Great and bad labels/ pressing plants

[Bluecloud777]

Maybe in this thread we can talk about which labels (and also which pressing plants) usually are having very high sound quality and quality control, especially when it comes to reissues. I've heard you and people on other forums talk about it now and then, but haven't seen a specific thread about it. I think this information is highly interesting to people who are rather new to buying vinyl. I've started collecting vinyl in mid 2017, but I'm just starting to learn about those kind of things. Often the best labels seem to be the ones mastering and cutting from analogue sources. On the other hand there seem to be many grey market labels that often use bad CD copies as a source. Maybe you can share your knowledge about labels/ pressing plants. Which to look for, which to avoid.

So I'm trying to list the good ones (mostly from what I've read about them). Your corrections or additions are very welcome:

Great pressing plants:
QRP, RTI, Pallas, Optima

Hit and miss pressing plants:
GZ, MPO

Rather bad pressing plants:
Rainbo, United

Great labels for reissues:
Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner, ORG, Pure Pleasure, Sundazed, MoFi, Music on Vinyl (though mostly from Hi Res digital resources), Jazz Dispensary, Music Matters

Medium labels:
Elemental (they seem to source from digital sources too, seems to be hit and miss, does anyone have experiences with them?), Rhino, the 75th anniversary Blue Notes pressings as they've been pressed at United

Bad labels/ grey market ones:
Waxtime, Doxy, DOL, MRP, Studio Media

Please feel free to add corrections and your thoughts about this.

Also are Japanese pressings better in general? I've heard that often. What are your experiences?

 

[Bluecloud777]

Here are some more:

Hit and miss labels: Ace, Light in the attic, Monk, Third Man Records, Original Jazz Classics

Rather bad labels: 4 men with beards, Plain Recordings, Elektra, Getback, Audio Clarity, Not now