Numark PT01 Scratch Portable Turntable with Built-In DJ Scratch Switch

Do you have a budding DJ or desire to learn the latest DJ Techniques or moves as they prefer to call them? Do they need a portable scratch turntable? Then the Numark PT01 Scratch Portable Turntable with Built-In DJ Scratch / Fade Switch is something you would have to seriously consider. It is not a professional grade turntable but it has many features that could make it more desirable than some of the professional gear. At this very affordable price this one is hard to look past check out my Numark PT01 scratch review.

I think that it is better quality than the low price would lead you to believe. The build quality is very acceptable when you consider the price. The portability is a huge bonus being both powered from AC and battery with built in speaker. Your budding turntablist could do a lot worse if they are highly mobile.

To have such an affordable and highly portable turntable that has many connection options including both large (¼ inch) and small (1/8 inch) headphone outs along with USB and RCA makes this a strong contender for the best portable turntable that I’ve seen for quite some time.

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Go Direct To Amazon Numark PT 01 Scratch

Main Features Of The Numark Portable Scratch Turntable

3-speed vinyl turntable (33 1/3, 45 and 78 RPM) with built-in Scratch Slide Switch
Built-in speaker, protective case, and integrated carrying handle
Wall-powered with included AC adapter or six batteries (not included)
1/8″ aux input with adjustable volume; RCA line outputs; 1/4″ & 1/8″ headphone outs
Class-compliant USB connection for PC recording
Ease of replacement stylus and slide scratch switch
3-Speed Vinyl Turntable
45 RPM Adapter included

The Numark PT01 Scratch can play 33 RPM, 45 RPM or 78 RPM records. The mechanism is a belt driven which makes for simplicity and helps to keep the cost of this turntable low. Belt drives are less power hungry than a direct drive and there this helps to give better battery life which is important for this highly portable scratch turntable.

The 3 speeds gives you considerable versatility to play or scratch your 7 inch, 12 inch or 10 inch records. This could be an interesting way to use your old 78’s as these are very hardy but are heavier. The greater mass of the old 78 records might require you to change your scratching techniques for this older vinyl format.

However the 3 speed mechanism is will require the replacement of belts every once in a while but that’s ok as the belts are quite inexpensive and very easy to replace.

Built-in Scratch Slide Switch

This is such a brilliant idea for a turntable that is marketed to the beginner turntablist to put the scratch switch in the player and allow it to be made fully portable. The switch is not really a professional quality switch but is however quite reasonable quality. Numark call it a scratch / slide switch which is a good description, it doesn’t really have any fade capability. Despite this there is more than enough fun for a new Turntablist in this portable record player to develop the the basic skills to go on to greater things.

The placement of the scratch / fade switch and access to it makes it very simple to swap out with a new one. No technical skills are required just the ability to turn a screwdriver. The switch itself is readily available and very inexpensive.

The scratch switch is designed to easily configure for different positions. If you are left or right handed or have other preferences for the position of the switch it highly likely you can find something that suits your needs.

It is not a professional scratch switch with cross fade capability. Despite the shortcomings of this feature the NuMark PT01 scratch is still a very capable and extremely powerful low priced portable vinyl player for someone who is not able to afford professional gear and when the cost of professional gear is not justified.

For the newbies this is a great option that will allow you to step from “no idea at all” to “got the potential skills to do great work”. This is a very important period for people that have the desire and can develop their dream of becoming a DJ Turntablist.

Built-In Speaker, Protective Case, And Integrated Carrying Handle.

The Numark PT01 Scratch has been developed from the standard PT01. The standard PT01 had many features and was the favourite of the scratch community due to the flexibility of this great turntable.

The PT01 has a built in speaker that will enhance the portability and usefulness of this portable turntable. People that have purchased the PT01 Scratch have commented that the internal speaker does not have a great sound . This is understandable given the size of the speaker and the price of this portable turntable. However do not be discouraged by the comments made by purchasers.

