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Celebrate Me Home – Notes from a Shootout Winner

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Loggins and Messina Available Now

UPDATE 2026

Our first Shootout Winning pressing went up in 2011.

One thing we learned in that shootout was that only the copies mastered by Robert Ludwig have any hope of sounding good, and that is still true. We wasted our money on a few later pressings and they were hopeless against the best we played, one of which was a barely passable White Label Promo pressing (!).

White Label Promos are for collectors, not music loving audiophiles.

This WHITE HOT Stamper side one shows you just how good this record can sound, which is surprisingly good, considering how many copies of the album are just plain awful. Finally, most of the grit, grain and transistory opacity have fallen away, leaving in its place the rich, full-bodied and Tubey Magical 70s sound one would expect. 

As obvious as it may sound (especially to anyone on this site), the master tape is a whole lot better than the average copy of the record would have you think. This side one is proof positive. And side two is nearly as good, earning a solid Super Hot stamper grade of A++. Without a doubt this is by far the best copy of the album we have ever heard.

It’s also the only Loggins solo album that I’ve ever liked; it was actually a favorite of mine back in the day. I’ve owned this very copy for more than twenty years (bought it in 1988 according to the price sticker). Seems like a good time to send it on its way to find a new home.

Side One

A+++, taking top honors for its rhythmic energy and real frequency extension both high and low. (Most copies have no real top end; if you own one give it a listen and we think you’ll agree with us.) Great bass, plenty of Tubey Magic, clarity and richness — no other copy in our shootout could do what this one was doing.

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Letter of the Week – “I will spare you the time to comment on my 1992 Analogue Productions Reissue…”

Hot Stamper Pressings of Sonny Rollins’s Albums Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stamper pressings he purchased recently:

Dear Tom and Fred

After having had the opportunity to listen to the next batch of 7 more records, here are my observations on the 40 records I have now bought from you.

First to my listening experience. After receiving the CSNY 4 Way Street and looking for my own record, I thought was a German press easy to beat I realized it was a white label promo first press and thought, oh, did I make a mistake to buy this for this kind of money from you guys, this may be a tough one to crack?

Not so, your SH Stamper clearly beat the WL promo, check!

Next up was the Miles Davis Sketches of Spain White Hot Stamper, one of my very top Miles favorites.

I did not recall that I had the six eye first press, and on side 2, with identical stampers (when your 3/3 WH show up, you do not have the time to check this but hurry :-since your WH 3/3s sell like hot cakes!).

So even more difficult to beat?? Promising start: your WH was clearly better on side 1, now to the identical stampers side 2: not as clearly but still just more transparent, better drums, less shrill on track 2, check!

But it certainly cannot get better than this 3/3 WH stamper, can it?

Next up is Sonny Rollins 3/3 WH Stamper [of Way Out West]. Hard to believe, but yes, even better than the great Miles 3/3 WHS, and I will spare you the time to comment on my 1992 Analogue Productions reissue which I always thought was quite decent.

And so it goes on…

Christian

Christian,

In less than a year you have acquired a large number of simply amazing sounding records. Congratulations.

As you point out about the stampers, you may have a pressing with the right stampers, but our copy will still beat it. How it was pressed and how it was cleaned are critical to the sound, and that is not something the stamper numbers can tell you. It’s a subject we discuss often. Here is a good place to start.

Here on the blog there are a great many examples of records with the same stampers that do not have the same sound.

As for your 1992 Analogue Productions Heavy Vinyl remaster, I honestly don’t know how anyone can listen to a record with sound like that and consider it acceptable, or, in your words, “quite decent.” I went into the long story of the album in this commentary.

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