It's been cutting records for a few months now. I mostly had to work on the tube amp to get it working. Also, yes mine came with a playback needle -- I haven't bothered to use it though.
Tape deck to stereo eq (chained thru both channels) to califone 1455c (10w 8Ω) to rheostat to inline fuse to head. So no the transformer on the original amp melted (what a smell!)
I have a K8 that came with the original steel stylus. It doesn't cut or emboss all that nicely. What styli do you like? I've seen what Apollo and Vinyl Recorder offer but don't know if it's more a preference thing beyond getting the correct long or short shank for whatever machine. Thanks in advance!