Grateful Dead Music Forum

Hey I was going through my storage and I found many brand new LPs from the old days. I was thinking of getting back into collecting. Is there anybody here who collects. What would be a good (new) turn table to buy? Im seeing Sony, Neumark, and others out there. They all seem to be around 100-150 bucks each with USB and software included. Any thoughts? Thanks!

I never stopped collecting vinyl, and I still like it better than CDs or any type of digital version. I love the artwork and because I am a crusty old bastard (54) I still like my music to be in a format that I can actually pick up and hold. I'm not sure about the superior sound quality aspect, although another vinyl geek friend swears that vinyl is better once you get past a certain level of volume.

As far as turntables go, a good quality direct drive turntable is best for listening. You need to source them from Hi Fi stores or the net. Thorens or Sherwood have good models available. If you primarily want to convert your albums to digital then a USB turntable is the way to go I guess. I have a gigital recorder, which is like a CD player that records and I use it to convert my records to CD format to play in the car and make copmpilations etc.

By the way, I live in Australia and did a round the world trip in 2006. I found the States generally and San Francisco in particular the best city to buy vinyl for both price and availability. The Amoeba stores in the Haight and Berkley are incredible.

Thanks for the links and comments. I did some research and turntables are alot easier to find than I first thought. I was thinking of a Gemeni w/ hard case only 200! It is direct drive. I have been to Amoeba Records on Telegraph in Berkkely! That place is incredible! I also like Wax Trax in Denver and of course Barts in Boulder. you can find them online if you like. Thanks again I used to collect so I have a fair amount of quality LPs but like I said, just recently started thinking about it again. Vinyl is just so cool. peace

You probably already know that there's a lot of "new" vinyl being released on very heavy platters. Stuff I've seen is generally around $40 a pop but is apparently on 400gram records. I haven't heard any of this but I'd like to assume it's execllent quality. There's at least a few catalogues out there geared to serious audiofiles that sell various genres. I would love to hear some of this new stuff for myself....better be mindblowing for $40 a record.

I dont think I would pay that much. Im guessing the DJ craze in America is whats driving the market for the "New" records. I would hope and I do believe that most quality bands out there playing are pressing at least a few LPs for each new release. I used to work in a few records stores back in college and that was the case then. Punk and Indie bands as well as rap and hip hop were all putting out records. Alot of what Im after would be more of the rare music out there. And of course I have many GD records too! I can never have enough of that genre!

They describe those albums as '180 gram virgin vinyl'. They are heavier and supposed to have deeper grooves than older records and the vinyl has not been recycled from melted down remainder records. In Australia they sell from AU$25 to $40 depending on the title which equates to a maximum of about $35 US dollars. That in itself is unusual because most music products tend to be more expensive here. I buy most of my records second hand but I have a couple and they do sound good.

The range of music available on new vinyl is quite broad and critically acclaimed classics rather than million sellers tend to be heavily represented. I have seen quite a few of the Dead's earlier albums on 180 gram vinyl selling around the AU$30 mark.

How do you confirm the grams? (no joke intended) really I am not an expert but if Im going to spend time and money searching these items out of a used bin, (which I dont mind doing), I would like to know what Im looking for. So your saying the higher the gram the better the quality? thanks

I don't think people buying the 400 gram lps are DJs...more likely, they're serious audiophiles playing them on very serious systems with expensive turntables and tonearms, etc....a lot of classical music heads out there are the intended audience for these new LPs....and, I doubt you'll be fiding them in used bins.
FWIW, almost none of the stuff I've seen in catolgues is "new" music. It's all more famous jazz/classical/rock records from long ago along with stuff that sold millions of records already. I don't know much about it, but I suspect new releases from current artists are more likely to be on the 180 gram vinyl wheras the stuff like Miles Davis Kinda Blue is on the 400 gramers.

Bring a scale if you have any doubts as to the "weight"!

what is the most expensive dead vinyl ?

ep don't ease me in/Stealin' ?
lp acid test ?

i buy all of my music on vinyl if available. my preferred method is vinyl with a complementary digital download.

i use direct drive turntables. they are technics 1200s that i had from djing techno and dnb. i think they would be a bit of overkill for listening alone.

there is plenty of new music coming out on vinyl as well. noise/drone, experimental, electronic, rock, pop, psychedelic, concrete, folk... i bought new releases on vinyl in all of those styles last year.

Nice thanks, I think Im going with a direct drive turntable from like Guitar Center or Musicians friend. I do just want to listen. I guess if my interest stays sparked maybe some professional turntables would be in order.

Frenchdead wrote:what is the most expensive dead vinyl ?

ep don't ease me in/Stealin' ?
lp acid test ?

Just a guess, but they remixed of Anthem of the Sun soon after they originally released it. The original mix is therefore very rare....so,if you could fine an original mix of it unopened, that'd be pretty expensive. Look at these listings on ebay for an idea...and, I don't think any of those you see there are unopened.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid ... Categories

I just did another search and here's what came up....how's that for expensive?!

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=sealed ... &_osacat=0

ok thanks
a mono pressing of the first album could be at an high price, radio promo test pressings things like that too

Beware of Cut-outs these are promo lps sent to radio stations and the like that are worth nothing. Well, maybe a couple of bucks.

jdsmodulus wrote:Beware of Cut-outs these are promo lps sent to radio stations and the like that are worth nothing. Well, maybe a couple of bucks.

some of these also have limited play life and are possibly quite flat by the time you get them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetate_disc