Technics SL-1500 Needle ?

1st place to look is to make sure that what ever you have plugged it into has a real phono section.... If you plugged it into a normal input with RIAA, it will sound nasty.... If you have a phono section built in, then yes,  next is to look at the cartridge and stylus.
Tim

sorry,  if you plugged it into an input WITHOUT RIAA, it will sound nasty,  you need a phono eq... that is what RIAA does for you. Tim 

I have it plugged into an Art Pro DJPRE II Phono Turntable Preamplifier which in turn is connected to my Cary system via analog cables. The Cary is set to analog bypass for that input. Thanks.