decks..

[mikecheck]

what are some good decks out there? besides the 1200s are there anything else that are decent in terms of quality and durability?

are stanton decks any good?

:?

[phunkdust]

the short answer is no. in the long run you're selling yourself short with anything but technics. but then again if you know how to use shitty decks then you'll be laughing when you get to use technics, eg at a club.

[djcity_rudolph]

Way to open a can of worms... you might as well asked which was better.. Holden or Ford.

The best decks are ones that:
(1) fit your budget.. let's be honest.. not everyone can afford 1200s first time.. or wants to shell out that kind of dosh for a hobby they might not get into.

(2) suit your needs... especially these days with the re-emergence of the straight arm turntable (which are WAY better for stratching...) you might want to consider what your style / preferences will be.

(3) suit you... you're not buying your decks for anyone else.. you're buying them for you. Especially if you're starting out.. and on a budget, as long as it spins around at 33 and 45 rpm, that'll do for a start.

Most of the other brands (other than technics) make a range of decks to suit beginners, daily use or high end use. Many of the new decks also have standard features which the 28yr old design of the 1200 didn't incorporate at all.. like reverse, more than 8% pitch control and many more nice, and useful features.

The Stanton decks are pretty good.. but like all things.. it depends what your'e doing and what you want it for...

Talk to your local dealer.. most won't do the hard sell... but will be able to give you the whole scoop on what the decks feature.. and what they don't.

Like always... you get what you pay for.

[redmond_herring]

hey rudolph (and everyone)

what do you think of the numark ttx1?



:) :P :p

[heavy d]

The short answer is not no. I've found Vestax PDX2000s an absolute joy to use - so precise. The main question mark against them is: what are they like after 10 yrs of use? And the real problem is that Technics are industry standard decks so you might as well be used to playing on them.

[mikecheck]

thanks guys! ;)

[riley g]

the straight arm turntable (which are WAY better for stratching

why?:?

[Inertia]

I would have DJ'd at close to 100 different venues in my career, and have never used anything else except for 1200's... and I've played in some pretty shitty places!

Moral of the story... keep checking the trading post every week... you should be able to pickup a set second hand from $1,000 (i.e. $500 each).

[djcity_rudolph]

Redmond: I recently had a chance to play on the TT-X1 - nice gear... I love the changeable tone arm.. and it has torque out of this world... It's well designed and laid out, especially in the way you can have it easilly in standard, or battle style position. I did find the start stop buttons a little awkward.. all in all a very solidly built deck, like you'd expect from any high end deck.

Why straight arms?

Long story.. here's the short version...

Technics designed the S shaped arm to improve playing performance. The S shaped arm has a natural tendency to pull the needle towards the centre of the vinyl. The down side to this is that if you play forward too fast it can pull to the middle too much and skate across to the centre again... (hence why all S arm turntables have anti skate control) S arms also have a tendency to pull the needle to the outside of the vinyl when playing in reverse (read - backspin.. or scratching)

The straight arms on straight arm turntables are set up so that they don't have a tendency to track either in or out... meaning that the needle will never lift and "skate" to the middle or the outside of the vinyl. The upside is that no matter how hard you scratch.. even if the needle skips.. you won't lose your place all together...

The downside to straight arms is that there can be some minor tracking problems on really poorly cut vinyl... or with really fat needles.. although most needles these days are less than 0.7mil.

These days you can afford to be choosy about getting a deck that's best suited to what you want to do.

There ends the lesson... (hope I've helped)

[riley g]

gotcha, thanks. hadn't really considered that side of things before. nice to learn something new... and I thought this would just be another 'my favourite turntables are technics and everything else is shit' thread