Needle Advice

[Toastmaster]

Buying some 1200 mk2's tomorrow and the guy wants to sell his qbert ortofans to me for 200. Not sure how much I'll even use the turntables - thought of just keeping them and selling them later. As such, wondering if I should get these needles or go for a cheaper set. I'm not a scratch DJ, I'm a trance DJ so I'm not sure whether I need such amazing needles. Any advice would be appreciated and please try to give ASAP! Thank you so much!

[djlotus]

DJTT did a comparison of carts a while back and the Qbert carts didn't rise above the rest. I don't recommend going to cheap on your needles, but if you can find a better deal on quality needles, I would. Lots of posts on needles and carts in here.

[Toastmaster]

Thanks! I think I found that comparison of cartridges and needles for use in software and after that, I think I'll just roll with the Shure M44-7. Got the highest marks with props for its good price. Unless the guy really wants them gone and drops them to like $120, I'm going with Shure. Thanks a ton mate!

[mostapha]

You couldn't get me to use Ortofons unless they were significantly cheaper than m-447/gs. The replacement styli are expensive as hell and I've never seen one with a functional, in-tact arm that wasn't factory new.

[teambama]

Even at $120 I'd pass & buy the M44-7's

You can get 2 new with headshells for about that shipped. Then if you break a needle your only out $25 bucks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Shure-M44-7-...ht_2015wt_1227

[Toastmaster]

Yeah, the guy didn't blame me for not getting them and he even admitted that it sucked to get the styli replaced but he thought he might as well try. Anyway, I just ordered 2 Shure M44-7 premounted cartridges and am now the proud owner of 2 amazing SL-1200 mk2's

[djproben]

Congrats! You won't go wrong with the Shures. As for Ortofons, I haven't used the Qs but the ones I have used sound fantastic but I can't stand the Concorde style; it feels flimsy and the finger lift does indeed break off all too often. Ortofon OMs though (the ones that go on normal headshells) can be great needles though. But Shures are awesome; I love my 44-7s.

[mostapha]

Yeah, the ortofon OMs are usable, but meh.

Whitelabels are better if you want the concorde style. They grip amazing and sound clear and punchy and gorgeous.

When I got sick of paying like $40 for styli, I switched to m-44gs, and they're really almost as good. M-447s don't sound quite as good, but they track amazingly and are really loud (good for a DVS).

I want to get a set of sc35s since I'm playing more vinyl now and still don't want to pay for whitelabels…but really…for supposedly not sounding good and almost clipping my channel inputs, the m-447 still sounds pretty good.