Non Rega cartridge suggestions on a P6

I find that a VTA adjustment changes the sound and it’s very audible with a cartridge like the Hana ML or Umami Blue. Might take some time to dial it in. That’s why having a VTA adjustment capability is pretty important, at least to me.

I do not have a Hana cartridge in my collection.  I do have both Shibata and Fine Line, at present both AT and Ortofon both MC and MM are ready to hand.  I have a Denon DP-3000NE which is very easy to adjust VTA and offers a range of 10 mm.  Just for the sake of this correspondence I checked an AT VMN60xSL, which at a height at the back of ~4mm was correct according to AnalogMagik.  I then deliberately moved it all the way to the lowest setting and listened, then to the highest setting and listened.  In both cases I could detect a difference and AnalogMagik confirmed that VTA was off.  Subjectively, though, the difference was not great at all.  The caveat is that I am 78 years old.  A younger pair of ears should definitely hear more.  

I ain’t spending all this time and money and not doing it ’right’.

Or, ’supposedly right’.

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Clearance under the dust cover: presumably (always dangerous), Rega sells shims that do not cause a problem. It is possible that a larger diameter counterweight, by itself, or, if added to the shim ’lift’ will not fit.

My Mission arm has a titanium counterweight, (very heavy metal) purposely to keep the length of the counterweight section short behind the pivot, and the overall height low, both were issues when I added my 3rd arm on my plinth, it ’just fit’.

When I added a 3/8" thick spacer under my long arm from Russia, by luck (I hadn't considered it) it 'just fit' below the dust cover when on.

I upgraded my Rega table to a Hana Blue recently and it was fairly easy to set it up the VTA once I purchased the split shims -- they are easy to install  and can be added in .5mm increments, which is nice.  It's a fairly heavy cartridge , but not so much that the counter weight was an issue. 

I really like the Hana cartridges a lot. So much that I almost wish I purchased the Red instead of the Blue. I'd recommend them for sure.