The quality of the sound from the internal speaker is typical of this style of Portable Record Player. The great thing about the Numark PT01 Scratch Portable Turntable with Built-In DJ Scratch Switch is that although the sound is not the best from the internal speaker it has some absolutely stellar connection options that more than make up for this shortfall.

Got to Amazon Here to the Numark Scratch Portable

1/8″ aux input with adjustable volume; RCA line outputs; 1/4″ & 1/8″ headphone outs

First of all there is the 1/8^th or 1/4 headphone outs for plugging in all kinds of headphone to suit your needs. Even with a relatively inexpensive headset your PT 01 scratch will begin to sound like a very professional unit indeed.

If you want to go bigger then there is the option of the RCA outputs that can plug into active speakers, a home stereo or even a professional amp and speakers. The difference in sound is going to be mind blowing. The PT01 has adjustable volume or gain controls that will allow you to set the volume into your amplifier to avoid any distortion.

Now as if that wasn’t enough you can also plug a 1/8^th line into this record player and use it like a music centre. Most media players and phones will be able to hook up to it and provide background music to perform your routine too.

Wall-Powered With Included AC Adapter Or Battery Operation

The PT 01 has power AC adapter and includes battery power capability. The battery pack will take 6 x D cell batteries. Although these can seem a little expensive to purchase and D cells are not as common as some other sizes there been reports of people getting more than 40 hours playtime from a set of D Batteries. This is an extraordinary amount of time from a single set of batteries. 40 hours is a long time to use this portable turntable for.

Battery powered portable vinyl players are harder to find and if you are looking specifically for highly portable and very small battery powered record player I have a review on the Sylvania Turntable Record Player with USB Encoding that may be of interest.

Class-compliant USB connection for PC recording.

This is one very important feature that is included with your Numark PT01 Scratch. USB connection allows you to record your routines for later playback or to send as demos of your art.

The Numark Scratch comes with free recording software EZ Vinyl / Tape Converter. This software is by Ion who I believe are the licensee for this software I have included a download link to the EZ Vinyl Tape Converter setup software for Windows

https://www.ionaudio.com/downloads/EZVinylTapeConverterSetup_Win_11-7.zip

Here’s a download link for the MAC OSX version https://www.ionaudio.com/downloads/EZVinylTapeConverterSetup_OSX_11-5.zip

Now this is not the only software that you can use there is other free software available the will work just as well as EZ Vinyl / Tape Converter others that you can use. These are both free software.

Free Conversion Software

Audacity see the guys at Audacity Team http://www.audacityteam.org/
Garage Band for MAC http://www.apple.com/au/ios/garageband/

Paid Conversion Software

Golden Records for Windows or Mac http://www.nch.com.au/golden/index.html

Slip Mat or Platter Mat

I would strongly recommend getting a platter mat, or Slip Matt there are several very good ones on Amazon. I can recommend Turntable Labs Spacemat Record Slipmat for your DJ work . At sub $15 it is a good mat at a very reasonable price. The Spacemat will give you an even slip rate and help to protect your vinyl at the same time. However you can just put a plastic bag flattened out under the Numark platter mat and you can get some excellent results. The reason why is that platter mats are designed to increase friction so that slippage is reduced. A good DJ knows that a certain amount of slippage is what is needed to cut a really good routine. The plastic bag for most beginners DJ’s will work well.

The Conclusion

Basically this is one of the best portable turntables for The beginner DJ around at the moment it could be the best portable turntable for the newbie period. The quality is very good given the low price for this portable record player. It has the Scratch / Cut switch that makes an instant hit for anyone in the DJ fraternity.

It has true portability, lightweight and great selection of connection options. And thrown in for good measure is the additional gain control just like the professional gear.

There have been some comments regarding quality of the build but I don’t see how these are justified. However I have 1 reservation about the tonearm on this player. The tonearm is a little on the light side and in order to have working properly the player would have to be setup absolutely level. If not then it may need some additional weight on the stylus to keep it from skipping grooves.

Overall all with a 3.5 star rating this portable scratch turntable is the best portable turntable I have seen for some time. If you would like to see a video of this portable scratch turntable check my Best Portable Turntable Video Reviews page here.

portable scratch turntable