The Granite Audio 770 already has variable cartridge loading with the use of some vishay resistors adjustable between 1 to 100000 ohms. I assume if you have it once in the phono chain it is not needed in a step-up transformer correct?
Agaffer, nice purchase I pressed my luck with one of these preamps as well and have been very happy for the last 5 months. I did bring the preamp over to several dealers and one wasn't able to best the Granite's built-in phono stage and another one didn't exceed its performance until we got into ~$10000 linestage and separate phone stage pairing. These two experiences have firmed up in my mind that the Granite preamp is certainly no slouch on vinyl, or as a linestage for that matter.
Agaffer, nice purchase I pressed my luck with one of these preamps as well and have been very happy for the last 5 months. I did bring the preamp over to several dealers and one wasn't able to best the Granite's built-in phono stage and another one didn't exceed its performance until we got into ~$10000 linestage and separate phone stage pairing. These two experiences have firmed up in my mind that the Granite preamp is certainly no slouch on vinyl, or as a linestage for that matter.