Hello! Any advice for a rookie?

[JohnnyDrama]

If you want cheap quality TT's then second hand superOEM's are you only option (or maybe the reloop 4000 m3d)

[dripstep]

You know this isn't a cheap hobby right? It is going to cost you some money, and you will have to make a decision between tts/cdjs/controllers. You will need to either shell out some money on something quality, or shell out a bit of money on something you will have to upgrade later. Not trying to discourage you, DJing is a LOT of fun, but why do you want to be a DJ? Are you looking to remix tunes? Play music and mix tracks back to back? Because its cool? Because all the ladies love a DJ? Or because you enjoy music?

A lot of us on here have bought cheap, and then bought again, and don't want to see someone else make the same mistakes. The rest spent some serious cash, and don't need to upgrade/replace.

[binary]

You know this isn't a cheap hobby right?

For sure, and I'm ok with that; just trying to minimize the initial impact on my bank acct

Why do I want to be a DJ? I touched on that in my initial post, primarily to mix music and stratch. I like the direct connection between a physical device and music; I listen to music all day everyday while I work at home. While all the ladies love a DJ, I have one lady, she is enough trouble for me (even though she gave this whole thing her unofficial rubber-stamp of approval).

I definitely know what you guys mean about spending money, then doing it again-- the right way. I just don't want this whole thing to go to crap or cost multiple thousands of dollars before I'm able to even get started. OTOH, I don't want to spend $500 on crappy new turntables when I could get a good pair for another $500 and possibly be happy forever with them.

My main concern with used stuff is that I have no way of telling how much wear the unit has endured. Why would someone even sell 1200s, unless they were no longer going to DJ or the units were damaged/broken? Are there any red flags to look for?

[Carb0n]

Most people I've come across selling their 1200's are usually giving up on the DJ thing.
I wouldn't worry too much about it. 1200's are built like tanks and can take a decent amount of abuse.

I highly recommend checking out Xonetacular's guide to buying used Technics.

http://forum.djtechtools.com/showthread.php?t=47069

[Mahoney86]

I sold my 1210s right before college becase I had no time for it in school and I started a business. My buddy bought them from me and theyre still going strong today, he got mint TTs for 1/2 price... Lots of people sell almost brand new equipment because of major reasons. Same reason you find used cars with 4k miles on them....

[binary]

Thanks! This is EXACTLY what I needed

[JohnnyDrama]

I don't know your local second hand market / craigslist offers but a set of superOEM's in good condition should not be more then $500.

For $1000 you should have a complete setup that is upgradeable without having to switch gear any time soon (you can just add stuff in the long run).

[binary]

No I can't, the TTs alone will be $1,000. If I'm going to go used it doesn't make sense to me to get anything other than the tanks.

At this point I'm falling completely in, thinking about how much side work I need to do to be able to afford 1200s, a time coding solution (leaning Serato), and I am considering a DDM4000 with that setup. Someone recommended it in another thread and I think it has a lot of features for that price point; I can might not even get the dicers if I go that route.

So for somewhere around the $2k mark I would be very happy, have solid TTs, etc. That's not much side work for a pretty significant difference in what I will have (also going from new to used TTs).

Are you guys going to try to talk me upward to $3k now?

[JohnnyDrama]

Who is talking about 3K ?

If you realy want 1200's then this should be doable (all second hand but A-gear):

pair 1200 MKII: $650-ish
Mixer (vestax, don't even think scratching with a behringer CF): $400
SSL: $400-ish
Laptop: i hope you have one ?

That is below 1.5K (without LT) and I hope you realize that a lot of good DJ's that are mixing for years can only dream of that setup and there is notting wrong buying SH. So get real and don't overload on gear that will cost a lot of money, not improve your skills short term, confuse you & your learning curve,....

[binary]

I'll be using my desktop machine, it has a professional audio soundcard with RCAs and monitors on arms (so they can be positioned however I want). I'm doing this as a personal hobby, so I won't be traveling with my gear.

Looked around a bit to see what was out there for 1200s locally, it looks like they'll need to be purchased individually or I will have to hunt a while. Everyone seems to be selling single units, but I want two which are at least the same model and in decent condition. Every good condition+ MKII I've seen in my area is $500. One person has a pair of them for $1k, but it is a 5-6 hour drive each way (and I'm thinking about it). Many of those prices are probably negotiable but it's likely going to be $800 for the TTs.

SSL might be $400 sometimes, but in those cases the vinyl is not included (+$50). Then, there are the nickel-and-dime things... slipmats, cartridges, maybe a couple actual records to mess around with.

Vestax mixers don't appear to have any controller features, are there some Vestax mixers I am not seeing? Do you make that recommendation specifically because of scratching or because you think mixers with controller features are generally worse quality? Just curious; either way I'd want to have -some- kind of controller features, but they could be on a separate unit (again increases the cost a little).

So nobody is talking about $3k, we're working on it... besides, I was only kidding anyhow.