Garrard 301 project arm cartridge compatibility


Hi I have managed to get hold of a Garrard 301 and am in the process of designing and builing a plinth for the 301.

After looking at many peoples projects on the web i have come to the conclusion that a 12 inch tonearm is the ideal candidate (based I have to say mostly on aesthetics i think a bigger plinth only works when balanced with a 12inch tonearm). of course i also want the 12inch arm to have that retro look and hopefully not break the bank. so no carbon fibre arms preferably the sme 3012 look unfortunately the 3012 has to be excluded as i already have one on my thorens 125 long base.

i have sort of narrowed it down to either a morch up4 (or dp6 but is a touch expensive) or ortofon as 309s. if people have other ideas please include them some ideas like getting a vintage fidelity research may not be feasable (i live in south africa and we don't have a very big second hand market).

as to the matching cartridge my first choice would be a london decca super gold. firstly because this is part of a second system i am putting together which should be the polar opposite of my main system. I thought it needs to be simple so i want to feed directly into my leben phono stage hence high ouput as opposed to low output MC cart.

so the question is given the choice of arms which would be the best match with the low compliance london decca.
nealw
Buy another SME 3012RG (Gold).
The 3012 with the Decca together makes "the perfect pair".

George
I've looked at the schick but it doesn't really pull my trigger. also there is quite a waiting period and i feel i must have the arm before i build the plinth. the sme 3012 Rg certainly looks the blingy part but something tells me its cost a wee bit also again i would be having two similiar arms in my collection.

any thoughts on london decca compatibility with the ortofon and morch.