buying vinyl online

Posted by: scottyhammer on 28 February 2007

hi muckers,
can someone shed some light on the various qualities of buying vinyl online from different countries.
its true to say that us and japanese cd pressings in general sound superior to european pressings.
but what about vinyl pressings? are us/jap pressings as good as cd pressings ?
also ive seen colombian, mexican, portugese pressings at decent prices - are they generally good quality ? or should i avoid like the plague.
thanx - scotty
Posted on: 05 March 2007 by sound_dust
Hello Martyn,

Great post and couldn't agree more. Always a tricky one calling the best of best but I think in general you are spot on. Now Scotty go get some vinyl! Smile

Cheers

John
Posted on: 05 March 2007 by sound_dust
ps I just bought the Simply Vinyl re-issue of Morressey's "Your Arsenal". I don't know where they get the source tapes from and they never seem to divulge, but is sounds great & super quiet.
Posted on: 06 March 2007 by count.d
What Martin said was spot on, except for Simply Vinyl pressings. I've tried a few and think they're awful.

I find it a little hard to believe the US Van Morrison pressings are the best, but as I've only bought the UK ones, I can't comment.

What no one's mentioned, but I find just as important as the country of manufacturer, is to find pressings with early matrix numbers e.g. A1/B1.

And yes, the Classic 45rpm's are wonderful. If you want to be amazed by how Simon & Garfunkel -BOTW sounds, buy this.

The new Joni Mitchell release is excellent. Funny enough, it was mastered by our fashionable looking Steve Hoffman.
Posted on: 06 March 2007 by sound_dust
Yes the time warp factor on Steve. Lovely bloke and very chatty on his forums. But the wardrobe and hair - kinda 80's Smile