Alfred Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Yesterday I found a impulse! LP in a local record shop. The LP with thick original cover and vinyl has not the original impulse! label but a black SPARTON label (Made in London, Canada). Do you know these releases? What about the sound quality? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 I have a Sparton issue of Curtis Fuller's "Soul Trombone (The Jazz Clan)". Mine is mono (red label, gold lettering). I always thought it sounded great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Not to be confused with the american company that made these: (BTW, that's not a "Bluebird", which was a table model, but a "Nocturne"- a 4-foot-high masterpiece now worth upwards of $30,000) This is a Bluebird. Probably more info than anybody wanted, but I couldn't resist... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 I have a Sparton issue of Phil Sunkel's Jazz Concerto which was, I think, on US ABC Paramount. I think it sounds great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tapscott Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 I have several of these myself. They are fine. The sound and vinyl quality is equivalent to Impulses of similar vintage pressed stateside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 A few details about my Fuller... Foldout jacket is identical to an Impulse (including the Impulse logo in the white circle), but has "Sparton" stamped at the top of the front cover in gold script. (Not labeled Sparton on spine nor on rear cover). Aforementioned red abel says "SPARTON impulse RECORDS". "RVG" stamp in dead wax. B-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Not to be confused with the american company that made these Hmmm... I just noticed on the (original Sparton) inner sleeve, it says "Sparton of Canada limited - London Ontario - Famous for sound since 1926 / records / television / stereo hi fi phonos / radios". London Ontario is about 100 miles across the border from Jackson Michigan, where the above radios were manufactured... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tapscott Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 It's quite possible they're the same company. Up to 30 or 40 years ago most US firms had maufacturing facilities in Canada to make their product for the Canadian market. Those were the days of high tariffs and duties. Now companies make their products wherever it is cheapest to do so and send them more or less freely across the border. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Brown Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Boy, do I remember Sparton pressings! Absolute crap. Most of the Impulse albums available in Canada were pressed by Sparton. The stereo pressings were even worse than abominable. In order to hear the great Coltrane, Mingus, Shepp, Gary McFarland and Pee Wee Russell albums from Impulse we had only one choice: buy the mono pressing. The monos weren't great, but they were at least playable. The stereos, forget about it. Earlier, Sparton had wreaked the same havoc on Atlantic albums. Sparton at one time had been licensed to manufacture Atlantic albums in Canada. Migawd they were awful. I'll never forget Pyramid by the Modern Jazz Quartet. All that delicate interplay buried under an ocean of surface noise and out-of-phase stereo. Even the mono on that one was a disaster. Bad memories. Strangely enough, this is not an indictment of Canadian pressings. Albums from the major labels, Columbia and RCA in particular, sounded far better in the Canadian pressings than they did in the American originals. It's not as though great LPS couldn't be manufactured north of the border, it's just that Sparton couldn't do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted September 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Boy, do I remember Sparton pressings! Absolute crap. ... Hmmm, that was exactly the opinion I have heard from others and the reason why I had left the record where it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrdlu Posted September 26, 2004 Report Share Posted September 26, 2004 Those were the days of high tariffs and duties. My wife's uncle lives in Windsor, ON, and used to be a Canadian customs officer on the Ambassador bridge between Detroit and Windsor. He was a real zealot, and would have searched his Mom. My wife told me tales of how residents of SW Ontario would go over to Detroit to shop and then sneak all sorts of stuff back. The women would take Canadian clothes labels and sew them onto U.S. items before returning! But Uncle Clare could spot U.S. clothes a mile off. No need for sniffer dogs in them thar days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk Lenart Posted May 14, 2016 Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 (edited) Well I can't follow the replies claiming Sparton Impulse is crap. I've got 2 of them. Coltrane and Hartman and just in yesterday, Rollins on Impulse! Both cleaned with Art du Son and both carrying the VAN GELDER in the trailout. They sound wonderful, no background noise at all. They sound exactly as my US originals on Impulse. For me Sparton is a way to acquire great Impulse records for a lot less. Though they don't come that cheap anymore. People seem to get to know this. The Rollins was bought for 20 $, I was the only bidder... Cheers from Dirk from Antwerp Edited May 14, 2016 by Dirk Lenart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted May 14, 2016 Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 (edited) Welcome to the board ! Art du Son is great. Just about to clean a couple of LPs with that stuff. Edited May 14, 2016 by sidewinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted May 14, 2016 Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 3 hours ago, sidewinder said: Welcome to the board ! Art du Son is great. Just about to clean a couple of LPs with that stuff. It's not got the best shelf life. My working solution develops white streaks or gloop. This occurs despite keeping it in the dark. None the less it works well enough and can also be safely used on shellac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted May 14, 2016 Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 The secret I find is just to mix up a small bottle and to keep the concentrate at the back of the fridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk Lenart Posted May 14, 2016 Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 (edited) Yip, just mixed 250 ml and in the fridge. Perfect My current routine, Zerostat gun on the record and Pro-ject brush on it. Art du Son on it, and 3 loads of the Zerostat to let it get as deep as possible. MoFi brush the liquid in, in both directions. Let it soak for 5 minutes, Okki Nokki vacuum for 3 turns. Zerostat again. Does miracles. Edited May 14, 2016 by Dirk Lenart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted May 14, 2016 Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 My zerostat is 40 years old and still going strong.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk Lenart Posted May 14, 2016 Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 Sounds promising. There are doubts about it, but Bernie Grundman has one. Â Good enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted May 14, 2016 Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 4 hours ago, Dirk Lenart said: Yip, just mixed 250 ml and in the fridge. Perfect My current routine, Zerostat gun on the record and Pro-ject brush on it. Art du Son on it, and 3 loads of the Zerostat to let it get as deep as possible. MoFi brush the liquid in, in both directions. Let it soak for 5 minutes, Okki Nokki vacuum for 3 turns. Zerostat again. Does miracles. ok , putting my bottle in the fridge right now , thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinlps Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 I've been using the Osage regiment for a few years. Have not heard of Art du Son... Any one tried both for comparison's sake? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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