Quality Record Pressings - Excessive Dishing and Warping

Just to counteract this arguement I have 40 QRP pressed titles to date and every single one has been flat and noise free. Maybe I am just lucky I don't know, and I am sorry that others have not experienced this. IMHO QRP is getting close to the best pressing plant in the world (still currently Pallas imo).

 

Although I have an excellent original copy, this has been on my wishlist. I'm glad I saw your post and will now be ordering it.

 

I think you might be lucky. And, I think I'm unlucky.

 

I hav

I have just ordered two QRP titles so it will be interesting to see how they are. Of two QRP LPs, I bought to date, one was dish warped but is now flat as a pond and is dead quiet too. The other one was fine.

I really don't know whey they persist with this 200 gram formulation? That seems to be part of the problem as far as I can tell. You'd think they would have learned from Classic Records' experience. 180 gram done right is as much as anybody needs (some would disagree with this) unless maybe the 200 gram formulation in some way gives them justification to hike up the prices? I passed on the Counting Crows AP vinyl 45 rpm, way too pricey over here, and bought the SACD instead.

 

I can't think of 40 QRP titles I would want, let alone have, but the very few I have are all I could expect or hope for from any vinyl record.

 

Actually 41 and I want many more (no I don't work for AP/QRP)

1 Ben Webster - Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson AP
2 Ben Webster - Gentle Ben AP
3 Billie Holiday - All Or Nothing At All - MONO AP
4 Billie Holiday - Body & Soul - MONO AP
5 Billie Holiday - Songs For Distinque Lovers AP
6 Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman AP
7 C oleman Hawkins - And Confreres AP
8 Duke Ellington - Back To Back - Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges Play The Blues AP
9 Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis AP
10 Ella Fitzgerald - Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie AP
11 Ella Fitzgerald - Like Someone In Love AP
12 Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Ella & Louis - MONO AP
13 Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Ella & Louis Again - MONO AP
14 Freddie King - Getting Ready AP
15 Illinois Jacquet - Swings The Thing - MONO AP
16 Jimi Hendrix - Hendrix In The West Sony Legacy
17 Jimi Hendrix - Live At Berkerly Sony Legacy
18 Jimmy Witherspoon - Roots AP
19 Kenny Burrell & The Prestige All Stars - All Night Long - MONO AP
20 Muddy Waters - Folk Singer AP
21 Oscar Peterson Trio - We Get Requests AP
22 Patsy Cline - Greatest Hits AP
23 Phoebe Snow - Phoebe Snow AP
24 Ray Charles - Genuis + Soul = Jazz AP
25 Ray Charles - Live In Concert AP
26 Ray Charles & Betty Carter - Ray Charles & Betty Carter AP
27 Shelby Lynne - Just A Little Lovin' AP
28 Sonny Boy Williamson - Keep It To Ourselves AP
29 Sonny Stitt - Blows The Blues AP
30 Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto AP
31 Ten Years After - A Space In Time AF
32 The Doors - LA Woman AP
33 The Doors - Morrison Hotel AP
34 The Doors - Strange Days AP
35 The Doors - The Doors AP
36 The Doors - The Soft Parade AP
37 The Doors - Waiting For The Sun AP
38 The Grateful Dead - Reckoning AP
39 The Ronettes - Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes - MONO Sundazed
40 Tommy Flanagan - Overseas MONO AP
41 Tony Joe White - Homemade Ice Cream AP

 

Defects happen but customer expectation in a product like this should be front and center IMO. AP only has to look at Music Matters for a course on customer focus!
Communicating with QRP months ago about the first LP that I received with a dish warp did not give me the confidence that they were taking the matter seriously enough, so I am not surprised by the topic of this thread. I did get an apology about the warp but then the QA explanations of how it was expected to happen!! - made me switch to SACD.

 

About 1/3 of the QRP records I've bought were warped/dished. Fixed them all with my vinyl flat.

It's not just QRP. I've had badly warped Pallas pressings too. The used Doors' box set I just bought, pressed by RTI, had 6/7 warped records.

