Best Turntable/Cartridge

I'm going to be buying a new table in the next month and I wanna make sure I get the right setup so I'm turning to you pros on here.

I need a turntable mainly for sampling and then some minor scratching in my beats.

So I need a direct drive for the scratching. No belt drives.

I want high sound quality in my cartridge. I've heard good things about the Shure line-up, such as the M-44 and White Label. The sound quality is important, so keep that in mind.

As for the table, I'm thinking I might as well buy a 1200. That way I have a turntable for life cause their so well built. But which one? The MK-5, the MK-2, the original SL?

And finally, do you think I could buy used to save some cash or do they lose their quality over years?

i have 1200s and shure m44-g's...can't go wrong... 44G's are good all-round needles, great if you're going to hammer on records and also record, and want to do it all with one stylus...not some audiophile garbo, but hey, you're tweaking all your samples, eq'ing them to death, etc...you don't need some 700 dollar endangered cactus needle or whatever...

1200s are really good at spinning a record around. once again, audiophiles aren't going to give you the stamp of approval, as the real superduper turntables are actually belt-drive, to get the motor noise as far away from the needle as possible, but hey, you aren't going to notice (nobody really can)...

spend money on a needle first though, if you're not scratching like a mad dog...

spend money on both though, this is all there is... needles and records and beats and banging on mpc's!!!

and any 1200 that hasn't been dunked in gasoline is good for two decades... pick one up--that's the old school (pre-mp3 era) quick test for electronics quality: is it heavy? then it's good. 1200s are like 30 pounds. tanks.

my two cents.

Right on, thanks for the info.

cant go wrong with a 1200 and a m44-7

Me personally, I'm VestaxPDX2000 and M447 all day baby! That said, it's new technology.

Go for Technics if you want a reliable turntable that's proven itself over time. Nothing wrong with second hand either. I've only ever seen one broken Technics turntable.

the M44s are dope, but there heavy on the bass and you will need to boost your highend to even out your sound

technics 1200mk2
shure m-44g's or shure whitelabels

the vestax turntable has a lot of air, its not as full sounding as technics, babu from the beat junkies said the same thing hen i talked to him. i honestly haven't heard the same sound come out from any other turntable, as far as playing jazz and soul records, that had the same quality of sound as technics.

OHHHH and another important key is to buy a good mixer.

if your turntable and needle are good and your mixer colors the sound of your music then its not going to sound good. someone mentioned a preamp earlier, ive been told that they are the best to sample from, but in my opinion, nothing sounds better then the rane series mixers.(btw i own 2 vestax mixers, my homie has a rane56)

i got four tech 12's and mine range from 27-28 yrs

i did a post on the off topic for the industry standard check it out theres some good info on there too for needle .

Ortofon Concord Nightclubs ROCK! I've been using 'em for 10 years and changed the needles 5x.

I got the old SL's. Had them for 18 years with no problems. I modded them with the blue LED's and swapped the original RCA cable to a beefer and longer Monster RCA cable.

"44G's are good all-round needles, great if you're going to hammer on records and also record, and want to do it all with one stylus...not some audiophile garbo, but hey, you're tweaking all your samples, eq'ing them to death, etc...you don't need some 700 dollar endangered cactus needle or whatever... "

????
if you record it thru a fly's ear,you will need a fly's eye to see it.....
translates to-the better your mic/phono cart,the more sound will
be transmitted-I feel its always best to start with as much sound as possible(best quality you can afford...save up some money-) ,and sculpt it away,rather than start with less sound(cheaper mic/phonocart)and have to try to"fix"it-
for sampling,you should use something nice(maybe a GRADO-discounted around 120$)-then change it out to a scratch cartridge for your
vinyl damaging turntablistics-
peace,etc-

Another vote for M44Gs here.

Anybody have a 1200 for sale???

maxlifo wrote:Me personally, I'm VestaxPDX2000 and M447 all day baby! That said, it's new technology.

Go for Technics if you want a reliable turntable that's proven itself over time. Nothing wrong with second hand either. I've only ever seen one broken Technics turntable.

And even though they're broken, you can repair them over and over again... Because they're never "totally" damaged.

ive had a brand new pair of 1200's and then had to get rid of em... bought a 2nd hand pair that looked beaten up but work perfectly.. they are the shizzle... i use shure m447's and its fine for my setup...

could be my kick ass Rane 56i mixer that helps too!!!!