What are your go to LP's for evaluating new gear or new tubes?

"Laughing" from "If I Could Only Remember My Name" by David Crosby.

@billpete

- The Crosby track is good because it has that great Bill Weir bass to test the bottom, Jerry Garcia’s pedal steel for the high end, Steven Stills and Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash and Paul Kantner in the chorus to test separation, and Crosby out front, with a large acoustical space.

- I personally look for original or second press in NM or SS condition over remasters. With the exception of Rino, I find almost reissues and remasters to be inferior, sometimes decidedly so. I was particularly disappointed with the MoFi 45rpm remasters if Fleeteood Mac and the Airplane’s Volunteers.

@billpete

My theory in all this, and someone please correct me if I’m off, is that remastered issues from “original master tapes” suffer because tapes are magnetic, and after sitting on a shelf for 3, 4, or more decades, the original masters have suffered degradation.

Therefore, a SS or NM copy is likely to be better than a remastered one.