The man above is correct. I paid $900 for 2 x 1200 MK5s + flights + carts/needles. Granted these things are immaculate and I got them from someone who had clearly NEVER used them but a pair of ST150s for $500 would be ideal.
^ It’s true they are talked up a bit too much and can be found at stupid prices. It gets annoying when people say Technics or nothing or no table comes close or better. I would say performance wise the Super OEM’s are better and cheaper.
BUT there is always someone on Craigslist (or similar) selling a pair of Techs for $250 if you keep your eyes peeled.
says the man who paid $900
Many years ago, early on, when I was just playing at home I read and heard other DJs constantly talk about playing on 1200s and how it was a massive step up from other gear and how great they were to mix onetc etc. I was all super hyped and when I finally played out on 1200s I was so dissapointed 
They felt pretty much the same as my old stanton st100s that i got to start out. Torque felt the same, tracking was about the same. They might have held their pitch abit better but only when you were nowhere near the fluctuation around the horrible 0 pitch click. Overall I walked away pretty damn underwhelmed…
So yeah, I don’t believe the hype. But I do respect the 1200 and its place in DJ folklore.
I started on Pioneers sorry excuse for a turntable 4500 something, Mixing on techs for the first time was amazing! I have Super OEM’s now after selling my techs a few years ago, The OEM’s are much better at scratching due to the high torque, but they have nothing on techs in the beatmatching department, they do what the pitch fader tells them but you can push techs and they keep their speed so you can mix more gently, you have to get a bit more rough with Super OEM’s which can lead to sometimes knocking the phase out if until you get use to them, tech’s are very intuitive pressure wise. If Mk5’s weren’t so damn expensive in Australia I’d probably get a pair but prefer OEM’s to 1200/1210’s (especially stanton 150’s as they are fully optioned)
Except the tone-arm breaks just by looking at it. Techs will last you 30-40 years without breaking, you can pour a litre of vodka on the 1210 and it’ll still keep playing. you can’t say that about anything from Stanton.
You can shoot a Stanton turntable with a missile from an Apache helicopter and it will still work! I swear bro!
I would LOVE to see that! But the techs are built like a tank, and will withstand nearly any beating you give them, THAT’s why they’re the industry standard and why you see them in every club, there’s just no hassle with them at all. I’ve seen smaller clubs that just started out and they’ve bought non-12x0 tt’s (str8’s, st150s, ttx-1 etc), against my advice, and they’ve always come back red as a ferrari asking if they could please buy some 1210s.
The legend of SuperOEM lives on… I’m yet to see one in person! They’re extremely rare in the US.
The legend of a cheap chinese knock-off? Sure.
Do you guys even get the concept of wow and flutter?
I do:
That question more to the hardcore fanboys of the “SuperOEM”'s though.
From another forum:
“You could also read the technical specs on the clones – if they’re even provided – to get some idea of how close they come in performance to the SL-1200. The key areas in which most of the clones fall short are wow and flutter, which Technics specified at 0.025% WRMS for the SL-1200, and rumble, which Technics specified at -78 dB. The Stanton’s wow and flutter is 0.1%, four times what an SL-1200 delivers.”
It is written in the stanton manual as less than 1.0
http://www.stantondj.com/pdf/manuals/st150_manual.pdf
I’ve used both turntables and I know dj’s that have/played with both and the difference is NOT in the wow and flutter. Adjusting to the pitch fader and the pushing the platter is where allot of people struggle with the Super OEM decks. They don’t need as much of a push most of the time to get to speed. Most DJ’s that have learnt on Technics mix by pushing the record and moving the fader instinctively on these turntables and get freaked out when their mixes go out of phase… they are just not used to the motor! Get two of the same records throw them at the same time on a 150 and they stay in time extremely well.
Fair enough Technics are a safe bet for a club install because most Dj’s will be at home but to write the super OEM’s off as crap a turntables is pretty dumb and ignorant. There are tons of people that use them and love them - people that have gone from techs to super oem and prefer them and also the other way around. There is no need to go over the top and bash on brands and peoples equipment so you can feel superior about your precious techs this debate has been done to death get over it.
Say I want to scratch samples inside of Traktor, not physical records. So what exactly would I need?
I have Traktor and an APC 40 with a decent crossfader, and an audio interface with plenty of inputs and outputs and two inputs have a pre-amp.
Would I just need a turntable and the timecode vinyl or do I need any other additional hardware?
You need an Audio 4/6/8/10 soundcard, S4 or one of the scratch certified mixers to use Traktor with timecode vinyl.
Thanks. So I need an Audio 4 and an external mixer or just the Audio 4?
Sorry for the simple question, I just never looked into turntables before.
You can map your APC for the job.
Bang on. Also wow and flutter spec sheet numbers are pretty arbitrary and don’t neccesarily translate to the real world. Like you said, the biggest issue is tech users getting used to the stronger (better???) motor and quicker response.