I have as some may know an S4, now im considering maybe getting some cheap turntables to hook up to the S4 and have a proper go at dj’ing on vinyl obviously thru TSP2. Now ive seen some on here and my friend said i can have his old ones for a bargain price of £50 haha, now i know they aint anything special but they are direct drive and i aint going to be gigging with them they will just sit in my room probably hardly getting used. Those are gemini ones and ive seen some vestax ones too, i know the vestax are miles better but are also a lot more expensive. I dont know much about turntables so i need some one to recommend me a descent but cheap stylus & cartridge set to buy, i very much doubt i will be scratching but may have a go lol…im in the uk too by the way
first off. You’ll probably get frustrated with cheap turntables and want something better.
I know I did, and I had a hell of a mission selling them after deciding I shoulda gone with 1210’s in the first place.
One more thing to consider is you can shift 1210’s for what you buy them for. Gemini’s, stantons, etc are a pain to get rid of.
As for carts and styli; for budget timecode grab some stanton 500’s. For the good stuff you want sure M447’s
i think il go for the vestax ones to be fair.. like i say i wont be using them much but like u say its always nice to have half descent kit to use isnt it i learnt that by buying 2 x1’s and a vci-100 only to realise what i infact wanted was the S4 haha
they’re all based on the Super OEM turntable platform.. all have the same parts that make them work, some ‘brands’ have different features implemented on top of the basic platform eg. reverse
EDIT: the only reason i singled out stanton, is because they are the most prevalent out of all the super oem brands here in aus - therefore easier to get and easier to get customer service here
I think there might be one or two with a crappy plastic body rather than a tank like metal one but I could just be mixing them up. Oh well I don’t have to worry, I have mine already.
I’d recommend an Akiyama Acura, or another super OEM (Citronic, Omnitronic, Stanton etc).
The stylus I’m using is an Ortofon Concorde Pro, it’s pretty good, however it CAN produce some rumble, however that isn’t possible when using a timecode system. By the way, Ortofon Concorde Pro and Pro S are exactly the same.
Concorde Pros here since I got my decks last summer. Good sound when playing records and not much to complain about in general. The little skipping I may have when backcueing heavily doesn’t bother me since I use TSP in relative mode anyway.
+1 on the ortofon, but if you don’t want to spend too much money, don’t get the concorde pro, get the OM pro, which is the headshell mount version of the concorde pro. At least here in germany, a lot cheaper, as long as you still have headshells. Not really the best cart in any aspect, but to me, a very good value allrounder. Works okay for scratching, works good for back-cueing, works good with timecode, and it sounds good.
The stantons are a good choice as well, but for me personally, the 500 didn’t work out sound-wise, I liked the ortofon better. The Shure 447 is very stable when scratching and cueing, but it has a very loud output that might actually be too high for some phono preamps. Back in the days when I still had my ESI U46DJ soundcard, that couldn’t cope with the 447s. Didn’t try them with my Audio4DJ though.
On the subject of carts and needles, Stanton 505 v3’s and the 500 v3’s can both be had brand new for under £65 quid a pair, and are really the minimum you want to use in my opinion.
It’s well worth paying a bit more than you like for needles as it makes a massive difference. A little bit of extra wedge towards them makes a whole world of change in sound quality and (dare I say it) tracking in TSP.
If you plan on using your turntables for mixing, cheap ones will suffice for the time being, just to see if it’s your thing. Better to pay £50 for a cheap pair to save up for some decent TT’s (Technics fullstop!) than buy a pair for £500 and realise it’s not your bag! Just remember that a £50 turntable, even if it is direct drive will be useless at scratching as they just don’t have oomph to get your records up to speed.
As for where to get your kit, I can’t recommend Chemical Records highly enough. Delivery is rapid and they’re always well priced. (No, I don’t work for them).
I agree, if its just for playing around get the cheap £50 ones first, you dont want to spend a fortune just to find out your not really that into it. Better still try and lend them of him firs, see if its worth your whille saving up and getting a better pair. As stylus ive always been a fan of the stanton 500s.
i learnt that by buying 2 x1’s and a vci-100 only to realise what i infact wanted was the S4 haha
