A
Angelic DeeJay
The Infamous NetRat
Vestax PDX-2000 Review
Introduction
First of all, i must say that this review is from the mixing DJ point of view, not the turntablist.
I bought the PDX-2000 after selling my second hand "burned" 1200 which worked extremely well considering the usage they have seen (super-club usage), because i had the need to try something new (that, and the fact that i got it almost half of the price it's going here in Israel
).
In The Box
Opening the box will reveal the Turntable's platter, original Vestax headshell, a nice flat slipmat, RCA cable, ground cable, balance weight, 2 screws + a screw driver, 45 RPM adaptor, shell weight, target light, owner's manual, and the Turntable itself (as of now, TT, or PDX). Pretty comprehensive.
Setting Up
OK, we'll start at the platter assembly, unlike the 1200's platter, on the PDX there is no magnet attached to the platter, there is just the platter itself, and u need to screw it to the motor, screwing was no problem whatsoever.
Connecting the TT to the mixer is done by the supplied cables, really nice thing to have the cables unattached to the TT itself.
Setting the balance weight was as usual on any TT, the range is form 0-7 grams, i set my Concorde on 3 grams (which is the minimum for Concorde).
Setting the arm height was a bit unusual, you need to unscrew the arm, and then it will pop up, and you will need to press it to find the right height and lock it by screwing the screw.
In Action
The first thing you'll notice is the motor, it's damn strong and fast on start ups and breaking! the response is virtually instantaneous!
Tho i tested it before, and knew how fast it is, i'm still amazed! me likes! But there is also a bad side to this motor, i don't know how quite to explain it, but it's too strong and unsmooth, i'm not talking about the pitch changes, the motor tries to keep his original speed (by saying original, i am not referring to 33 or 45 RPM speed, i'm talking about the speed that it spins, may it be 33 + 4%, etc...) to hard, which ends up in some kind of rumble (from vibrations), for example, at first platter was a little rugged which resulted in a hard grip of the slipmat, so when i CUED up a track, i can hear and feel the motor trying to resist my movements. The solution was to spray the platter with a furniture wax (preferable anti-static one) to get a smoother glide of the slipmat.
Let's move to the arm section, the PDX-2000 features the new A.S.T.S (Anti Skipping Tone-Arm System), which uses straight arm. Yes, it's harder to skip, much harder, but i never had any problems with my old S arm, and the straight arm wears out vinyls faster, that's why i'm no fan of the straight arms! but nice thing about this arm is the ABS cabinet, the whole arm section is sitting on a floating construction which helps eliminating feedback.
The platter was a BIG disappointment, on the 1200, the bottom side of the platter is coated with rubber which helps eliminating resonance, but the PDXs platter lacks of this rubber coating, and the reslut is obvious.
At first glance the overall construction looked poor and "plasticy", but after further inspection i'm pretty pleased with it, it's a sturdy TT, and it sits good at its place.
Pitch control divides into two parts, the fine pitch, and the ultra pitch. The fine pitch is a smooth, 100 mm fader, with +/- 10% range, as opposed to the 1200 pitch fader, there is no center click on this one, i REALLY like it, definitely feels better than the 1200 (tho it's a personal preference). The ultra pitch is a short, horizontal, sunken, 45 mm fader, it is stiffer than the fine pitch fader, and it got a center click, the range of this fader is +/- 50%. At first i thought it was just a useless gimmick, but now, it has become one of the reasons of keeping the PDX over the 1200, i absolutely LOVE it!, so you're thinking, what the hell do you use it for??? i'll tell you, pitch bending! and it is a delight to bend with it! so much fun! and it gives you a better control, thumbs up to Vestax here! All pitch control can be disable by a manual quarz lock button, which locks the platter at precisely 33/3 or 45 RPM.
The reverse function kicks in really fast, nice to use occasionally, so as the start/break control, nice, but that's it.
Overall
Overall it's a very good product and well worth the price (for all US readers, u can get it around 50$ a piece cheaper than Technics), there are some things to improve, but nothing is perfect, some advantages over the mighty SL-1200, and some disadvantages, if you are a scratcher/turntablist, this is definitely the TT for you, if you are a plain beat mixer, this might be the TT for you, but also consider the Technics SL-1200.
I hope this review answered some of your questions, and that it was clear and easy to understand.
Remember kids! DJing is not just a job, it's a lifestyle!
Yarin Nahmani
Added
After farther use, the smooth pitch slider isn't all that good, my biggest complain with it, is that it's hard to do minor adjustments because there is no resistance, hence: it's harder to feel that you move it, when you try to move it just a tiny tiny bit
I decided to sell the PDX, and get me a brand new SL!
