Decca London - 1st pressings early 50s ?
Fri, Dec 16 2011, 1:18PM
I have two brown sleeved London lps - Carmen and part of Merry Widow marked ' Mrs Webb . 1st pressing . [ signed ] P York '.
In the same batch were a L'Arlessiane and a Decca gold label Die Fledermaus plus the prides of my collection - London - Stravinski's Petrouskka with Ansermet LLP 130 and Kathleen Ferrier's recital of Handel Arias LLP 688 .
The covers are written in red pencil with the disc numbers , with additional notes , typically on the Stravinsky of ARL 222-3A/W and ARL 223-5B/W , which may refer to the masters for each side .
The 1st pressing notes are in lead pencil .
I would love to find out more about these - can anyone help ?
Sun, Dec 18 2011, 3:50PM
#2
RE: Decca London - 1st pressings early 50s ?
Thanks , Irvine , I had forgotten about the early equalistion . wish I had kept the Quad 22 !
Mon, Dec 19 2011, 9:14AM
#3
RE: Decca London - 1st pressings early 50s ?
If you want flexible phono equalisation, Graham Slee makes an excellent and flexible little box that will do this for you. It is called the Jazz Club. Have a look at their website www.gspaudio.co.uk for details.
A very well made little product that does a great job.
Good morning from the island of Maui, Hawaii. Without personally seeing the lps that you are writing about, I am unable to address every question that you might have.
The first lps whose catalogue numbers begin with LLP were pressed in the UK by Decca. Many of them were released in the US and Canada before they were released in the UK. The name London was used because the trade name Decca in the US was used by a competative company. US Decca and UK Decca used to be one and the same company, but they separated in the mid 1930's as I recall.
Most LLP records had dull drab red labels. They were pressed on very heavy guage vinyl. They were virtually unbreakable, although they frequently suffered from catastrophic groove damage when played on most domestic record players of the early 1950's, due to the high tracking weights of the record playing arms. Copies in mint unblemished condition, not only sound good, but tend to be valuable.
Ansermet's Petrouchka, is not only superbly recorded, but is also an outstanding performance. The Kathleen Ferrier lp I own, but the matrix number indicates it was remastered. If correctly decoded the copy you own will yield a better sound.
At this point I should mention "equalisation". The early LPs released by Decca, and also other major manufacturers are equalised differently, than those released from 1953 onwards. This is a complex topic. Accessing Google or preferably DogPile, and entering, "record equalisation", in the enquiry line, will lead you to informative posts on the complex topic of equalisation, which is really essential when you want to reproduce the sound information stored in the LP grooves of the recordings you own.
The matrix numbers in the wastes - the centres - of both lps beginning with LLP are in 12 point type. The remastered discs have the same matrix number shown in 10 point san-serif typeface with an 8 point R added. The gold Fledermaus was probably released in the UK and not the US.
On a final note I should mention I own the QUAD monaural preamplifier that was used for many years by the late Percy Wilson in reviewing records for the Gramophone. This preamplifier can decode the majority of the pre 1953 codes. Alas, it is in California at the present time. I hope the foregoing answers a few of your questions. Irvine Shamrock