Our new customer Michel wrote to tell us how much he likes his Super Hot Stamper pressing of Beggars Banquet.
Hi Tom,
Doing that shootout was really interesting. I had culled the two best I had some months ago which were two old London presses (one TH and one Monarch). So I mixed those two up so I didn’t know which was which, and then the BR copy would be third on the table.
I did Sympathy for the Devil first. I actually preferred one of my copies (monarch) for that track as the tone
of the bass was a little more forward which I really like for that one song.
Then I did Street Fighting Man. The BR copy destroyed the other two!
What a pleasure it was
to hear that song at max volume with everything just right. Turn it up more!
That was definitely the very best I’d ever heard that song in 63 years. Well done BR!Michel
Michel,
Michel,
I would agree with you that Street Fighting Man is the better test. It’s easy to be thrown off by one aspect or another of the sound of a particular track. We always use at least two in our shootouts and oftentimes three is better.
The production is heavy on strummed acoustic guitars. Those are a good test for any record.
No Expectations would have been my first choice, but the rockers are important for energy, weight, size and power, so you really have to play a number of tracks to know which pressings get Beggars right.
Thanks for your enthusiatic letter.
Best, TP
PS
We love it when our customers take the time and make the effort to do their own shootouts, especially when we win, which is what happens about 99% of the time.
It is not the least bit unusual for our customers to take another listen and become more aware of the superior sound of the Hot Stamper pressings the second time around.
When we do lose a shootout, we promptly refund the buyer’s money and wish him or her a nice day.
What do we do with the record, assuming the customer had no problem with its playing condition?
We put it right back up on the site to sell to the next customer who might want it. In only two or three cases did it ever come back to us again. Two or three out of thousand and thousands of Hot Stampers sold. Not bad.
Further Reading
- More Hot Stamper testimonial letters
- Hot Stamper pressings of Glyn Johns’ recordings available now
- More letters, reviews and commentaries for the music of The Rolling Stones
