I don’t have a Classic of II. I have a Classic 200g (33, not 45) of III which isn’t bad, but it is brighter, less of a piece- more detail and less cohesive than my first press UK plum. The Canadian Red Label III with the TG marking is also very good, but much harder to find.
I have Classic 45s of 1 and IV-- for 1, the Hoffman forum fav- a Piros recut done in the ’70s with certain deadwax details pressed at Monarch (I can pull up the details if necessary) is far more of a piece than the Classic 45- which, again, to my ears, is modern ’audiophile’ with more mid detail but no deep bass, a bit brighter on top and less cohesive overall. The best sounding 1 I have is a second japanese press- I like it better than the Piros.*
I have a plum of 4, a Piros/Porky if memory serves, the Classic 45 and perhaps a few others. I don’t listen to that recording much, nor to the later ones- on HOTH the RL is relatively cheap; on Physical Graffiti, I have a very early UK pressing, I know I have copies of Coda and Presence somewhere, but don’t remember them being anything special. I was and remain a fan of the first album. I like certain tracks on II. I’ve grown to appreciate III, but at the time of release, it was not heavy enough for me.
The Classics were a decent thing to buy when they were originally issued at 40 bucks, but now that the market commands bigger prices, I think the money is better spent on the old copies. Of course, some people may prefer the Classic, and who am I to argue? It is partly personal preference, and partly system synergy, I think.
The problem is, that for the most part, these are pretty bad recordings, so don’t expect that a Zep 45 is going to give you the same magic as, say, the 45 recut of Sonny Rollins Way Out West, or Hoodoo Man Blues, or any of the other 45 recuts, like that SRV set (Tin Pan Alley is a killer, but I find SRV boring, even though I live in Austin!).**
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*We did a shoot out of 1 several years ago, an early uk plum (not turquoise), an east coast first press, a west coast first press and the Piros. Among those the Piros pressed at Monarch was better in pretty much every respect. I later bought an early plum- again not a Turquoise, just to do a recomparison. It still didn’t sound as good as the Piros, let alone the Japanese pressing mentioned above.
**For what it’s worth, and I haven’t done the comparisons, there are a lot of folks that among the Classic 33 rpm, prefer the 180g to the 200g. Part of this may be the QC issues Hobson experienced when he went to "heavy vinyl’ but part of it may also be the sound of heavy vinyl. I don’t find 200 gram pressings to be in any way better than standard weight. I do agree that some of the 45 masterings of other records definitely improve on the 33. Interestingly, on Hoodoo, a great record that should still be readily available on 45, I got the chance to compare it with pristine originals, mono and stereo. The originals were noticeably better. Those records, in that condition, are virtually impossible to find.
