Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions 4LP Test Pressing Box SS

$

550

This auction is for a STILL SEALED, NUMBERED (12 of 20), 4LP Test Pressing Box Set. This set consists of 4 discs of the Classic Records 200gram reissue of Led Zeppelin's "BBC Sessions". These highly collectible test pressings are from the first stamper. Test pressings reflect the closest you can get to the lacquers and hence have a special collectible value and store of value.

Taken from various London Broadcast venues and carried over the European airwaves by the BBC, these 1969-71 BBC Sessions are the authorized release of songs that have been long known and available only via bootlegging. Personally compiled by guitarist Jimmy Page, this collection captures the band without the use of overdubbing: live, raw and in their prime. It showcases many songs that were on their way to becoming rock standards plus allows the listener to hear songs that were still being worked out. A case in point is the inclusion of Stairway To Heaven, performed here eight months prior to it's official studio release on Led Zeppelin IV. The BBC Sessions are now considered the best collection of live Led Zeppelin material released to date. Other selections include You Shook Me. I Can't Quit You Baby, Communication Breakdown, Dazed and Confused, Whole Lotta Love, How Many More Times, Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Black Dog and thirteen medleys of blues and R & B snippets among others. This limited edition 4 LP deluxe box set features four jackets and an insert with the original artwork and liner notes.

Set packaged in original box with artwork. Each disc is packaged in a white jacket.

Only a very small number of these sets exist and thus this is a special opportunity to hear your favorite title on Classic's 200g Super Vinyl Profile - it doesn't get any better than this!

ULTRA RARE item... Good luck!

Background on Classic 200g Super Vinyl Profile

In 2003, Classic Records launched its now famous Signature Blue Note Mono reissue series.

As part of that series Classic developed an "authentic" 200 gram LP profile that replicated that of an original Blue Note record from the 1950's.  Comparing a test pressing on the new profile versus the same title on the normal 180 gram pressing it was discovered that the 200 gram version sounded significantly better.  The 200 gram pressing sounded louder, with more definition and solidity of notes across all frequencies and there was more detail - particularly low level detail like room or hall sounds, pages being turned, musicians whispering and automobile sounds outside the studio all became easier to identify.  At first it was speculated inside Classic Records that the extra weight resulted in the better performance as no one could come up with a better answer given that the stampers were the same as well as the vinyl pellets used on both 180g and 200g pressings.  One day, Michael Hobson, the founder of Classic Records was discussing this unexplainable sonic discovery with the Legendary Mastering Engineer and Sheffield Records founder, Doug Sax when Doug, without hesitation stated "Ah Michael you've discovered the difference in a flat versus conventional profile". Puzzled, Hobson asked for an explanation which Sax described as going all the way back to 1950's mono pressings and what happened when stereo records came out in the early 1960's.  Sax explained that in the 1950's when mono records had no vertical modulation (only lateral), pressing PolyVinylChloride PVC (plastic) records were more easily pressed on "Flat Profile" dies fitted to the pressing machines since the grooves on the mono stampers were all the same height (no vertical modulation).  The molten vinyl was able to flow evenly across the stampers and fill properly during the molding (pressing) of the record.  The problems started when stereo record cutting came into vogue producing stampers that had variable height grooves sticking up across the diameter of each stamper.  Using the older mono pressing dies resulted in tremendous problems getting the areas between grooves of different heights to fill properly - a groove that is in front of another taller one often got passed over by the flowing molten vinyl resulting in "non-fill" which was audible and thus a "defective" record.  Pressing plants don't like to press defective records and are always looking for high pressing yields or a s few rejects as possible.
To solve the problem, the engineers developed a new pressing die profile which tapers from the center of the die, flattens in the middle of the diameter and then tapers again toward the outside of the die. The new profile was "concave" rather than flat.  When you put a flat stampers onto the concave dies the stampers distort and are no longer flat - the grooves are no longer perpendicular across the stamper and by association across a finished vinyl pressing.  This new die profile created "back pressure" on the flowing vinyl and solved the "non-fill" problem with stereo pressings and resulted in higher yields which was great for pressing plants and good for record companies who wanted good prices on pressings.  The problem was and still is that the new profile records don't sound as good as they could because they are not flat across their profile.  Using a micrometer across the diameter of a 1950's mono records reveals that the thickness is virtually the same across the record's diameter from center label to outer edge but not so for a newer stereo profile pressing which is convex across its diameter resulting from the concave profile dies / distorted stampers.  This is the dirty little secret that Classic had rediscovered was known to old school experts like Doug Sax who founded Sheffield Labs in the 1970's.  After the discovery, Classic Records never looked back and all of its releases and re-pressings after 2003 were on the new 200 gram Flat Profile dies that were specially made for Classic.  Some years later Classic discovered that the very same profile was used by JVC in Japan to produce the legendary UHQR pressings for Mobile Fidelity which are well known to sound better than the conventional Mobile Fidelity pressings of the same titles - it all makes sense now.  The long and the short of this is that Classic 200g Super Vinyl Profile (Flat Profile) pressings are as good as it gets for proper playback without groove distortion from non-flat pressings - Period.

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