technics 1200 PLEASE HELP!!!

[soupsmoke]

just got a technics 1200 turntable used yesterday. got to the house, and it won't work!! it spinds, speeds and everything seem fine. but i can't hear anything! i can put my head to the needle and hear the record, but i plug it into a JVC stereo integrated amplifier, and i get nothing but a HUUUMMMMMM sound. i put the old table i have back on the amp to check maybe i'm not running something to the computer correctly, and it plays fine! but i get nothing from the technics table!! any help or recommendations are greatly appreciative. i'm damn terrified i forked over cash i didn't have for a busted table. wish i could put a video on here for you, but all you'd see is the record spinning and hear a hum. it's grounded and everything is right as far as i can tell. you hear no music or anything but the humm sound.

 

 

i tried cutting the end of the rca cables and replacing with new tips, but it didn't do anything!

[gruvjack]

 

any help or recommendations are greatly appreciative. i'm damn terrified i forked over cash i didn't have for a busted table.

 

 

NEVER NEVER NEVER spend cash you don't have on used gear.

 

V.

[Manipulate]

The bad thing is it sounds like you're not used to dealing with this sort of stuff and it might take you a second to isolate where the problem is and fix it.

 

The good news is that Technics are pretty easy to work on. Don't be scared to open the turntable up and look around, just make sure you have a system about which screws go where so you can put it back together. This is the general Techincs repair FAQ that I've used for over 10 years http://music.hyperreal.org/dj/sl1200.html It tells you how to open the deck and do basic maintenance.

 

My guess is your problem is either (a) the connection where the headshell is or, more likely (b) you need new RCA cables.

 

First is to make god damned sure its your turntable and not something stupid like you haven't flipped the right switch on your mixer, or haven't hooked up the right cables or something.

 

Second thing you should do is remove the headshell from the tonearm, blow on the contacts, clean off the dust, litterally lick the contacts on the end of the headshell and then screw it back onto the tonearm. Also check to make sure the cartridge is wired to the headshell correctly (does the red wire go to the right connection, etc.) If none of that looks like its the issue, you may need to replace the RCAs. I'm not talking about just cutting the wires and splicing, I'm talking about opening the turntable, desoldering the old RCAs from the main board, and then re-soldering new RCA cables in.

 

Replacing the RCA cables its a good thing to do anyway. The stock RCA cables are the biggest weakness of the Tech 1200. When you put in new cables I'd get some high quality RCAs instead of using "genuine" technics RCAs because the genuine RCAs are thin and they suck. The job is not that hard, but it takes a little soldering and the better part of the afternoon. The good thing is that when you're done you've got better RCAs than the table comes with and your sound quality is better.

 

There's lots of Technics repair FAQs on the web. Do a search on google for instructions. Here's some I found. http://www.djdepot.com/changing_rca_cables_technics_1200.html

 

You can even buy replacement cable sets http://www.hydrawire.com/ If you buy from them they'll probably send you instructions. When I replaced mine there were no pre-made kits for you so I just bought some heavy guage monster cables and soldered them in. The cables from hydrawire look like they're less work because they don't require any unorthodox alterations to the clips that hold the cables. When I did my replacements I used thick monster cables and I had to do some altering of the black plastic clip to get new thicker cables to fit in the clip. With the hydrawire cables the clip comes with the cables and everything is already done for you. (see black, rectangular, plastic clip in picture).

 

If you decide you're going to do the RCA replacement and can't find directions, let me know. I did a step by step when I replaced mine and I have it somewhere. Its a little more detailed than the one above but doesn't have pictures.

 

None of this is rocket science and its good to know how your turntables operate. Its well worth the effort to do this sort of stuff to your turntabls. Just make sure, when you take your turntable apart, that you have a system to know where what screws go where when you need to put it back together. If you take all the screws out and jumble them up you're probably going to have trouble putting it back together. The other thing is, when you do the de-soldering, make sure you take notes on how the RCAs were wired in beforehand so you know how to wire the new ones in. This sounds like a no-brainer but a lot of people just start taking {censored} apart and then don't realize they haven't got a plan on how to put it all back together until its too late.

[Manipulate]

Oh yeah, a couple more things.

 

Before you do the job go to radio shack or someplace and get the right stuff. You need fairly small guage soldering wire and a small soldering iron with fairly low heat because you're doing some precision stuff. If you get a giant soldering iron with high heat you'll melt the circuit board and then you have a problem. Tell the radio shack people you're soldering electronics and that should help you get the right stuff.

 

The desoldering tool I have is just a little suction thing like a syringe. You heat up the old solder and then suck it up. See pic http://www.djresource.eu/images/topics/technics/SL-REP-desolder-old-wire.jpg In fact, here's another RCA instruction page http://www.djresource.eu/Topics/story/110/Technics-SL--Replacing-Signal-and-Ground-Wire/

 

The other thing you can use is a "soldering wick". With that you heat up the solder and then the wick soaks it up, kind of like a paper towel. http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/SMD_HowTo/SolderWicking-1.jpg

 

So you remove the old wires get a clean surface with no solder and then solder in the new wires one at a time. Just make sure your solder and wires don't touch each other. You should have (I think) 4 distinct wires held down by 4 distinct beads of solder. Just be patient with the soldering and make sure its not sloppy.

 

By the way, soldering stuff is really pretty cheap. It might cost $10 for everything and then I'd spend most of your money on good cables. You only need to buy one 10-15 RCA cable, then cut it in half and you have one RCA for each turntable.