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Thoughts on my new VESTAX PCV-275

Oh-no. I just went to the post offive today and picked up my brand new 275.. I must say, when I opened up the box I was surprised by what I saw.. instead of being silver like the pics.. this mixer was gold!! hmm.. very strange. ANYWAYS, I tossed my old SK5 and plugged all the stuff in, and it turns out this is a very crazy mixer.

-Amazing sound quality. truely beautiful.
-Faders and knobs feel very very nice.
-The cue levels and everything work very nicely, are easy to understand, and the split cue is also a nice feature.
-Kill switches are much better than expected. when u flip the LOW switch, the bass is completely removed. Same with the others. If their all fliped, there is litteraly no audio comming out.
-Tons and tons of inputs, more than I'll ever need.

I can't find one bad thing to say about this mixer.. its perfect.
Well, it would match my tables better if it was completely silver,, instead of this gold-silver.. but hey, I cant complain.

Cool! I'm getting one of those too, as soon as scottaculous gets back to me.

i know it doesn't look silver like on the vestax site, i've seen other pictures of it though..

so, the cueing works good eh?

i assume the second channel is always live, and you can turn on any or all of the channels for cueing?

quote:

Originally posted by JohnSmith so, the cueing works good eh? i assume the second channel is always live, and you can turn on any or all of the channels for cueing?

I have a PCV-275 also. My mixer has a bit of gold coloring, but is more silver than gold.
DJ Chrono, can you post a pic of your "gold" mixer? Congratulations on your purchase, btw.

JohnSmith,
- Yes, the cueing works great. The main and cue levels are easy to read.
- The second channel is always live. The cross-fader only works on channels 1 and 3.
- All of the channels (even the mic inputs) are cueable.
- You can do simultaneous cueing on all channels.

...and more notable features:
- The split-cue button puts the cue in one ear and the mix in the other ear.
- All 3 channels are phono / line selectable with multiple line inputs (2 line-in, 1 phono-in per channel). I esp. like the second Ch. 2 line-in on TOP of the mixer for easy access.

quote:

Originally posted by Ugg - All 3 channels are phono / line selectable with multiple line inputs (2 line-in, 1 phono-in per channel). I esp. like the second Ch. 2 line-in on TOP of the mixer for easy access.

Sweet! yeah, the line in would be perfect for throwing a MD or sampler or something onto channel 2 in the middle of a set.

so, if i wanted to, i could hook up 3 turntables, 2 CD players, 2 computer soundcards, a MD, AND a sampler to this thing.

SWEET!

how is the cross fader?

The cross fader feels pretty good, easy to manouver, very light feel.. while the Channel level faders are stiffer, but feel VERY nice and smooth.

One thing i DO miss from my SK5 is the Cue Pan.. it was great to fade between the channels on headphones.. but I'll do without it.

i meant how is the curve on it, is it nice and gradual, or sharp?

is the volume at 100% for both tracks in the middle, or is there a dip?

is it adjustable? i don't think it is, but i could be wrong.

My 275 is pure gold, the gold ownz
I Didnt like the silver

the crossfader has no curve adjustment, but it's pretty g0od anyways..

its not a complete linear crossfade, as the tracks dip in volume faster as you approach near to the sides.

quote:

Originally posted by Ugg DJ Chrono, can you post a pic of your "gold" mixer? Congratulations on your purchase, btw.

cant post pics, sorry no digital camera!

I'd say my mixer is about 60% gold, 40% silver though.

DJ Chrono, how much better is the 275 compared to your SK5? I would like a comparison between the qualities of the two please.

Alright. The 275 completely puts the Sk5 in shambles. Here's why:

-There are no EQ's on the SK5
-it has 3 channels instead of 2, with a pile more inputs
-faders feel alot more substancial (the sk5 level faders were as loose as the x-fader)
-and most of all.. sound quality. I could very clearly hear the difference in quality, the SK5 is just horrible in comparison.

The SK5 is still a very decent Scratch mixer because of the low price. But for trance music, it just doesnt offer enough.

and those kill switches are CRAZY!! I just threw down a short set of pure Tribal House.. EQs are hugely effective in tribal, cause all it is is pure drums and crazy noises.. and swapping certain frequencies between tracks really sounds great. For example, have both tracks comming out at full volume, with the Hi's killed on the left record, and the Lo's and Mid's killed on the right, and you have the Left record with the Right's hi percussions!!! then switch em up, and it sounds really interesting. ar, its so fun. I find tribal is much more interesting and exciting to spin.. but I just dont like it as much as trance!! its nice for some variety though

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Chrono and those kill switches are CRAZY!!

I totally agree about the kill switches. I was doing the same thing earlier this week only with some trance records. I wish I could remember what titles I was spinning, cause it sounded sweet!

I do wish the EQ's killed more. With all EQ's down, you still get slight volume vs. all three kills and you get no sound. Don't get me wrong, the EQ's definitely do the job, tho.

