ortofon's usually should be at 1.5 in height. i keep my weights at about 3 to 3.5 depending on conditions. make sure to set up your anti skate and check to see if your tables are level.

^^ what he said.. but i run my wieght flipped and all the way in (yeah yeah yeah. not good for the needle or vinyl.. but never skips)

ohh and anti skate set to 0

If youre record is worn and you keep trying to scratch in the same spot the record might just skip the groove at that point every time. Try going to relative mode and scratching somewhere in the middle of the record

ALSO.. what brand turntalbes you use.. if you are using the concord with straight arm set ups they tend to skip more (at least for me) onstraight arms i will only use OM b/c i can set an angle on them

actually, anti-skate should be set to the condition... should be set to the outside of the record (first groove). that could be 0, or it could be 3. if it doesn't hold to any recogniseable #, take the tonearm and push it gently as far towards the inside of the record as it will go, then try again.

unless you are a scratcher.. then you should set it to 0 b/c anything else can cause the needle to skip under heavy scratching

u sure? i was always under the impression that it had to do with a balancing of the set-up. chances are, if you can't anti-skate your tables, then they aren't level.

or maybe more practice is needed for the "perfect touch". heavy handedness will almost always force a skip. it could be that the holes in the center of the vinyl are too big. check that too. a record should have no lateral movement.

or the camber of the tonearm is off...

no... i have always been told (and have exp.) that if you use the anti skate and you are doing heavy scratching you tend to have more skipping.... if you are playing EDM and are not scratching then you use anti-skate to give the needle better tracking while playing... but during scratching the constant changing of directions puts diff forces on the needle/tonearm then just normal playback.. and the anit skate was made to help with normal playback. Do this balance you tone arm to 0 wieght and turn the ani skate up and you will see the tone arm move... with anti skate at 0 it should sit still right where you put it.. if it move all the way in or all the way out thenyou have issues with something being off balance.

^^ btw.. it states that in the Technic 1200 service manual i have

dang. good to know... after all these years.

i am going to be using the needles to scratch and i am using 1200's....simple slow cuts are fine but anything more than that the needle jumps all over the place, to me the needle and tonearm move a hell of a lot, the tone arm screws are snug and whats weird is that i will put my old trackmaster needle on and it holds up 10x better than the qbert concorde!!!wtf

that shouldn't be the case. just because the tonearm screw is snug, doesn't mean that it is screwed in properly. there are two separate (interlocking) screw components on the top of the tonearm.

see:
music.hyperreal.org

it also wouldn't be a bad idea to take your tables into your local electronics/dj shop and have your tables reconditioned and recalibrated.

www.turntabletech.com

what vinyl are you playing exactly? try a brand new serato one.

are you using the om version q-berts or the concorde ones?

set anti skate to 0 since you scratch.

set weight to 2.5 - 3.0 grams, after balancing the tonearm and setting weight to 0, weight forward, no extra weight screwed on back

set tonearm height to approximate point where the tonearm is level with platter.

get rid of the q-berts and get the night club om's. :)

i actually like the digitracks better than the blue concorde dj's

funny how in q-berts dvd he reccomends the shure needles & only needles with a headshell not the concord's but the releases a set of concord skratch needles!!!!

I smell sellout! I mean why advertise that something is not as good but still then release them anyway?-

which dvd? that's an old one, if it's the one i'm thinking of. he's never been one to stick with something, especially if it's better than what he uses. leave it to Q to make something if he feels it could be better.

the diy vol 1!

He specifically states I only use carts with headshells as they have more weight behind them!

Then signs his name to a concord set? Although I have to say I've never used them! So an improvement is quite likley! Especially since they are made by Q-Bet! Lets face it he kinda knows whats going on with skratchin!

So I appologise about the pot before if it seemed to be rude Im just curious as to why he would do as I said above!

Man I'm using shure's they are faultless!!! Get some of them!

i have the qberts, and after a long time of breaking in (about 8 hours) no skipping at all!
so maybe give them some more time :)

diy vol 1 came out in 2003... that was 4 years ago. who knows, he may have been under contract with shure or something. i'm sure he's always testing new equipment(probably given to him for free to test).

Really that long ago! Man I slept on that for quite a while then!

I didnt think it was that old!

I'll just sit in the corner quietly! lol

Any of you guys from S.E. Uk?

Seen mad amounts of headz from US nut only one or two from uk!

would be wicked to set up some battles!

ALL the information here is good to go, but
this worked for me...
Put the needle on the tone arm
Adjust the counter weight where the needle hovers over the record
Then set the weight indicator setting to 0grams
Now for scratching set the counter weight to 3.0grams (heavy 3.5)
Club/Techno style set for 1.5grams
Anything above 2.0grams is good for hip hop and such (ez cue scratching)
If you have a BRAND NEW record, set to 2.5grams (you don't want to damage it too quickly)
This is assuming that you are using well taken care of records of course.
...and just like dj disturbed said, "set your Anti-Skating to 0 grams". Oh by the way, this is for the 1200's (thats all i mess with) If you have some other brand, you can put those on ebay and get you some mk2's to start of with.

i have the qberts 3-3.5 works fine... if you want to break them in.. leave them on the record when you are done.. a few days of that and they are perfect!!!! mine have NEVER skipped. but i heard they skip a lot when you first get em...

Concordes should always have the following settings:

1. Weight between 3.5 and 5 grams
2. Tonearm height at '0'
3. Anti skate to '0'.

Also, let the needle break in for up to 20 hours... Just put it on the lock groove at the end of the vinyl and let it spin. This will break in the suspension a bit and help the stylus conform to the groove more efficiently.

I am having the exact same problem with the q-berts. Skipping like crazy anyway I conigure them whereas my ortofon scratch cartidges do not skip at all. I have tried to run them on the end of the records overnight, but when I wake up it slides over to the label of the record. I assume that damages the needle?

you need a record with a locked gruv at the end to keep that from happining... most scratch tool records have this (atleast the ones i have do)

QBerts take a bit to break in, but once they do, they track beautifully.

**Moved to General Discussion