Hey guys, i'm having a skipping problem with one of my cartridges. First off my settings are height: 2.5, weight: 3, anti-skate: 0. The problem is when i'm learning/practicing and going over beat 1 to bring in the song, it'll skip back a couple bars in the song, then i'll have to re-que over beat 1 and the same thing will happen.

I've already purchased a new stylus thinking I just fucked up the previous one, but no dice the same thing happens. I don't think it's the tt since I switched cartridges with the one side that works fine and nothing happens and when I use the, presumed, bad cartridge on the table that is fine, the same thing happens (hope this makes sense).

So what do I do know? What other steps should I take to test out what could be causing the problem? Am I screwed? Should I just go buy another cartridge?

Thanks for any help/comments, Merlin

Are you sure the Shure ( ) is aligned properly. The Whitelabels are special in the fact that it are P-mount cartridges with the ability to change the overhang of the stylus and the angle slightly. Might be that it's misaligned for your turntable. I don't know if you have that little white thingy called overhang gauge (comes standard with techs, but you don't mention what TT's you have). With the overhang gauge, it's pretty easy. Insert the cartridge in it, and align it that way that looked from aside, the stylus tip just reaches the end of the gauge, and seen from the front, the stylus should be just in the middle (pointed by a little arrow on the gauge). If you don't have that gauge, trial and error my friend. But to make it easier, try to take a right working cartridge as reference.

I also have the shure white label needels and they are pretty good. I havent had any problems with them yet. pig bag

I have mk5's and i don't recall seeing an overhang gauge, but i'll take a look as i just got them about a month or so ago. infact, the overhang setting was going to be my next question.

I'll try messing with the overhang, but i just thought it should be okay since the other table with the same overhang is working properly.

thanks

well no luck with the overhang gauge. everything is set right. well it still does the same thing. i'll stop the record over beat 1 and it'll skip back a few bars. i'm stumped.

I had exactly the same problem when I got a pair of Whitelabels - one worked really well, the other was really unstable!

When I phoned the shop they said the only adjustment that really works is to shorted the cart (i.e. reduce the overhang). Just unscrew the adjuster, push the end in until the alignment marks are on the shortest setting, and retighten the adjuster.

This didn't actually work all that well for me on my dodgy cart, and in the end, I got the dodgy one entirely replaced.

But, I think it is important to get the alignment right. I tried shortening the replacement I got for my dodgy Whitelabel, and that made it really unstable. So, I adjusted it back to the natural length and it's pretty stable now. I can only guess that I slightly changed the angle of the stylus in the groove doing this. However, I did notice the following... Turn your speakers off, and play a record. On my good Whitelabel, I could hear the music very clearly, but on the badly adjusted Whitelabel I could hear some extra noise - didn't quite sound right, like the stylus wasn't flowing along the groove properly or something.

Hope that helps!

thanks for the reply. i tried a new stylus and that didn't work. i even took the whole cartridge down to a store called pssl. they where stumped on how it could skip like it did. well i'll give the overhang thing a try one more time. too bad i can't replace my whole cartridge since i bought them in june while i got my tables a month ago, so the return/exchange period ended a while ago.

thanks again

Sometimes, vinyl dont have a tight fit with the spindle. I've noticed when I get vinyl like that that when I backspin to cue up, the needle (Nightclubs) will jump. I try to use less force when backspinning, but it doesn't always work. Have you tried using another vinyl that has a tight fit with the spindle?

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yea i've tried different vinyl that hold the spindle tight. same thing happens. i could just touch the record very litely to stop it and it'll skip. adjusting the overhang does nothing to fix the problem either. i'm all out of ideas...

thanks for the help though.

no offense i don't know ur history as far as dj'ing and experience so i'm taking this and you as a complete n00b since you didn't post any experience and such. but are you sure your not moving back and forth too fast? that or maybe hitting ur hand on the record too hard where the needle may jump? i have a friend that i am teaching that when he releases the cue for whateva reason the cue jumps. but for me and my other friends the cue is fine. it doesn't take much to make that needle jump. some people think you can pound on it and it won't move (digital age i guess) but the reality is it takes a soft fine touch to manipulate it. my apologizes if you are experienced and know all this.

i see you have tried with diff vinyl. you say you got them in june how often have you used them? you may of just gotten screwed on a bad batch and just have to get another one since your other white works fine.

also cueing its best to use the inside of the record then the outside as you are more likely to cause skipping by the outside then the inside.

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TempesTrip/Jeremy K

Disclaimer: My opinions are my own, and if you can't say anything intelligent without bashing my character, my parentage, or my sexuality, then shut up and sit down. I will ignore you until you can come up with a decent rebuttal or an insightful comment. I am merely stating how I see it to be with as much respect and thought as possible. I expect the same from you. Tempest

TempesTrip/Jeremy K

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Thy Are you sure the Shure ( ) is aligned properly. The Whitelabels are special in the fact that it are P-mount cartridges with the ability to change the overhang of the stylus and the angle slightly. Might be that it's misaligned for your turntable. I don't know if you have that little white thingy called overhang gauge (comes standard with techs, but you don't mention what TT's you have). With the overhang gauge, it's pretty easy. Insert the cartridge in it, and align it that way that looked from aside, the stylus tip just reaches the end of the gauge, and seen from the front, the stylus should be just in the middle (pointed by a little arrow on the gauge). If you don't have that gauge, trial and error my friend. But to make it easier, try to take a right working cartridge as reference.

hi there dj thy
just wondering how do you know all this stuff..hehehe every single post i seen from you its like a essay
do you study all dj/producers equipment?
Rob

quote:

Originally posted by TempesTrip no offense i don't know ur history as far as dj'ing and experience so i'm taking this and you as a complete n00b since you didn't post any experience and such. but are you sure your not moving back and forth too fast? that or maybe hitting ur hand on the record too hard where the needle may jump? i have a friend that i am teaching that when he releases the cue for whateva reason the cue jumps. but for me and my other friends the cue is fine. it doesn't take much to make that needle jump. some people think you can pound on it and it won't move (digital age i guess) but the reality is it takes a soft fine touch to manipulate it. my apologizes if you are experienced and know all this. i see you have tried with diff vinyl. you say you got them in june how often have you used them? you may of just gotten screwed on a bad batch and just have to get another one since your other white works fine. also cueing its best to use the inside of the record then the outside as you are more likely to cause skipping by the outside then the inside.

yea, i'm a n00b and no offense takin'. i got the carts in june and my mk5's about a month and a half ago and my mixer a month ago. so the only time i had to mess with the carts was after i had the mixer because i didn't have anything set up. also, i didn't realize one was funky because i was only using one table to practice beatmatching at the time.

i also figured that i might be to rough on the record. i even told that to the guy at pssl and he just told me he doubted it since one cart worked fine.

so like you say i just might have gotten one from a bad batch as did tranceinmysoul did. i might just buy another from guitar center and return the bad one. either way i got a good deal on the carts anyway.

thanks again for the help.