Equilizer to reduce surface noise on bad records?

An EQ is not a good choice but there are several ways to do what you want. I have no experience with this but it looks interesting.http://www.elpdeclicker.com/

There are also many computer programs and other hardware solutions to do the job. Do a Google on "record impulse noise" or "record tick reduction" to explore further.

what you would be doing is exactly what engineers do when recording from ultra rare vinyl, when it is the only source. . go ahead

An EQ won't fix that kind of problem. I had the same noise issue but ended up just sticking with CDs and that solved it quite well. Good luck.

Arthur

Tvad and Aball, good suggestion but this assumes that what he wants to hear is available on CD.

Try looking for a Burwin Noise Reduction Unit.

An equalizer is a "brute force" solution. Preamps once had "scratch filters" that basically rolled of response around 6000 Hz. This will help with the continuous surface noise, but won't help pops and clicks. Various electronic devices were developed specifically to address continuous surface noise and the occasional pop and click. Some worked quite well, but all were made obsolete by CDs.

Very effective noise reduction can be done if you don't try to do it in real time while the LP is playing. Basically you digitize the signal and analyse it with a computer program to distinguish noise from transients that are part of the music. For example: Music transients have a sharp leading edge and a gradual decay, whereas a groove defect has sharp leading and trailing edges. (So if you play the recording backwards, any transients are noise). I have heard recordings that are almost a hundred years old both before and after processing. After processing the sound is sometimes as good as an LP from the 1950's. Interestingly, once the noise is striped out HF boost can be applied which reveals unexpectedly extended HF signal that noone knew was there because it was masked by the noise.

Hello, Try a SAE or Burwen impulse noise reduction unit. They are frequently found on Ebay for less that $200 last time I checked. They both work well but are not miracle workers.
Bob

For the $2500 that that ELP box costs, you could probably get some cleaner copies of your worn out favorites, a quieter turntable, a record cleaning machine, and some Bugtussel.

If you have a good soundcard and the time to make your own CDs from your Lps, a copy of ClickRepair is $35 and works beautifully.

There are completely analog devices made for real time declicking. They used to be used by radio stations. I don't know where you can get such devices now.

I have a Benz Ace on order. I guess I'll find out soon how quiet in the groove it is.

I am kind of surprised that no one gave the obvious advice that you should get yourself a good vacuum Record Cleaning Machine (RCM).

Given your analog equipment, it is pretty obvious that a Loricraft (the best RCM I know of), is not in your budget (@ $2,500), but a used Nitty Gritty/Record Doctor will do a very good job of cleaning records for around $100 (plus maybe another $50 in fluids and brushes).

Obviously it will not repair damaged records, so your equalizer or other methods suggested by the others would be utilized for those. (Although, wouldn't it just be cheaper to buy new or used NM records so the clicks and pops are not an issue?)

My two cents worth anyway.

PS I will also point out that certain cartridges are better at smoothing out clicks and pops than others. I was amazed when I went from the Benz Micro Glider II to the Koetsu Black, just how much quieter the background noise was.

Cal 208

I would take the time and effort to replace the records that you feel are importent to you. Just for fun take a look for some of the titles.here and elsewhere. Bargins can still be found and it will make your collection much more significant to you personally. Just for fun name a few and lets see what the analog crowd can dig up for you. Sometimes its the journey not the destination.

Regards

Groovey Records

Listening to

Magical Mystery Tour Mono Capitol 2835
$5 from Saint Vincent De Paul Society

From all the responses so far it seems that an equilizer is not a good idea so I think I will forget that. The records that I have that have surface noise are mostly from smaller and private labels so I doubt that there are any CD's for them, and I would rather not have to chase down replacements.
I didn't realize that there are equipment out there designed to take out the surface noise like the SAE and Burwin noise reduction units. I like the idea but wonder if they sacrifice sound quality? The ELP looks real good but costs too much for me. I am leaning towards transfering the records to CD and using a computer program to clean them up. I do clean my records with a VPI machine and this works great for the dirty records, but doesn't help the scratched ones.
I guess I was just looking for an easy inexpensive way to enjoy some of these records. Most of my collection is in decent enough shape, and I do listen to CD's too. I'll have to try that VTA adjuster for the Rega tonearm too. Thanks for all the suggestions!!

Cal208, I would also recommend that you look into the cartridge loading. If the cartridge loading impedance is too high (47K for example- no cartridge I know of actually loads at that impedance although many say that in the specs) the cartridge will ring- causing accentuation of ticks and pops.

You might also look into a phono section that operates with zero feedback (and passive EQ) for the same reason.