TURNTABLES

What makes the Vestax so good? The first massive improvement they have made is a straight tone-arm instead of the normal S shaped one. It's aimed primarily for the scratch Dj's I think, as the straight arm technology means that there's no force pushing the needle towards the center of the deck, (making the needles less likely to pop out of the groove).

There's other things to the decks though, like a Quartz lock button, which returns the deck speed to the normal setting, regardless of where you've left the pitch control. Some of the newer Vestax range have massive % variance in pitch for both directions and all have clickless pitch control. This means it doesn't click into place at 0 pitch; where most decks start to get a bit wonky in respect to their pitch around this area, the smooth "clickless" fader on the Vestax decks means there's no problems trying to mix around the green light.

I'm not going to get into all the features of the PDX-D3 and more recent Vestax decks, but let's just say they're packed with so many gadgets and toys on it that Q gives you a walkthrough then berates you for not looking after it.

Of course, there are others out there that are nagging at the heels of Technics. Numarks TT-1 deck is an impressive piece of machinery, for a nice price tag, as is Gemini's PT-2000 (and to lesser effect the PT-1000) all of which have enough torque and reliability to make them a serious contender in the Bedroom if not in clubs. As a point of fact, the Gemini PT-2000's were the deck of choice at the Plasa DJMag Dj'ing competition last year, so they're definitely worth a look.

However, there's the industry standard Technics 1200's and 1210's. Little need be said about them, if only on the virtue that everyone wants them, nearly all clubs use them, and that they have earned themselves a place in DJ folklore, if you can afford 'em, get 'em. The gold plated Technics decks apparently offer added visual gratification (They're gold 'aint they!) and a quartz pitch lock, to stop even the slightest wobble in pitch. But they're expensive. The new SL1210 MkIII's allegedly have the smooth pitch control that I was on about with the Vestax decks, but will that be enough to hold off the onslaught of Vestax customers?

Actually, I think yes. The whole point about Technics is that their decks are made with incredible durability. The ones I've been using at work recently are 10 years old, and apart from needing new needles and a damn good clean, there's nothing wrong with them at all. They'll just keep spinning and spinning for a long time. Which is what I see as the potential problem with the Vestax decks and to a point the Numark TT-1's. There's so much extra stuff on them to manipulate the music, yes, but this means there's a lot more on them to break than on the Technics! I'll stick with Technics for a good couple of years until I find out what the durability of the Vestax series is.

Sorry about that, I kinda went into auto-pilot and left the moment for a while. My point was that once you have the money to upgrade your decks from the beginner status, you DO have a choice than just saying "Give me two 1210's".

You'll probably enter a point when you'll look at the price tag for the decks I've just mentioned (ranges through £250 - £400 each for the 5 different models I mentioned) and you'll have a serious thought about whether it's really worth spending £600 on something that you basically already have. After all, £600 is about 120 records! (I tend to measure everything I buy nowadays in how many tunes I could get instead - "A car for £5,000, that's 1000 records man!!") But the fact is that the difference between something like Soundlab's DLP3R's and Technics SL1210's is like the difference between a Mini and a Ferrari!!

But, you do have a valid point if you're only ever using the decks in your bedroom. Why spend £600 on something that you won't use outside of your bedroom? Good point, it's all down to wanting to learn the nuances of the better decks, and be prepared for the first time you stand behind the top decks. Plus, if you're making demo's and tapes for friends, then it's nice to use the best stuff you can to make them, not have to worry about pitch settings slipping, or worry about start speeds when dropping in the next tune.

The better mixers out there nowadays have a series of options to them:-

Kill switches/buttons or rotary cuts.
Multiple channels
Cross fader curve adjusts
Punch/transform Buttons
Effects send and Returns
Built in Effects
Built in Beat Counters
Built in Samplers
Multiple Cross Faders
Complete Monitoring Control

DON'T be fooled into thinking that this enables you to take out the vocal section of a tune, or the drums to make an accapella of the tune. What they do is take out the WHOLE bass range, or the WHOLE mid range etc. So, though you take out the bass drums when you kill the bass, you also take out the bass frequencies of the vocals - losing the timbres that make the vocals sound nice!

When you make the transition from a mixer that doesn't have these kill control to one that does, THEN you'll notice just how helpful they can be. If you're in a position to be picky about it, make sure that if there isn't full kill switches (or buttons) and only a rotary knob, that the cut goes to infinity in effect, not just a 20dB cut of it. The difference is that a small cut will only lessen the bass frequency, whereas the kill will do just that - Kill it!!

Most mixer inputs have a switch on the that changes the channel from a LINE input or a PHONO input and they have both means of inserting the desired equipment. What this means is that you can have a turntable and a CD player hooked into the same channel, and just flip the switch to choose what one you're wanting to use on that channel. So, in effect, you can have two turntables and two CD players running through only two channels - using that Line/Phono switch to flip between formats.

Note though that this is only convenient if you're using two CD players. If you only have one CD player, then you have to always ensure that when you want to mix into the CD, you're not using the turntable channel that the CD is also plugged into - can cause confusion.

A turntable MUST go into the PHONO input, and as there's only one of these to each channel, you MUST have a third channel if you want a third turntable.

But, that's only in it's simplest for. If you're wanting to use Cd's and turntables at the same time, it's a lot more convenient to have a dedicated channel for each one, which then stops any confusion as to level settings, forgetting to flip the Line/Phono switch or not having to work out what CD isn't plugged into the Vinyl channel you're currently using.

Then there's things like Keyboards, sequencers, samplers, computers etc, all of which it's just easier if you have a separate channel for.

Cross fader curve adjusts

Effects send and Returns

Beat counters can be a real help to the beginner, but they can also be a real hindrance. If you're going to learn using one, then you must have the discipline NOT to rely on it. Otherwise, the first time you stand behind a mixer that doesn't have a counter, and are expected to beat match using just your ears, you'll be in a lot of trouble!

Complete Monitoring Control

Which is the other thing that is nice on a mixer, a separate booth output to a separate speaker, with its own volume control on the mixer. This solves two things. It means you can have it at the level you want it at, and means you don't have to keep adjusting levels on amps to get the level you want from it.

There's more toys out there than ever nowadays when it comes to mixers. Just think about what you're thinking of doing, what you need now, and what you think you might need in the future - and choose a mixer that satisfies those needs.

Stanton have also brought out a new set of carts. I think they're basically just an upgrade to the Trackmasters they do, and they've basically just made them a bit more stylish looking. Anyway, the iTrack's spherical stylus allows superior tracking and groove holding (stylus come in spherical, or eliptical shapes, someone told me the difference, but I can't remember it!) It features a 7.0mV output (huh?). Apparently, they claim that you'll be amazed at the deep bass and crystal clear treble reproduction of this cartridge. But, get a demo first! Click on any of the images above to jump to their site and have a better look.

This reminds me, I get asked a lot about needles jumping, in fact, it's number 5 in my top ten questions, so if you go to the FAQ page (click HERE ) then you'll get to a little bit about it.

I get asked from time to time what the counterweight should be set at for Stanton stuff. So, I've nicked their table from their site so you can look for yourself. I hope they don't mind. If they do, then send me a mail and I'll take it off (but as I'm plugging your stuff over other stuff, it's like free advertising, innit?)