Introduction
First of all, i must say that this review is from the mixing DJ point of view, not the turntablist.
I bought the PDX-2000 after selling my second hand "burned" 1200 which worked extremely well considering the usage they have seen (super-club usage), because i had the need to try something new (that, and the fact that i got it almost half of the price it's going here in Israel
).In The Box
Opening the box will reveal the Turntable's platter, original Vestax headshell, a nice flat slipmat, RCA cable, ground cable, balance weight, 2 screws + a screw driver, 45 RPM adaptor, shell weight, target light, owner's manual, and the Turntable itself (as of now, TT, or PDX). Pretty comprehensive.
Setting Up
OK, we'll start at the platter assembly, unlike the 1200's platter, on the PDX there is no magnet attached to the platter, there is just the platter itself, and u need to screw it to the motor, screwing was no problem whatsoever.
Connecting the TT to the mixer is done by the supplied cables, really nice thing to have the cables unattached to the TT itself.
Setting the balance weight was as usual on any TT, the range is form 0-7 grams, i set my Concorde on 3 grams (which is the minimum for Concorde).
Setting the arm height was a bit unusual, you need to unscrew the arm, and then it will pop up, and you will need to press it to find the right height and lock it by screwing the screw.
In Action
The first thing you'll notice is the motor, it's damn strong and fast on start ups and breaking! the response is virtually instantaneous!
Tho i tested it before, and knew how fast it is, i'm still amazed! me likes! But there is also a bad side to this motor, i don't know how quite to explain it, but it's too strong and unsmooth, i'm not talking about the pitch changes, the motor tries to keep his original speed (by saying original, i am not referring to 33 or 45 RPM speed, i'm talking about the speed that it spins, may it be 33 + 4%, etc...) to hard, which ends up in some kind of rumble (from vibrations), for example, at first platter was a little rugged which resulted in a hard grip of the slipmat, so when i CUED up a track, i can hear and feel the motor trying to resist my movements. The solution was to spray the platter with a furniture wax (preferable anti-static one) to get a smoother glide of the slipmat.
Let's move to the arm section, the PDX-2000 features the new A.S.T.S (Anti Skipping Tone-Arm System), which uses straight arm. Yes, it's harder to skip, much harder, but i never had any problems with my old S arm, and the straight arm wears out vinyls faster, that's why i'm no fan of the straight arms! but nice thing about this arm is the ABS cabinet, the whole arm section is sitting on a floating construction which helps eliminating feedback.
The platter was a BIG disappointment, on the 1200, the bottom side of the platter is coated with rubber which helps eliminating resonance, but the PDXs platter lacks of this rubber coating, and the reslut is obvious.
At first glance the overall construction looked poor and "plasticy", but after further inspection i'm pretty pleased with it, it's a sturdy TT, and it sits good at its place.
Pitch control divides into two parts, the fine pitch, and the ultra pitch. The fine pitch is a smooth, 100 mm fader, with +/- 10% range, as opposed to the 1200 pitch fader, there is no center click on this one, i REALLY like it, definitely feels better than the 1200 (tho it's a personal preference). The ultra pitch is a short, horizontal, sunken, 45 mm fader, it is stiffer than the fine pitch fader, and it got a center click, the range of this fader is +/- 50%. At first i thought it was just a useless gimmick, but now, it has become one of the reasons of keeping the PDX over the 1200, i absolutely LOVE it!, so you're thinking, what the hell do you use it for??? i'll tell you, pitch bending! and it is a delight to bend with it! so much fun! and it gives you a better control, thumbs up to Vestax here! All pitch control can be disable by a manual quarz lock button, which locks the platter at precisely 33/3 or 45 RPM.
The reverse function kicks in really fast, nice to use occasionally, so as the start/break control, nice, but that's it.
Overall
Overall it's a very good product and well worth the price (for all US readers, u can get it around 50$ a piece cheaper than Technics), there are some things to improve, but nothing is perfect, some advantages over the mighty SL-1200, and some disadvantages, if you are a scratcher/turntablist, this is definitely the TT for you, if you are a plain beat mixer, this might be the TT for you, but also consider the Technics SL-1200.
I hope this review answered some of your questions, and that it was clear and easy to understand.
Remember kids! DJing is not just a job, it's a lifestyle!
Yarin Nahmani
Added
After farther use, the smooth pitch slider isn't all that good, my biggest complain with it, is that it's hard to do minor adjustments because there is no resistance, hence: it's harder to feel that you move it, when you try to move it just a tiny tiny bit
I decided to sell the PDX, and get me a brand new SL!
Last edited:
(Angelic sent me this review about a week ago I think, but I havent had a chance to prepare it for the site).
