Portable Record Players

[Constellation161]

Opinions wanted on VESTAX and NUMARK or any others of that type ie how well built ,quality of playback through built in speaker/headphones. Thanks in advance Mick.

[vince ayres]

i own a vestax but i think both the build quality and sound are appauling and for that matter way over priced, however it does a great job when you're diggin' for 45s.If you can find an old sony soundburger for the right money i think they're the best for sound quality and of course very compact

[Dave Thorley]

i own a vestax but i think both the build quality and sound are appauling and for that matter way over priced, however it does a great job when you're diggin' for 45s.If you can find an old sony soundburger for the right money i think they're the best for sound quality and of course very compact

I saw some where on the web that their is a company about to re-launch the 'Soundburger'. Have to see if I can find it. Agree with Vince the Vestax starts to fall apart fairly quickly.

[Mace]

You can buy a mini-amplifier that plugs inline between the phones and the player to increase sound levels (Adam showed me one a few months back...think they cost about £15), though a decent pair of headphones should also do the trick (instead of using the cheapo ones you nicked off your last holiday flight )

I have an oddball Kasuga '3in1' portable player that I got off ebay for about £40. The turntable is similar to a soundburger set up, but with a radio and cassette player added on....get lots of folk stopping me to take photos of it when I'm in the states........'kin weirdos

[TOAD]

Tip

vestax + an I KEY = MP3s on the move without a PC

[Sutty]

Fisher Price are the best sound for 45's as far as portables, better than the soundburger by miles. Adapt the power in socket on the side to a headphone output and it works a treat, had one for years and years.

This is the ltd edition you REALLY want but the basic is great

I'm not kidding, these things are superb, I sold my soundburger once I got one of these.

cheers Sutty

[Guest rosies dad]

i know a guy with one of those kiddie players. I hate it. Fumbling with that damn muppet head ive sent the needle sailing across many a record haha. i had a vestax, it was ok but always felt fragile. I have a numark now, with the usb port on it. Thats the main reason i bought it. Its ok for sound but i only use them while digging around for records..i couldnt give a toot about the sound quality...thats what the 1200s for!

[Guest JohnnyHitman]

I saw some where on the web that their is a company about to re-launch the 'Soundburger'. Have to see if I can find it. Agree with Vince the Vestax starts to fall apart fairly quickly.

Dave, that's one

https://www.crosleyra...t.aspx?pid=1869

Have been waiting for the release since a few months should be out soon! The new soundburger generation, now with USB port, too!

[Quinvy]

Had and used them all.....get a Numark mate, they are by far the best.......

Phil.

[Dave Thorley]

Dave, that's one

https://www.crosleyra...t.aspx?pid=1869

Have been waiting for the release since a few months should be out soon! The new soundburger generation, now with USB port, too!

Thats the one, any news on when it is gonna be availble

Dave

[Guest JohnnyHitman]

I have this one which sounds great and it is very loud! Looks pretty cool but unfortunately a bit heavy running with 6 big batteries!

[funkyfeet]

You can buy a mini-amplifier that plugs inline between the phones and the player to increase sound levels (Adam showed me one a few months back...think they cost about £15), though a decent pair of headphones should also do the trick (instead of using the cheapo ones you nicked off your last holiday flight )

I have an oddball Kasuga '3in1' portable player that I got off ebay for about £40. The turntable is similar to a soundburger set up, but with a radio and cassette player added on....get lots of folk stopping me to take photos of it when I'm in the states........'kin weirdos

Mace that thing of yours is a Monster, suprised they let you on a plane with it. soundburger for me.

[Guest JohnnyHitman]

Had and used them all.....get a Numark mate, they are by far the best.......

Phil.

Don't know which you had but for me the Numark sounds like shite!

Edited June 8, 2010 by JohnnyHitman

[Guest JohnnyHitman]

Thats the one, any news on when it is gonna be availble

Dave

Not so far, checked their site regulary but there have been no update since 3 months

[abbeyrnb]

Opinions wanted on VESTAX and NUMARK or any others of that type ie how well built ,quality of playback through built in speaker/headphones. Thanks in advance Mick.

I am lead to believe that Soundburger is the best for both portability and sound quality . So many people say its the best and who am I to argue . I will confirm this once a certain body on here sorts mine out for me ( hint hint Lol ) it is getting close to a first aniversary ! and I'm off to the states in Sept and hope it will be sorted by then ( hint hint ) I think the guy is building a new one for me by the sounds of it .

Only kidding bud !!

[Mace]

Mace that thing of yours is a Monster, suprised they let you on a plane with it. soundburger for me.

