Pioneer sucks?

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DJKLEEN

DJ Extraordinaire
Mar 31, 2016
652
708
Lafayette la
Whoa pioneer fans! I do not know why this piece of dj gear is acting like this! I think pioneer is a reputable company,,,,,,but

So I needed another dj controller because I have double booked on the same night and need to get 2 sets going at the same time. I have been using Numarks for a while! I only use them for general purpose fading and queuing! So I decided to get something entry level in some other brand! Even though the Numark mixtrack pro 2 is quite highly rated as the best bang for your buck! I bought a DDJ- SB2 and when I plugged it in to play is is hissing. Now I remember reading about this in the ratings, some gave it 1 star and returned it. I always look at the bad ratings, because I believe the 5 star ratings are usually some sales dick trying to counteract the sucky ratings. You can always pick them out! They say " I purchased the Dyna 1000 electric turbo dog catcher 3, and It was wonderfull! I had no problems at all!" So what's up with this model?

I will probably go back to Numark! It does all that I need and works every time and sounds great .
 
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Not gonna lie, you shouldn't be getting a hissing... some things to check though. Is your mic off (even on my sz, with the mic on, a very low hiss can be somewhat heard). Is your gain structure properly set up (your master not maxed). The only other thing I can think of is that your output is rca... not necessarily your ideal method of output. I also noticed an adapter... that may affect it as well... not sure (can you eliminate it). With limited info, these are some quick things to check. Others that own it may have more insight.
 
I've used the SB2 (I don't own one) but never noticed a hiss. I think you may have a defective unit, and I'd try returning it.

But... regarding Pioneer gear...

They have a pretty clear heirarchy to their gear. For their entry level stuff, they work pretty hard to make them WORSE than the step above. Otherwise you have no incentive to pay the additional money for the next level up. I would not consider using anything less than the SX2 for a professional DJ event. And I personally use their top end gear, the SZ2 which has been absolutely excellent for me.

The SB2 is intended for bedroom DJs that are learning to mix, and to get them into the Pioneer ecosystem at an attractive price point. But if you're booking gigs on it, I'd step up to a better unit.
 
Al
I've used the SB2 (I don't own one) but never noticed a hiss. I think you may have a defective unit, and I'd try returning it.

But... regarding Pioneer gear...

They have a pretty clear heirarchy to their gear. For their entry level stuff, they work pretty hard to make them WORSE than the step above. Otherwise you have no incentive to pay the additional money for the next level up. I would not consider using anything less than the SX2 for a professional DJ event. And I personally use their top end gear, the SZ2 which has been absolutely excellent for me.

The SB2 is intended for bedroom DJs that are learning to mix, and to get them into the Pioneer ecosystem at an attractive price point. But if you're booking gigs on it, I'd step up to a better unit.
yes I hear ya. About stepping up! I am trying to keep a balance sheet on the business.i want to see how much revenue it can bring in with the equipment that I own now. Starting with a zero balance sheet in 2017, calling all past capital and expense costs written off to the price of start up.
Just income versus expenses!

Last year I would have bought on the high end, but I realized that I will never make a profit that way. I'll just end up with a shit load of money tied into a business that doesn't pay for itself. Which is just a hobby. When I think of all the work that I did in the sound world, I guess I'm trying to get it to pay off somehow!
 
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Believe it or not, it balances out over the long term (if you can fund it up front). Let's say you buy the SX2 now. If you run it for 10 years, it costs you $100 / yr.

I also understand your approach.
Yes I think that way but the wifey has a different logic !!!!!we all have a boss!

You know.

When we were young and went to school, there were certain teachers who,would hurt the children in any way they could! By pouring their division upon anything they did, exposing every weakness of how the kid lived!!! But what the town did know was ,,,,When they got home at night their fat psycopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives!
 
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Depends on how good your computer specs are. If everything is running fine as is and your mixing style isn’t affected, then leave it as is. If you have a high end computer, and demand the best performance then give it a shot and mix on it for an hour as if you were doing an actual event and see if there’s any negative results in performance.

