cutting amplifers  :   vinyl record producion knowledge base
-------------------------------------------------------------------------->

here i list all info abot various cutting lathes. if possible, i publish pictures, datasheets and personal experience


pictures and pdfs will come soon. promissed....!!!!

vinylium
--------------->
based in switzerland. vinylium is the only company in the world producing professional equipement for cutting rooms.
all incredible good quality. but also not from the cheapest. most on a preorder basis.

-------->ultracut. stereo. solid state opamp based 380-450 Watts per channel
this is basically a highend version of the SAL74b rack. same architecture but redesigned with a higend view in mind....
the poweramps are very very good. also compact design, best components makes the ultracut an outstanding cutting amp...

-----> vinylcut. stereo.solid state.approx 68Watt per channel.
very low cost and compact cutting system. because of the ultracompact design the signal chains are reduced to the minimum.
very good components. also a simple pitch controll, a peak meter and stylus heating powersupply is integrated. on the latest version there is also
meters for the cuttercurrent. smallest and best for your money...i like how compact good cutting amps can be

------> minicut. stereo.preamp system only
high end professional preamp system. this is only a riaa encoder,mixer and feedback amp. it needs external power amps.

neumann
-------------->
the german workhorses....sound is not always the best...over engineering is  mostly bad for sound. but very reliable. the standard.

neumann made 3 main amplifier rack developements and some versions.all pre VG1 machines used telefunken amps or other brands.

-->VG1 (verstärkergestell eins) stereo full tube cutting electronics. apprx 60 watts per channel.
the tube rack. wonderfull piece of work. the VG1 contains 2 sets of preamps,feedbackamps,poweramps and playbackamps.
the power amps used EL156 in push-pull configuration. the output is apprx 60 Watts .
the VG-1 is a  state of the art tube gear. i have never seen a  nicer manufactured amp. also VG1s are very sought after in high end audio circles. not for cutting but for listening.

--> VG66 (verstärkergestell 66) solid state, discrete approx 100 Watt per channel
the VG66 was widely used.introduced 1966  it had all nice features a good cutting amp shoud have. cutterhead protection, monitoring of input,feedback, playback. also the rack could be used for all cuttingheads neumann produced.
also it had a very interesting HF-limiter. actually it is not a limiter it is a variable lowpass filter which is controlled by the cutter current.
soundwise the VG66 cuts well, but if it is not tuned it is not a high end machine. usefull but nothing special. the later version of the VG66 went even worse by using one of the first op-amps lm311 and such stuff. also the signal switching was over optical modules ( a box contained a 24V light bulp and 2 LDRs). because of the ligh bulp these module dont live very long. a constant source of problems....
also the amps are not very well designed. first transitor poweramp designs with elkos for the outcoupling....hmmmmm. i think not highend.

--> SAL74(schreiber-antriebs-logik 74) solid state,mostly opamp approx 550 Watts per channel
this rack is the most used these days. the architecture is very good and usefull. the poweramps 2 bridged amps per channel .
all opamp based. the sal74 had also a sort of a hf-limiter called BSB74 (beschleunigungsbegrenzer = acceleration limiter) which was a forward controlled hf limiter. technnically the bsb is very interesting (analog delay to compensate the forward regulation time and other neumann like technical sado-maso design...) soundwise the bsb74 is more than questionable. my preferred setting is on "bypass"
anothe point on sal74 was the transformers in the Feedback circuit, the input and it had 2 seperate and totally oversized powersupplies)
the power amps (LOV74 leistungs-operations-verstärker) are also a constant source of problems, because each channel is splited to 6 cards there is a lot of unstability and hundreds of cutterheads where roosted by a 2 MHz oszillation of unstable poweramps.
---->version VG74
same as above but without monitoring unit and sometimes without BSB74. just the core.cheaper

-----------> SAL74B
same as sal74.but some small changes. only one power supply instead of two.transformerless. phase response and frequency response was extended.
also some of the cabling was improved. most SAL74 users made an update to sal74b which was available from neumann.
version----->VG74B
same as above but without monitoring unit and sometimes without BSB74. just the core.cheaper

-------------> SAL84
same as SAL74B but for DMM cutting. there was a tracking angle compensation unit added. which was necessary because with DMM the cut is made with 0 degree cutting angle. for laquer there is 15-20 degree cutting angle.



Westrex

1700 system. stereo .transistor. all discrete approx. 100 wats per channel
the blue westrex system is a very nice design.straight. simple. discret. i would say very good sounding.

1500 system. stereo. tube. very nice approx 60 Watt per channel.
tube rack i use. bernie grundmann uses also 2 of them. they are nicely made typical 60'ies american tube equipement. simple. good.
but no features. no gadgets...isn't it that what people call high end?


ortofon

----->GO541 . tube based . mono rack.2x EL34 power tubes.
front of a go541 amp
some details from the front pannel
from the back of the amp and power supply
a detail view from the backside

----->GOxxx. tube based.  stereo rack no information.

------>GO701. solid state opamps. 550 Watts
nice rack. compact and powerfull. the poweramps are very good. opamps in original state shitty. but if tuned. one of the first choice to cut.
has also temperature protection and good monitoring. a little minuspoint is the unballanced feedback input.
front of a go701 amp

----->GO741. solid state,opamp based 550 Watts per channel
the latest rack.redesign of GO701.most is the same some small improvements.
front of a go741 amp
a inside look of go741 amp


copyright 1993-2007 by flo kaufmann. if you want to use some stuff, feel free for non-commercial projects, but it would be nice to let me know and to mention the source on all publicatons.for all commercial projects ask: flo_at_floka.com: replace _at_ with @.

back......back to cutter page........
home......back to main page........


last modified: 1.3.2007