Funnily enough, the last trip resulted in 3 bag searches prior to boarding the plane because of the fcuker

They never found all the class A drugs I'd hidden in me undercrackers though, so happy days

(Just joking in case any smart arse customs officer is reading this and decides to pop my arse cherry next trip )

[Mace]

I am lead to believe that Soundburger is the best for both portability and sound quality . So many people say its the best and who am I to argue . I will confirm this once a certain body on here sorts mine out for me ( hint hint Lol ) it is getting close to a first aniversary ! and I'm off to the states in Sept and hope it will be sorted by then ( hint hint ) I think the guy is building a new one for me by the sounds of it .

Only kidding bud !!

Was only talking about this tonight with Dennis (who, in my defense, kept me waiting for 4 weeks for wiring diagrams that ended up being of no use whatsover, probably cus they weren't even soundburger wiring diagrams )

Gotta be honest, it's not looking good mate, got it in a million pieces and haven't got a clue how to rebuild it.

Good news is my son has used some of the parts with his lego collection and made a cracking crane using the stylus arm......clouds and silver linings eh

Edited June 8, 2010 by Mace

[abbeyrnb]

Was only talking about this tonight with Dennis (who, in my defense, kept me waiting for 4 weeks for wiring diagrams that ended up being of no use whatsover, probably cus they weren't even soundburger wiring diagrams )

Gotta be honest, it's not looking good mate, got it in a million pieces and haven't got a clue how to rebuild it.

Good news is my son has used some of the parts with his lego collection and made a cracking crane using the stylus arm......clouds and silver linings eh

Hi Bud I know about denbo saga he needs get sorted . I can beleive the lego bit a chip off the old block is he then .

Denbo says he knows a guy who builds them up maybe an option just shovel the bits up into an envelpope for me and see what denbo says .

you got to laugh eh

[Denbo]

Was only talking about this tonight with Dennis (who, in my defense, kept me waiting for 4 weeks for wiring diagrams that ended up being of no use whatsover, probably cus they weren't even soundburger wiring diagrams )

Gotta be honest, it's not looking good mate, got it in a million pieces and haven't got a clue how to rebuild it.

Good news is my son has used some of the parts with his lego collection and made a cracking crane using the stylus arm......clouds and silver linings eh

Hey!!!???

Edited June 9, 2010 by denbo

[Mace]

Hi Bud I know about denbo saga he needs get sorted . I can beleive the lego bit a chip off the old block is he then .

Denbo says he knows a guy who builds them up maybe an option just shovel the bits up into an envelpope for me and see what denbo says .

you got to laugh eh

Might need more than one envelope....

Might need more than one shovel come to think about it....

Think Dennis wants to try the guy out with a few probs on his own first , so will get it built up and can bring it Radcliffe in July, or pass it on to Dennis at Hideaway beforehand on the same night if not fixed.

I did offer to look at Dennis' but he didn't seem too keen on the idea

[abbeyrnb]

Hey!!!???

Innocent !! you have never been that bud , must sort out that fellow and see if he is any good with meccano never mind soundburgers !

[Guest john s]

Soundburger would be first choice, though it doesn't have a built-in speaker, of course, just a headphone socket, so you'd have to use a little powered speaker if you didn't want to use headphones. And I think the tonearms are a bit vulnerable to clumsy people.

Fisher-Price players are basically indestructible (being designed for three-year-olds), great for 45s, pretty ungainly for playing LPs (hard to find tracks). Loud too.

Numark and Vestax players both pieces of crap as far as build quality goes, and stupid design faults like the on/off switch being on the outside, so your batteries can get run down very fast if the switch gets accidentally knocked to 'on'.

The Columbia GP-3 is a pretty good compromise if you can find one - built much tougher than the Numark and Vestax, loud, great battery life, and fairly compact.

[Guest]

You can buy a mini-amplifier that plugs inline between the phones and the player to increase sound levels (Adam showed me one a few months back...think they cost about £15), though a decent pair of headphones should also do the trick (instead of using the cheapo ones you nicked off your last holiday flight )

Brilliant bit of kit that mini amplifier and amazingly powerful....means you can actually hear the record clearly when in a venue and that's pretty useful when Mace is trying to sell you his latest pile of shite at 3am . Even with a decent set of headphones on the Numark that I've used for the last 3 years the standard volume output just isn't loud enough but the mini-amp at half power with the decks output also at half power will be loud enough for anywhere. Saves the battery power on the deck as well cos you're not having to use it at full volume all the time.

Mini-amp is actually designed for mp3 players, bought mine for my ipod and when it arrived I started wondering if it would work on the deck....quickly plugged it in and popped a record on without realising deck and amp were at full volume and promptly blew both speakers in the headphones . It's called a FiiO E5 Headphone Amplifier the link is a good review of it but don't buy from that site as it costs under £15 on eBay.

