DJs... what cartridges?

G

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
I lost one of my venerable Stanton 500s when i moved house recently and since the other one is about 15 years old I'm gonna drop for a pair of new ones. So what's good right now in the world of DJ cartridges?

I don't do loads of cutting and scratching - but I do play lots of disco and electro so I like my trebel nice and crisp please :D
 
Chef Napalm

Chef Napalm

Lost in the Supermarket
Shure M44-7s are the one for you. They say the are designed for turntablism, but IMHO they are the best all around DJ cart on the market. Not only will they hold a groove through the most rigourous manipulation, but they sound fantastic, too. True story: when I had my truty Stanton 680ELs stolen a few years ago, I borrowed a friends M44-7s to use in the interim. They were so much louder than the 680s I had to turn my mixer down to compensate. I went out and bought my own the following day and have never looked back.
 
hint

hint

party record with a siren
M44-7s are indeed the bee's knees.

BUT be advised that they can be very unfogiving when it comes to warped records - they sit low and the cartridge is big and runs parallel to the vinyl surface (unlike Stanton carts, which slope upwards from the needle to the headshell). This means that anything more than a small bump in the vinyl can catch the back of the Shures and skip the tonearm.
 
hint

hint

party record with a siren
Each time I've used M44-7s, I've had at least two records that have been unplayable because of the skipping... maybe I'm just unlucky or have especially wonky vinyl :(
 
G

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
hint said:
This means that anything more than a small bump in the vinyl can catch the back of the Shures and skip the tonearm.
Click to expand...

Hmm... doesn't sound too good. Although not many of my records are warped really. And you can normally tweak this characteristic by wedging little bits of card between the top of the cart and the headshell when you screw it on.

Might go for the Shure 35s actually cos I don't need the limpet-like tracking ability of the 44-7, and I've read in a few places that the sound quality isn't very neutral (mentioned in that link you posted actually chef).

Like the shure range though. My mate has a pair of those whitelabels and they are lovely... too much £££ for me though.
 
Chef Napalm

Chef Napalm

Lost in the Supermarket
Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
I've read in a few places that the sound quality isn't very neutral (mentioned in that link you posted actually chef).
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I've read that too, although personally I don't hear it.

Whitelabels have very similar sonic characteristics to the M44-7s. So I'm told. I've never actually seen one in the flesh.
 
P

PeteUM

It's all grist
I'm glad you posted this. Any consensus (hur hur) on the cheapest, reasonably servicable and durable needles that aren't an insult to a pair of 1210s? Or, to put it another way, how much is the least you need to spend, and if you had that amount, what would you spend it on? I know it's a piece of string kind of question, but I need to replace and I'm skint...
 
hint

hint

party record with a siren
I just use good old Stanton 500ALs - mainly because they come in a pack of 3 for £30... or, at least, they used to last time I bought any. I have switched to Serato now, though, so the quality of the signal from stylus to phono cable is no longer an issue for me, I suppose.

The best thing I bought recently for improving my signal was a Caig DeOxit Pen.

There are so many types of cartridge and stylus on the market that it gets too confusing.

M44-7s are the only ones that I see regularly recommended by more than one person... beyond that, I presume that very few people have much experience of more than, say, 3 or 4 different combinations of cartridge and stylus, out of the dozens that might actually be possible. The choice is overwhelming.
 
G

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
I've just ordered a pair of M-35X cartridges which should be here tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to give 'em a good thrashing over the weekend and report back here on Monday.

I realised while sorting through my stuff here that I've still got a Goldring 1006 cartridge that's missing it's stylus. I mounted it on a spare headshell so I could swap to a more 'hifi' cartridge when I wasn't mixing. I dimly remember the stylus breaking several years ago and obviously I never got around to getting a new one.

I might revive this idea though, because the 1006 pissed all over any DJ cartridge I've ever heard. When you step up to hifi cartridges you're definitely at another level.
 
Chef Napalm

Chef Napalm

Lost in the Supermarket
PeteUM said:
Or, to put it another way, how much is the least you need to spend, and if you had that amount, what would you spend it on?
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Is £30 too much?

As hint says, the cheapest is the Stanton 500, but not much cheaper. M44-7s still get my vote for best value.

Gabba Flamenco Crossover said:
I might revive this idea though, because the 1006 pissed all over any DJ cartridge I've ever heard. When you step up to hifi cartridges you're definitely at another level.
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Funny you should say that. I recently met someone who sprung for a Shure M97xE audiophile cart for listening, exactly as you did. The first record he played snapped the cantilever. $180US for the cartridge and he didn't even get through the first song. In a rage he stuck a spare M44-7 stylus he had into the front of the M97xE cart (apparently, all the Shures have the same pin shape). He claims it's the best sounding set-up he's ever had.
 
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P

PeteUM

It's all grist
Chef Napalm said:
Is £30 too much?

As hint says, the cheapest is the Stanton 500, but not much cheaper. M44-7s still get my vote for best value.
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I hear what you're saying. Part of my worry is spending substantial amounts and then taking them out to parties and things. I guess if money was less important i'd have a listening set and a DJing set. Reckon I'll bite the bullet and spring for these M447s, so thanks for the advice.
 
G

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
The pair of M35x carts turned up on Friday and I gave them a good running in over the weekend, must have done about 12 hours of mixing all told.

And they are good - nice flat tonal response and hold a groove well. A good option for deejays who don't do loads of scratching. Once I'd set them up, they skipped a lot less than my old 500s.
 
U

UFO over easy

online mahjong
shure white labels

every single time

they're expensive definitely, but actually not so bad - the carts are the expensive bit, and because they're so easy to fine tune, if you set them up properly not only will there be next to no wear and tear on your records but you won't need to replace your needles very often either (not that they're actually very expensive but still..)
 
Grievous Angel

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
Audio Technica ATP-2XN.

Tom Churchill recommended these to me. They sound almost as good as the audiophile Grado cartridge I use for archiving but are great for spin backs etc. Very resilient and easy on your records too. Not expensive.
 
Chef Napalm

Chef Napalm

Lost in the Supermarket
I have never understood why everybody uses Ortofon. I had a pair of Nightclubs that used to drop a channel at the most inopportune moments. I also found that they needed a lot of weight, causing unecessary record wear. I hear the same complaints again and again, but nobody seems willing to switch.

Do you really like them Martin, or is it just what you always see in clubs?
 
M

Martin Dust

Techno Zen Master
Chef Napalm said:
Do you really like them Martin, or is it just what you always see in clubs?
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I do like them yes, never had a problem with them. We always take our own carts everywhere and I use them at home at lot for just listening pleasure. The stats and output on them is also very good:
http://www.storedj.com.au/products/product.php?id=455

I've tried a few different kinds but always returned to these, I guess you have to find what works you really.
 
allegiant

allegiant

Evenly Distributed
I've used Ortofon "Scratch" carts for about 7 years now. Given their rather lurid aesthetics, I can't remember what possessed me to buy them instead of the black, luminously tipped "Nightclub" model, but they've performed flawlessly for me.

I was aware of the supposed heavy wear that Ortofon carts were commonly renowned for when I bought them, but I've never experienced any significantly uncommon degradation of sound from my vinyl, other than the usual wear associated with continually battering particular favourite 12's.

Having been abused so regularly, I've also been pleasantly surprised at the infrequency in which I've had to replace the styli. I've grown to rely on them immensely, and have long since forgiven them for their pinkness.
 
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