Every Technics SL-1200, and how to tell them apart.

The original, sold as a hi-fi deck. Disco and radio DJs picked it up anyway.

Quartz lock and the pitch slider, then 31 years with barely a change. The one hip-hop and house were built on.

Japan-only refinement: the first official all-black 1200, damped with Technics' non-resonance compound.

Piano-black and gold-plated: 5,000 units celebrating two million 1200s sold.

Built for listening, not DJing: 78 rpm, detachable cables, an upgraded arm. Rarely seen outside Japan.

The MK3 without the click at 0% pitch, plus a reset button, a recessed power switch and a headshell stand.

The MK3D for the rest of the world, with a recessed power switch DJs couldn't kill mid-set.

The scratch-era workhorse: doubled anti-skate, white LED target light, last of the analog pitch.

The 30th-anniversary deck: first digital pitch, a ±16% range and blue LEDs. Turntablists liked it best.

Three million sold, in black gloss and gold; 3,000 units on an M5G heart.

The final classic: quiet refinements, plus a 1,200-unit 35th-anniversary edition with a gold record.

The comeback: 1,200 numbered units for the brand's 50th, gone in about 30 minutes.

The hi-fi flagship: coreless twin-rotor motor, four-layer cabinet, 18 kg.

Most of the G for half the price, and 7 kg lighter.

The DJ deck returns: coreless motor, 78 rpm, reverse play; the first new DJ 1200 in nine years.

55 years of Technics in black: 1,210 numbered units, with a strobe you can switch off.

An MK7 in Red Bull BC One colors, with a gold tonearm and red headshell.

50 years of the 1200: 12,000 units, seven colors, gold tonearms.

The current Grand Class: ΔΣ-Drive motor control and flagship-derived silent power at $2,199.