Pioneer DJ CDJ-3000

With the competition for DJs’ hearts and wallets hotting up, Leon Bailey asks if the CDJ-3000 keeps Pioneer ahead of the game...

After nine years as the industry standard DJ players, found at pretty much any festival, nightclub or bar worldwide, Pioneer’s CDJ-2000 series were in major need of a refresh, particularly in the face of serious competition from companies like Denon, who’ve released kit in recent years that offers more functionality than the equivalent Pioneer models, but at a substantially lower price.

So, Pioneer has responded with their brand new CDJ-3000 multi player. The layout and features of this new model will be very familiar to anyone who’s used the 2000 series before, with evolution as opposed to revolution being the order of the day. However, there’s a couple of things missing that might annoy some, with the CDJ-3000 losing its predecessor’s start speed adjustment dial and CD drive – not a dealbreaker for most, admittedly, but something to bear in mind if you still play out using CDs.

When unpacking the deck, the first things we noticed were the bigger screen, aluminium faceplate and generally more substantial feel build quality wise, all of which contribute to a more premium feel than you’d expect from a DJ player that costs north of £2,000. Pioneer say they’ve upgraded the play and cue buttons to improve longevity – they feel more solid than before for sure, but we’d be interested to see how they hold up after some time in a busy DJ booth.

Jog on

The re-designed jog wheel seems both more solidly built, and more accurate than previous offerings from Pioneer, especially when doing fast scratches in vinyl mode. The tension adjustment in particular is nicer than before, with the jog wheel noticeably quieter in operation.