Vinyl Thread • Page 48

anyone have any experience with this receiver? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SY20TE8/?tag=absolutepunk-20

I'd be running it through an audiotechnica LP120 and some technics tower speakers. I was using a powered speaker solution but they shit the bed during my move recently. can't listen to my records at the moment and it's bumming me out.

 

I don't have any experience but from research I've done in the past Onkyo is a trusted name and based on reviews I've seen you'll always get bang for your buck at any price range with them.

 

Finally got around to spinning this after it came in the mail about a week ago.

 

Very nice, you get a follow from me!

 

My luck with vinyl is bad, I played the warped Damage a second time and it was bad. Luckily the Amazon seller was nice, refunded me and I ordered a replacement. I got Chase this Light too, and it sounds great. Didn't realize they pressed it on 180g.

 

Thanks! Im actually in the process of moving to an apartment and anticipated the need to let my towers go so I don't ruin my neighbors' lives. I'll give them a try. Any particular preamp that works best with them?

 

Welp. Round two with shitty artists/labels. The tl;dr version is this:
Ordered this EP directly from Cam of Hotel Books. Never saw it. After repeated emails and threats of PayPal claims I got an email back saying it would ship ASAP. Two weeks later I got this:


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Almost Happy<[email protected]>



If you are getting this email, it is because you ordered the HOTEL BOOKS ‘2013 Tour EP’ in January 2016, and you have no received it yet. We apologize for this frustrating delay. We have a somewhat lame explanation, but before then, we want to share some information.



Here is some quick backstory on this release:

The 2013 Tour EP was pressed in California three days before our three month tour spanning over all of the US, east Australia, and central Europe. We had never pressed vinyl before, so we decided to do a small run and hand stamp the labels. When we ordered the first (and only) pressing, we said we wanted 5 test presses (with no approval needed) as well as 500 copies of the album. When we went to the pressing plant to pick them up (about an hour before the first show on the tour), we noticed they made 15 test presses, and that there were 5 boxes instead of 3, which is what the invoice said.



The pressing plant explained that they accidentally made 750 copies instead of 500, and it took three batches of 5 test presses to get the sound perfect. I told them that we did not even want to pay for test press approval, and he literally said, “We loved the record so much that our mastering team kept toying with it until it was perfect.” They did not make us pay for any of the overstock, so we got a sweet deal. We did not have the storage space, so we left the two extra boxed to be picked up after the tour.



Jump forward to January of last year (2015). We still had our secret stash of 250 overstocked vinyls, and we had not yet released them. We had completely sold out of the 500 (but had not released an test presses for sale), and all 500 were hand stamped by me, my friends, members of Brave Coast, or occasional help from former Silent Planet and Being as an Ocean members. The ink we made the DIY labels with seemed to be smearing and leaking after the fact, so we called the pressing plant and they said that they would seal the 250 extra labels, but they needed to charge us.



We did not have the money to do this at the time, so we put up some pre-orders. The pressing plant messed up and put that it was a “second pressing” but it was, in fact, still the first pressing, just being sold years later. This caused some frustration for fans who were promised their first pressing was the only one to be made.



Jump to January 2016, we planned on holding onto our remaining stash (all of which are still at a pressing plant in southern California), but we saw people paying upwards of $300 to own a copy of this album, and it hurt to see. We put 40 copies online, I had 20 copies at my house, so I personally shipped those out, and the second page of orders was sent to the pressing plant.



The pressing plant sent us confirmation that all 20 were sent out, but that was not the case. I was so mad and flustered that I posted a screenshot of this confirmation on the band’s Twitter and Instagram just to embarrass the company. This was very very wrong of me. They now have all 200 remaining copies of the EP sitting in a warehouse IN LONDON (for no real reason other than that they did not have the time to do them in CA, I guess.) The company does not even take on new clients anymore because the vinyl boom has them swamped.



With my immature move of calling them out on their lie, they are now being a little difficult and though they promise to have the vinyl ready “by summer,” we have NO idea when that could be. I assure you that when we placed the pre-orders online, we thought it was going to be an immediate shipping date (we even put on the site that February 11-25 would be the shipping time frame). The 20 we sent out all fell into that time frame.



