Vinyl Me Please Essentials

First review I've seen of Usher says there's a bit of noise towards the end of side A. Wonder how bad it actually is (not that I'm getting it, just curious if it's trending in the right direction). Clipse is apparently fine.

 
bdrummond said:
First review I've seen of Usher says there's a bit of noise towards the end of side A. Wonder how bad it actually is (not that I'm getting it, just curious if it's trending in the right direction). Clipse is apparently fine.

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Sounds like he is referring to the usual GZ crackle in the dead wax. I’ll take that over other noise any day!
 
I've cancelled my subscription to Replace Me Please (RMP) twice now, the first time because I had issues with its service and attitude (the same time we all moved to N&G). I rejoined though because with all that said, their product was too good to ignore. I recently left a second time, but this time because they started making products that were broken. Over the last 12 months or so, I can't really recall receiving a record I actually wanted, i.e. would have purchased in the real world, that wasn't messed up by them, in someway.

I now ask myself, what would it take for me to subscribe to a business, any business that has terrible service and sells defective products. Can anyone tell me why they still subscribe RMP, I've run out of reasons.
 
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goodoohuru said:
I've cancelled my subscription to Replace Me Please (RMP) twice now, the first time because I had issues with its service and attitude (the same time we all moved to N&G). I rejoined though because with all that said, their product was too good to ignore. I recently left a second time, but this time because they started making products that were broken. Over the last 12 months or so, I can't really recall receiving a record I actually wanted, i.e. would have purchased in the real world that wasn't messed up in someway.

I now ask myself, what would it take for me to subscribe to a business, any business that has terrible service and sells defective products. I'm looking for a reason, can anyone tell me why they still subscribe RMP.
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Nope. No reason.

I never left cause of their CS. I also never left cause of their price hike (although I became more discerning; TBH it also coincided w a time when I became more discerning in my record purchases writ large).

I've had many abscences in my subscription mostly due to work (year overseas, away for training, etc) and missed albums I would've loved that they haven't repressed.

But w the QC I haven't found it worthwhile. I still find the CS to have been pretty good. But I want dealing w them to be the exception. No matter how courteous they are, I don't wanna write to them every month for a replacement (btw Replace Me, Please - noice!).

I don't think anything will bring me back. I do find it interesting when people are like "I'm out...unless they press <insert grail here> (eg Frank Ocean Blonde). That's fine if that's the calculus a person does but they should extrapolate the implicit statements there: for example, "I consider this product inferior and not of value to me, but I can be bought for x, y, z". And that's a fine position to have. There really is nothing wrong with it. These aren't deep moral quandaries - they're fucking record subscriptions.

But anyway, I think there are better places to put money in records - be it equipment or albums - than VMP.
 
Just got my hands on Usher and it is NIGHT AND DAY from the past 4 ROTM's. Dead quiet so far, deep punchy bass, clean vocals. This is a GZ press done right.

I feel scared now that I've praised it only having listened to Side 1 lol. Watch Sides 2-4 just go "SKKARAKKSHHETCHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
 
goodoohuru said:
I've cancelled my subscription to Replace Me Please (RMP) twice now, the first time because I had issues with its service and attitude (the same time we all moved to N&G). I rejoined though because with all that said, their product was too good to ignore. I recently left a second time, but this time because they started making products that were broken. Over the last 12 months or so, I can't really recall receiving a record I actually wanted, i.e. would have purchased in the real world, that wasn't messed up by them, in someway.

I now ask myself, what would it take for me to subscribe to a business, any business that has terrible service and sells defective products. Can anyone tell me why they still subscribe RMP, I've run out of reasons.
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Classics track has been pretty consistently great QC-wise. I dipped back in for that but then realized I don’t like most of the curation anymore especially at the price so my sub expires this month and I’m out. Maybe will rejoin for 1 month if they press a classics I really want? But if I wanted the other tracks I probably wouldn’t bother with VMP.
 
CrazyDiamond84 said:
My new Deloused is quiet, and sounds fantastic so far....
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Yeah..front to back this new one is perfect to my ears. I'm really happy with it. Goes to show we always need to speak up about any issues with these guys, so they can actually put out a product that is worth the money we spend on them. I wish they'd do the same with Wutang, though that album isn't nearly comparable sonically to Deloused.
 
