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DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

djtechtools.com

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Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#11

Post by Lio »

dopamean wrote: post #2

It's pretty incredible how bad nearly all new turntables are. I have a 20 year old pair of 1200s that are better than just about anything you can buy today. With that said... two of my favorite djs right now, who are talented vinyl djs, often bring their own gear to events and they use the Pioneer PLX. I wouldn't be surprised if they've modded them somehow though. In my short time with some PLXs it seems the tone arm…

I think it's the cost of tooling and materials.

The original 1200 was a pure hi-fi deck in a large and very competitive market. DJs just adopted because it could be repurposed for their needs.

When Matsushita redesigned the 1200Mk2 they could afford to maintain their market leading position by investing in things like die casting and superior bearing.

Any OEM manufacture now is unlikely to want to spend that kind of money to manufacture something sold in small numbers.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#12

Post by drewbeck »

par wrote: post #10

i mean, i love vinyl and spent a lot of time on the wheels of steel back in the day. But who isnt using a digital controller these days?

Addicts. Like myself

DJing with vinyl is fun as hell, gets me away from my screens, let’s me find music in a really satisfying and interesting way AND takes me to shops where i talk to people and learn things from them. The digging is maybe the best quality — walk into a place with a limited set of music, guide your search based on categories, album art, personnel listed in the sleeve etc. Digital provides almost none of that; digital “digging” tends to get boring and overwhelming, both.

Old man stuff, probably, but I do think there will always be some ppl tuned to wax. As soon as you want something you can’t find digitally you have to anyway, and from there it’s a slippery slope.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#14

Post by letier »

ace2358 wrote: post #6
rfreiberger wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can speak on this owning a pair of Technics 1200 mk2 I bought new in 1995 and a pair of Reloop RP8000mk2 I bought two years ago. What might be confusing is many DJ turntables are made by the same company now, and are reffered to as "super oem", so the small things are changed, like logos, but they come from the same factory. My Reloops weight close to the same amount as the Technics but the base allows for more rum…

How would something like the audio technica lp1240 stack up? I’ve heard great things about them but they don’t seem super popular.

That one should be a Super OEM and therefore similar to the others.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#15

Post by schrijver »

par wrote: post #10

i mean, i love vinyl and spent a lot of time on the wheels of steel back in the day. But who isnt using a digital controller these days?

It’s expensive and impractical, but in a way that also helps to keep it aspirational–still very common in the electronic music scene, go to any of the festivals or clubs in Europe and they’ll have the technics next to the CDJ’s.

Controller - laptop setups are common for house parties, and for bars and events that keep the same dj all night, but less common in clubs where the CDj’s with USB sticks make it easy to switch over. A CDj needs a DJ mixer, to which you can also hook up a record player, so mixing both is not too hard.

Personally I find vinyl a bit daft for new music since it’s all made on computers anyway! For older music it makes a lot of sense though, much of it never made it to digital.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#16

Post by letier »

kabes wrote: post #7

This comparison is from 2016. In the meantime Technics started making sl1200mk7 and (way more expensive) sl1200gr / g models.

The MK7s are supposedly (e.g. the bottom of the player - didn't verify myself) built from slightly cheaper materials than the MK2. On the other hand they're new and they have a very solid build. Also they have proper cabling and ports on the player, which some older 1200s were lacking. I got two of them and really like them.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#18

Post by scrame »

you can pry my tech 12s from my cold dead hands.

I've had them for more than 20 years, I've dragged them through subways and left them on their side, stored them in poor conditions, dropped them down flights of stairs, shipped them internationally and back.

worst thing that happened? tonearm bearing went out of whack, 40 bucks to fix.

vestax pdx3000? plastic case and bad feet. Gemini? Get anything else.

Features? Features on a turntable is just something that will break. like the light on a tec 12.

Re: DJ Turntables: Buying Guide by Vekked (2016)

#20

Post by TonyTrapp »

And avoid this turntable mechanism in particular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXV8tXrPOR4 - okay, it isn't even direct drive, so not suitable for DJs anyway, but that might be something an aspiring DJ that has never handled a turntable before might not know. Just steer clear of this no matter what you are going to do with it.
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