why?

I have a buddy of mine who uses the concordes. theyre working out nice for him, he uses serato and vinyl. I just want to see if i can get some back on the ortofons, i use serato and vinyl also. i guess i wanna be different, seeing that everyone and their mom uses 447's and i heard the qberts give out better sound.

Go ahead and get Qberts Ortofons.

why would you go against what the rane - serato team recommends? the 44-7 are standard.and the qberts are way over priced.even if they where the same price.the 44-7 are the best.

i been using the 44-7 for over 10 yrs.i dont care who uses them.they work and rane recommends them.

i stopped using 44-7s because the needle always bends

you're putting too much weight on your needle if it bends.

Zero the tonearm weight & use the settings recommended in the manual that comes with the carts. (3.5 grams)

agree

Digitrax here. with the qbert stylus' of course!

digitraks

I agree with Dirty Digits...I have the same settings for my M477 and they do hold up pretty good. I did purchase qbert carts and I am impress with them and they hold up good but a bitch to break in. The settings I have on the q carts(OM) are 3.5 grams, ant-skate 0 and Height 4.

thanks for all youre input guys!

Ive used 447s since day one, if they bend, wobble or break you have em set up wrong or on a wobbly table. The 447s are very delicate and your tables must be on a firm surface, that your first step. If your tables wobble, so wont your needles. Also make sure the hole in the middle of the record isnt loose. If you have em setup right, they wont kill your records and hold like glue. You'll also have to clean them alot so bring a small brush.

Now I also own the qberts and have used them for a while now. They are great, but pricey. Definitly louder than any of the ortofon brands and are excellent for scratching and whatnot if you have em set up right. They also have a different tip than all other ortofons. They slightly bend upward. I personally am using them with the black pro s tips and they work fine. Ive been meaning to get new tips, but they are very pricey. Keep that in mind for every time you have to get a new stylus. Would I get them again, probably not. My personal ortofon favorite needles are the blue DJ joints. I just love the way they sound and hold well if set up right. I should have got those to be honest.

Who cares what serato recommends, it's what you prefer as a DJ that matters. I have used both and personally like both. I use the Blue DJs Ortophons more than my 447's because the smaller needle tip makes it easier to spot cue on real vinyl. The 447s hold really well in a scratch and usually have a clearer sound on regular vinyl. The Ortophons have a deeper base and are good for scratching and beat juggling. But non of the sound quality issues matters when using serato since it's all digitally output from the serato box and your laptop anyway. The only problem I have with Ortophon is their connector tips are too close together and occasionaly they don't connect properly with the turntable tone arm making me have to pull them out and re-insert them til they work. I carry a spre set of 447's and one extra Ortophon in case something happens and I need to switch. the most the most important thing is a stable laptop and high quality mp3's like 320kps or 192kps that you can find at places like www.hitmusicservice.com, www.beatport.com etc...

DJ Emir
www.djemir.com
Real DJs Do Real Things

If the carts/needles sound better and your using serato that is completely irrelevant. As long as you don't have a terrible combination it doesn't require much sound quality to get a good signal into scratch live.

what dont you understand about rane saying the 44-7 are the best for serato.use what you want.

my 447s would mainly get bent from using stickers to mark records. never had that problem with my ortofons and i didnt wanna keep buying new needles, so i switched. dont have that problem with serato anymore, but now i like being able to see more of the record that the ortofons allow.

but after the 447s are broken in, and set up with the perfect settings, i can attest that they truly are almost unskippable, that is if you have a flat unwarped record to begin with. also, the 447s are really nice to your records as far as wear goes.

with the ortofons though (pink), they are more forgiving in terms of tonearm weight height etc. so i can just slap them on when im using other club's tables while gigging out. personal preference really. oh the pink ortofons dont really eat your records too bad either, though not as gentle as the 447s.

lol at the "sounds better with this needle in serato" comments :)

i ahve been thinking that this whole thread when its mentioned but didnt want to say anything thinking mabye they know something I dont

the only thing that could matter would be skipping under heavy scratching even in relative mode... but most likely thats due to weight issues.

Agreed. The pinks are also more forgiving on wobbly tables unlike some of the other needles mentioned here.

nice..... well thanks again for all the input and just got my q berts in the mail today............ BOTH FOR 85 each from turntable lab.

now for a new issue!!

once i got them to break in a little i noticed a huge difference. these needles are krazy!!! the sound quality are nuts!!!!!!!

now the problem is how in the hell do i break these in??????????

practice

Have you been testing them with regular vinyl to test that sound quality?

Usage will break them in, shure reccomend if you want to accelerate it leaving the needle sitting on a record for 2 hours a day. I'm sure the same would work for ortofons.

I did this with a brand new blue Ortofon a LONG time ago. Afterwards the needle produced a very distorted sound. There is a possibility that I had too much weight on it at the time though? It was a long time ago and I only experienced it with one needle so far in my life. I've found the best way to break in a needle is by using it. Letting it sit on a record won't really break in the bushing since there won't be any movement back and forth. I personally wouldn't recommend leaving it in a running lead-out groove as this will take away from the life of the needle (without you actually USING it).

I like to break them in by using them to practice or record vinyl (except the Shures because I don't use them to record vinyl).

I have a friend who swears by his digitracks, and spin on his setup regularly. Mine is identical except I use the standard M44's.

Mine stick like glue, even with the heaviest handling, and that's on only 2.5G of weight. On his if I put anything heavier than light finger pressure on his, they skip.

I've used my M44's on a ton of different tables, from my personal ones to ragged out club tables, and they seem to perform the same every time. As soon as I hop on his setup, I'm skipping all over the place...and they get dirty as hell really quick. Mine need a quick brush off maybe once every 4 hours, and that's only because my tracking meter dips a little. Using his, I have to remind myself to brush them off after one side is done, because they're caked with dust.

I'm sure there's something out of whack with his setup, but he lapses into that "don't question me, I'm a vinyl GOD, I'd never harm my records" malarkey every time I tell him there's clearly something wrong with his setup. LOL