computer decide how something sounds. After all, a computer didn't write Beethoven's 9th.

[edguyrocks]

What a great video...review. Awesome.

[TheBudgie]

I have a Rega P3, It's In It's Box In the loft, best place for It. That Azimuth miss alignment would nag at Me. Thanks for the Demo.