Adam.

[Guest rosies dad]

Soundburger would be first choice, though it doesn't have a built-in speaker, of course, just a headphone socket, so you'd have to use a little powered speaker if you didn't want to use headphones. And I think the tonearms are a bit vulnerable to clumsy people.

Fisher-Price players are basically indestructible (being designed for three-year-olds), great for 45s, pretty ungainly for playing LPs (hard to find tracks). Loud too.

Numark and Vestax players both pieces of crap as far as build quality goes, and stupid design faults like the on/off switch being on the outside, so your batteries can get run down very fast if the switch gets accidentally knocked to 'on'.

The Columbia GP-3 is a pretty good compromise if you can find one - built much tougher than the Numark and Vestax, loud, great battery life, and fairly compact.

im with this! my first portable was one of these..sturdy as hell..i dropped the thing on concrete and aside from being scratched up you'd have never known. kept working just fine. and it was nice and loud...wish id never sold the thing....damn...

jacob

[Guest]

Edited June 9, 2010 by mossy

[Dave Moore]

Bought the portable Numark when it came out. Used it twice, went tits up. Never again.

Regards,

Dave

[Cheapsiderecords]

My lad bought me the Numark PT-01 USB for my 50th - bless him. I have had no problems with it for the first 4 months although it does seem a bit fragile in places. Take it with me to all the shows but remarkably I still bring home shit records.

Edited June 9, 2010 by newer

[Guest]

Opinions wanted on VESTAX and NUMARK or any others of that type ie how well built ,quality of playback through built in speaker/headphones. Thanks in advance Mick.

All you buggers need to sort out to get the USA is a decent portable record player !

What about us daft fookers that can't get a visa ?

[Val (Chunky)]

SOUNDBURGER By far the best

[Quinvy]

Don't know which you had but for me the Numark sounds like shite!

Not through a pair of quality headphones. I would never use the speaker on a portable, what's the point?

[Denbo]

Innocent !! you have never been that bud , must sort out that fellow and see if he is any good with meccano never mind soundburgers !

Didn't see anybody else coming forward offering help with useless information.

[Trev Thomas]

Fisher Price are the best sound for 45's as far as portables, better than the soundburger by miles. Adapt the power in socket on the side to a headphone output and it works a treat, had one for years and years.

This is the ltd edition you REALLY want but the basic is great

I'm not kidding, these things are superb, I sold my soundburger once I got one of these.

cheers Sutty

i had one of these, it really was the buisness, bought it at a car boot sale about 15 years ago. it finally packed up last year, got a sound burger now

[Guest old soul boy64]

i have a sound burger for sale if any one looking

[Trev Thomas]

i have a sound burger for sale if any one looking

how much ?

[Guest old soul boy64]

how much ?

not sure what it would sale for mate

[Guest JohnnyHitman]

Not through a pair of quality headphones. I would never use the speaker on a portable, what's the point?

What's the point, well, ehhrr, listening without headphones. (e.g at a picnic with friends) With headphones the output is very low and the whole turntable is pure crap. I pretty would say the worst for your money, even the vestax is better.

I don't know which other portables you had but obviously not the right ones that you came to the conclusion that numark is the best!

Edited June 9, 2010 by JohnnyHitman

[Kevinkent]

What's the point, well, ehhrr, listening without headphones. (e.g at a picnic with friends) With headphones the output is very low and the whole turntable is pure crap. I pretty would say the worst for your money, even the vestax is better.

I don't know which other portables you had but obviously not the right ones that you came to the conclusion that numark is the best!

Depends how much money your talkin'.

I got my ION/Numark iPT-01 brand new from Maplins for £43 during their sale. Had it 5 or 6 years without any problems. Use decent headphones for sales and trawling bootfairs etc. For occasional home use and checking postie's new deliveries without setting the decks up I have it linked up to the auxiliary socket on my stereo system.

Whatever the make, it would be nice to see at least one portable set up at every venue that encourages sales.

[Jules]

I got a phillips 603 from t` car boot, think its early 70`s. its really good, fairly loud, stereo, has 2 detachable speakers, light and will work off batteries. bargain for £15

[Constellation161]

Also anyone know anything about the BUSH RPA1 available at Argos. Mick

[Guest JohnnyHitman]

Also anyone know anything about the BUSH RPA1 available at Argos. Mick

This is not a portable and doesn't run with batteries!

