Help…looking to buy turntable

agree with others about buying new over used. I've been hearing alot of good things about the Technics 1210 GR and they hold their value on resell market.

I purchased from Underwood their LSA 2 that is made by Edwards Audio. Its [essentially] the guts of a Rega with an improved tone arm and acrylic platter.

https://www.underwoodhifi.com/products/lsa-turntables

I’m assuming your $1200 budget includes cartridge.  I would consider it wise to get the best possible TT, and then get the best possible cartridge without going overboard.  In other words, don’t put a souped-up engine in a Ford Pinto.  
The suggestions for the Music Hall Classic Seem very sound (no pun intended) to me.  It’s also a very visually appealing TT, if that matters to you.

You could install (and would have to learn how to optimally calibrate/align) say, an Ortofon Bronze cartridge on that bad boy, and, with tax, be around $1100.  You could opt for the Ortofon Blue and be around $900.

I’m only suggesting Ortofon cartridges because they seem like good bang-for-the-buck cartridges. On an old TT, I had a low-end 2m Red which, back then, retailed for about $100.  Surprisingly good cartridge.

Other posters here, I wouldn’t doubt, may have better suggestions for cartridges in, say, the $200-$500 price range.

Rega +1

Tonearm pre-installed and suggested carts make them easy. Oh yeah, great sound too. 

VPI Cliffwood or Player - entry level VPI tables, both with cartridge pre-installed. The Player lists at $2000 (over your budget, but does also have a built in phono preamp and headphone jack).  The Cliffwood is $1500, but you'll most likely need a phono preamp...Musical Fidelity V90-lps at around $300 is a really good entry level phono stage that supports both MM & MC.