Buying a pair of turntables
Hey guys, I’m meeting with a guy maybe next week about buying a pair of Technics 1200 mk2s. What should I look for when I check them out, other then obvious the pitch slider, pop up light, and such. Thanks
it’s hard to really go wrong unless they are really really beat, i’ve bought, refurbished, and sold technics on craigslist quite a bit and going through around 50+ technics total I only encountered one I had to use for parts that had a bent tone arm not worth fixing and the side was real bent like it was dropped off a stage.
The biggest thing is overall appearance to get a sense of age and how it was used. Power it on, hit play and adjust the pitch paying attention to when the dots stay still looking at the led strobe which correspond to pitch increments. make sure the dots stay steady.
Put it on 33 and 45 rpm and slowly move the pitch fader through its range, if the pitch is dirty or worn out you will see the dots on the platter stutter in the led strobe showing the platter speed is inconsistent. you don’t want this unless you are good at DIY stuff since this is easy to fix if you take apart and clean the pitch fader and you could offer $100 for a tt like this but that’s another story.
make sure the tone arm is straight, if you can, see how a cartridge fits on the arm and if any of the contacts on the tone arm look pushed in or shot. play a vinyl record if possible and see if you get an output in both channels. if he has a mixer that shows left and right output levels make sure one isn’t significantly lower than the other (and if it is be mindful that could be a styli problem too). look at the rcas and the ground wire, check to see if the ground wire is close to original length and not chewed up or cut down. check to make sure all wire insulation is in good shape and check what the rca connectors look like and if they have a tight fit. remove the platter and look for any signs of anything being spilled (usually won’t cause permanent damage but i have cleaned some thick nasty goop out of tables). check the pop up light, check the 33/45 buttons and make sure they don’t stick. make sure all the leds stay steadily lit and don’t dim or flicker at all indicating a power problem. make sure the tone arm clip isn’t broken off and if it is you can get a new one for a few bucks but make him knock down his price a bit.
if it plays stereo fine and the pitch is good then it’s a solid table. i wouldnt pay more than $450 for a used pair of 1200s and going rate seems to be $500 a pair on craigslist. don’t let them being discontinued fool you, the second hand value is the same as it was last year unless it is brand new in box.
^I think that pretty much sums it up. 
Ok cool, thanks. I have pictures of the tables, should I post them? they look to be clean and in good shape, but the picture are like cell phone quality.
go ahead it cant hurt but we probably cant tell much
there is a video made by ellaskins which cover every single little bit of the technic turntable. Really good info before buying actually.
Don’t have the link but try search “ellaskins refurbished turntable” or smth on
This one? 
check the contacts in the tonearm, where the headshell connects to the arm. make sure there isnt any/much corrosion. if there is, you may have some cleaning to do.
BIG ONE HERE - DO NOT NEGLECT TO DO THIS!!!
Remove the platter and check the magnets on the reverse for chips/cracks/breakage.
If I was buying 1200’s, I’d definitely get them serviced as soon as I bought them. A pair of serviced 1200’s will give you NO trouble for 10+ years if you’re nice to 'em.
In fact - a large perentage of un-serviced 1200’s will give you 10+ years of trouble free scratching…
You ARE planning on scratching ,right? 
probably not necessary, you could just buy a decent set to begin with that doesn’t need servicing instead of dropping the $200. I would say most technics I have encountered on craigslist have just sat in people’s houses collecting dust and would not really benefit from any work.
Yea, I want to do a bit of and scratching, and such. Basically everything. Is there any particular way to check to see if the arm is straight? or can I see if it is or not when I play a record? and how bad is it if there is corrosion on the headshell connector? is it that it just needs to be cleaned? or can it lead to deeper stuff. And how much does the Dust cover and 45 adapter effect the price? or are those more cosmetic? Because I got him down to 375 with two sets of needles two ortofon and two stantons.
Too much corrosion and the sound will suck. A little corrosion can be cleaned out, I’ve seen everything from alcohol to toothpaste on a q-tip in a drill lol. At the very least, get the guy to spin some tracks for you if you don’t have much experience, or (better yet) spin some yourself, and listen for audio issues. Phasing left and right, dropouts, distortion etc. And check what the dudes above have posted. But, like it has been said, if the decks aren’t all mashed up like girltalk, they are probably in good working shape.
Dust cover and 45 adapter are irrelevant; you can always buy replacements if you think you need them. It’s good to have them around but not a dealbreaker. To buy replacements figure $40 for a dustcover and $10 for the adapter tops.
Yea, I’m meeting him at his house, and I’m going to get him to play some records on them, so I can test to speeds and pitch fader and such.
Honestly just set your total cost of what you’re willing to pay for them to be completely 100% working. Personally, I wouldn’t spend more than $300 a pop for each for a MK2, and that’s in complete working order.
Even they aren’t fully working, if you are willing to take them to a shop (most big cities have at least one place that can repair/fix 1200’s easily) and take that into account for your pricing.
You can still find good deals on 1200’s, but sometimes they won’t be in perfect cosmetic condition. Some people are crazy particular about that, I know I’m not though. As long as something works 100% I don’t care what it looks like. That’s something to keep in mind too.
Hope that helps at least. I’d say go for it. That sounds like a pretty solid deal if they are in well working order, esp with carts included.
^^ Happy 1k dood!
Yea, As long as they aren’t beat to death, i’m ok with it. you can always get a cover thing for them.
I’ll be subscribing to this thread…Cant get it out of my head to use the S4 with 2 Technics and a innofader .
I’ve seen them around but quite pricey. $850 a pair :X.
I got them, they look good now, that I’ve clean the years of dust off them, they came with a set of stanton 500 needles that ended up being broken, and a pair of ortofon pro s, which work good. The only thing is that I only have one dust cover. Which no big deal. But I have a question about dust covers, the cover I do have has different hinges than the one that does not. The one that does have it has a square slot for the cover, and other one has more a slit for the cover. did he try and put a different cover on it or what?
Some models have hinges (square slot), some don’t. Sometimes the hinges are removed to make fit into a case or closer to the mixer. Whether you want hinges or hingeless, those parts should be compatible with all MK2 and higher.