RL SS LED ZEPPELIN II ROBERT LUDWIG '69 HOT MIX INSANELY RARE Starter P to Fair
RL SS/RL SS LED ZEPPELIN II ROBERT LUDWIG '69 HOT MIX INSANELY RARE Monarch Pressing Great Starter Album Poor to Fair Condition.
Original First Pressing. Less than 200,000 copies exist. This platinum album has sold more than 12 million copies.
LED ZEPPELIN II ROBERT LUDWIG HOT MIX Monarch first pressing with RL SS etched on both sides.
Vinyl grade Good to Poor to Fair Surface ticks/crackle, skip
Vacuum cleaned, with Mofi archival inner sleeve.
Cover G- slight binding seam split and writing.
The sound quality of this Mix has a much louder volume and generally more bass and tones you don’t hear on the later versions.
Many near mint copies have recently sold for $1800, and Mint copies for $3000+.
I’ve priced mine at what I think is a low or very fair price, but feel free to send me an offer. Depends on my mood at the time and if I have my eye on something else rare and unusual.
Play graded:
A1: numerous forward skips, no backward skips or sticks, background crackle throughout. However great bass tone and drums. Better than I’ve heard in many RL versions I’ve listened to.
A2: Same. But less skips and more background crackle. Incredible bass tone. The grooves are not worn as much as you would think.
A3: Lower/less bass tone. The overall volume level seems to be lower for some reason. Less skips but similar background crackle to A2.
A4: “Thank You” my new favorite song of the album but many low volume areas. This song has less crackle than the others. Beautiful bass tone and drums but you need to turn up a bit. 2 barely noticeable skips at the beginning. The drums and bass sound great and is a good example of why this RL mix is so superior.
B1: numerous forward skips, no backward skips or sticks, background crackle throughout. However great bass tone and drums. Better than I’ve heard in many RL versions I’ve listened to.
B2: loud song so you notice the crackle as much. Good bass tone and high volume. 3-4 forward skips
B3: lower volume intro and in other parts pick up the crackle a lit. Not so much in the loud parts. Numerous skips. Great example Of the RL Mix.
B5: “Moby Dick” great Bass and drums tone and high volume. Great highs with Jimmy’s guitar. Not as much crackle on this song but definitely there in the quiet parts. No Skips on this one! Yay.
B6: Less background static than the the others but because there are so many low volume parts you here it then. Not so much when the full band is jamming. Great example of the loud high bass and highs, but more midrange in this mix than I normally hear on the RL albums. Altogether the volume is a bit lower so I cranked up from 50 to 55 and it sounds great. No Skips!!!!
No backward skips or stick where you have to get up and move the needle forward.
Tracklist
A1 Whole Lotta Love 5:33
A2 What Is And What Should Never Be 4:47
A3 The Lemon Song 6:20
A4 Thank You 3:50
B1 Heartbreaker 4:15
B2 Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman) 2:40
B3 Ramble On 4:35
B4 Moby Dick 4:25
B5 Bring It On Home 4:1
Recent letter from Robert Ludwig about the rare original Hot Mix of Led Zeppelin.
I wrote Robert Ludwig in the last week and he wrote me back. All the versions from sterling are the same hot mix. The subtle variances between them are all simply from the slight differences in making a hand-made analog lacquer disc, at least one of which was sent to all the pressing plants at the time. The CTH plant got a lacquer that was half RL and half LH (Lee Hulko, his partner) but was of the SAME MIX AND MASTER, based on RL's notes. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME, aside from subtle variances and should be valued the SAME no matter who's initials are in the dead wax. They are all the same master from STERLING SOUND! Here is my reply from Robert Ludwig. Let this be the final word in this debate. Thanks!
Hi Jim,
I'm surprised about Lee Hulko's initials being on some of the parts. In all these years I had never come across any copies with his initials before.
When there were big orders of certain titles and there wasn't physically enough time for one person to crank out the lacquers as fast as the record company wanted, sometimes we would help each other out.
For instance, my initials might appear on a Beatles record that Lee mastered.
In every case, compared to now, those titles were relatively easy to master. Once one of us mastered an album and it was approved, we made careful notes, either one of us could cut it and it should come out the same. Back then, Lee and I shared the one room and worked different hours so it is possible one of the plants blew a part and needed a replacement right then with no delay.
So after I mastered the album (which Eddie Kramer & Atlantic approved) it was shipped to all the radio stations and the initial pressing was all from me and Sterling Sound.
Amhet Ertegun at Atlantic heard the album (which Eddie demanded be as hot as possible) and apparently it skipped on his daughters little turntable. Instead of calling us at Sterling and asking us to lower the level a little and telling us where it skipped, they had the disk cutters at Atlantic use my EQ'd cassette file copy and they cut it WAY lower than my original cut plus, in my opinion, it sounded dull and generally not very good sounding in comparison.
So all the disks that were played at the radio stations and all the initial pressings world wide came from me (and apparently Lee cut a part or two) and that was what "sold" the record and made it a hit. A year later, whenever I visited someone I would look at their Zeppelin II album to see if it was my cut or Atlantic's cut. It was easy to see by eye, the Atlantic cut ended much farther from the label and the grooves to the naked eye looked very conservative.
I still got to Master "Houses of the Holy" later on, no skipping problems with that as far as I know!
I hope this clears this up for you.
All my best,
Bob Ludwig
