problems with stylus

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mic key

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well i had turntables a few years ago and never had this problem but i got a vestax 2000 and a ortofon om pro s cartridge, i don't know if i have the weight set wrong (i dont think so) or the cartridge hooked up wrong or what but the needle stays on one track always..... do i have to adjust the arm at all..... anyone have any suggestions?
 
Perhaps a bit more information is needed. When you say "one track only", do you mean that you are only getting a mono signal.... or one side (Left or Right) of a stereo signal.... or do you mean it does not track in the groove corectly?
 
sorry about that... yeah it's not hitting the groove right....... you should be able to use any cartridge right? it hits the groove and plays for a few seconds then it repeats the same 3 second loop.
 
Do you have enough weight on the tone arm?
Maybe the ant-skate needs adjusting....
 
yeah the weights fine.... how do u adjust the anti-skate......
when you get an extra stylus with a cartridge where is it? is it in the cartridge, i bought one that was supposed to have two needles, and i got an extra shell weight with it i dont know if i should hook that one up or not because i have the one from the vestax.... it stays on track for a minute then it skips.....
 
How have you verified that you are tracking at the correct weight?

don't trust the settings on the tone arm.... There are little "scales" that are more accurate at calibrating tracking weight.

You may be tracking too light and not know it.

If you are sure you are tracking at the correct weight.... then your problem most likely is the anti skate setting... depending on the manufacture, that setting could be found several different places. It won't be on the cartridge. Look on the arm near the pivot point ....on the tone arm linkage to the base. On my United Audio anti skate calibration is located on the deck itself about an inch away from where the tone arm connects (pivots). It is clearly marked "Anti Skate".

Do you have an owners manual for the unit? If not, a lot of manufactures have then on line now.... even for older units.


Another slight possibility is that the cartridge is not in the correct alignment with the tone arm. Though, to throw the needle out of the groove, you would probably be able to visibly notice if it were.
 
Sorry but you sound like you could really use the help of another DJ to show you around the workings of a TT (turntable) in person. But I'll try the best I can in words.

First off there are two basic types of tone arms. There's the s-shaped arm that you see standard on Technics 1200s. And then straight arms that I am almost sure you have on your Vestax deck. The s-shaped arm was designed to angle the cartridge so it would remain parallel to the grooves in the record from start to end of record thus giving beter stereo sound. But with this design came the physics of the force of the spinning grooves pulling the arm towards the center of the record. Anti-skate is an adjustment on TTs with s-shaped arms to counter balance that inward pulling. Straight arms don't need anti-skate. There are fewer forces pulling in funky directions with straight arms so it stays in the groove better when scratching and doing tricks.

Now for some basic TT anatomy:

The cartridge is the entire assembly that you screw on to the end of the tone arm. The needle is the little part that you can remove from the end of it. With the ortofons it's that tiny pyramid shaped thing at the end of the cartridge holding the metal needle. Never pull on the little metal needle itself.

Not sure what the extra weight is because I'm guessing you have one of the Ortofon concorde series that vaguely resembles a banana.

Here's how you set the weight properly assuming you've got the needle in the cartridge and the cartridge screwed on properly to the arm. The next step is calibrating the arm so you know where 0 grams is. Lift the arm out of the rest by the cartridge and let it rest on your finger in that no man's land between the tone arm rest and the TT platter. Turn the weight on the back of the tone arm until the arm lifts off your finger and literally floats by itself, neither dropping towards the platter nor hitting the top of the arm's range of motion. Now turn the small ring on the weight with the little numbers on it, making sure not to move the weight itself, until it lines up with 0. Now the arm is perfectly calibrated for 0 grams.

Look at the instructions that comes with your Ortofon. It'll tell you what the proper weight for your cartridge is, probably about 2 or 3 grams. Turn the entire weight so it comes inwards and stops at the proper weight measurement. The cartridge should come down but don't let the needle touch anything except the vinyl when you're ready to play -- delicate machinery.

Damn! Sometimes the easiest things to do are the hardest things to explain. Hope I didn't confuse you more. Wish I could just throw up a movie file or something.

A couple links that may be of use:

http://music.hyperreal.org/dj/
http://1200s.com/Support/Tech/faq.html

There are tons more if you do a search.

Practice, practice, practice. And don't be afraid to politely ask questions of DJs you see if you are an eager student. Any DJ worth anything won't begrudge you knowledge. The mean, nasty ones probably have complex personal problems that you don't to touch with a 10' lightstick anyway.
 
what invisi said is excellent info.....

Two things to add... in my experience, 2 -3 grams is a little too heavy.... but I don't know your cartridge.

I would guess an appropriate weight would be closer to the 1 gram range.... but then again, my expereience is more along the lines of high end audiophile type stuff.

I do have to ask.... you have tried different discs? Is there any chance it's your record?
:)
 
thanks for tryin man but iv'e done all of that..... the vestax is straight tone arm so it is anti skip.... i got the weight , heighth, length, all set right, something is still not...... at best i get it to play good for a few seconds, then static, then skipping repeating itself, maybe i have the stylus screwed on wrong to the tonearm..... i don't know.....
 
Mic key,
Let me ask...
Is it doing this on all records or just one in perticular??
 
someone told me that the vestax pdx 2000 have reported problems of loose platters, i can see this a little on mine but aren't they all a bit wobbley? i hope this isn't the case and it's ruining my needles and gonna force me to buy a 1200 or another vestax.......
 
Turn the weight on the back of the tone arm until the arm lifts off your finger and literally floats by itself, neither dropping towards the platter nor hitting the top of the arm's range of motion.
Click to expand...

One comment.
When zeroing the weight, I let the stylus float at the approximate height of the vinyl on the platter (my manufacturers recommendation). If you zero the weight with the tonearm higher than this you will not be applying as much weight to the tonearm after setting the tracking weight.

I had an old Yamaha turntable with an Ortofon Cartridge. Ortofon quit making the particular stylus(mkII?) that was recommended for that cartridge. The alternative was higher end, but much smaller and wouldn't track for shit.
I ended up getting a different cartridge that was more compatable with my tonearm.

Comment 2.
The great thing about vinyl being passe' is that there are a bunch of Bang and Olufsen and other high end units that we couldn't afford back in the laaaaast century that go for real reasonable prices on Ebay. I got a great deal on a new old stock B & O a while back.

Good luck!
Dan
 
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