Vinyl Me Please Anthology

MikeH said:
I haven't followed their social media too much since its extremely cringy to me, but it would be surprising if a lot of people with a $100 TT are dropping $450 on grateful dead records. But then again....in 2020....maybe nothing surprises me anymore...
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Oh they are...the whole idea of just throwing $450 as a jumping in point to the Dead is ridiculous to me...it’s an acquired taste and took a few toe tippings in the pool for me...Definitely wouldn’t throw that cash around just to start wading in the dead pool
 
Crabbers said:
I also think a majority of people who bought this either have crosleys/ audio technica 60/or a starter setup who can’t really determine sound quality issues as well.

I think vmp has marketed to these buyers and it reflects in a majority of Instagram story postings etc they share
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I'm not sure that'll be the case. My guess is that there'll be a chunk of people like myself who have struggled to get a core few of the albums in here, there'll be a few who genuinely have an interest in the band and see this as an easy way to build a collection, there'll be a few with big wallets who want Without a Net and Reckoning and can't be arsed to contest a load of NM/ VG+ gradings and a few VMP fundamentalists thrown in the mix. I seriously doubt there'll be casual collectors throwing $450 at this through and that's probably reflected in the sheer number they have left/ cut out of the run.

And there'll be some that are genuinely interested in what Bellman has done with these. His WMD is insanely good. As is his Anthem so I'm guessing the 2011 American Beauty is the same. Live/ Dead hasn;t had a remaster for a while. Glasser did a bang up job on the Grateful Dead Records Collection box but there may be something still on the table. So if these are imporvements on them they could be the definitive versions. Especially given Warners seems to want to put a Plangent step in most the Dead stuff that goes through them so these may be the last AAA versions we see for a while. Some may have enough money to have a go to see what Bellman has come up with. That's what tipped me over (along with the mad costs involved in getting a E72 to the UK and the lack of MoFis kicking about for American Beauty).

But I get that some have far more common sense than I

Oh, and I don't have a Crossley or Audio Technica 60
 
I will say, as someone who owned zero Dead records before I picked up the 2LP 45s of Allah and Mars, I am actually really enjoying the music on the box set. If I can actually get copies that aren't riddled with clicks I will have no issue with paying what I did for the set. It's gorgeous, and the mastering is very good. Will it beat a 2 LP 45? No, I don't think so. I can't compare but the Allah and Mars are out of this world good. The set is very very good but not THAT good. But the headache I'm going to have, trying to get 6+ discs from VMP is not something I'm looking forward to. But again, I knew what I was getting myself into. I'd just hoped like most of their recent box sets since the BlueNote fiasco that the quality on this would be top notch. Unfortunately I was wrong.
 
For what it's worth, my box arrived in perfect shape. I opened and cleaned everything, and checked for obvious issues. Every disc is perfectly flat. The package is really nice. The jackets are all really nice. The booklet is awesome. I had a bunch of Dead LP's including a few in this set but sold them to help fund this. The only one I will probably keep is my MOFI American Beauty because that sound bananas and I can't imagine the one in this set will beat it. I'll report back when I get a chance to actually play them all the way through. I did spot check a few tracks on AB and on Europe 72 and they sounded great, and that was before I cleaned them. Could I have saved a hundred or so searching for everything? Probably. I bought in more for the overall package.
 
Ok so I’ve been spending some time with my set today cause I finally have the time to. And so far so good. I’m very pleased with it. No issues yet. Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty both sound great. And I love the liner notes. Later I’ll be doing Live Dead.
 
greeny400 said:
I do find the heavier the cardboard stock, the harder it is to get the inner sleeves in flat and this set is no different. It can be done though and this shows how rushed QRP must have been to just shove them in with no real care.
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This is one of the main reasons I use Vinyl Storage Solutions outer sleeves. I hate trying to get a record back into one of those thick cardboard covers. So, I slide em in the pocket on the back of those sleeves.
 
Skeletonframes said:
This is one of the main reasons I use Vinyl Storage Solutions outer sleeves. I hate trying to get a record back into one of those thick cardboard covers. So, I slide em in the pocket on the back of those sleeves.
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There’s a fellow on youtube that uses them (45 RPM Audiophile) and they do look terrific. Not sure how easy they are to get in the UK however. May have to have a search.
 
