Sold Date: November 26, 2022
Start Date: November 14, 2022
Final Price: $125.00 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 1352
Buyer Feedback: 77

LED ZEPPELIN II Hot Mix RL Robert Ludwig mastered, the infamous pickle tickle of Led Zeppelin II pressings.
Presswell Pressing Plant as indicated by the PR on labels. RL is etched on both sides of the platter with SS for Sterling Sound.
Great starter copy for this pressing, not perfect and noisy in places, but overall a solid and enjoyable listen. TEST PLAYED ALL THE WAY THROUGH. 
VINYL in G+ with several hairlines scratches and scuffs that cause background crackle and pops with some repeating in laces. NO SKIPS on my system, played loud with the treble up and this thing rocks hard, these Presswell pressings are always outstanding. The sound was noisy in between songs and in quieter segments (in which there are few on this title), Moby Dick during the drum solo is always the worst on this title, and the fade out-in at the end of "Thank You' is always noisy, but when the music is rocking, this version is rolling.
COVER in G+ with yellowing/staining, spine readable with yellowing and area in middle with paper loss with rubbing around edges, corner dings/wear, all seams intact and solid, bottom seams have rubbing and chipping starting at corners, top seams have rubbing and light chipping in places. Inner gatefold has 2" split in middle. Small price on back cover upper left corner in black pen.
Notes:
US 1st pressing (with the 1841 Broadway address on the labels), featuring Robert Ludwig's "hot" mastering on both sides. These were withdrawn early because the high bass levels caused low-grade cartridges to mistrack, leading people to return the album on the belief that it was defective. Another engineer was then hired to recut a much less "hot" version of the album, and that is the far more common version.

On some copies the Sterling Sound credit, "SS", appears in both runouts following Ludwig's "RL", and on others the "SS" appears only in the Side Two runout. The "RL" will still appear in both runouts.
Comes in a gatefold sleeve.

This sub should only be used for copies with "RL" in both runouts. Later transitional pressings which featuring "RL" on only one side and another engineer's work on the other should receive their own subs.

"PR" in label matrix denotes a Presswell pressing.
"LW" in runouts indicates Longwear Plating metal parts.
"AT" in runouts indicates Atlantic Studios mastering
"W" in runouts indicates that blank lacquers came from the company Audiodisc. Barcode and Other Identifiers Rights Society: ASCAP Pressing Plant ID (On labels): PR Matrix / Runout (Side A Label): (ST-A-691671 PR) Matrix / Runout (Side B Label): (ST-A-691672 PR) Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout Variant 1): ST-A-691671-C RL SS P LW W AT Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout Variant 1): ST-A-691672-A P LW AT RL SS W