so im buying some decks...

Elkie · Post by **Elkie** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:01 pm

yeah, my student loan has tken aaages to come through, but it should come through this time next week. cause ive obviously not spent any of it, it means i have quite a bit of extra money when it actually comes in, which im thinking about spending on some decks...

to cut a long story short, ive got like £300-400ish to spend, so im obviously not gonna be buying a top end setup.

ive been looking at the numark tt1650's, does anyone have any experience with these?

im also looking for a mixer, but i dont really know anything about them, is there any specs i should be primarily looking for?

ive been told i should look for direct drive tables over belt driven, but what difference does the shape of the tone arm make? should i be looking for a straight one or a bent one?

also, when i go into the local record shop, everybody buying vinyl seems to always listen to it first, would they like, think i was a bit weird if i just walked in and picked up a record, payed for it and walked out?

cheers for the help guys!

chunkie · Post by **chunkie** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:22 pm

been a fair few threads on this - in summary direct drive and the best/most reliable make you can get for your money

mixer wise firstly think of what you need to hook up input and output wise

ins:
2 decks, maybe more in the future?
cd players/decks?
computer so all your audio goes through one 'interface'?

outs:
two speakers?
surround sound?
sub?

this is like bottom of the range b-stock

http://www.whybuynew.co.uk/DM-950-Numar ... Mixer.html

but will hanlde 2 decks, 2 line inputs (cd/computer) and will go out to a set of speakers
so for £29.... not bad

my take is get the best decks you can and a mixer that 'will do'

upgrade the mixer (if needed) later

and no people won't look out you weird BUT you'll realise that once you've got a local record shop you'll get to know the bloke behind the counter and can start asking for 'any new stuff'. at this point he should start recommending tunes and you'll have to listen to know if you want em - white label business!

MARCHMELLOW · Post by **MARCHMELLOW** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:38 pm

the new numark decks are nice actually

I have some vestax, which i primarily bought for turntablism.

I wanna get some cd decks, so would be looking to sell em if your interested... where are you anyways?

Mixer wise, can't help there, i've always been a mixer addict - currently on a rane ttm56.. retails at around £500..lovely little thing though.

recently the line between good quality turntables and bad has really shrunk, and you can pick up some decent turntables cheap.

most will probably say go for technics... i personally wouldn't. unless you have a mate selling some cheap, there still pricey new.

gotta be direct drive for sure.

i listen to dubs on the net, then go out locally and get the ones i can, standard procedure for many i'm sure...

thinking · Post by **thinking** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:49 pm

those Numark are gash, the pirate I play on used to have them until all the DJs complained enough. For direct drives, the pickup & stability were pretty dire.

I'd say, as most others will, buy some 1210s. You could easily find a 2nd hand pair of Techs + a mixer for about £400 I reckon - on my local forum a pair went just the other week for £350 (no mixer included tho)...

seriously, if you buy wisely i.e check them out, check everything is in working order etc, you'll never need to buy another pair of decks. Repairs aren't too hard, the only thing that's costly to replace is the tone arm (check this carefully when looking at 2nd hand Technics), and they are the industry standard for a bloody good reason - they feel perfect!

__________ · Post by **__________** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:37 pm

technics?!?! who would've thunk it?

ramadanman · Post by **ramadanman** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:40 pm

buy technics seriously. no frills, no fancy effects or anything, just plain and simple design which works

dirty · Post by **dirty** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:01 pm

technics = stability

jah pat · Post by **jah pat** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:08 pm

http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.p ... highlight= innit

I got silly luck with mine. pair of mk2s for 220 local pickup isn't gonna happen everyday, but stick with it.... check for when the ebay items end at unsocial times, some idjat put mine on ending 9.30 saturday, so no fucker bid on them....

good luck

jah pat · Post by **jah pat** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:09 pm

out to the illsta on that one

Elkie · Post by **Elkie** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:46 pm

gaston, im in birmingham, how about you?
how much would you be looking for for the vestaxes?

a guy over on djforums pointed me in this direction...

http://www.htfr.com/more-info/MR183337

what do you guys think to that setup?

i realise technics would be the best option, but im a little bit apprehensive about buying them second hand, because it would be just my luck for them to turn up broken or something, and i really wouldnt know what to look for as far as damage goes with them...

thanks for all your help guys!

