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The Needle/Stylus Thread

Ran a search, didn't find anything relevant.

What type of needles do you guys use for regular trance/house DJing?

How often do you replace your needles/stylus?

I've been using the Stanton 505's for quite some time now with the D-5100 stylus for quite some time now. I see that Stanton have released a new line of needles/stylus so I'm interested to see how they function.

I love the Ortofon cartridges but I don't own them personally.

My real point of this thread is how often do you replace your stylus? When do you realize is time to get new ones? What do you notice, etc?

I personally don't trust club needles and always bring my own to be sure that the are in good condition.

i think there's atleast one thread per page talking about one or more the questions you have... ;-)

i use whitelabels for everyday mixing at home, and at gigs.

i replace my whitelabel needles after every outdoor party, so about 3-4 times per year. this is over kill.

normally people will replace their stylus after hearing degradation in the sound. the hi's will begin to sound scratchy... the needle won't hold the groove as well. i don't have much experience w/using needles past their useful life, because i tend to change my needles atleast once or twice a year.

it's hard to give an exact schedule/time table because everyone uses their needles differently. we can give you rough idea, but in the end you need to figure it out on your own based on how you use your equipment.

it's like we can tell you a honda will run 150,000 miles standing on it's head... but if you really beat the crap out of it, and never change the fluids... you can never expect it to give you 150,000 miles of worry free driving... then again, if you really take care of it, it can go 200,000 miles or more w/out much trouble.

2 words: Ortofon Nightclub.

quote:

Originally posted by Protege 2 words: Ortofon Nightclub.

Great sounding Carts no doubt, just high record wear. Whitelabels for great sound and low record wear FTW

Whitelabel's are the way forward

I've pushed the needle over the vinyl a good few times as well as onto the platter & it has cause no significant stylus/record damage.

At the end of the day this is what your wanting unless your a pro dj who never mistreats a stylus.

quote:

Originally posted by KiNeTiC ENeRgY Great sounding Carts no doubt, just high record wear. Whitelabels for great sound and low record wear FTW

That is not true.

On what cause did you base your opinion on such thing?
I have owned both Whitelabel and Concorde Nightclub for some years and the difference in deteriation of records between them is non-existent. The Whitelabels are heavier than the Nightclubs and should therefore make more pressure downwards on the records.

quote:

Originally posted by dj christian The Whitelabels are heavier than the Nightclubs and should therefore make more pressure downwards on the records.

When you set the wieght you set the amount of force you are putting onto the record 1gram 2gram 3 etc. You balance the tonearm first to find 0. So the weight of the cart will not = the amount of downforce on the record atall.
Iv never personaly owned either but from majority of people on these boards ortofon concords seem to need more weight, dont hold me to that though because like I said it is only what i have read.

You got me there

Yep they need a bit heaver counterweight that's true.

I am using the M44G-S love them although I havent really tried others yet, might switch to Whitelabel in future.

Im pretty sure of getting new carts/stylus' soon namely the whitelabels but iv heard people complaining about them not lasting very long and having problems with L/R balance.
Im considering going the ortfons if i dont feel %100 assured.

I have the Ortofon Concorde DJ S cartridges. I've had them for a year now. I use them for practicing at home, playing on my radio show, and playing out in gigs. I haven't noticed any degradation in the sound quality. They came with spare styli and I rotate them often. I haven't noticed my records being worn down at all. Every once in a while there are some records that make the needle skip when trying to cue up the first beat of the record.

These carts are tough. I bumped the needle once on accident on a record I was cueing and I had turned down the volume in my headphones shortly before. While this happened, I got distracted by something and a few seconds later I finally realized that the needle was dragging on the metal platter with those black bumps. I panicked because I thought they were history...but to be honest, no damage was done AT ALL.

Ortofon ftw.

quote:

Originally posted by dj darroch Whitelabel's are the way forward

I disagree. The Whitelabels are decent enough for what they are, but there are much better carts out there, mainly the Ortofon Nightclubs from my experience between the two. The Shures are a little bit too finicky and yes, like someone else mentioned, they do have L/R audio balance issues which is ultimately what broke the deal for me when I owned them. The Nightclubs are much better centered and perform like professional phonographic needles should and have all around better sound too.

I can't say one way or another whether the Orts wear your records more or not, since that all depends on the equipment and settings used, but I'd still go with the Nightclubs anyway. I can honestly say all the positives far outweigh any negatives.

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