180g … It’s All Hype !

Right you are @audioguy85. I was long mystified by Harry Pearson including the original UK Island pressing of Tea For The Tillerman (which I for years owned) in his Super Disc list, a recommendation parroted by Michael Fremer. I heard something seriously amiss with the sound of the LP, the cymbals and acoustic guitar completely missing their upper harmonics, the electric bass and kick drum strangely soft and "puffy" (missing upper frequencies greatly affect the perception of "attack").

Analogue Productions’ Chad Kassem (or perhaps his main mastering engineer, the great Bernie Grundman?) is responsible for discovering the reason for that, as I explained above. One more example of the reason for the quality of Kassem’s AP reissues. The superiority of the AP issue of TFTT over all other editions is dramatic. Available (for now; it is about to go out of print. If you want a copy, get it NOW!) in both 1-LP/33-1/3 RPM and 2-LP/45 RPM versions.

adrobitko, The LP in your photos looks to be covered with white specks of something, which could have happened as a result of static electric charge on the LP surface, created in the process of removing it from the sleeve.  (That's all it takes.)  One photo does make it appear that the surface is a bit scuffed, but probably not in a way that would affect SQ.  The real proof of the pudding is in the playing; does it sound noisy, skips, warps, etc?  Do those white specks come off with a careful brushing?  If so, probably static charge.

I have never had a bad experience with anything sold by Chad Kassem.  Mo-Fi are usually not grossly defective but they don't always meet or exceed the SQ of the original pressings. I do have a 4-5 LP set of Miles Davis with his iconic quintet that included Coltrane, originally available on Prestige (Workin', Steamin', etc), re-issued several years ago by Classic.  I also own the original Prestige pressings of some of those LPs, so I can compare the Prestige to the Classic versions.  One or two of the Classic re-issues have unpardonable defects in the pressing that cause gross distortions. Yet they all look perfect, would pass anyone's visual inspection. Had I discovered these problems earlier on, I would have returned the LPs, but alas I've owned the re-issue set for more than 10 years and only discovered the problem a few years ago. Ironically, OJC jazz re-issues were never "expensive" (e.g., much more than $20 each), never 180g, and almost always sound great. I don't think it's the weight of the vinyl so much as the care with which the re-issues were created that determines listener satisfaction.

Yeah @lewn, Classic Records---though starting out strong---ended up wimpering across the finish line, their last few years marred by bad pressings. Owner Michael Hobson blames that partially on the move to  200g discs. 200g? Why?!

Good news: Chad Kassem has announced Analogue Productions will be issuing the Prestige catalog on LP, starting I believe this year. Cool, the Prestige titles I have are great, but finding clean copies is not easy (or cheap!).

Get an audiodeske record cleaner. They all sound great after a cleaning in this machine. On the topic, yes I’ve had 180g duds…more that you should expect. I’ve also got used old vinyl that has been amazing. Either hit or miss. Analog Productions along with MOFI are excellent..

+1 Analog Productions

+1 MOFI

+1 Good Record Cleaner (especially ultrasonic!)

+1 Original Pressings (usually)

Keep buying vinyl while you can because in the future the distopian AI's will demand that..."You will own nothing and be Happy"