Great sounding new vinyl

Hot stampers sounds like snake oil for people with money to burn (unfortunately not me in this economy). I too love the thrill of the hunt. Some of my favorite finds have been at thrift stores.

yeah man

I bought a few hot stampers before the prices went through the roof and they can be amazing. The big problem with vinyl is the molds wear out and the early production copies sound better.

good info

I don't believe Hot Stampers are snake oil and I don't blame those who prefer to buy records that way. I do believe finding your own hot copies is easier and more fun than advertised. No record is guaranteed to sound good even if it has all the right markings but there are some tell-tale marks that will put you in the right ballpark most of the time. I won't detail all of this here nor do I claim to have all the answers. For those interested, a few of the things to look for in the dead wax have already been posted on audio asylum under the heading "Hot Stampers Secrets Revealed" No guarantees but time and time again when I pull out my favorite sounding copies I find one of these indicators. What I once thought was a random search has now taken on more of a pattern. It at least gives you some indication of which ones to bother with. Best of all, your local record store doesn't know the difference(or care) so won't charge any more for the good ones. Tom Port knows more about this than probably almost anyone and he'll find them for you if you want. It's not snake oil, more like a service.

I agree Sonofjim. I have found some great sounding albums accidently.

Also important to notice is the original Label the LP was recorded. For example the majority of Jazz recordings on Candid, Contemporary, Strata East are very good and so the reissues.

Sonofjim
I put in Hot Stampers Secrets Revealed and found nothing at Audio Asylum. Please add link to l;ocation.
Thanks

Hevac1,
I'm a little embarrassed to say that I have never learned how to create these links. I just looked up the post on audio asylum though and it's still there. You may have more luck if you click on vinyl to get to the vinyl asylum first, then in the "text to find" box enter "Hot Stampers Secrets Revealed". Rwwear, look up this information and then re-examine these good copies you've found accidently. I'm guessing most of them bear one or more of these initials/marks. If so, you should be able to use some of this information to help you start having these happy "accidents" more often.

are all records numberd how do you no your getting a good copy before the molds a getting wornout

You can't know for sure sure what you have until you clean it and play it but the information on the audio asylum thread can serve as a guide. None of it is a secret but the thread is a nice concise collection of useful information. For example, anything mastered at Sterling or Masterdisc by Robert Ludwig is worth checking out. But there are many others like KP(Ken Perry), LH(Lee Hulko), GK(Gilbert Kong). Discs mastered at Kendun(Mushroom's Dreamboat Annie for example)usually a good bet. I used to think The Eagles Long Run and The Guess Who's Greatest Vol 1 were good sounding discs until I found pristine copies that were flat sounding. Turns out the good ones I have bear the TML(M or S)stamp(The Mastering Lab)Same for James Taylor's JT. No guarantees, just other indicators along with early pressings, no barcodes and good condition. Look up the thread. It details more than I can.

I know about the markings but I bought many records before I found out about them.

Me too. That's the thing about this. You learn more as you go. Now I pass up a lot of the ones I would have bought before.

Just bought Atlantic reissue of John Lewis & Sacha Distel reissue and sounds wonderful. I have been rarely disapointed with any Atlantic originals or reissues.

The new Classic Records "Clarity" vinyl seems to be very promising and superior to black vinyl. First title out is John Coltrane / Blue Train 4 single sided 45 RPM.
Has anyone heard it ?

beatles love double lp has awesome sonics...best fidelity these songs have had and great mix for open minded music lovers