Starter turntables help

[shahbazi]

Hi, i want to see if mixing is my thing and have 2 turntables to choose from currently. My budget is seriosly tight and i dont want to splash out on technics too early, as i cant even afford them. My budget is £100 for decks and simple mixer, so i can either get a pair of kam ddx750's or gemini SA-600's

If anybody has any knowledge on them let me know, and yes i do know they will most likely be shitty but its a first pair, so please dont recommend technics as it really wont help me, cheers!

KAM - http://www.djkit.com/images/products/KAM_DDX750_HI.jpg

GEMINI - http://www.djresource.eu/images/gear/sm ... -600-2.jpg

[wub]

If you want my honest advice, I wouldn't recommend either of those. Save your money untily you've got somewhere in the region of about 250-300. Trust me on this, learning on decks that aren't Technics is all well and good, but if you bottom out too much you may as well be learning on nothing for what you'll be getting.

You can probably get a pair of Stanton STR8-60s or 80s second hand for somewhere in the region of the price I've given. Stanton are a much better manufacturer IMO. It might be a frustrating answer, but save your money and bide your time.

[BeastModeForDummies]

Honestly I got lucky when i first got into all this stuff, i found a VCI-300 on craigslist for 400$ with 2 months left on the warranty.
you gotta ask yourself whether you want midi spins, cdjs, vinyl. i love my vci-300 but eventually i would like to get my hands on some cdjs but ive been primarily focusing on production. from everything i looked at, budget wise, take a look at cdj-400s or the vestax typhoon. i just completely said screw vinyl because its been alot easier for me to build my sound base digitally. gl mate

[AxeD]

You can also trust Reloop for a decent turntable. No Gemini though.

[Crosby]

please dont recommend technics as it really wont help me

technics

[brack3n]

They belt drive? If so i wouldnt bother.

[shahbazi]

Nah direct drive

[Sheff]

save up OP...

if you buy a shit pair now, in a few months time you're going to have to buy ANOTHER pair.

save up and buy once

[jameshk]

I'm gona have to say save up and get 1210s too. Even if you discover its something you don't want to do / can't do, they hold their value so well you'll easily be able to sell them on and not loose much, if any money. However saying that, I got a pair of str8-60s as my first turntables and they did me well. I got a fucking deal, mixer, str8-60s, amp, speakers and some records for £60. It was a good day.

[Sparxy]

Man those SA600's are oooold school! I used to have a pair of them, I did my work experience at Gemini. They aren't bad but the motor has shit torque and the pitch faders werent reliable. Sometimes you would move the fader up, nothing would happen. You have to give it a nice wallop and then it would click in and the pitch would increase, but really slowly. Not ideal with a needle that is prone to skipping! Makes mixing really hard. But I tell you what, if you can shred on those mixing on Technics would be fukken easy. They are shite though and the KAMs are also notoriously shite.

I wouldn't bother and i'd save up. Keep your £100 and leave it until it's £300 and buy a better second hand set of decks. Technics are obviously the best but Stanton and Vestax are worth considering too. I've also used a pair of Numark TTX-1s and theyre not too bad either. But Numark have shitty reliability so don't expect them to last.

For a more futurproof solution you could look at CDJs and can deal with digital files rather than wax. But they again, are seriously expensive and I wouldn't recommend anything other than Pioneers. Just save up and get something decent man, no point wasting your money on shitty gear

[stansharpe]

Personally id go for numark ttx if you want vinyl. AMAZING DECKS !!!!! I've had mine since they first got released so as far as reliability goes i think they're fine. Ive only had one motor problem which wasn't expensive to fix and the later models of the ttx have had the overheating problem fixd. you can pick up a vci 300 mk 1 at a pretty decent price as well. good luck anyway man. Never looked back since i started mixing years ago

[Sparxy]

Personally id go for numark ttx if you want vinyl. AMAZING DECKS !!!!! I've had mine since they first got released so as far as reliability goes i think they're fine. Ive only had one motor problem which wasn't expensive to fix and the later models of the ttx have had the overheating problem fixd. you can pick up a vci 300 mk 1 at a pretty decent price as well. good luck anyway man. Never looked back since i started mixing years ago

The fact they've had to fix issues on the Numarks show they ARE unreliable! Stuff like this never goes wrong on the Technics. Still, plus points for the TTx1's is that they have amazing torque, the pitch faders are really precise and give you a digital readout on %. I don't like the platters though, they don't have much friction so you have to properly jam your fingers to slow it down (because they have such silly torque) and i've fecked many a mix doing this.