Also, once you decide you want to make ANY sort of upgrade... my suggestion is to try and upgrade to the desired goal, rather than incremental upgrades until you get to the desired goal. You’ll save a lot of money in the long run. I wasted a lot of money over the years going for mediocre upgrades when ultimately my desire was to really have the best option. If I had waited just a few paychecks longer I could’ve gotten the right option the first time.

A prime example was back in the pioneer Cdj days I wanted the 1000’s... rather than saving money and getting those the first time I upgraded I instead bought Denon dual decks... the. Pioneer cdj200 or 300’s (can’t remember) and then ultimately the 1000’s... with the money spent on the mediocre upgrades I could’ve gotten the desired product the first time around if I just waited a little longer.
 
Depends on how good your computer specs are. If everything is running fine as is and your mixing style isn’t affected, then leave it as is. If you have a high end computer, and demand the best performance then give it a shot and mix on it for an hour as if you were doing an actual event and see if there’s any negative results in performance.

Also, once you decide you want to make ANY sort of upgrade... my suggestion is to try and upgrade to the desired goal, rather than incremental upgrades until you get to the desired goal. You’ll save a lot of money in the long run. I wasted a lot of money over the years going for mediocre upgrades when ultimately my desire was to really have the best option. If I had waited just a few paychecks longer I could’ve gotten the right option the first time.

A prime example was back in the pioneer Cdj days I wanted the 1000’s... rather than saving money and getting those the first time I upgraded I instead bought Denon dual decks... the. Pioneer cdj200 or 300’s (can’t remember) and then ultimately the 1000’s... with the money spent on the mediocre upgrades I could’ve gotten the desired product the first time around if I just waited a little longer.

“Buy once, cry once.” Has served me very well over the years.
 
Buy a lot, cry a lot has been more my mantra ...

That one is me too ;)

I have bought inexpensive gear and I've bought top end and everywhere in between. From my experience you may get lucky with cheap (and I have mostly) but it's just that luck. It's a bit cliche but you truly do get what you pay for
 
That one is me too ;)

I have bought inexpensive gear and I've bought top end and everywhere in between. From my experience you may get lucky with cheap (and I have mostly) but it's just that luck. It's a bit cliche but you truly do get what you pay for
I've bought it all .. some, many times over .. I just like playing with gear. Can't say I've bought at the extreme top (Meyer, Nexo, etc.) but I'm probably near the pragmatic top for the events I do.
 
That one is me too [emoji6]

I have bought inexpensive gear and I've bought top end and everywhere in between. From my experience you may get lucky with cheap (and I have mostly) but it's just that luck. It's a bit cliche but you truly do get what you pay for

I'm almost with ya on this, Jeff[emoji1], but it seems to me, if you buy one of the premium brands, like Pioneer, even their lowest priced models should be reliable! Pioneer's cheap controllers cost more than I paid for my American Audio controller, but the build quality of the less expensive Pioneer's don't measure up. A premium brand that puts their name on inferior products won't be a premium brand for long. My first P/A speakers I purchased were JBL's... I bought them because JBL is one of the better brands. I bought a pair of Alto's to use as backups because I could not afford another pair of the JBL's at that time. I soon realized the Alto's sounded better than the JBL's, and so the JBL's have been relegated to backup duty, and haven't been used since.

I don't own much "top of the line" gear. I also don't buy the lowest tier stuff either. No matter what you buy, you'd better do your research, because any manufacturer can produce a "dud".[emoji1]I haven't purchased anything (since starting up my business 3 years ago) that has failed. I think it's been more than good luck... has more to do with knowing the limits of my gear and taking good care of it.

Would I have bought top of the line speakers in the beginning if I had the money???? Heck yeah![emoji1] But starting up from scratch is EXPENSIVE! I had a $20,000 budget to start, and only went over slightly. There was probably only about $1,000 in purchases that were not the best choices[emoji1], and some of those were because I was misled by advice I received on another DJ forum. That's OK... I learned from those mistakes. I also know now, where and from whom I get the best advice.[emoji4]


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