Hot Stamper Pressings of Revolver Available Now
One of our good customers, Robert Brook, writes a blog which he calls A GUIDE FOR THE BUDDING ANALOG AUDIOPHILE. You can find it by clicking the link below.
We recently loaned Robert some copies of Revolver so that he could do the first youtube-acceptable Record Shootout video in the history of mankind. He had three copies of his own to play along with the five we loaned him, plenty to work with.
We hope to be able to discuss the experience of doing the shootout and the video with him soon, but for now, let’s just enjoy the first of its kind.
Robert now knows firsthand something few audiophiles have made the effort to learn:
Shootouts are a great deal of work if you take the time to do them right.
If you have just a few pressings on hand and don’t bother to clean them carefully, or follow rigorous testing protocols, that kind of shootout anyone can do. You can find those kinds of shootouts on youtube, but we have never seen fit to take them seriously.
The results of shootouts that are not carried out in the serious way that we do and the way that Robert did cannot be trusted, for reasons that anyone reading this blog should find obvious.
Art Dudley illustrates this approach, but you could pick any reviewer you like — none of them have ever undertaken a shootout worthy of the name to our knowledge.
Here is an especially egregious example of how to go about it all wrong.
We ourselves struggled back in the old days. in 2005, our attempted shootout for Blue could not get off the ground. Two years and scores of shootouts later, we had been able to find and clean some amazing sounding copies, which is how we were able to tell how far off the mark this pressing was.
Further Reading
Bravo to Robert and Tom and company for facilitating… one can understand that having 2-3 sets of ears would help.
Recap, 8 copies of Revolver, all UK 70’s reissues, probably two box EMI’s ~1972-80. This is probably a $25-50 but most live in UK which presents extra cost.
Prior Hot Stamper, Robert’s copy. A+-A++ (assume this grade would hold up today)
2-3 played that would grade lower
2-3 about the same (all from Better Records)
2-3 better, implying possibly Super Hot A++ type grade
One best version, maybe A++-A+++
Have these 70’s reissues ever been challenged by a few of the Revolver first stampers stereo tube cut pressings?
With these copies the center of bell curve is about A+, probably a little high, but this makes sense since 6 of them came from BR and they are buying records they think can win…
I’ll stop here, hopefully Tom and Robert will add some more information and/or correct my assumptions. I would say that if you are looking for that A+++ Better Records pricing seems reasonable.
Thanks for weighing in Brad. I can say I certainly would have welcomed another set of ears on this shootout, but it was hard to schedule it with the 1 or 2 audiophile friends I have that would have been willing to do it. Hopefully next time!
I’d say each of these copies probably ended up costing about $50 apiece, once shipping is factored in. So that’s $450 worth of records to generate the winner (which was actually the 2nd place finisher in BR’s shootout) which, last I checked was on the site priced at $500.
So, yeah. I agree that pricing actually makes sense. And frankly, that NWHS was so much better than the other copies it made it a little hard to setting on grades for the others. This was especially true for me considering the fact that, as you point out, they all had the stampers with potential to be shootout winners, or at least SHS’s.
This is something the naysayers don’t understand about Better Records’ approach: They’re not shooting out random copies. They are only shooting out copies of a title with stampers that have won or performed extremely well in other shootouts. Therefore when you get a WHS, NWHS or even a SHS, you’re really getting the cream of the crop.
And, of course, this is why there were no first stampers in the shootout. Tom’s made it pretty clear that, when it comes to The Beatles, very few if any of the originals have the potential for great sound. I can’t confirm this as I have not played many, although I did hear a very early pressing of Abbey Road the other day that did not sound good at all.
But I myself am willing to defer to Tom and his staff on this as they’ve played 100’s of Beatles records and certainly more than anyone else has or ever will. Why anyone questions their judgement in light of this obvious fact I will never understand.
Thank you Robert. I would welcome the opportunity to chat sometime….
Let me make a personal plug for Tom and Better Records. I would argue that the best values are likely the most expensive records listed on the site. Maybe it is the NWHS for things like Sticky Fingers, LZ II (RL/RL) and Ziggy Stardust where the cost of a clean probably VG+ copy are already pretty high.
I was lucky enough to acquire a few LZ II’s for less than $100 in total years ago, but I can only hope I have a better than average copy of a well regarded pressing for this album. I have seen some crazy prices for clean copies on eBay and why someone would buy one of those and not one from Tom is hard to make sense of…. I guess you have to be aware of Tom and the Better Records process….
I believe in the bell curve and one thing for sure Tom has more information than anybody, it is likely not even close.