what needles do you use and why?

[J Who]

i personally use the ortofon dj's (blues). they have the second to least amount of record burn (second to the "nightclubs") and are designed for a mixture of mixing AND scratching, which is why i chose them. what about YOU?

J-ME

Originally posted by j who
i personally use the ortofon dj's (blues). they have the second to least amount of record burn (second to the "nightclubs") and are designed for a mixture of mixing AND scratching, which is why i chose them. what about YOU?

J-ME

I have the same fucken needles. The amount of burn also depends on the tone arm and weight settings you have your tables at.

Their very good needles and I know alot of people that swear by Ortofon.
As far as scratch needles I would go with a pair of Shures. Im not a turntablist but everynow and then I get the urge to fuck around.

[djork]

persoanlly, i use dirty needles to shoot up with...

[nastinator]

i personally use the Orotofon Scratch needles, (the pink ones), i guess it had to do with the Scratch, when i started out i wanted good sounding needles for my dance music, but i also planned on working on some turntablism that hasnt quite happened. But i think the wear on the records is really good and it also has good sound quality and also less damage and wear to the needle.

Hey, I only use my equipment at home, so trust me... The cheapest needles are adequate...

But if I'm spinning at a club, I expect nothing less than Ortofons..
And yes there is a pretty dramatic difference!!

[Logic Theorist]

ortofon nightclubs. i do scratching and turntablism (working on my looping right now) and they do the job well enough. once you get the touch down your needles shouldn't jump out of the groove no matter what they are (okay except the stanton trackmaster/groovemaster, those suck ass). i also do -not- turn the weights backwards.

as far as record burn goes, the only records i've really worn are my scratch records and even those aren't -that- bad.

does anyone have the next up ortofons? the gold ones? just curious if they're worth the extra money.

[J Who]

i was lead to understand by SEVERAL people that the blues are supposed to be better for scratching and tricks as opposed to the nightclubs, which they said were supposed to be used for strictly mixing (or mostly anyways). is this correct? i mean, i don't scratch like a schoolkid with chicken pox or nothing, but i do like to throw some stuff in every now and again, and my blues work wonderfully for that. i have no complaints with them AT ALL. and even if you told me that the nightclubs were better phill, i prolly would just stay with the blues cause i love em... (plus they are pricey, but, um, yah... )...

J-ME

[Logic Theorist]

I think the nightclubs and the DJSS are the same exact thing except frequency response. I don't think there is any difference in tracking. However, both carts can have a spherical or elliptical stylus, the elliptical stylus is supposed to track better but wear on your records more.

But I'm an american so I assume anything that costs more must be better

www.ortofon.com should have all that info, including things you never needed to know about your cartridges.

I like track master II's personaly just to me they are good needles and i haven't ever reallyhad any problems with em

[chillbeast]

using ortofon DJs and they are great.

for home DJin these needles work great they have real good frequency response(not quite as good as nightclubs but better than 90% of all the others)

[Alienswede]

I've got Ortofon Nightclub's and they just really really kick ass. I've had them for almost 2 years and have yet to have a problem with them. I went with the spherical needles to save wear on my records. Spinning psytrance I never scratch and never will, so the needles stay in the grooves just fine

They are well worth the money investment as I'm pretty sure they will outlast other needles in the long run. Just my humble opinion though. Go with what you want, but Nightclubs will be my choice until someone can convince/show me something better!

Ortofon Djs (blue)

I've been really happy w/ them

How long does an average pair of cartridges last by the way?

I just purchased a Gemini startup package online, and it comes with a pair of Stanton 500al's. Any input on that particular model of cartridge?

M

Id have to say Ortofon's. Those are the best needles I have come across.

I have a pair of Ortofon Nightclubs (bolt-on)
and DJs (Concorde). I got the Nightclubs 8 or 9
years ago, then got the Concorde-type 3 years
ago for easier transport.

I'll get technical with you here, just to set
things straight [apologies if you already are
aware of this] (from Ortofon):

1. The low-down difference between the Nightclub, DJ, Scratch, and Gold cartridges are color and
stylus they come with (however, the Scratch has
a 1 millivolt higher output than the others).

a) the Nightclub and Gold (identical) ship
with a higher precision styli than the DJ
or Scratch.

b) the DJ stylus is not as precise as the
above, but it is less expensive.

c) the Scratch has a wider stylus which allows for better tracking at the expense of some frequency response and separation.

2. The Nightclub and DJ styli are available in
elliptical and spherical. Gold is only elliptical
and Scratch is only spherical.

An elliptical stylus provides for more accurate
sound reproduction but does not track as well
as a spherical. Hence the reason Scratch comes
only in spherical for tracking, but at the cost
of frequency response and separation.


And as someone else noted, keeping the needle in
the groove while scratching relies more upon
your touch than the stylus. Just keep those damn
Stanton Skipmasters away from me