Birthday coming up, GF told me to go buy some turntable to have some fun with, expand my horizon’s. I’m a mobile and have not determined if it’s something I would ad to my setup or not at this point. I was looking at the following turntables to have some fun with, learn to scratch on. Thoughts please?
When I bought mines a few weeks ago, I was told to go for Direct Drive Turntables (no belt that can break, less problems). I ended up getting 2 Stanton t.62 used for 250$CAN. I like them, they are not as quick as Tehcnics 1200 to get to the speed I want but I find myself having a great time learning on them. So, are those Direct Drive or Belt Drive?
If my budget was big enough, I would buy Tech’s, but it’s not. So far one person said the LP120’s were best of the three. Anyone else have any opinion on the three?
Couldn’t agree more. Most appreciate that technics are “THE” TT and will outlive the cockroach in a nuclear war but come on folks for them less in the know and unable to afford the top decks (me included) throw us a bone and give advice at what else in available on the market that’s any good.
Sorry mate, you’re right. I’m pretty narrowminded when it comes to turntables, my first pair of turntables were and still are technics because I thought I’d end up wanting technics after I buy cheap turntables. I’ve never even tried or touched any different turntables because there are no other turntables in clubs and I’ve never felt the need to.
but going straight for technics would probably save you money in the long run. Plus, you can still sell techncis for a very good price while you’d loose a lot of money trying to sell other cheap TTs
I’ve also heard great things about the audio technica one but I never got the chance to compare them to a technics yet.
I also heard Vestax PDX tables are really nice. But again, out of your price range.
I started with Gemini xl-500 mKII … I wouldn’t invest a lot of money until you see if you even like ttables. I’m a big tech 1200 nerd but am very open minded bc not everyone has the same budget. I’ve been so broke before I sold my 1200s and rocked a party with a cheap laptop, pcdj red (1st version), and a radio shack mixer. It doesn’t matter what you get if you know how to select the right tracks to play
Same here; first TTs were the exact same ones. Strangely, I never felt the need to go to Technics though. If you look at the actual SPECS of most decks, the Technics lag significantly behind in terms of torque and acceleration. The SuperOEM TTs (like the Stantons, the Numarks, and the DJ Tech) are all very good and will do you nicely as a starter pair of TTs.
SoundLab DLP-32s aren’t bad either, I’ve got a pair here at the moment, although unless you can get a pair MUCH cheaper than the SuperOEM ones, I’d go for the latter.
EDIT: Also worth noting is, with any of the USB-enabled decks (of which the Stanton is one) you could theoretically use a pair of timecode vinyls with VDJ, WITHOUT a dedicated 4-in-4-out audio interface.
Audio Technica AT-LP120 - Not sure how the torque is, but haven’t heard good things about build quality.
DJ-Tech SL1300 MK6 - seen some respectable DJs cutting on them decently, haven’t tried them myself, they seem decent but I’ll try and ask someone who I know has used them.
Stanton t.92 - Man, the Str8-150s are probably the best all around deck right now but I’m not sure about the 92s… I think they’re pretty close to the 1200s, the 150s are mostly over kill for straight DJing but great for scratching.
Out of the above 3 I’d lean towards the DJ Tech ones since I’ve seen them in use by decent DJs, the other 2 I haven’t. For other decks:
Avoid Numark TTXs, be wary of PDXs. TTXs I think are decent but they have been known to break down, and I think the Str8-150s and PDXs pretty much trump them on every feature now. PDXs are sweet but a lot of people have issues with getting warped platters it seems. Str8-150s are great decks but really heavy… kind of expensive new, but no issues otherwise.
There’s some truth to the 1200s thing. I don’t think they’re the be all and end all function-wise… like I think it’s a stretch considering them the “best” turntable anymore, BUT they’re still probably the best value… Like you can find them on the used market for <300 each pretty easily and get the exact same if not more when you sell them. I dunno why but turntable prices haven’t really dropped at all, so my 1st recommendation to anyone looking for decks is still used 1200s after all this time… you’d think that some company would just copy the 1200 and make it like $200 new and clean up but maybe it’s just that expensive to build.
the audio technica is a sound deck for its price range and great for learning the basics on. are you looking to buy a pair? sorry to echo what’s been said before, but for the price of 2 brand new LP120s you’re not far off a second hand pair of stantons or technics. worth bearing in mind.
you can find a pair out there if you are patient on craigslist…people get desperate and have to pay bills sometimes…even in OHIO… you can always order super OEMS from sweetwater.com or americanmusical.com and use payment plan/financing…if you don’t like them returns are easy… and restocking fees aren’t bad
