coloured vinyl
Posted by: trickytree on 18 March 2003
What are the downsides of buying records on coloured vinyl? My local secondhand dealer recons they play, sound and last as well as black vinyl, but does say that picture disks are more for show than playing. Have any readers had any comments on the subject?
Posted on: 18 March 2003 by inkipak
I have had less positive experiences with coloured vinyl. I would say that black vinyl has less surface noise and lasts longer.
Maybe some colours are better than others..?
Posted on: 18 March 2003 by Kevin-W
In my experience, the weight of vinyl and whether it's virgin or not tends to be the most important factor. 180g or 200g is best. One of the reasons why coloured vinyl (esp from the 70s) sunds better is because they used virgin, rather than recycled vinyl.
In terms of quietness and general quality, 200g and 180g black vinyl on Classic and DCC respectively sound best, but also Rykodisc's 180g clear vinyl resissues (esp Bowie)from the late '80s and early '90s are best. Generally, clear vinyl is best, white or black the worst.
As for picture discs... don't get me started!!
Posted on: 18 March 2003 by Stephen H
I've got a couple of picture discs and they sound pretty rough. Lots of surface noise and vinyl roar. May just be duff examples I guess, but I've never felt tempted to add any more to the collection. I tend to think of them as just a novelty
Posted on: 18 March 2003 by willem
quote:
Originally posted by inkipak:
Maybe some colours are better than others..?
I think that in general the darker colours (i.e. blue, red, brown) are better than the lighter ones. OTOH: I've got an almost transparent record by Sonic Youth that sounds fantastic.
willem
Posted on: 18 March 2003 by trickytree
Thanks for the feedback. Im not interested in picture disks at all, might as well buy a poster if all you want is a pretty picture. As for the coloured vinyl question there are albums never released on vinyl but there are promotional versions out there. Id rather have a funny colour than nothing, (but not if it costs a fortune and sounds crap)
Posted on: 19 March 2003 by domfjbrown
Yeah, I have (don't laugh!) Hysteria by Def Leppard on picture disc and it's horrifically loud surface noise/vinyl roar-wise - musically (eh um) it sounds fine though...
That said, my Betty Boo Boomania (hey, I was only 14 when I got this, in the sale!!) picture disc (very nice) has no surface noise or roar as such.
My mate has Cinderella's Gypsy Road on white vinyl and it's fairly noisy too...
Another friend has Stacked up by Senser on coloured vinyl and it jumps all over the place. My copy of Behind closed doors by Thunder (one record blue, the other red) is fine however.
I also have this album by a band called "Our band sucks" (they are so bad they're good, and it was only 50p) which is on kind of a blue-purple with white swirly effect vinyl - looks very nice indeed. It's also very quiet and clean - so it's all relative...
Clear vinyl? Now you come to mention it, Dirty Love by Thunder (god my cheesetastic collection is embarrassing me now!) on clear vinyl sounds absolutely excellent.
When the music's over turn out the lights
