Best tonearm for scratching

So for a while Ive had these Numark TT200s (i know...pretty shitty) for the time ive had them Ive made them work, ive learned how to scratch and beat juggle and all that fun stuff with these tables. The only complaint I have is that since theyre made mostly out of plastic and they dont weigh much you have to be very delicate even if you put 4g of weight on the headshell. S
o this is the deal... Im kinda strapped for cash so new tables are out of the question but my question is this. Supposedly what is better for scratching/turntablism/getting down? Straight tonearms or S-shaped tonearms? Yes believe it or not the numark tonearms are made out of grey plastic and I broke one trying to fix it...wow

I prefer straight tone arms. I use technics though so I just angle my shells to mimic a straight arm.

tonearm doesn't matter that much, manufacturers put straight tone arm as a "feature" to get "scratch dj's" to buy their stuff when really the turntable is built poorly (plastic ect.) and it will skip reguardless. I got technics 1200s and I don't have to worry about skipping

Grenozh wrote:tonearm doesn't matter that much, manufacturers put straight tone arm as a "feature" to get "scratch dj's" to buy their stuff when really the turntable is built poorly (plastic ect.) and it will skip reguardless. I got technics 1200s and I don't have to worry about skipping

Thats what I figured.....

Yeah man, I started out 7 years ago with those same NuMark's and then 2 years ago I made the best decision of my life and invested in the 1200's. Do yourself a favor and save up. The body of the Numark's is just too light and flimsey. No matter how you setup your tonearm of if you add weight to your needle, its still going to skip. There is a reason why all the turntablist still to this day stick with the technic 1200's.

Sorry it wasn't really the anwer you were looking for...but its advice I wish someone had given to me.


but in the meantime while you have the Numarks, start practicing slower cuts like baby scratches, chrips, tears, and prizms so your not making the needle skip. This will give you more fluent motion and better prepare you for when you get a better set of decks.

peace!

Straight arm is more suited than S-shape arm for scratching, which stylus would have to trace the vinyl groove on both direction.
Disadvantave is that a straight arm would make your vinyls wear out more quickly than S-shape arms.

I remember turntablelab.com was selling straight tone-arm kit for SL-1200 Mk II.

Having said that, the cause of skipping problem is more to do with your Numark turntable itself (due to the fact that the turntable is not heavy enough, and substandard quality tonearm.)

BTW, I am a bit surprised that TT200 is that bad (I've never seen it in person.) How come it gets great reviews on Internet?

http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... os=reviews

I've been using two SL-1200 Mk II for about 20 years, it works very, very well still.
(They were in the attic for about 4~5 years, I recently opened it and tested.)
I paid $700 for two units. It's the best thing I purchased.