Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison

If you are standing in a vinyl fair or in a record shop and you are reading this deciding whether or not to buy this album just get it...actually grab it. It's an amazing pressing.

Number 1800

Ok so the guy below asked about comparing this pressing to the RKS VMP 33 release so here goes...

The RKS is very well done and beat out all the other modern pressings of this album I've tried. I've not heard an OG so I can't speak to those, but it pretty handily bested everything else I've heard. It's RKS so it's his usual style, it's mixed like a traditional rock record. Everything is punched up a bit, Cash's voice is brought forward in the mix and is now as loud if not louder than the guitars, but his voice sounds great, natural. The stage is fairly flat, not necessarily in a bad way, but it's crankable and every element of the songs will sound about even in volume. It sounds less dirty and live and more cleanly produced, like a messy live session that's been fixed up before release to be friendly for radio play. In other words, it's the usual solid RKS mastering job that plays nice with almost all systems, but at the cost of losing a bit of the extension and uh... sparkle you might hear from a KPG or Luthans.

The biggest difference to this Mofi 45 is the width of the stage. The Mofi has a much deeper and wider stage, you can place the band in 3D space on the stage in front of you. You feel like you're more in the room with the band... and the inmates. However it's by no means a huge stage, it's just got more depth than the fairly two dimensional VMP mix. But it's a 45 so it's to be expected that the stage will probably best a 33. In of the sound it hasn't been cleaned up as much as the RKS VMP. Levels between instruments are more varied, Cash's voice is recessed in the mix and the guitars and drums are playing over him to a degree. Again not really in a bad way, just a bit more messy and live sounding. I think his voice doesn't sound as natural on the Mofi as it does on the VMP. I think RKS did a great job cleaning up a pretty flawed recording. I prefer how his voice sounds on the VMP to the more rounded and somewhat muffled Mofi version. I'm not even sure muffled is the right word... "Softer" might be a better descriptor.

In the end I think it really comes down to personal preference. I think the 33 sounds great and it's very clean and a fun listen... and you don't have to get up and flip the record after 4 songs. The Mofi 45 sounds a bit more chaotic and live, and you feel like you're more in the room with the performers. However that being said I think that this is very system dependent and that your mileage may vary depending on your rig. I'm not sure these differences would be particularly noticeable on everyone's systems. It's by no means a massive difference. Ultimately I don't think you can go wrong with either.

For reference this was tested on:
VPI Signature Classic
Soundsmith Paua MKII
Halo JC3+
JBL L100s

Does anyone have a comparison to the VMP version of this record that was mastered by Ryan Smith? That one was great IMO, but curious if the Mofi is leaps and bounds better than the VMP version (or others, for that matter).

IMO, on my system in my space this pressing is good, not great just good. Maybe at 45rpm my preconceived expectations were set to high. I have an OG Mono and OG Stereo and the MF is definately an improvement over the OG Stereo. I'll leave out any comparison to the OG Mono because that's not fair to compare one to the other.

IMO MF needs to drop their prices more in line with a Rhino High Fidelity for instance because they have fallen far beyond the likes of Acoustic Sounds, specifically their 45rpm 75th series which most titles have been just jaw dropping.
Just stating dollar for dollar MF IS not where they once were.
I don't want to come off sounding as if this entire review is just to bash mobile fidelity because I have many albums in my collection that I simply treasure from them. What I am saying is with Acoustic Sounds raising the bar and other companies putting out fantastic sounding albums I'm not sure mobile Fidelity can or should maintain this price point. But as long as their is a market I suppose they have no incentive.