Headshell + Cartridge for Control Vinyl on SL12000 MK2
I’m looking for some good recommendations for Cartridges & Headshells / Concordes for my new techs. I currently just have a single Stanton headshell and a Shure SC35C that I picked up from my local shop to test the decks. I mix control vinyl (don’t scratch) but I also use them to listen to a small record collection.
What would you guys recommend? What are the advantages of Concorde needles over Headshells?
I have always prefer headshell and cartridge over banana style needles. THey just track better and give room for more adjustment. You can never go wrong with shure.
The advantage of concordes and the like is that they’re easier to set up. Headhsell+Carts can deal with weird setup issues that don’t actually come up for a DJ (e.g., using the wrong tonearm) and are cheaper.
I’m not convinced there’s a sound quality difference other than the differences inherent in them just being different cartridges.
And, yeah…can’t go wrong with shure. I’ve used m-447s for timecode and whitelabels for actual vinyl basically since I bought my first turntables. Now, I only own the m-447s and don’t really use them.
I went from Stanton’s to Concorde DJ’s and thought they were the dogs danglies, trouble with the Concorde or similar is that when/if they develop a fault as a sealed unit there isn’t a lot you can do to get it sorted.
When one of mine went wrong I decided to go to Shure 447’s and the output is fantastic, I can’t see me going back to the Concorde/Reloop variety.
I do however prefer the aesthetics of the Concorde flavour!