White Hot Stampers (A+++) cost a small fortune but to me are totally worth it. This is just me, but I've had enough now to be able to do a fairly good comparison. Which is hard, because ultimately its never just the pressing being compared, you are also to some extent comparing the recordings. Which are all different. Many times you have no way of knowing how good the recording really was until you find that one special A+++. Like happened to me with Southern Accents.
All of these Stampers are of course nothing more than the same records you could find at your local store or garage sale. Nothing special other than Tom has culled through who knows how many record store records and compared them side by side and found the very best examples. So you could do the same. Probably if you bought 20 to 50 one of them might be A+. Logically then if you have a couple hundred records in your collection it stands to reason one or two, maybe a few, are this good.
In my experience though none of my records sounds as good as the lowest A+ Hot Stamper I've bought from Better-Records.com The White Hots are way above that in a class of their own. They sound so much better that to me the exorbitant price is well worth it. Many times a mailer comes out and a White Hot I'm interested in is there and as fast as I can go look its gone.
Incidentally, Tom recommends the Walker Enzyme cleaning method. This one uses dry enzyme you mix (and use within 24 hours) followed by a more conventional detergent cleaning followed by 2 rinses. The whole kit is kind of spendy so I bought just the enzyme and cleaner. Haven't compared many cleaners but Walker is way better than the Disc Doctor solution I was using before. My Walker Enzyme cleaned records sound similar to Toms, just not quite as good of course.
I've never heard that Black Sabbath so interested to know what you think. Got a hunch you didn't fork that much dough for music you don't love to death, and so my bet is your jaw drops when you hear what it sounds like now.
All of these Stampers are of course nothing more than the same records you could find at your local store or garage sale. Nothing special other than Tom has culled through who knows how many record store records and compared them side by side and found the very best examples. So you could do the same. Probably if you bought 20 to 50 one of them might be A+. Logically then if you have a couple hundred records in your collection it stands to reason one or two, maybe a few, are this good.
In my experience though none of my records sounds as good as the lowest A+ Hot Stamper I've bought from Better-Records.com The White Hots are way above that in a class of their own. They sound so much better that to me the exorbitant price is well worth it. Many times a mailer comes out and a White Hot I'm interested in is there and as fast as I can go look its gone.
Incidentally, Tom recommends the Walker Enzyme cleaning method. This one uses dry enzyme you mix (and use within 24 hours) followed by a more conventional detergent cleaning followed by 2 rinses. The whole kit is kind of spendy so I bought just the enzyme and cleaner. Haven't compared many cleaners but Walker is way better than the Disc Doctor solution I was using before. My Walker Enzyme cleaned records sound similar to Toms, just not quite as good of course.
I've never heard that Black Sabbath so interested to know what you think. Got a hunch you didn't fork that much dough for music you don't love to death, and so my bet is your jaw drops when you hear what it sounds like now.