Got my Dead box. Spinning WMD now. Sounds amazing. Had a tiny bit of surface noise but could be needing a cleaning. Fist time listening to the album (or really any dead album) and this is nice.
 
Have listened to about half of my set. Same issues with sleeves being jammed in and a few off-center labels. Very slight warp on a couple of the LPs, but still better than the average product you get from low-mid tier pressing plans these days.

A piece of good news: sound quality is TONS better after cleaning. On my first run-through of Europe '72, there were crackles every time Jerry's voice got higher in just about every song's chorus. It was borderline unlistenable. BUT they're completely gone after running over with a roller. And the amount of debris it picked up was a bit astonishing for a brand new record.

However you clean, you should do it before judging sound quality on the set.
 
vinylandtrails said:
Have listened to about half of my set. Same issues with sleeves being jammed in and a few off-center labels. Very slight warp on a couple of the LPs, but still better than the average product you get from low-mid tier pressing plans these days.

A piece of good news: sound quality is TONS better after cleaning. On my first run-through of Europe '72, there were crackles every time Jerry's voice got higher in just about every song's chorus. It was borderline unlistenable. BUT they're completely gone after running over with a roller. And the amount of debris it picked up was a bit astonishing for a brand new record.

However you clean, you should do it before judging sound quality on the set.
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I'm literally going to get enzyme fluid this afternoon to clean these all for the 3rd time... I'm hopeful it'll cut down on how many replacements I need...
 
vinylandtrails said:
Have listened to about half of my set. Same issues with sleeves being jammed in and a few off-center labels. Very slight warp on a couple of the LPs, but still better than the average product you get from low-mid tier pressing plans these days.

A piece of good news: sound quality is TONS better after cleaning. On my first run-through of Europe '72, there were crackles every time Jerry's voice got higher in just about every song's chorus. It was borderline unlistenable. BUT they're completely gone after running over with a roller. And the amount of debris it picked up was a bit astonishing for a brand new record.

However you clean, you should do it before judging sound quality on the set.
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I cleaned mine enough to know what I was hearing was with the pressing quality of the records and not debris. Also regarding low and mid-tier pressing plants, QRP is supposed to be the best of the best and the issues seem to be adding up on releases lately. Now that may just be down to the quantity of records being pressed but it’s still disappointing for a “premium boxset”.
 
greeny400 said:
QRP is supposed to be the best of the best and the issues seem to be adding up on releases lately.
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I believe QRP has the capability of competing with best pressings out of Pallas or RTI, but on average most of pressings out of Salina seem to me to be on par with Optimal or Record Industry and just a small step above MPO and GZ.

I have had multiple issues with edge warped QRP pressings, even on AP titles, and the few times I have tried to flatten them it results with significantly increased noise levels on the vinyl. I have no issues flattening the occasional Pallas, RTI, RI or GZ warp.
 
markmck79 said:
I believe QRP has the capability of competing with best pressings out of Pallas or RTI, but on average most of pressings out of Salina seem to me to be on par with Optimal or Record Industry and just a small step above MPO and GZ.

I have had multiple issues with edge warped QRP pressings, even on AP titles, and the few times I have tried to flatten them it results with significantly increased noise levels on the vinyl. I have no issues flattening the occasional Pallas, RTI, RI or GZ warp.
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I’d agree with Pallas, that definitely deserves to be mentioned as one of the top plants. RTI is another that I’d say has drastically fallen where quality is concerned though.
 
marshall said:
For what it's worth, my box arrived in perfect shape. I opened and cleaned everything, and checked for obvious issues. Every disc is perfectly flat. The package is really nice. The jackets are all really nice. The booklet is awesome. I had a bunch of Dead LP's including a few in this set but sold them to help fund this. The only one I will probably keep is my MOFI American Beauty because that sound bananas and I can't imagine the one in this set will beat it. I'll report back when I get a chance to actually play them all the way through. I did spot check a few tracks on AB and on Europe 72 and they sounded great, and that was before I cleaned them. Could I have saved a hundred or so searching for everything? Probably. I bought in more for the overall package.
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I continue to be impressed by the Dead set. WD AB and LD all sounds great. My MOFI AB takes the showdown but take nothing away from the VMP press itself. It’s great. Onward...
 
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