I use a Shure V-15 III that I bought nearly 50 years ago. For the last eight years I have equipped it with JICO SAS styli (two in that time period) and have been very pleased with them. It is mounted into an SME 3009 II. The V-15 III needs more of a capacitance load than most MM carts, like 400-500pf, and that of course influences the top end considerably. I took the best estimates of arm cabling and the "Y" adapter I use to connect caps in front of the phono pre, load the "Y" with 200pf, and adjust the rest with the phono pre (Schiit Skoll). The net is approaching 500pf and the top end is detailed without being shrill or hyped. The SAS tip geometry can tend to collect crap from the disc surface easily so cleaning both regularly is a good idea.

br3098

you make some good points.

many of the new LPs I buy surprisingly have minor warps, brush not needed if minor, but some existing LPs with real warps you want the brush. A quickie adjustment of tracking force and anti-skate needed.

anti-static/keep it clean:

IF it takes static away, that’s worth using it. No advantage, use it up. If it picks up stuff, then the LP is not that clean, the air is full of tiny dust you can only see when in a sunbeam, or a new stylus that goes deeper in the groove is ’digging’ junk out of the grooves that elliptical shapes don’t reach. Next play, less junk to dig out. IF that happens, clean your stylus thouroughly. Next: clean your old LPs more aggressively.

I scrub the heck out of my old lps with a baby scalp brush

Keeping the cartridge brush clean, easy when you have steady hands, gotta be more careful these days, I clean the brush with the styus cleaning brush.

Having good light and a mirror to see/reflect light makes the job easier, you can see if whatever got off the stylus or brush.

I use a makeup magnifier mirror, this one from Amazon seems clever. I cannot post links, just copy and paste this in Amazon search

30X Magnifying Mirror, Small Magnifying Mirror with Suction Cup and Tweezers, As a Travel Mganifying Mirror, Compact Mirror Set for Plucking Eyebrows 3.5 Inches

gotta love the mispelling

And a lamp with light coming in from the side, off/dimmer/on/off to have no hum risk. Remove the suction cups, place/leave the mirror under the stylus when in the rest, then you can tilt the mirror this way and that, lift the arm, light on, easily see what is where.

Elliptical stylus are definitely ’less fussy’, what that really means: the advanced stylus shapes (SAS, Shibata, Geyer, Van den Hul, Microline ....i.e., close to cutter blade shape) are very important to get right in ALL respects. Azimuth very important to get in/down in the groove. Better get the anti-skate right!

I agree, a brush should not slow a platter down.

Gents, I agree that using a brush shouldn't affect the platter speed. This isn't a universal problem. Yet there are a few turntable designs when this can happen. I used to be a dealer for Pear Audio Blue turntables. They are a Tom Fletcher design, like the Nottingham line. Really great decks. One of their features was belt drive using a low torque motor, designed to just keep the mass loaded platter spinning at the proper speed. You started and stopped the platter rotation by hand. It's not a problem, in fact I found it to be a brilliant and simple method to limit noise. It worked. But I wouldn't want to introduce any significant drag on the platter with  turntables of this and similar designs.