[Constellation161]

Sorry, should have added although they are advertised as portable for what I intend to use it for it does not need to run on batteries. Mick

[Fdsoul6345789]

Got to agree with Val and others -- AUDIOTECHNICA SOUNDBURGER is the real deal. Light, extremely portable and excellent sound quality.

fdsoul6345789

[Quinvy]

What's the point, well, ehhrr, listening without headphones. (e.g at a picnic with friends) With headphones the output is very low and the whole turntable is pure crap. I pretty would say the worst for your money, even the vestax is better.

I don't know which other portables you had but obviously not the right ones that you came to the conclusion that numark is the best!

If you use a decent pair of headphones ie. Stanton Pro 3000 the volume is massive, and records can be heard clearly even in an allnighter. Why the heck you would want to play 45's at a picnic the mind boggles. The Vestax has very low volume, and if you are listening to a tune and want to take it off, the tone arm is very difficult to lift without scratching the record. Also, the Numark has pitch control, which is very useful. The tone arm is very easy to take off the record. The sound quality is pretty good through an amp, and deffinately preferable to the Vestax.

I also have an original Sound Burger. These are very good, but much more prone to being upset at an allnighter. The headphone cable is prone to getting caught around the player or tone arm. Also the lid being up can be knocked by people reaching over for records out of boxes etc. and very susceptible to vibrations through the table.

It also depends what you want to use the deck for. I imagined that the original poster wanted to use for record sales at venues or buying trips. After all, that's what they are designed for. If you want to play vinyl through an amp, no portable deck can hope to compare with a proper turntable with a good quality tone arm/cartridge.

For listening to 45's at allnighters, and for buying trips to the states or record fairs, I stand by what I said. The Numark is the best I have come across.

Phil.

Edited June 11, 2010 by Phil Kowalski

[Denbo]

If you use a decent pair of headphones ie. Stanton Pro 3000 the volume is massive, and records can be heard clearly even in an allnighter. Why the heck you would want to play 45's at a picnic the mind boggles. The Vestax has very low volume, and if you are listening to a tune and want to take it off, the tone arm is very difficult to lift without scratching the record. Also, the Numark has pitch control, which is very useful. The tone arm is very easy to take off the record. The sound quality is pretty good through an amp, and deffinately preferable to the Vestax.

I also have an original Sound Burger. These are very good, but much more prone to being upset at an allnighter. The headphone cable is prone to getting caught around the player or tone arm. Also the lid being up can be knocked by people reaching over for records out of boxes etc. and very susceptible to vibrations through the table.

It also depends what you want to use the deck for. I imagined that the original poster wanted to use for record sales at venues or buying trips. After all, that's what they are designed for. If you want to play vinyl through an amp, no portable deck can hope to compare with a proper turntable with a good quality tone arm/cartridge.

For listening to 45's at allnighters, and for buying trips to the states or record fairs, I stand by what I said. The Stanton is the best I have come across.

Phil.

Did you mean to say a Numark?

[Mace]

Johnny Beggs reckons this is the best portable player he has ever owned...

[Guest JohnnyHitman]

Why the heck you would want to play 45's at a picnic the mind boggles.

Well, think harder...

The Numark and the Vestax are both crap in my opinion. I never said that vestax is a quality turntable just said it's better than numark wouldn't buy both. If you like Numark, fair enough! Some people also prefer a Toyota to a Porsche

Edited June 11, 2010 by JohnnyHitman

[Philt]

My Soundburger is running a tad slow; hadn't used it for ages. New batteries but no joy. Any ideas re how to remedy (NOT YOU Mace thanks)

[Val (Chunky)]

My Soundburger is running a tad slow; hadn't used it for ages. New batteries but no joy. Any ideas re how to remedy (NOT YOU Mace thanks)

sounds like the belt could be slipping

[Denbo]

sounds like the belt could be slipping

Yes, if it's not been used for a while the belt may have lost it's elasticity and is therefore operating ineffectively.

Either that, or the potentiometer on the circuit board may need adjusting, to adjust the speed of the turntable slightly, which is done via two little holes in the base using a narrow philips screwdriver. But don't be too heavy handed when attempting this or you may separate the potentiometer from the circuit board itself. I think I may have done that on my spare SoundBurger. :o(

My advice would be to check out the belt FIRST.

[Philt]

Yes, if it's not been used for a while the belt may have lost it's elasticity and is therefore operating ineffectively.

Either that, or the potentiometer on the circuit board may need adjusting, to adjust the speed of the turntable slightly, which is done via two little holes in the base using a narrow philips screwdriver. But don't be too heavy handed when attempting this or you may separate the potentiometer from the circuit board itself. I think I may have done that on my spare SoundBurger. :o(

My advice would be to check out the belt FIRST.

cheers both