Grado TLZ ???

yogiboy, I don't know that I truly have a gold. The box is marked gold, the cartridge itself is marked Grado on the mounting surface, JG on the silver portion of the body and on the front it is marked jg with Grado below it. The cartridge came with the tlz v stylus and a spare. I am just doing my homework. It was not represented in a deceptive manner. I suppose when I mount it and listen I will learn more. Thanks for your input and anything else you could share would be appreciated.
Thanks
Rich

Very simple. You have a Grado "Gold" with a stylus assembly that has been upgraded to that of a "TLZ v"; they are interchangeable. My guess is that performance-wise, you are not quite at the overall level of excellence of a full-fledged TLZ, but fairly close. Output of a Gold is 5mv, output of a TLZ was (if I recall correctly) 1.5mv. Output is determined by the body that you have, so yours outputs 5mv. The TLZ retailed for $500 when new.

I will go and take a look at mine. I still have the original cylinder in which the cartridge was sold, so I can also look at the label on that. Perhaps Yogiboy knows better, but I do think there was a "Signature" version of the TLZ. I never knew or bothered to find out if it was any different from the standard TLZ, nor do I recall whether mine is a Sig or not. Do not know anything about the "v" designation. Most likely, the seller stuck the TLZ in a box intended for the Gold, as you probably have already figured out. The TLZ originally came in the aforementioned solid metal cylinder with removable end caps that were held in place by a fancy elastic band. I think the TLZ has great potential and is head and shoulders better (faster sounding, better bass and treble extension) than the lower models in the Z series. Good choice.

OK, I just read your most recent post. I made my previous comments on the assumption that you had a "Gold" body. If the body that you have is silver and black, then you probably do have a full-fledged TLZ. It was probably packed in the box of a Gold. The TLZ came packed in those impractical little metal cylinders with end-caps that I always seemed to lose. Thing to do is to determine the output. Again, the TLZ was a 1.5 mv output, considerably less than the more usual 5mv of the black bodied Grado's. Shouldn't be too difficult to determine.

Lewm, there never was a "Signature" version of the TLZ, only a supposedly upgraded stylus assembly the "v", which is what the OP has. The TLZ was always part of the "Signature" line, which included the 8MZ, MCZ, TLZ, and XTZ.