CrazyDiamond84 said:
Yeah..front to back this new one is perfect to my ears. I'm really happy with it. Goes to show we always need to speak up about any issues with these guys, so they can actually put out a product that is worth the money we spend on them. I wish they'd do the same with Wutang, though that album isn't nearly comparable sonically to Deloused.
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This is good to hear, thanks for the update. Mine hopefully should arrive in a couple of days.
 
CrazyDiamond84 said:
Awesome. Looking forward to how yours sounds on a system that'll pick up a lot more. I hope there's some consistency with the represses cause it's night and day between this and my 2 old ones.
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Well it's funny because out of Wu, Outkast, Volta and PE, Volta was actually the best. It had the loudest noise on it for sure but it totally vanished after about 25 seconds and it was only on side 1 and 2. All the others were bad on all four sides and the noises lasted throughout the entire side in many cases.
 
I just cleaned my De-Loused replacement and am playing it now. I have very similar noise on A and B sides first minute or so right channel only, like the last 2 copies they sent me. The static noise is quieter now but unfortunately it also has unwelcome pops & clicks and both LPs are dish warped :mad:.

I have not decided yet whether to complain and try a 4th copy of this but I have decided I will not jump on another Essentials release pressed at GZ at this kind of scale until it's been out in the wild for a minute and confirmed ok. I know they can press good records. In fact I received my Just As I Am swap, which is also pressed at GZ, in the same box as the Volta replacement and it's flat, quiet, and sounds great to me. But if my latest replacement is really from a new pressing run it seems to me that GZ did not fix whatever went wrong the first time... I heard speculation somewhere they were over-using their stampers to meet the demand, I am wondering at this point if it's actually something about the colorway.
 
And no intro noise whatsoever on C/D sides.

The few clicks and even the dish warp are within my acceptable limits, but not happy about that right channel static, especially on side A where I feel that fade in at the beginning of the album is really important.
 
bdrummond said:
I'd love to see how your copy sounds on your fancypants Scrooge McDuck setup, considering multiple people are still reporting it being fucked.
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This is exactly what I expected to happen so I suspect it'll be the same with me.

I mean at this point I have zero faith in GZ, I think they're the worst pressing plant on the planet and they clearly have zero quality control. If a single person had listened to even two or three of the discs coming off the line they would hear this stuff. But I don't think GZ or VMP listen to any of this stuff. I mean clearly they don't, how could they with this many massive issues across every run. Wu, Volta, PE, OutKast, and now Volta "repress" even though people are still getting sent copies of the original press for some absolutely indefensible reason...
 
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Mather said:
This is exactly what I expected to happen so I suspect it'll be the same with me.

I mean at this point I have zero faith in GZ, I think they're the worst pressing plant on the planet and they clearly have zero quality control. If a single person had listened to even two or three of the discs coming off the line they would hear this stuff. But I don't think GZ or VMP listen to any of this stuff. I mean clearly they don't, how could they with this many massive issues across every run. Wu, Volta, PE, OutKast, and now Volta "repress" even though people are still getting sent copies of the original press for some absolutely indefensible reason...
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Got mine last night. Been playing it this morning. First impressions is right channel noise is still present on opening of side A. Its not nearly as bad as it was before and doesn't last long. Like others mentioned there are few places where it pops and clicks, not perfect but it is an improvement from the last press (low bar).

I am just at the point where I just am tired of taking videos and going through the aggravation. At this price point we should expect quality and not have PTSD every month our packages show up.
 
Mather said:
This is exactly what I expected to happen so I suspect it'll be the same with me.

I mean at this point I have zero faith in GZ, I think they're the worst pressing plant on the planet and they clearly have zero quality control. If a single person had listened to even two or three of the discs coming off the line they would hear this stuff. But I don't think GZ or VMP listen to any of this stuff. I mean clearly they don't, how could they with this many massive issues across every run. Wu, Volta, PE, OutKast, and now Volta "repress" even though people are still getting sent copies of the original press for some absolutely indefensible reason...
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You know how you won't buy certain labels or records from certain plants?

Just thinking about that...
 
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