The MFSL One Step is my 4th copy of Desperado. I have an original, an early 80's release, and the Bernie Grundman remaster. Just finished a comparison with the One Step, my copy of which was received in great condition from Music Direct. The One Step is clearly the best sounding. The Grundman remaster is next best, followed by the original pressing. The One Step really excels at presenting the vocals very clearly while still being able to hear the instruments just as clearly; its very noticeable when playing the different copies one after another. And the tone is excellent. Bass is not overdone, its just right. Drums sound realistic. Always loved Bernie Leadon's guitar/mandolin playing on this album and it can be heard really well on the One Step. Especially on Bitter Creek. Nice vocal on that song too. MFSL has done a great job on this album.
Is your original a first press? I'm wondering if a first press of Desperado is as highly regarded as the white label first press of the s/t album (I have neither)?
My early Desperado is not a first pressing, so not sure. Although I do have the white label version of self titled which I listened to today. Sounded very good.
In my experience, S/T was a better recording than Desperado from the start. I have first pressings of both. The vinyl of both copies look flawless but still don’t play as quietly as the imperfect one steps. Originals get a little too bright in spots. These One Steps win the day IMO. I look forward to the next announcement and just hope I get my foot in the door.
I hear you regarding caution with trying to flatten one steps given the SuperVinyl formulation. At this point, I have probably flattened well over 100 records. The only two failures (resulting in a mottled surface and surface noise) were non standard vinyl, in my case they were both colored vinyl pressings. For colored vinyl, I now use very low settings in repeated 2 hour sessions. It takes a long time, but it seems to work without damaging the vinyl. Yeah, I’m not sure I would try it with the Super Vinyl. Hopefully someone else will try it first.
Alright reading through this thread has made me a bit self-conscious. I have a Rega Planar 2, a Rega Exact, and Kef Q150's. This might be a redundant question, but would that be enough to justify getting these over the Grundman remasters?
Do you own and enjoy any other high-quality 45 RPM reissues? If not, this would be a rather expensive place to start.
You'd hear a difference between a standard reissue and this one. But the better your system, the more of a difference you'll hear. These certainly aren't going to overwhelm your system. Your system is good enough to appreciate an improvement, but as @brucej4 says, is this your first foray into 45rpm reissues? There are certainly less expensive ones that are excellent. But if The Eagles are a major bag for you, then go for it. These will only sound better as you upgrade.
This is a good point. I bought MoFi and DCC records 25 years ago when I had an entry level Music Hall MMF-5. I’m glad I did because I have a much better setup now and I still have the records. They were probably around $25-$30 back then, but would cost a lot of money to get those copies now.
I own a few different MoFi releases (Cars, Breakfast in America) and the DCC of Pet Sounds. The Eagles have always been one of my favorites, so I’d like to have that feeling of never having to look for a better copy
I'm pretty sure you would appreciate the One Step version with your system. The Rega Exact should tell you what's going on.
I started doing shootouts with a MH 7.1 and Ortofon Mojo. Adding a phone pre really took it to another level. As i have since upgraded, the 'winner's' have not changed, nor the gap of the win. All seem to have improved. So, if you can hear differences, you're prob good.
Ha! That mirrors my experience. Regular vinyl is pretty forgiving. But the melting properties of colored vinyl can be much different.
I have the exact same cart as you (Rega Exact), although my setup and tastes might be different. So grain of salt. That said, this Eagles One-Step thread inspired me to..... seek out the really good first pressings. Pretty much found all of them, NM, for $20 or less, over the last couple months. Now, will they have the detailed sound of a new MoFi mastering, pressed at 45 RPM? No. But do they have an incredibly warm, organic analog sound, where the vocals are right there in the room and the bass is like a heartbeat that never overshadows the music? Absolutely. (I now realize I drastically underestimated Randy as a bassist.) Plus, it appears my vintage copies have less surface noise than some members' One-Steps! Find white labels of the first two and 7E CSMs for the rest. The only one that let me down was One Of These Nights. (As I mentioned some pages back.... Not sure if there IS a good U.S. press of this.) The rest sound wonderful. Again, NOT telling you to avoid the One-Steps.... Honestly, they're gonna increase in value, so if you don't love them, you can easily resell them for profit in a year. But you can get really nice vintage copies of the first two albums for about 1/8 the price of the two One-Steps.
Agreed Rich...The white label Asylum pressings for the S/T and Desperado both have that vintage, fresh tape, organic warmth. I've been spinning both of mine for almost 20 years. I'm a bit surprised at the amount of Eagles One-Step buyers that do not own or have never heard these pressings. For One Of These Nights I settled with the 2015 Rhino Chris Bellman cut...the US copies didn't tickle my fancy.
I guess that's the direction we're moving in Slick. It seems there were much more than a handful of comparisons with the earlier One Steps (Abraxas, The Nightfly, Bridge Over Trouble Water, Blood On The Tracks, Fragile). I guess the word is out that the One Step name is synonymous with definitive and it's just a waste of time and resources to do direct comparisons with top tier vintage pressings. I'm really not that surprised actually.
Boooooo I say! I love me oldies So are those white label -promo labels or just a different design? If I ever run into any locally I'll grab em!
For Eagles S/T and Desperado the first pressings were on a white Asylum label...later pressings were the blue and white label. If you find a white label, definitely snag it.
Get that, while I'm on the fence with those mentioned, other than Abraxas, let us not forget that this is a MoFi thread. I have known in analog life those that defended the Ricker MoFi's as definitive. Nothing said waivers them. All cool. As this hobby is subjective when is comes to SQ, I nothing more to say.
I started using a new phono preamp five weeks ago and have been listening to all of the One Steps this week. The only one that I haven't done yet is Fragile. My experience is the same as you describe. All are better, but the ones that I originally ranked the lowest are still the lowest, and the top ones haven't changed. Sticking with the thread topic, I would still put the two Eagles albums in the upper middle of the pack.