FSTZ · Post by **FSTZ** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:58 pm

1200's or 1210's

I repeat...

1200's or 1210's

I repeat...

1200's or 1210's

I repeat...

1200's or 1210's

I repeat...

1200's or 1210's

thinking · Post by **thinking** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:59 pm

the Behringer mixers are a bit flimsy - their studio gear is generally looked down upon.

With Technics, make sure the platter is spinning regularly - when the pitch is set to zero, the dots under the red strobe light (the on/off switch) should be absolutely stationary, no movement or wobbling.

The tone arm should be in good nick, check nothing crackles when you move it around & put it on/off the record. Move the pitch slider from -8 to +8 and check there's no crunchiness when you move it, or clicks anywhere except at 0 - also the green light should come on at 0 too.

Have a wiggle of the phono cable coming out of the back, make sure there's no crackling - and check the balance on the mixer meters to see that sound is coming out of both channels equally.

Those are the basics, and even if you wind up having to spend a few more quids gettin them fixed, Technics are always worth it. I guarantee if you buy something else, you will eventually want to trade up.

FSTZ · Post by **FSTZ** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:35 pm

as far as cheap mixers go...

I have used the $100.00 numarks with decent results. of course, I dont use the xfader only the vertical faders.

I have always bought good tables and shit mixers, until now

just snagged an allen & heath

decklyn · Post by **decklyn** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 11:53 pm

techs are what you should be looking at.
if you truly can't afford them, the ttx1s are actually really a great alternative and I would highly recommend them. A lot of other DJs will agree with me here that they're very solid - lots of torque, easy to mix on etc. I know several DJs who are very happy with them or who actually prefer them to techs. The thing with techs is that everywhere you go you'll use them, so even if there was theoretically a better deck at a lower price, you might as well buy techs and get used to spinning on them, otherwise you'll shit a brick every time you're out because there is an added variance from your home set up - the pitch feels different, etc.

whineo · Post by **whineo** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 1:27 am

decklyn wrote:The thing with techs is that everywhere you go you'll use them, so even if there was theoretically a better deck at a lower price, you might as well buy techs and get used to spinning on them, otherwise you'll shit a brick every time you're out because there is an added variance from your home set up - the pitch feels different, etc.

Elkie · Post by **Elkie** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 12:50 pm

well yeah, i listened to you guys, and im currently bidding on a set of technics 1210 mkII's on ebay.

another thing im not quite sure on, what cables will i need to connect everything together? (decks to mixer, mixer to speakers, etc)

also, the decks are coming without cartridges... seeing as im just beginning, which cartridges should i look into?

cheeeers

chunkie · Post by **chunkie** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 12:55 pm

cables wise its all phono but WITH grounding, otherwise you're at danger of lots of humming

N.B - that isn't the right lead but you can see the grounding bit next to the phono plugs

it'll hook-up like this:

re mixer to speakers: if you have active speakers (ie with amps inside the speakers) then the mixer goes straight to sepakers and the outputs/inputs will depend on what the speaker takes eg phonos/xlr/jack

if speakers are not active then phono from mixer to amp and then amp to speaker

FSTZ · Post by **FSTZ** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 2:45 pm

Whineo wrote:
decklyn wrote:The thing with techs is that everywhere you go you'll use them, so even if there was theoretically a better deck at a lower price, you might as well buy techs and get used to spinning on them, otherwise you'll shit a brick every time you're out because there is an added variance from your home set up - the pitch feels different, etc.

I like the fact that the TTX's have a spdif out

makes for good sampling

tiel · Post by **tiel** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 11:41 pm

Check ebay and be patient, technics are the way to go. Its hard when u wanna buy decks cus ur itchin to start mixin, but now and then (prob after new year atm) they will go for around 300 or less. I got my mk2's for £270, best buy ive ever had. I had gemini sa600's before them and to be fair they saw me well, they got me to the stage of being able to mix good, but u can't get past good unless you have top line decks. IMO technics are the best decks because they last, I expect I'll have mine foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

dubsteppa · Post by **dubsteppa** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 4:37 pm

just DONT buy technics they are wank no room 4 mash up mixs with out lager pitch or key lock. things have moved on a lot in 15 years but technics havent! TTx1's R rude

so im buying some decks...

so im buying some decks...

Check ebay!

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