A device for playing
vinyl records and hence a piece of
basic equipment for any
DJ.
A turntable set up for
DJing( also known as a
deck) has a number of features that may distinguish it
from a common home
record player.
Different decks may have extra
gimmicks but the following are pretty standard:
speed selector - allows you to choose the base speed at which the record will play. (ie
33rpm or
45rpm)
start/stop switch - allows you to
quickly start or stop the turntable.
pitch control - allows you to adjust the speed of the record up or down from the base speed. You need this so you can
beatmatch
slipmat - reduces
friction and allows you to stop or move the record independently of the turntable
platter.
strobe - a little light that
strobes against dots on the side of the platter. If your platter is spinning at exactly the current base speed then this will make these dots appear
stationary, otherwise they will appear to be moving forwards or backwards. This can be used as a quick check on the functioning of your
pitch control
cartridge - contains the
stylus or
needle. A model commonly used by DJs is the
Stanton 500AL.
tonearm - the arm that holds the
needle on the record. These usually have a great manner of adjustments that can be made such as
anti-skidding and
suspension adjustment.
Although
Vestax decks are growing in popularity, by far the most popular turntable with DJs is the
SL 1200 MK2 or
SL 1210 made by
Technics. These decks are very
tough and extremely
reliable. They are also the
defacto industry standard so if you get a
gig you can pretty much bet the venue will have a pair of
1200s.
AFAIK the only difference between the
1200 and the
1210 is that the 1200 is
silver whereas the 1210 is
black.