Degritter

Opening Summary

Record care is not peripheral to analog playback. Contamination embedded in a record's grooves raises noise, obscures low-level information, and places unnecessary demands on the stylus. Degritter addresses that problem with an automated ultrasonic process designed specifically for vinyl.

Engineering Philosophy

Degritter's system uses ultrasonic energy to reach areas of the groove that mechanical contact cleaning may leave untouched. In the Mark II platform, two transducers positioned on opposite sides of the record generate 120 kHz ultrasonic activity across the cleaning surface. The process is touch-free inside the cleaning chamber, so no brush or cleaning element rubs against the record during the ultrasonic cycle.

The machine integrates washing and drying into an automated workflow. A removable water tank simplifies fluid handling, replaceable filtration prevents removed contamination from continuously returning to the bath, and configurable programs allow the cleaning process to be adapted to the record's condition. A two-tank workflow can also separate washing solution from clean rinse water.

Listening Experience

A properly cleaned record often reveals the improvement before the music begins: fewer impulsive noises, a quieter background, and less distraction from the physical medium. Within the music, that quieter surface can make ambience, decay, texture, and low-level phrasing easier to follow.

The greater benefit is consistency. Degritter makes thorough record care simple enough to become part of normal listening rather than an occasional project.

GTT’s Perspective

GTT offers Degritter because a reference analog system cannot recover information that contamination prevents the stylus from reading cleanly. Record cleaning should therefore be treated as part of analog system setup, alongside cartridge alignment, tracking force, isolation, and phono-stage matching.

Degritter combines effective ultrasonic cleaning with unusually straightforward operation. It allows clients to protect their collections and maintain repeatable playback quality without turning record care into a complicated ritual.