Ok I have a question for all you 275 owners. I got my 275 hooked up to 2 computers because I don't have my turntables yet and wanted to make sure everything worked ok. Here is the only thing I have noticed... I have channel 1 playing live, the levels are bouncing at +0 and sometimes peaking in the low red. Now I go to cue channel 2 and I use the levels on the cue meter to make sure the 2 songs are at the same volume. With both meters bouncing at +0 I bring in channel 2 and it is considerably lower volume then channel 1 at the peak of the song. Also, what inputs do you plug your TT's into. I have seen pictures and people plug thier TT's into the phono jacks. When I do this all I get is high-pitched, distorted sounds. I have to use line 1 or 2. Is my mixer defective?


Also, Scorchio, please post a pic of your gold mixer.

well, you should definately plug your TT's into the phono jacks, and make sure the grounding cable is hooked up properly.

Your volume levels may be off, because when you are cueing up the next record in your headphones (assuming you have both the currently playing track and your next track on your headphones) the cue volume meter will read both the current track and the cue track, making the volume meter go higher than normal. so what you do is flip the cue switch ONLY on the record you want to cue up.. then its the only one comming out of the headphones, and the only being read on the LED volume meters.. then match the volumes, and flip the cue switch for the current song so you can beatmatch.

make sense?

Yes that does make sense but my main concern is that high pitched distortion of any tracks that I play through the phono jacks. Is it because I am using my computer and it isn't grounded? Is there any special cables you need to use with the phono jacks?

TT's and only TT's in the PHONO. everything else in the LINE IN.
its because the phono input amplifies the sound, because TT's signal needs to be amplified. CD's, computers, etc, don't need to be amplified, so it goes in the other jack.

don't plug ur computer into the phono, it will be distorted.

Thx for the help. I had a feeling that's what it was.

As far as cables are concerned I would like to share my experience. I have two MD3's, Vestax 275, Ortofon Nightclub needles, 400watt amp, and two 175watt at 8 ohm speakers. My music was not sounding "right." It was un-dynamic and the bass was lacking. I was using cheap RCA cables to go from the mixer to my amp. I bought some Interlink 400 MKII Monster Cables (2 meter RCA-RCA) at Best Buy and WOW! What a difference! Do not skimp on cables. I have always heard that when good audio engineers setup for a gig they ask, �Do you want Monster Cables or the cheap shit?�

BTW, I am a very happy owner of a 275. I has excellent sound quality for the price and I love all the inputs. Another feature I like is the RCA or 1/4" inch outputs. I connect my amp to the RCA and my Minidisc recorder to the 1/4"'s (yeah you need an adapter for 1/4" to mini).

about how much were the Monster cables?

quote:

Originally posted by Veldrid about how much were the Monster cables?

Checked www.bestbuy.com out of curiousity...
Model I400MKII2M at Best Buy, $50. That's the 2M (6 ft) length RCA cable.

Monster Cable is not cheap, but it's definitely worth it for top sound quality. Of course if you've got your mixer output running into a $75 home stereo, I don't think a $50 Monster Cable is going to help all that much.

FWIW, I have my home theater wired with all Monster Cable... cost me more than my DVD and VCR did!

BTW, never plug a LINE OUT (computer, CD player, etc.) into PHONO IN or plug a TT into a LINE IN. TT's only go in the PHONO IN's!

about the 275, i just got mine, i love it.

oen thing though, the outputs.. i have them at about 0db, and it sounds really quiet. i have to crank my amp WAY up.

when i put them at +8db, it sounds about the same as my CD players volume.

is this OK? because i thought you weren't supposed to go over +0db or at most +2db?

will this fry my mixer eventually?

thats strange, mine plays at the same volume as everything else, with the master volume set at about 9 (out of the 10).

but my trims are both at 12 o'clock

I would check your needle adjust John Smith. I had the same problem but after playing around with the needle and the cartridge weight, the sound is great.

hmm.. that's very interesting.

because on mine, i have to have the trims pretty high, to get it to bounce at 0db, over 12 o clock anyway.

then, i set the master level so IT bounces at 0db too. i can't even have it close to 12 oclock. at about 10 oclock, it's already over 0db.

and another weird thing, one side seems to bounce louder than the other. i adjust the master balance to account for that.

hmm.. there are many things to consider here.

my needles are brand new (stanton trackmasters) i set the height of the tonearm at 0, and the weight at about 1.5grams, as per the instructions.

however, i didn't account for the height of my slipmatts, which is a few mms thick. should i have to account for those? maybe is one side louder than the other because of this?

*edit*

oh yeah, i also had a 15 foot crappy radio shack RCA cable in between that and the amplifier. might this be a problem?

i went and got a 6 foot goldplated Acoustic Research one, cost me $30 this should improve my sound a bit too, maybe that is why it was so quiet?

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