Turntable upgrade recommendations: SME vs AMG vs Technics vs other

To begin with, I rarely if ever listen to "popular music" from the 60s, 70s, and 80s on my audio systems, with the prominent exception of the Beatles and some others. But I do know what you are talking about due to my brief forays into that genre. A lot of that pop music we grew up with was meant to be heard on a car radio, preferably a convertible, preferably with a member of the opposite sex sitting in the passenger seat.  I bought one of the re-issues of the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" on LP.  On a good audio system, the tunes bear little resemblance to my aural memory of those tunes dating back to the 60s. It would not surprise me at all if hi-rez digital reproduction of some of that music would exceed vinyl in fidelity.  I had a similar experience with a collection of Buddy Holly hits on a Classic Records LP and recently on a 4-LP set of Roy Orbison tunes (but I still love Roy). On the other hand, the best in-studio or on site jazz recordings were made with a very serious eye for fidelity by very knowledgeable engineers with very high end (for the times) equipment, and we are rewarded these days for their work.  If you prefer hi-rez for that material, that is your personal choice to which you are entitled. I don't think re-mastering per se can restore what wasn't there in the first place. The very best re-mastering can only preserve what is there, and typically using tape sources that have aged.  As regards the nature of the distortions you (and I) perceive, I don't think you are hearing "harmonic distortion" of high frequencies, because harmonics of high frequencies would be out of the range of your and my hearing, and because true harmonic distortion is not unpleasant and even hard to detect.  LPs vary all over the place in their quality.  In some cases, especially for classical orchestral or big band jazz recordings, there is a tendency for the sound of stringed instruments or of the brass instruments playing en masse to congeal and become shrill and unpleasant.  One of the benefits of running so many turntables, using two systems, and having so many cartridges in so many tonearms, is that I can move an LP from one system to another in order to determine whether these distortions are on the LP or due to a shortcoming of one of the components in the reproduction chain at my house.  The results can go either way.  My own pet theory for what causes that occasionally shrill or congealed sound from massed instruments is a combination of cartridge mistracking and turntable speed instability due to variation in stylus drag. So, I also don't doubt that in a given instance, hi-rez digital could do better.  And I use tube, hybrid tube/transistor, and all transistor phono stages.

"preferably with a member of the opposite sex sitting in the passenger seat.  "

PASSENGER SEAT?  Baby you're so square!

So, I communicated with a few of my email audiophile friends, and someone has heard both the Ypsilon VPS-100 phono stage and the FM223 phono linearizer, and his comments are that the FM223 was too analytical and too noisy; he thought the Ypsilon to be very detailed, but with slightly diminished dynamics. . . 

In the meantime, I heeded the suggestion by @lewm  and got a SOTA relfex clamp, and it does improve the sound of the Rega P8 markedly so, even moreso than the spindle weight that I was using.  The clamp really cleans up the sound coming from the vinyl, and it is a very noticeable improvment for anyone with a Rega TT!

Dear @drbond  :  too noisy? with all respect to your audiophile friends that " noisy " they heard through the FMA just comes from one or more links in their audio systems and that noise through FMA can't be " hidden " .

The FMA audio items are the best " tools " to analise how good is your or any one else audio system.

Analytical?, with all respect too for your friends they just don't know for sure how the live MUSIC sounds seated at near field.

FMA electronics can sound in any way but analytical or noisy, neither with the 123.

True experience knowledge levels is what need your friends, I don't care about any of them I just care about you as the OP .

The SOTA was fine but the Basis is even better, I own both. and both can run with the RP10 too. 

I find the impressions of the OP's friend to be quite plausible. In the signal path, every active device increases noise, and every reactance creates phase shift.