 

Folks,

Most if not all pressing machinery is optimal for pressing 140 gram records at most. Granted Chad's pressing equipment is modified to supposedly be optimized for the heating/cooling cycle needed for 180 gram records, but 140 gram titles are really better suited for most record buyers these days. It is less expensive and easier to manufacture a great 140 gram record than a 180 gram or 200 gram record. And in real life, they are plenty heavy enough to not be easily warped. And better for those without adjustable VTA.

 

I don't have a single one of THOSE QRP pressed records, Jellis77, but I congratulate your diverse tastes in music. If there's one that caught my eye, it would be the Tony Joe White.

Too bad that's not Tony's Monument <STEREO> Black & White with the awesome "Polk Salad Annie" with some equally exciting sonics on it. For the most part, the 25 or so titles that I have from your list have been part of my collection for the better part of 45 years. I have several original Doors/Elektra recordings, of course.

​

Love Ella's "Clap" too, BTW.

I might get quieter surfaces by buying this new stuff, but I know that what I have is what is historically accurate, so I can save myself that ~ $1600. It took me about the last 5 years of spending to get to that much money on vinyl.

This adds little to the discussion of the quality of QRP vinyl, but like I said, I have maybe four LPs from that plant, but NONE of them are AP; again, they are all near-perfect.

 

Which Mingus 45 rpm?

Black Saint And the Sinner Lady - Pallas
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus - Pallas
Mingus Ah Um - RTI
Let My Children Hear Music - unknown (I don't have it)

Am I missing any?

 

Black Saint And the Sinner Lady: Analogue Productions. Has the QRP sticker on the loose-fitting shrink wrap. Stampers look like they're from RTI. Definitely 200g.

 

Could anyone imagine getting a dish warped SACD/CD/Blu Ray/DVD?
200g is too thick. Historically, that weight is prone to dish warping. If they can't do it right, I wish they wouldn't do it at all. It's too bad... the mastering of the titles they've put out so far are some of the best I've heard. It's Classic Records all over again.

 

I'm wondering how much shipping and sitting in a hot truck have to do with it? The drivers goes to lunch and it gets what, 120* in there easy.

 

It must have been repressed like A Love Supreme, which is now pressed at QRP. My older pressing of Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is from Pallas, like all my Impulse! AP 45 rpm reissues. It has the Pallas A#### machine stamped number in the deadwax, Pallas inner sleeves and that characteristic sharp edge profile.

I agree they should be sticking with 180g or even 140g. I have a Classic Records 200g pressing that is so warped one of the edges raises up about an inch off the platter. I guess QRP are going to market their "perfect" pressings under the UHQR name and sell them for twice the price.

 

personally, I want to remain ignorant to what happens to the package between warehouse and my house......when I buy an expensive piece or pieces I always pay the extra shipping for UPS, there is no way USPS is handling these with any care

 

-------------------
That's why Ben & Jerry's never uses them. ;>O

 

This is true. We would be better off with lighter vinyl.

 

The Sundazed titles being complained about are lighter vinyl (140g). I can only remember receiving one dished record from QRP. It was slight enough to live with and was over 200g - which is when you usually find dishing issues. Many Classic 200g SVP pressings suffered from the dish syndrome. Generally been lucky with QRP. Very quiet vinyl but one or two have had a side pressed slightly of centre. Also they have difficulty centering labels over the hole.

 

Have they tried to move into 200 gm? If so, that's a shame. The few Quality pressings I have were just that. You could have plugged the hole and served the cat milk out of most of the Classic 200 gm. records, though, and the old MoFi Anadisc 200s were almost universally noisy.

 

No issues with my pressing.

 

I don't want that guy handling any of my equipment!!! What a POS that guy is.

 

You're lucky

 

Chad should stick to 140 gram records, because something isn't quite right. 90% of the QRP pressed LPs that I buy have issues.

I find that Mobile Fidelity is much better in QC department.