Needles, Slipmats & Settings
Gunna get straight to the point looking for a good pair of needles for under/around $200 no scratching here just mixing I was looking at the “Ortofon Pro S Concorde” (Pair) for $190..any suggestions feedback?
Also I have some simple slipmats wondering if they make any difference…if so any recommendations? (again I dont scratch, just mix)
Last question: what settings do you keep your turntables at? (Height, anti-skate, counter-weight, etc.)
THANKS 
1200 MK5s, Shure M477s, Butter Rugs.
Weight 3.5g, Height 0, Anti-Skate 0.
I had Ortofons back in the day and loved them. These days I have the Shures for scratching and they are amazing and blindingly good value for money. As for slipmats, I don’t think it matters too much for mixing, just make sure they’re purdy.
1200 M3Ds, M44-7s, D-Styles’ V2 Tablecloths
Weight: 3.3g, Height 0, Anti-Skate 0.
This is exactly what I use, except im on MK2’s.
If youre using timecode and only mixing, you can weight the needle lighter so it doesnt wear your records as much.
Butter rugs are immense, love em. From my own experience DO NOT buy cheap, shitty mats. Get some Sick mats or butter rugs, you’ll never need another pair.
Technics 1210s MkII, Shure M44G cart/styli, 2g, height 0, anti-skate 2, genuine Technics slipmats from mid 90s.
Interesting to see anti-skate set to zero in posts above, I presume it’s to do with scratching?
1210 MK3Ds, Ortofon Concorde Scratch, Standard Technic mats.
Weight 3.0g, Height 0, Anti-Skate 0.
Shure M-447, ~2g, level tonearm, correct anti-skate (set using a blank record…the way you’re supposed to).
If I were playing actual vinyl, I’d get Shure Whitelabels without thinking or shopping around. I miss my old set. They look, sound, and last better than anything Ortofon makes IMHO. But I’m kind of a Shure fanboy.
Oh, and I use djforums.com custom slipmats.
I am going to dig through my collection in the basement and see if I have anything that’s single sided. Where did you get yours from?
Satellite Records in Little 5 Points in Atlanta. It was in their dollar bin. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard what’s on the other side, but I’m pretty sure it sucked.
Technics 1200mkII’s, Ortofon Pro S Concords, Stanton Slipmats.
Weight 3.3g, Height 0, Anti-Skate 0.
Still interesting to see many people have anti-skate to zero, just wondered if there was a technical/technique reason for this?
Technics set up says anti-skate should match the load (weight) figure.
Cheers,
Curious BTTF
Technics 1200mkII’s, Shure M44-7, Dskreet Slipmats
Weight 3g, Height 0, Anti-Skate 0
The Shure M44-7 manual says to just set it to zero for turntablism/scratching. If you want to properly set it, here’s how:
I’ve got a 1210mkII and a 1200mkII, ortofon nightclub S, 3.0g, 0 height, 0 antiskate.
No blank records to properly set my antiskate. 
It just so happens that the sweet spot for antiskating on my decks is close to the tracking force I’m at.
I’ll have to bring a blank next time I get to play on 1200s and see if that still holds…
2x Vestax pdx a1 mk2, Ortofon Concorde Pro S, Traktor Butter Rugs, weight ~2.5g, anti-skate ~2.5g
That said, I’ve worried for a while about wearing off one side of the groove more than the other using a wrong anti-skating value. Might have been more due to the styli being battered when I first got the decks than that, though (concorde pro OM on gemini headshells).
Ah, okay, thanks, that answers it then. I wondered if it was a technical reason (in DJ technique terms).
Thanks for the reply, I’m similar, I’m concerned with uneven wear over time. I play house so scratching is not something I induldge in much - I’m more concerned with good audio representation.
1210 mk2, height: 2mm weight: 3g antiskate: 1
very rarely do i play my actual vinyl so im not too worried about them wearing out, 9 times out of 10 when i play i use my timecodes
yes, there is. high antiskating will give you troubles when back-cueing. if you back-cue (most DJs do), it is advisable to set anti-skating to zero (or, perhaps, half the tracking force at the most if you’re being careful).
of course, for hi-fi usage (no scratching, no back cueing), it’s different. in that case, on a technics, set the anti-skating to the tracking force. ofc, the max. anti-skate on the mk2 is 3g so you cannot follow this rule if your cartridge requires a tracking force of >3g. but for pure playback/non DJ purposes, you should go for a hifi cart anyway. and every hifi cart i know requires less than 3g of tracking force.
edit: @hoodless – as for the other thread that was closed: zeus is a botnet. they steal people’s financial credentials. i was just kidding. (the joke having to do with the fact that cracked software is sometimes malware-infected.) no need to get all worked up.
Cheers, many thanks RGTB for the info, very interesting, in all these years of DJing, I still learn something new everyday! Just thought, couldn’t setting anti-skate to zero cause a possible L-R audio imbalance and leave the stylus more liable to skipping during play back because of the centripetal force acting on the tonearm? But having seen the number of set ups above using zero this doesn’t appear to be the case when using specific cart/styli (i.e. Shure) and setting them up in a certain configuration. I will have to give this a try! 
Cheers again, all the best.
BTTF