pcrussell50 wrote: Of course this link takes you straight to the third post, which my contribution. But you can scroll up too.

I'll give it a read. Thank you!

One point I'd like to make is that it isn't a mere coincidence that the GS3 has many mods (from my excessively computerised chimera to Jakes single metering valve setup - through many PI mods including ones made up of 100% John Guest fittings).

The GS3 has ample room for the DIY to insert many fittings into it. It also has ample quality and Ample supply of spare parts and repair transparency (meaning no "irreplaceable" parts) To make it worthwhile to convert it into whatever machine setup piques your fancy.

Which makes it less of a consumer machine - and more of a Rock solid platform from which you can do whatever you want and explore whatever you think will make better coffee. I've had my moments of being proven Right - but sometimes wrong though.

Which makes it fun.

The venerable GS3/MP is top on my list. Love the true saturated head and with profiling is far more capable than a Speedster or Slayer.

Jim why not a DE then. You can almost get 2 for the price of one GS3. You can have volumetric and manual. Or is that you want to make the mods.

Tonefish wrote:The venerable GS3/MP is top on my list. Love the true saturated head and with profiling is far more capable than a Speedster or Slayer.

Slayer even with only "two speeds" will still get you most of the goodness from long pre infusion, puck softening of light roasts. The only thing you will not have with it, is the ability to make very small on-the-fly adjustments to flow if for example a shot is running a little faster than you like.

The conical valve GS/3 MP should theoretically be able to handle this, but based on several of my friends who have them, it's not too easy to make these minute adjustments via the conical valve. That combined with it's "water waster" design during long pre infusions has driven them and presumably some others I don't know about, to perform the "Jake valve" mod which will give one the minute control they lack in the stock MP, AND dispense with the water wasting so that all the water pumped, goes through the puck and not down the drain.

-Peter

CarefreeBuzzBuzz wrote:Jim why not a DE then. You can almost get 2 for the price of one GS3. You can have volumetric and manual. Or is that you want to make the mods.

I'm not convinced that the Decent keeps everything from the shower screen down at as uniform a temperature as the GS3 saturated head would. I haven't dug into it because I'm still not sold on computer controlled thermo-block type stuff. Just my personal bias as I'm more old-school.

pcrussell50 wrote:Slayer even with only "two speeds" will still get you most of the goodness from long pre infusion, puck softening of light roasts. The only thing you will not have with it, is the ability to make very small on-the-fly adjustments to flow if for example a shot is running a little faster than you like.

The conical valve GS/3 MP should theoretically be able to handle this, but based on several of my friends who have them, it's not too easy to make these minute adjustments via the conical valve. That combined with it's "water waster" design during long pre infusions has driven them and presumably some others I don't know about, to perform the "Jake valve" mod which will give one the minute control they lack in the stock MP, AND dispense with the water wasting so that all the water pumped, goes through the puck and not down the drain.

-Peter

I've become very used to controlling my shots via near real time feedback from the Acai Lunar and would very much like to keep that control capability. As for the water waster issue, that's the only thing keeping me from owning one. As for the Jake mod, which I love, I have many, many projects going and don't want to do a big coffee machine mod at this point. That said, I'd still keep the GS3 on top of my list today. DC Mina is nice too but again computer controlled and it uses step levels rather than analog.

Tonefish wrote:That said, I'd still keep the GS3 on top of my list today. DC Mina is nice too but again computer controlled and it uses step levels rather than analog.

How are you going to reproduce an analog extraction?

My brain works the same everyday, and it can do waaay more than 5 steps, so no problem!

The shots on my GS/3 are absurdly repeatable. The organic PID between our ears pretty adept at making and even anticipating needed changes in real time to control the output of the machine.

Would I buy a new GS/3 MP today? No. But that's because I prefer my modded AV.

In all seriousness, thinking about "if I had $7500 to buy an espresso machine" is a really challenging exercise to come up with a single option. I would consider a GS/3, yes. But I would probably mod an LMLM or buy a BDB and take a vacation with the leftover cash. I love the build quality of LM machines, but I dont think that the GS/3 has any magic in the cup. It's just a well-constructed temperature-stable machine that does what it's supposed to do. My old commercial HX machine was every bit as capable at producing fantastic results in the cup, but it required inordinate mental gymnastics to coax the very best out of it. Machines like GS/3 (and Mina, and Slayer, and BDB, LR, and, and...) do it with ease.

I still think that the BDB is likely the single cheapest feature-rich machine that delivers "top tier" results in the cup. I'd be hard-pressed to spend the money to get something that bears a higher level of prestige.

Cheers!

- Jake

Jake_G wrote:I would consider a GS/3, yes. But I would probably mod an LMLM

Curious which mods are being made on LMLMs? I haven't searched the forums yet and also haven't come across much about mods on the Linea Mini in the past. I'm intrigued. Do you know of any you would make off the top of your head? I am leaning more away from the GS3 but not away from owning a La Marzocco for my home machine.