Anyone into Japanese vinyl?

Since there's a vinyl thread, I guess I could ask here;
Anyone have any recommendations for a good pickup? I have some old ass USB turn-table that I bought through the apple store some 6-7 years ago, but the pickup that came with it just hasn't been much to write home about.

(Also, as far as JP vinyls go, I have a few anime soundtracks, singles, and audio dramas from the 80s, the cover art is indeed the type of stuff that looks really good on display, which can usually not be said of most of the other LPs I have. Not really a collector, just grabbed stuff I wanted.)

 

I bought an Audio-technica AT-PL30 for 600 yen, used. While it's not the ultimate in audio fidelity it does have a pretty good pick-up. It's also a standard system (non USB) but with a built in amp which is not too bad to be honest. I have it connected to my PC's Xonar sound card to record the vinyl for use in my car or digital music player.

I also have many anime 7 inch singles. I love the way many of them had double-sided covers so you can either show the anime side or the actual artist.

 

For pick-ups, anything by Shure or Ortofon is usually great. I've been using a rather cheap (~$40) Ortofon pickup on my Technics for years and it's great overall. It's been made for DJs though, so if you want a pickup that may be less robust but has higher overall fidelity, go with Shure and their slightly higher priced pickups.

All these kits will vary in outcome based on your record player, and most newer ones from a few years ago (when I last checked) had some issues, especially when they cost less than $150 initially. But I'd say with a good pickup you can't really go wrong. At least you'll be able to change it onto a new player once you are ready to upgrade and it'll boost its quality instantly as well.

 

Sweet. Thanks for the help and sample, you two!

 

a good balance of price and quality for home use is the ortofon elektro (formely broadcast). dont take a pro or banana, but everything from the dj systems up is pretty much alrite. in case of shure it would be the m44.

and ye, for turntable get a nice 80ies model (Dual, Thorens, Technics etc.), in combination with a proper system they most sound great and miles better than anything new and affordable + the usb whatever turntable is best stored in the bin hehe ......., i dont know ANY good one .......

 

The USB one was sort of an impulse buy, 'cause I wanted something to easily digitize my collection -- and, well, coming off some great success from digitizing VHS tapes with some equipment, I kinda "hoped" modern turntables wouldn't be complete garbage, but, yeah, in general, I feel the pick-up on the one I grabbed was the only true drawback. No speeding issues or anything like that, at least.

 

hmmmm if u really want to digitize your collection, theres no way around a proper and solid turntable which produces a low amount of sidenoise + a good phono preamp or a good stereo amp + a very good soundcard. everything else wont get u even close to getting good results. still the cheapest solution would be then a technics 1210, if u arent up to spend multiple thousand € for anything audiophile.

good A-D converters are expensive, so theres absolutely no chance to find something like that in a cheap turntable with internal amp. if someone would build one that has decent components it will never ever be below 500€, if at all.

for a simple test, record the silence of a very clean vinyl and have a look at the waveform created, turn up the volume and have a listen ..... . :/.

 

Not a problem

 

My father is a vinyl collector so whenever he is in town we get to raid all the vinyl shops - he's sold quite a few rarities to Japanese buyers too who seem to have a taste for obscure English bands

The vinyl bars are incredible - can't get enough of them, have one just round the corner from the house.

 

Bought a few new records this week from a local store. I'm a massive Pet Shop Boys fan so I was delighted to find these.
UK 12" press of Heart and a Japanese press of the 2nd album, Actually.



The Japanese Actually album comes with a free 7" single of Always on my Mind and B-side Heart (dub) The cover is very plain and says "This dance single is only available with Japanese copies of "Actually", actually

Funny thing is that the Actually album is called "Kanashimi no Tenshi" in Japanese which means Sorrow of Angel! WTF!!! But it gets even more odd because Kanashimi no Tenshi is the Japanese title for "It's a sin". So I guess officially this Album is called "It's a sin" in Japan ?

 

I'm a little late to this, but check out Wokini in Shibuya - back by all the Love Hotels. Nice guys that run it.

 

I can imagine you had quite a collection of Japanese vinyl, GaijinPunch.

 

Most of my stuff was imported. I got a handful. The prize of my collection (from any region) is a pristine copy of this...

http://www.discogs.com/Geinoh-Yamashirogumi-Symphonic-Suite-Akira/release/2142270

 

Very nice. I have a MP3 rip of that on an older HD. It probably sounds like crap now too since the development of encoding has improved so much. How much did your copy set you back?

 

With some serious internet skills I found a "store" (by which I mean a text-only list on some blog site) that had a copy for 6800 yen. Yoink! A beaten copy w/ no obi went on YJ a few days later for 20,000 yen. It's been reprinted now, so of course, it's for collections only, but I'm happy w/ my purchase.

 

A few pictures of a very small selection of the mountain of stuff I brought back from the UK but first, two Japanese presses of Erasure tracks. Ship of fools and Sometimes.



One of nine Pet Shop Boys 12" singles. This one is actually a very good house/techno mix collection.


Pet Shop Boys - It's a Sin 12"


Lonnie Gordon - Happen' all over again 12" a classic dance track from the late 80's.


FAB Feat' MC Parker - Thunder Birds Are Go! 12" How can you not love this. Odd thing is that the B-side is much better than the A side mix. So much so that it was the B-Side they played mostly on the radio and the chart countdowns.


No late 80's early 90's 12" collection would be complete without some Italia house from Black Box. 1 of 3 Black Box 12" brought back from the UK.

 

I only have a few LPs from Japan because the shipping costs, but what I do have is pretty much immaculate. My favourite would have to be this, for nostalgia purposes.. http://www.discogs.com/Godiego-Magic-Monkey/release/1960511

 

Classic. I'd buy that just for Gandara.

 

That's what I got it for! Such a lovely song.

 

It sure is. I've done it in karaoke a few times too over the years. I've actually got the Monkey Magic single somewhere with Gandara on the B side. I'll try and dig it out.