We have two options here: You can get a refund (which we will gladly do), or you can wait it out and we can do ALL IN OUR POWER to make it even more special. We talked about doing an autographed lyric sheet or something to make this wait less painful. I know some bigger bands have pressing plants so backed up that I’ve waited over a year for a vinyl (Death Cab, Explosions, etc.) and it sucks. I don’t want you yo have to deal with that. But if you’re willing to brave it out in this cold cold world, we will do this for you: signed lyrics sheet, free admission to a Hotel Books show near you (probably couldn’t do a festival without huge notice ahead of time), and whatever other small goodies we have in our possession at time of shipping. The remaining copies will be sent out by us, the band, because the London plant will ship them back to CA, which is where we live, so we can pick them up there.



The silver lining: You will have one of 200 label-sealed but still hand-stamped copies. This is something very special. Someday, you can gouge a poor kid in eBay and sill it to him for far more than $300. Maybe our new album will suck, and people will hate us, and it won’t be worth anything at all. Maybe the next president will make music illegal and we won’t be able to listen to it at all. Maybe we don’t count as music since it’s just a guy whining on top of a soundscape. Maybe the planet is just a spec of dust on a dandelion being held by an elephant. The possibilities are endless.



Needless to say, we feel like real tools. In 2013 and 2014, we had huge shipping issues when we switched to the new merch companies (who are actually amazing), so we know how low it feels to break hearts like this. If a refund is needed, don’t be afraid to ask.



In the mean time, go steal our music online.



Please, enjoy your life. Life is a precious thing, and were the lucky ones who were given one. Share your life with us and email or check out our page:

[email protected]

imalmosthappyhere.com



-Cam, Jesse, Pete, and the Almost Happy Crew



I hate it when good bands end up having shitty excuses. Emailed Sunday asking for an update and it's all silent. Mind you, the above email was sent in March.

 

I personally went with the Schiit Mani and absolutely love it.
That's the pre-amp I've had as long as I've had the speakers so I've never tried anything else.

I feel you there. I paypal'd Ryan from Mixtapes some cash for a long out of print EP he had listed on Facebook.
Send him like $40 and I haven't heard a thing for a long time...
Reached out via email, Facebook and nothing. He gave me one email excuse to keep me hanging on long enough to be outside the 3 month timeframe to file a paypal claim (this was before Paypal had the 6 month claim window) and now I'm just fucked by a band I've enjoyed seeing live so many times and am kinda jaded on now...

 

ryan from mixtapes is a shitty dude that's said some disgustingly gross things

also hotel books is pretty bad but there was this guy on another forum that was backing them so hard that it was so weird, that someone from the band came on and said that he was freaking them out, lol

 

My new fandom of small emo bands has me scared to buy vinyl. Normally I just buy at record stores and avoid online orders. But now I want all these small bands but I'm scared all this shit will happen.

 

i don't know what shit you're worried about. know delays happen, but if you follow the right people/the right labels, there's nothing to worry about at all

 

Just always read about long delays or people not getting their records at all.

 

as i said: has to do with the label. you will never ever have an issue with topshelf. or run for cover. or tiny engines. or exploding in sound. if you do, they will help you out. just know who to trust

 

Luckily all of these have been the ones I've had my eye on except Run For Cover haha.

 

Bands are people. Some good, some bad.

I've gotten lucky in that no band I've loved has ever turned out to be shitty. But I've never dealt with a band member directly to buy things, besides Andy from Manchester Orchestra, but he's my dude.

 

Does anyone have any Every Time I Die vinyl they want to sell? Or know where I can purchase it? eBay is lacking.

 

I don't, but Amazon has their 3 latest albums in stock either directly through them or reliable third parties at what I consider good prices.

 

I have From Parts Unknown but I'm not looking to sell really. They are all pretty readily available online from what I've seen though.

 

I was at Amoeba last night and they had about 6 copies of Sprained Ankle on display. I couldn't leave without buying it lol

 

Finally picked up a copy of Your Favorite Weapon and now I have all four Brand New albums

 

Man I'm going to have so much to listen to once I get a new turn table in a few months.


Did anyone else pre-order the re-press of Dog Problems a few months ago?? I still don't know when I'm supposed to be getting that

 

I already had it from the first round of represses, but I ordered pretty much everything else. I have heard zero news about it recently. I'm assuming it's standard factory delay stuff.

 

That's a pre-order with a shipping date of July 11th.

 

well that sucks

 

reading ken, reading!