Would still recommend Technics all day long

[shahbazi]

Yeah i really wont be able to afford technics, anyone know of any cheap decks which are decent at the very least?

[Sparxy]

Everyone will recommend you just wait a bit longer, save and get Technics. Even if you decided against DJing you can sell them for the same price further down the line. It really is worth it. You pay for what you get unfortunately and no doubt if you like DJing you will end up getting a pair of Technics anyway.

If you REALLY pushed me though... I would tell you to save another £100 so in total you have £200 and go for a pair of 2nd hand Stantons off eBay. For £100 you may as well be buying one of these

[Ldizzy]

ive been djing for a long time

i was a turntablist

i bought my starter set for 300 with the mixer and two decks + needles. it was a MISTAKE. HUGE MISTAKE. NOTHING GOOD HAPPENED FROM IT...

it just got me stressed out.

if that is what you want. go ahead buy a starter kit.

or dont be like that and wait till you can afford a respectable setup. djing and music in general is a game of patience... there are certain things you have to invest in if you want to get in...

here is what id do if i were you : buy a midi controller and try to mix with just that and ableton (that is if u know ableton)... seriously, that's what i would do with your budget.

then i would try to get bookings after 3 months of hardcore practicing. with the money id make from the bookings. i would buy a brand new pair of mkIIs with a rane 68 mixer.

not even kidding.

[Basic A]

Personally id go for numark ttx if you want vinyl. AMAZING DECKS !!!!! I've had mine since they first got released so as far as reliability goes i think they're fine. Ive only had one motor problem which wasn't expensive to fix and the later models of the ttx have had the overheating problem fixd. you can pick up a vci 300 mk 1 at a pretty decent price as well. good luck anyway man. Never looked back since i started mixing years ago

The fact they've had to fix issues on the Numarks show they ARE unreliable! Stuff like this never goes wrong on the Technics. Still, plus points for the TTx1's is that they have amazing torque, the pitch faders are really precise and give you a digital readout on %. I don't like the platters though, they don't have much friction so you have to properly jam your fingers to slow it down (because they have such silly torque) and i've fecked many a mix doing this.

Would still recommend Technics all day long

Ever notice the platters on the ttx's are really light too? Almost too light with all the torque...

O.P., I know you want to save some money if possible, but, the thing is, no turntables feel exactly the same. Its going to take you some time to adapt whenever you play on other model decks, and assuming one day you want to get out of your bedroom and into clubs or w.e., having a model of decks that is going to fall to history's wayside one day and which feel very different then the decks youll find in clubs can be a bit of a handicap... Imagine having to spend the first 3 or 4 mixes of a gig on shakey matches because your getting the feel for the turntables... no fun.

That's why everyone is recommending 1210's... The Technic 1210 was very, very heavily marketed when it first arrived, and although its probably not the best or by any means the worst turntable on the market, the fact is, its what 90% of the clubs worldwide will have on their in-house setup. Owning your own pair would be invaluable on the notion that you wont have to adapt when playing out, you will be on point from the get go.

Techs are surprisingly cheap when you buy them used, I just saw a set go on our local craigslist for 125 dollars a piece recently, in fully working order, im still wishing id have bought them.

If you cant go Technic, Vestax will be the second most common turntable youll find in clubs, honestly, Ive never seen anything else but technic's and vestax's in any of the clubs Ive ever been to.

if you cant find them at a reasonable price, stay away from gear that is made by gemini and numark... I cant say anything good about either of them aside from they make decent CDJ's.

I know saving money seems like a good idea, but the ONE part of a DJ setup you should never cheap out on is the turntables... some cheaper decks are outright worthless for mixing, some of them breakdown, ect.

Consider buying a cheap mixer and putting the money you save towards nicer turntables. You can get a mixer for as low as 20 bucks american, wont be the nicest thing ever, but it will do the job.

[shahbazi]

thanks for all these replies. luckily this thread has coincided with a pay rise at work, so i may just wait and save for a pair of 1210's. got around 200 so far

[Ldizzy]

glad!