a question for the dj's

pcp

pcp

New member
i got a question for all the dj's in this forum...if there are any. i just got back from a local pawn shop and i saw a pair of 1200mkII's for $199 a piece. just from the little bit i know about turntables, these are the best out there and thats a damn good price. basically im wondering if anybody has would advise me not to get them or if anybody has ever bought any equipment from a pawn shop and if so what that experience was like.

also, if i do get them...which the more i think about it-even though i cant afford to-i think i am going to, what mixer should i start looking at. my budget is gonna be real low and i just need something real basic, ive only used turntables a couple times before. i will be using them mostly for hip-hop if that makes any difference.
 
I've never bought turntables from a pawn shop, but most pawn shops that I've dealt with have a 30 day money back guarantee. If they don't have a guarantee then I won't buy anything over maybe $30 from them (in most cases). I've bought quite a bit from pawn shops. Nothing that I have now has come from there, but I'm always looking there to see what they have that I can test out and maybe buy if the price is right. I don't mind used as long as it's good used and not bullshit.

My advice would be to bring a record to test the tables with and then go from there. You might even be able to haggle with the pawn shop worker.
 
yea good lookin on the advice. i wasnt planning on buying them if they didnt have some type of money back guarantee. $200 a piece is a killer deal though isnt it? does anybody else in here have turntables in their lab? how often do you use them?
 
it depends on what you plan to do with them if you need them just for sampling and crate diggin then its all good you should be able to test them out fully there at the pawn shop. but if you plan on getting on the wheels of steel i would look for the 30 day swap it out cuz they prolly wont do a cash refund. Then take em home and go through a couple of good work out sessions. I also would inspect them hard here is a little trick you might not know but look for small strisp of scotch tape on the arm appendages as these indicate something has been broke and re taped on some times you cant see it so rub your finger over it you will feel the differenc in texture good luck :D
 
Buy them. 1200s are tanks and are easily repaired/renewed. Things to check:

Motor: make sure its responsive and does not jitter (watch the dots)
Tone arm: look inside where the headshell goes and make sure the 4 little pins are not corroded and stick out equally (none are pushed in). make sure that the tone arms are not bent either.
Pitch fader: Usually needs to be replaced, but check that it is reponsive around 0 pitch meaning make sure that the platter does not do anything strange at low pitches + or -

My 1200s were made in 83 and never had any problems other than normal wear (they were used about 3-4 hours a day for 2-3 years). The parts that I have had to change out (I work on 1200s pretty regularly) are always the pitch faders, they are usually around $25 and are easy to change out. If your a DJ, go ahead and get the MK3 faders, they do not have the little notch which which makes small pitch changes alot easier and are compatable with the MK2. If the tone arms are bad, then you are looking at a 75$ part (plus install) to replace.

The only thing that totals a 1200 is a bad motor, beyond that everything can be easily fixed fairly cheap
 
thanks a lot yall

i appreciate it...thats the kind of advice i was looking for. im searching all over my apartment right now for stuff i can trade in for a little money towards them. i may not have a bed to sleep in or a tv to watch tonight, but ill sure as hell have some sick ass turntables.

it was one of those deals where i saw them sitting there in the shop and looked at them for a little bit and then i just left but the whole time i was driving home i started thinking about all the people i heard say and all the records i heard saying that 1200's are the best.

But if my memory serves me right they didnt have needles or cartridges or anything with them so i wont be able to try them out right there, I will have to get all that stuff and try them out within 30 days. anyone know of a good place to get that stuff from? i still need a cheap mixer as well. thanks for your help.
 
www.pssl.com

I reccomend the 505 stantons, they are fairly cheap and sound really good.

Look here

Mixers are up to you, a decent 2 channel vestax should do it. A used one off of ebay might be a good choice
 
alright so i copped those and went and got some vinyl too, and now its time for the newbie questions:

the ground wire. everything ive found online says to connect it to the screw on the amp but i dont have an amp so i just connected it to a metal screw on a metal plate in my studio. i would imagine this is sufficient but maybe im wrong. is there a better location to ground it to?

the mixer. i wasnt able to go get a mixer right there on the spot so i just hooked up the RCAs to my 10 track mixer. the signal is very very quiet and i imagine this is because i need a DJ mixer but i gotta ask. also im just using some stanton trackmaster II cartridges that the dude threw in...could this be part of the problem too? how imperative is it that i upgrade those right away?

anyway, overall i am pretty impressed with the tables. the sound, although very very faint, seems good, and all the lights knobs faders arms and everything that yall warned me about seem to be top notch. the dude took the top plate off as well and showed me the gears, which he says get dirty and fucked up, and they looked brand new. it turns out the owner of this pawn shop is a club owner, or so he says, and he seemed to know a thing or two about the equipment so i trusted him with my money and i think once i plug these bad boys into a mixer i wont be dissapointed.

one last question: does anyone know any good sites for beginner dj's that basically explain all the shit and what to do, what not to do, etc?
 
Good buy, you wont regret it

You will need a RIAA preamp which will convert the magnetic RCAs to a standard line level(this is included in all DJ mixers). You may get good results pluging them into high gain inputs on your mixer. The ground can be tied to whatever mixer you are using. The Trackmaster 2 carts are pretty good so you don't need to replace the headshells, just order a pair of new styli and they should be like new (the little needle part of it, should be available everywhere- GC, any DJ supply type store), check on their website for proper weight and tone arm height (I think its 2.5 for the trackmasters) stanton should have all the details on how to set your TT up for the pencil headshells.

A good tutorial on DJing is available here

Beyond that WORK WORK WORK, nothing but practice will make you good
 
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