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Forever Copied, Never Beaten – The Technics SL1200 Turntable
This is a guest blog post by Simon Hutt aka SmuttySy, a WhoSampled community member and moderator from Bristol, UK.
No matter how much the music scene has changed over the last 40 years, there has been one constant force holding it all together – the Technics SL1200 turntable. No matter what style of music you play, you can almost guarantee you’ve had an encounter with this technological marvel.
Originally launched in 1972, it was marketed as a high-end home turntable, but was quickly taken under the wing of club DJ’s who wanted genuine flexibility and style. It laid the foundations of what we know as mixing today with some innovative technology that set it apart from all other record players. Coming as standard with a pitch adjuster, it meant that you could create seamless crossovers between tracks with no change in speed between the two records, what we know now as “beat matching”. A magnetic drive system also meant that you never had to worry about stretching a belt or having inaccurate playback caused by an incorrectly tensioned belt. It was also incredibly reliable, ten or more years of life from a regularly used set was by no means uncommon.
Remarkably, the design has remained unchanged, at least in the accepted sense of the word. Since 1979 with the Mk2, there have only been slight technical tweaks but the face has remained pretty much consistent throughout. Just think, how many other products can truly claim that?
Throughout its near 40 year reign, the 1200 has never really changed in appearance, although special editions have attracted different colour finishes such as gloss black and gold, but the layout has remained the same. Recently, there had been rumours that the 1200 would be discontinued. These have been almost denied by Panasonic who have stated that “there are no current plans to discontinue the Technics brand”. Now although this statement doesn’t specifically mention the 1200, I think it’s reasonably safe to presume that it will remain one of the company’s greatest assets.
With the world slowly turning digital it remains to be seen how much longer the SL will remain as widely used as it once was, but there are still some who hold close the passion for music that this legend has ingited over the decades. Forever copied, but never beaten, the Technics SL1200 has attained its legendary status through reliability, superior quality and a stubborn attitude towards changing its appearance.
No matter how much the music scene has changed over the last 40 years, there has been one constant force holding it all together – the Technics SL1200 turntable. No matter what style of music you play, you can almost guarantee you’ve had an encounter with this technological marvel.
Originally launched in 1972, it was marketed as a high-end home turntable, but was quickly taken under the wing of club DJ’s who wanted genuine flexibility and style. It laid the foundations of what we know as mixing today with some innovative technology that set it apart from all other record players. Coming as standard with a pitch adjuster, it meant that you could create seamless crossovers between tracks with no change in speed between the two records, what we know now as “beat matching”. A magnetic drive system also meant that you never had to worry about stretching a belt or having inaccurate playback caused by an incorrectly tensioned belt. It was also incredibly reliable, ten or more years of life from a regularly used set was by no means uncommon.
Remarkably, the design has remained unchanged, at least in the accepted sense of the word. Since 1979 with the Mk2, there have only been slight technical tweaks but the face has remained pretty much consistent throughout. Just think, how many other products can truly claim that?
Throughout its near 40 year reign, the 1200 has never really changed in appearance, although special editions have attracted different colour finishes such as gloss black and gold, but the layout has remained the same. Recently, there had been rumours that the 1200 would be discontinued. These have been almost denied by Panasonic who have stated that “there are no current plans to discontinue the Technics brand”. Now although this statement doesn’t specifically mention the 1200, I think it’s reasonably safe to presume that it will remain one of the company’s greatest assets.
With the world slowly turning digital it remains to be seen how much longer the SL will remain as widely used as it once was, but there are still some who hold close the passion for music that this legend has ingited over the decades. Forever copied, but never beaten, the Technics SL1200 has attained its legendary status through reliability, superior quality and a stubborn attitude towards changing its appearance.
