I got some of the first edition Stanton Str8-100s, because, to me, they looked the best, had decent torque, all the functions I needed and were less than Technics and better than the various technics clones at the time.
Over the years, the power sockets have failed and crackle/waggle around. One just about comes on, whilst the other has been dead for about 6 or 7 years. I don't do much mixing any more (although I plan to change that!), so I suppose I might as well get them fixed at an electrician style shop (if I can find one suitable).
Whilst I do like the look and feel of my silver 100's.....I can't say I found them great for mixing in terms of keeping time over long mix durations. I mixed a lot of progressive house, where long mixes were part of the sound genre. I'd find it needed constant attention with gripping the spindle to keep things in check.
In the meantime, I got a DDJ controller and recorded in a lot of vinyl. I like the DDJ, I used Traktor, but I don't use that much either - primarily because I find it hard to keep time with long mixes. I am thinking that it may be the actual rips of vinyl that are at fault, not just my inability to mix.
If the Stantons are 10 times more deviant on the wow and flutter, I assume this will mean that the overall pace will be wavering over the duration of the track - which could be why I found it hard to keep time on vinyl and, possibly, why my attempts to mix with vinyl rips is just the same.
I also did something idiotic with my decks - I rubbed them over to clean them with a kitchen sponge that was quite rough, which I hadn't noticed (in the poor lighting) had in fact ruined the anodised aluminium finish by scratching it all shiny. There are also various stains that seem to have affected the anodised finish and wont come off.
I am moving into a new house, so I thought I may get some new ones......but Jesus, the price of decks has jumped a lot in the last 15 years in my opinion! Those new technics, frig me, ridiculous prices. Some of the clones are still out there, but they look quite plasticky and are more than they used to be. Others seem to have all sorts of buttons and pads on, which some may like, but I find the appearance completely gash.
So it looks like I am sticking to the ones I have. I might get an old deck out of my parent's loft for recording vinyl on for the DDJ, to see if that holds time any better.
