1st pressed vinyl best ones to get ?

Generally speaking, you want the original pressing from the country in which the recording was made.

This is because there is usually a feedback mechanism between the artist and the LP pressing plant where a test pressing is produced which is then approved or rejected by the artist/producer. This insures the sound that was intended. This mechanism usually does not exist in the same way in other countries- for example a British recording being released in the US with a US pressing.

I have the Led Zepp II album ( 588198 with A2/B2. It is really interesting reading everybody else's experiences and knowledge on this subject. When I get this copy I shall have a good listen and report back what I think. Although I don't have another copy to compare it to. However I did choose this version to the current one they are selling in the shops on the local high street.  I guess it's also the idea of having a first pressing that is nice from a collectors point of view, from an audiophile angle I shall let you know in due course. I probably won't be getting to many first pressings as can be quiet costly.

Thanks again 

Agreed with the RL mastered version of LZ II.  Many original Robert Ludwig Sterling and Masterdisk mastered first pressings are the ones to get.

As a general rule, first pressings are best, and I generally dislike reissues, particularly the half-speed ones that sound phasey, thin, and compressed.  They often use equalization through RLC circuits that add phase distortions.  Later masterings usually fail due to degraded master tapes and/or loss of mastering techniques that were superior originally.

Getting a pressing from the country of the artist often works but there are many that don't follow that rule as far as the best pressing.  I think a better way is to look on Discogs and learn the parent record company, as the highest generation master tape usually stays in the country of the parent company for mastering, while lower generation tapes are sent overseas for mastering in that country.  I learned this when a US A&M pressing of Cat Stevens Tea for the Tillerman significantly beat a UK pink Island pressing.  Obviously the highest generation master tape was done by A&M, probably by Bernie Grundman.

Sometimes a second or third pressing can beat an original, but I usually look for the mastering house in the trailout.  If it comes from RL, Sterling, Masterdisk, Kendun, Precision, Bernie Grundman, The Mastering Lab, and other independent mastering houses, these are usually sonically superior.

RLawry- at the time Tea was released, Island Records was still an independent company in the UK and had no U.S. counterpart till a short time later, so US territory would have been llcensed. I had to look it up (because I just can’t keep all this stuff in my head), but the UK firsts were mastered by Lee Hulko, who if memory serves, founded Sterling. It wasn’t unusual for Island UK to use a US mastering facility. I’m not commenting on your preference for the A&M over the UK pink (label presumably, not a pink rim); just questioning whether we can construct rules that predict sonic outcomes and how your rule applies in the case you cited. My rule: listen to it! I do agree that the sign-off of one or another of the legendary mastering engineers in the deadwax is a telltale for good sound. Not trying to be a prickly, just seeking clarification of your example.

whart, thanks for the info.  So Island was the parent company but A&M either did a better mastering job, as they were wont to do, or received a higher generation master.  I agree that there are no hard and fast rules and many exceptions, but I stand on my argument that finding the parent record company is a much better predictor of optimal sonics than the country of the artist, based on, yes, listening.  Just listen to ELP for instance.  The UK Island pressings sound best except for the first album, for which I found a Cotillion that sounds far better.  There are also pressing variations within the same matrix, so sometimes this will lead to exceptions.  A good example is ELO.  There is no rhyme or reason for which pressing sounds best.  Sometimes US, sometimes UK.  Of course, we could argue all day what we think is best :-).