Clueless newbie asking annoying and stupid questions :)

DJ Gear & Hardware CDJ & Vinyl DJing
1

Clueless newbie asking annoying and stupid questions :slight_smile:

Hi All,

Always loved electronic music, well, as far as I remember. Taste hasn’t changed much, still go to see the favourites when they are in London. Chris Liebing, Adam Beyer, Sven Vath, Jeff Mills, Villalobos, Unek, Carl Craig… you got the picture, it’s all about techno :smiley:

Hit the “40 mark”, middle age crisis - no kids or wife, having some money and some time in hand and decided it would be fun messing around with a couple of CDJs, turntables and a mixer. No intention of taking it to the “next level”, just wasting some time until I get bored of it.

I have over 1000 CDs, around 300 vinyls, but no DJ equipment as such. Looking to get a couple of CDJ 800 MK2 of 1000 MK3, some decks and a mixer. No intention of doing anything on computers, just the traditional old school mixing. After spending some time on eBay I have realised, that I probably should find out what I need before start bidding on things not really made for my needs:slight_smile:

The problem came with the mixers. I thought there is only one mixer, THE MIXER. :smiley:
Now I know, there is scratch mixer, DJ mixer, controller, analog, digital, and everything else.

Too many options, please HELP ME!!!

Thanks,

Biggi

2

You’re in a cool situation, actually.

My honest suggestion would be to look up pictures/videos of some of those DJs you like mixing and see what they use and what looks like it could be fun. It’s lible to change from video to video because it’s usually the club’s equipment. You’re almost certainly not looking for battle/scratc mixers…that’s mostly a hip hop thing. And there are only a few mixers represented all over the place:

Pioner DJM 900nxs2 (though anything from the DJM750 or up would work about the same for your purposes).
Allen & Heath Xone:92 or 62.

Those are the big dogs.

I know Jeff Mills used an older Vestax in the Purposemaker and other videos (I think it was a PMC-55). They went out of business a few years ago, but you can still find some used. They are all analog, which means eventually things will need to be repaired/replaced. It might not be worth it just for a hobby, almost certainly not at this point.

And Rane mixers are fantastic. Numark’s parent company bought them a little while ago, and no one knows if the quality is going to remain the same. They also moved pretty far towards the hip hop market in the last few years. But there are at least a handful that would be great choices…they’re just not available new right now.

If I were in that situation, looking only at techno, without my weirder preferences, and had no budget constraints, I’d buy…

3x Technics SL-1200 M5Gs (they’re the best version out; the mk2s and m3ds are more common and very very close)
3x CDJ-1000mk3 (personally, I hate CDs and would use something newer that read of USB keys, like the XDJ or nexus players)
Rane Empath (I just love that mixer design).

Plus headphones (I like sennheiser HD-25s…mine are 11 years old and I see no reason to even look at anything else) and speakers (there are a lot of options…there are very good options in the $500-1000 range and decent options for a good bit less).

You could happily go with 2 of each type of deck/player instead of 3. In fact, starting like that is almost certainly better…when you’re learning, more options tend to just get in the way of learning the basics. But, eventually, having the 3rd gives options that a lot of the old guard techno guys use…others don’t.

3

Right, first things first:

I hate you :stuck_out_tongue:!

Ok, now we can proceed.

What’s your budget? How much money you have will dictate your kit list. That said, your choice of medium does steer you towards certain items regardless of budget. In my humble, since 1994, opinion you would be well served by a pair of Technics sl1200’s/10’s of the mark 2 variety. Good quality ones are not cheap but will last almost literally forever.
I personally would avoid CDJ2000’s simply because if you already have the CD’s and aren’t bothered about going to digital at all, then don’t waste your time converting them to USB playable format and just get a pair of CDJ1000 Mk3’s. These are considered the best built CDJ’s by many and should last a good while.
As for a mixer, I would avoid Pioneer altogether and spend some good money on either Allen & Heath or a Rane. If it was me, I’d get the Xone 92 and then bask in my smug glory. Headphones will be HD25 II’s, this is scripture. I got mine in 1998 and the only things I’ve replaced are the ear and head band pads.
Speakers will depend entirely on your budget and preference.

Just my opinion. Good luck :+1:

4

Thanks for your replies.

Budget was max £1500 considering I have no clue about anything and rather not spend a small fortune on items end up in the loft for the next 5 years. I have seen myself making these mistakes too many times :smiley:

So I bought 2xCDJ 1000 MK2s, a Sennheiser DH25-II, also bidding on 2xTechnics SL1200 and made an offer on a new Xone 92… :roll_eyes:

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So It’s all done. 3 x Pioneer CDJ 1000 MK3, 2 x Technics SL 1200, Allen & Heath Xone 92, Crown LPS1500 amp, Mission speakers :slight_smile:

6

You got all that for £1500? :thumbsup:

Gotta ask, though… Why 3xCDJ’s?

7

Hehehe, not really :smiley: More like £2,5k :slight_smile:

I had to return the mk2s (typical eBay dodgy sale) and end up willning a bid for a set of 3 cdj 1000 mk3s in good condition - the price was too good so I got all 3 of them:slight_smile: Maybe I’ll use one of twem as door stopper… :smiley: