Technics 1200 turntable LED modification

This post is just me showing off what I do when I'm bored until my college classes start next week.
I swapped out my 1200's red pitch control LED for a blue LED that I bought from Radio Shack:



Big noticeable difference even at night! Since it was so easy to do, I'm going to swap out the other red LED's on the turntable for more blues ones.
I'll keep you posted...

Just curious. I have some old turntables that I use every now & then (including 78rpm). Are you having any trouble getting new cartridges for your turntable(s). I haven't done any searching for a while.

- Nick

Honestly, turntable cartridges/needles are still easy to come by. Various companies still market them not just for DJ's and also for audiophiles/hi-fidelity aficionados.

Check out The Needledoctor.

JUKE179r said:

Honestly, turntable cartridges/needles are still easy to come by. Various companies still market them not just for DJ's and also for audiophiles/hi-fidelity aficionados.

Check out The Needledoctor.

Click to expand...

I thought they still might be. I just haven't done any research lately. I'm thinking maybe if someone has an unusual brand turntable...maybe a replacement cartridge is hard to find.

Maybe the better question is...Can replacement cartridges be found inexpensively? For example...Is the same inexpensive cartridge sold back in the 1980's now selling for an astronomical price!! And I'm saying MUCH more than just factoring in inflation.

Thanks for the link.

- Nick

I finally finished the LED mod on one of my 1200's.

Before:


After:


Side by side:


I'll never mod this one:


And YES, those are real Bob James LP's. 8)

I started off months ago just cleaning the filthy platter then added blue LED's then removed the grounding cable:



For the past month I've worked on the power cord mod. I removed the stock 2 wire power cord and added a 3-prong AC socket to fit a 3-prong computer power cable:













Power cord sits flush in AC plug socket:


I finally soldered it the power wires, buttoned it up and did an ops check of it this past weekend:
My Technics 1200 AC socket mod with 3 prong power cable - YouTube

fantastic LED lights you put there.