The Technics SL1200 – the turntables beloved by generations of DJs – turns 55 next year, and to celebrate, the manufacturer has something special up their sleeve.
Technics has announced that they’re issuing a special limited-edition 55th anniversary turntable next month. And they are genuinely limited – only 12,000 of them will be sold globally and each one will feature an individually engraved anniversary badge with its serial number.
In a statement, Technics has said that the anniversary edition is “designed to celebrate the timeless value of vinyl culture and DJ artistry, and the enduring power of truly engaging with music... Reflecting the evolution of DJ culture into diverse spaces, the limited edition will be available in seven colourways: Gold, Blue, Red, Black, Green, White, Grey. With gold accents bringing a new level of visual expression to any DJ performance while honouring the iconic heritage of the SL-1200 Series.”
They’ve gone to town on the gold, with a gold anodised S-shaped aluminium tonearm, a platter with a gold-coloured rim and strobe marks, matching gold knobs and buttons, a gold-finished tonearm base, a commemorative anniversary badge, and a specially designed gold-themed slip mat.
(Gold is of course associated with 50th anniversaries rather than 55th ones, but hey, it’s their iconic turntable and they can celebrate any way they want.)
It’s no exaggeration to say that the 1200 is one of the few pieces of gear that changed music history. Though it isn’t the first direct-drive turntable – that would be its predecessor, the Technics SP-10 – it was the one that caught on amongst DJs the world over.
Its durability, pitch control and resistance to vibration gave them new creative freedom and made beat-matching, cueing and, later on, scratching simply more achievable. Disco, hip hop and the post-acid house explosion in dance music would not have developed in the same way without the 1200.
Anyway, the new 55th anniversary edition will be out in September. Before then, it will make its live debut at the DMC DJs Day at Fabryka Norblina in Warsaw on Thursday (August 20) and will be unveiled later on today on YouTube by Japanese DJ ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U.
