Translucent vinyl info

[dwaller131]

Wondering what exactly the deal is with this. From back in the late 70s I always thought that translucent vinyl (particularly the golden brown color) was used only by MFSL for their pressings (because I read it in the folder that came with their LPs). I never did bother to hold other LPs up to light.

More recently I've begun to hold up almost every LP I find to a light, and have found two curiosities (so far); a Stryper "to Hell With The Devil" translucent (brown), and oddly enough a Mr. Mister "Welcome To The Real World" (also brown). So is the translucent vinyl an improvement over a standard black pressing? Both of these sound great, but I don't have anything else to compare them to.

 

[Northman]

Nope. Vinyl is normally clear; black is just an addition.

 

[Mc_Man]

Usually an indication of virgin vinyl, there were a few labels using it in the 80's.

 

[empirelvr]

MFSL used JVC's "supervinyl" which was developed in the early 1970's for CD-4 quad discs. It was a virgin vinyl capable of being pressed with, and maintaining, the 30kHz carrier for the rear channels. So it wasn't exclusive to MFSL. Any vendor who pressed at JVC in Japan could use the formulation. I also believe the bulk vinyl was available for sale to other pressing plants. Word on the street is it was discontinued because the process to make it was quite toxic and couldn't pass newer emission laws passed in Japan.

There was also a premium virgin vinyl formulation American LP's started to be pressed on starting in the early 1980's called "Quiex II" which was also a dark translucent vinyl that when held to a light showed a clear, dark brown to purple tint. Not the same as what you saw when holding a MFSL disc to a light, but visually, very close.

The reason QuiexII was translucent was because it used a liquid dark dye for the color as opposed to carbon black powder. I don't know if Supervinyl also used a liquid dye, but it may have. I think today's premium vinyl may be a descendant of the Quiex II formula.

 

[Slick Willie]

What you speak of are the Quiex vinyl pressings. First runs of some titles were pressed on this "audiophile" vinyl formulation. From my experience, mostly the promo labeled ones were marked, although I have some that are not. Those are referred to as stealth Quiex pressings, usually run after the promos and some of those were the stamped cover variation of a promo,
Here is a pic of one of my stickered ones.
.
Heartbeat City - The Cars
Promo label pressed on Quiex II translucent vinyl.