Fixing Technics 1200's

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Fixing Technics 1200's

Started 15 years ago by Stone Man / toggle topic info

7 posts & 4 voices
latest reply from YoYoPo

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technics

Stone Man

12
Joined: Jul '06
Posts: 95

Posted 15 years ago #

Has anyone got any experience doing this? I'm fairly handy and haven't got a problem pulling stuff apart, in fact I'm pretty good at it, but I'm having problems with this MK2 1200 I've got...

Basically, they guy I bought it from said at first there was a problem with the pitch; it was going slow then fast, slow then fast really, REALLY badly when it was playing - to the point of being unusable. Then when I got round there to buy it it wouldn't turn on at all, the red light wouldn't even come on the power switch. There is a faint red light behind the 33rpm button when the deck's plugged in, when you press the 45rpm button it lights up but goes out as soon as you let go.

I've got the other, working, 1200 mk2 and swapped the pitch faders across but nothing, and before I go any further (the only reason I've not so far is time more than anything) was wondering if anyone knows a most common thing to go with problems like this? I'm loathed to remove the whole motor as it looks like a pain in the arse to do, if there's something I'd be better off trying first which would be more likely and easy to replace I'd be grateful for any advice...
Loudwon

P fan #1
Joined: Jul '07
Posts: 1,415

Posted 15 years ago #

Hate to say it but it sounds like its f**ked.

Did you buy them off this dude?

There was a big problem with MK2s pitch contol around 0% and it probably gets worse the older the table is.
But it sounds like the whole table has had it.
What the hell did he do to it?!!
Stone Man

12
Joined: Jul '06
Posts: 95

Posted 15 years ago #

God knows but I paid $150 for 2 mk2's (one works and the other, well, doesn't), an old Gemini mixer and 2 studio monitors, so I can't complain too much!

There must be something I can do save changing everything - I see there's quite a few parts on eBay you can buy, so it looks like I'm stuck changing bits between the two decks so I can isolate the problem!
JohnDoe

EP
Joined: Dec '08
Posts: 127

Posted 15 years ago #

You got a hell of a deal if its only 150$ that ur into it.. .
Stone Man

12
Joined: Jul '06
Posts: 95

Posted 15 years ago #

OK so it was the motor (here's what I need [eBay Link]). $60 including shipping makes it $210 for 2 mk2's, a Gemini mixer and two studio monitors (not to mention the gas from Orlando to Tampa and I lost $30 at the casino while I was down there) so not a bad deal. I've just spent the last however-long-it-was-since-my-last-post-above stripping them both down to find this out, but in the mean time gave the faceplates a nice scrub and made 'em all shiny again!

So not a bad investment I think :)

[Edit because I'm tired enough to have thought $150+60=$220 :lol: ]
Stone Man

12
Joined: Jul '06
Posts: 95

Posted 15 years ago #

Update:

So I won a motor off eBay - it seems to be one seller selling the boards and they had an auction ending the day after I looked, and a Buy It Now soon after that - so I put a maximum bid of the amount of the buy it now one (if that makes sense) and got it for a total of $28, for a total of $47. It turned up today and I fitted it in about 20 minutes (I've learnt fast how to strip these decks, ha!) and it works a treat!

So again not counting the gas from Orlando to Tampa and the $30 I lost in the casino while I was there, that's a set of 1200's MKII for $197, plus some monitors and a Gemini mixer thrown in for free!

I'm so tempted to get 'em proper nice and see if I can flog them for like $800 on eBay - paint them up, solder the ground wire so it's internal, change the LED's etc. That can't cost me too much I reckon, plus the elbow grease for it, and I could make a tidy profit. I reckon I could buy another set (possibly even MK5's) after Christmas for about $500 and have some nice beer & wax money left over. My only problem is being morosely lazy
YoYoPo

The Architect
Joined: Feb '05
Posts: 3,618

Posted 15 years ago #

nice one Stone. You could make a mint doing some nice custom jobs on some technics!

Just got a new set of needles on my decks and having a crazy problem on just one track (!)... seems the bass is the same resonant frequency as the needle itself and the whole tonearm vibrates and skips off the record when I play it... damn!

weirdness! Have been playing around with additional weight settings, see if I can figure it out!

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