What is best turntable for listening to Rock from the sixties like Led Zeppelin?

In rock, and on some rock records, too much definition can be a distraction.

It is possible to 'tune' (or voice) a turntable to compliment one genre of music or another.  With sixties and seventies rock it might be advisable to select a cartridge and stylus profile that would not be too terribly revealing of guitar amp fuzz and distortion.(the intentional stuff).  Perhaps conical or, at most, an elliptical stylus profile would omit some of the definition of the distortion. We don't want to highlight guitar amp fuzz. Better to extract less of it while still reporting the overall content within the groove.  A cartridge/arm pairing known for producing gobs of bass energy and a muscular midrange.....and a little bit rolled off in the highs could be nice.  Try to imagine a certain 'warmth' within the higher frequencies.  That might help screaming, screaching guitar solos sound more stellar...and cleaner.  To some ears anyway.

Arm and cartridge are certainly key players.  For that matter the signal chain going into the phono stage.  If LOMC, then step up trannies play a role in determining part of the sonic character of the cartridge in use.  Tune for punchy and clean. A DL-103R sounds more aggressive with a 30:1 turns ratio than it does at 10:1..  We want aggressive for rock...and just about everything else for that cartridge. 

The motor unit itself.  (turntable less tonearm).  many possibilities.  But we want a TT that will not at all be affected by stylus drag as the highly modulated passages are read.  I'm thinking idler territory but also direct drive.  Belt drive...?  some belt drive turntables rock out better than others. Those least affected by stylus drag are the ones that will produce the visceral wollop, muscular drive and the drums that leap out of the speakers in front of you.

This is why I keep more than one turntable ready for work.  One in particular for rock.  It is more of a blunt instrument. A sledge hammer that over time has been voiced (by me) for groups like Led Zeppelin.  But the other turntable is more revealing, far more capable of extracting detail, micro and macro and retrieving the gentle nuances as well as the astounding feel it in yer guts wollop of the bass drum in Stravinsky's Firebird so much so that it resounds througout the listening room and is felt in the listener's bones.  The full range of what the symphonic orchestra can produce.  that is a player tuned to a sharper degree. We want that for classical. 

In rock,  and on some rock records in particular, too much definition can be a distraction..

m2c, ymmv, etc.
-Steve

Yeah…anybody who isn't clueless about actual music might have differing views. What nonsense…a clear weird bias against supposed "guitar amp fuzz" indicating a very limited understanding or appreciation of great Rock and Roll music renders the previous post hogwash. To have "Groups like Led Zeppelin" require a type of turntable with "less definition" implies somehow that tube guitar amps utilized in the studio by great payers, or recording technique like that from George Martin or Glynn Johns or many others with taste and skill somehow have less worthy fidelity. "Less affected by stylus drag"…man...

" Yeah…anybody who isn't clueless about actual music might have differing views. What nonsense…a clear weird bias against supposed "guitar amp fuzz" indicating a very limited understanding or appreciation of great Rock and Roll music renders the previous post hogwash. "

Getting excited are we?  Point was that a particular record player can be made to sound better playing back one musical genre over another.  Led Zep records are recorded fairly clean...if not perfectly.  Some of those albums sound like they were recorded in a 55 gallon drum. (LedZep II some masters more than others)  And the listener can decide whether it is preferable or not. 

Can any 'one' player reproduce a superior result in all  musical genre's ?  You'd expect it at some of the going rates.  Yet some players sound their best while reproducing music made with acoustic instruments and not a particular energetic rhythm component.  I can think of one or two expensive belt drivers that ended up being cast in that light.  But I won't mention those names.  Yes, it is possible to tune the player to the listener preferences. 

Reproducing rock music with a super energetic rhythm component, Santana for instance (1st album), does require a player that responds less to modulating stylus drag. than some of the other belt drivers out there.  A spinning platter with a higher moment of inertia at the rim is recipe for success here.  And it is clear that not all turntables are stellar in this one performance aspect.

Some phono cartridges sound a bit piercing in higher frequencies. And while playing rock loudly and the guitar solos are reaching for the moon it can over-cook the solo.  While other carts that have more warmth in the highs can reproduce the same solo to a more enjoyable effect.  And these are individual tastes as well as the difference between individual phono cartridges.

Yep, I stand by it.  Rock needs a slammy player that doesn't try to sort out the pepper from the fly-shit while playing through that groove.....and there are lots of record players out there that do not meet the definition of 'slammy'. 
Over here I set up different record players for different records.  One excels at rock, the other does Classical much nicer.

-Steve

If your table is set up properly, I think your cartridge would have more of an impact on timbre and tone control than other factors. So, maybe the OP should buy a tonearm with a removable head shell and mount it on his table. Then go out and buy a few cartridges to use as tone controls for his favorite rock group. That is logic I can understand......but setting up a whole table for one group is not wise.

God forbid if the group has a deep catalog and their albums were recording in different studio's using different engineers. Really, there is little to no continuity between albums with any group that put out more than three albums over a period of time. So, you be sheet out of luck trying that model, too. At least you can swap out cartridges and find one that sounds best with that specific album. 

In the end you might be just better off getting an EQ. They really make some nice digital ones these days that are not very expensive.

Can you imagine having a Beatles Turntable, a Rolling Stones Turntable, Kinks Table, Grateful Dead, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis, Coletrain.........sheet, you'd might end up with 100 different tables.

Don't even get me going a different cables for different groups.