Led Zeppelin First US LP - Mastered by George Piros

I would love to hear a comparison of the US Piros and the UK A5/B5 plum!

 

All the 1977 reprints mastered by George Piros are killer. I have a Piros mastered LZ II that is almost as good as the coveted Robert Ludwig cut(of which I own)in my opinion. This man took great steps to make his records sound good. I have many Atlantic group records mastered by George Piros and not a bad one in the bunch.

 

Shhhhhhhh! Don't let that secret get out!

 

I have the exact same copy... deadwax.. pressing plant.. everything. I agree that the Piros side is better than the Mastercraft side.

 

Have you heard a UK Plum A5/B5 of III for comparison to the Piros III?

 

My father luckily has the 1977 Piros pressing, and that LP singlehandedly is THE REASON why I started to get into vinyl in the first place. I'll never forget the first time I played Communication Breakdown on his turntable years ago and couldn't believe how AWESOME it sounded compared to how I had been used to hearing that song (the early 90's George Marino remaster and whenever it was on the radio). Plus I liked hearing the extra two seconds at the end of the fadeout as the Marino disc had it fading out too early George Piros definitely used a little compression when he mastered this album, which made LZI even more killer than it already is.

 

No! But I would like to.

 

i read most of the posts on this subject....can someone please tell me what this one would be worth if many say the holy grail is made from zep 1...i have a test pressing that was addressed to george piros...it has many songs that never even made the first album.... Log In or Sign Up to View there is a pic there of it...

 

Link doesn't work...pic not available.

 

I managed to stumble across a copy of this on the bay a couple of weeks ago. Haven't played it as it's at my in-law's and I'm working abroad, will pick it up in the summer. Created a discogs page for it as there wasn't one. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

 

Are the west coast Monarch pressings really all that much superior to the east coast pressings?

 

Found this in vg++ all around condition about 4 years ago. I think it was like $8. That was a good day.

ST-A 681461 CC 1 (number 1 inside
a circle) check mark -EX AT/GP MR Delta 12703 PR
ST-A 681462 CC-REPL AT/GP MR Delta 12703-x PR

 

Nice find, I paid way more than that! ... how does it sound?

 

It's all that.
For example, the organ at the beginning of Your Time Is Gonna Come sounds so quiet and clear. Amazing.

 

I love Monarchs, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with Presswells. I think it had more to do with the source and quality of the masters more than the pressing plant. The Monarch pressing plant was pretty much a stones throw from all the Hollywood mastering houses and record companies on the West coast which may have had more of an impact especially in the 1960's and 1970's.

 

I went through a pile of LZ I's awhile back and found this badboy, it's a great sounding record and IMO it's much better than my earlier RG cut:

SD 8216, PR, w/ color 1974 Atlantic promo sleeve - Rockefeller label, no Warner W
Side 1: ST-A681461 C AT/GP PR
Side 2: ST-A681462 C AT/GP PR

 

Are both your copies Broadway labels? if not, which one is better?

 

Funny you mentioning this! Only yesterday I was comparing Led Zeppelin 2 - a Side One RL copy to the AT/GP copy and the Side 2 AT/GP just murders the non RL Side 2 of the other.

Now if I knew a way to glue the Side 2 AT/GP to the Side 1 RL, I would have a super sounding 200g LP!

JG

 

They are the Rockefeller Center labels with identical matrix numbers. However, one does sound better than the other. Go figure!

 

Any chance of the matrices on the Piros LZ II?

 

Oh boy, I thought the CC-REPL in the matrix only applied to the re-cut of 1974(?).

 

I don't know. This one on Discogs shows 1972. Also has the 1841 Broadway labels. I forget what year 75 Rockefeller started appearing on the labels but thought for sure by 1974 it would have had them?
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

 

Hmm. I was under the impression that you were going off the Discogs link created by Kristian 1980 in post #35, which seems almost the same (but not quite) as yours (?). Apologies if it's not the same one. I just wonder where 1972 comes from.

Putting them side-by-side:

1974

• Label Code (Side One): (ST-A-681461-MO)
• Label Code (Side Two): (ST-A-681462-MO)
• Matrix / Runout (Side One [etched]): ST-A-681461CC-REPL AT/GP △18257(2) PR
• Matrix / Runout (Side Two [etched]): ST-A681462CC-REPL AT/GP △18257-X(2) PR
• Matrix / Runout (Side One & Two [stamped]): "MR" in a circle

1972

• Label Code (Center Label Side-One): ST-A-681461-MO
• Label Code (Center Label Side-Two): ST-A-681462-MO
• Matrix / Runout (Side-One, all etched with the Monarch stamp): ST-A-681461CC - REPL - AT/GP (MR)
• Matrix / Runout (Side-Two, all etched with the Monarch stamp): ST-A-681462CC - REPL - AT/GP (MR)

 

Got me. It's possible mine was made during the transition to the Rockefeller labels while they still had some 1841 labels maybe?