Question about ADA Mp1's

[Eddie's Booze]

Are they any good?, I know Paul Gilbert used them and I like his tone.

I would welcome any input people could give me here.


Thanks

[cdwillis]

I've never played one myself but I've wanted one since I listened to Street Lethal. If you want to check out a site with tons of info and soundclips try www.adadepot.com

[Panamark]

They are pretty cool, Elvis knows a lot about em..
They run 2 x 12AX7's so you get a nice genuine
tube sound. Its simple to change the pair of tubes
so you can experiment even further with tone, just
by trying different tube manufacturers. The Chinese
Beijing facility 12AX7's are the best to my ear, but
then you can throw in some Electr Harmonix and
get a completely different tone again.

Theres about 80 odd factory presets and you can
store a shitloads of your own. Very easy to program.

They are a great tube pre-amp for the money, and
really great if you are after 80's Rock tones.

My only small criticism of the unit is they are a little noisy.
(There seems to be a constant low level hum when using
the tube settings)
So if you wanted to plug one into a chain for home
recording, the noise factor would probably annoy you.

I've spoke with Elvis about this unit as he recommended
it to me, we both agree that it sounds heaps better than
the POD's... You get a real tube sound, not a digital one.

Its a great pre-amp for fucking around with inline with
a Marshall head too...

They go for about $200 on ebay in the US, how can you
go wrong ? I tried one of the Mesa Boogie Tri-axis which
was several thousand, and the ADA MP1 sounds better
hands down !

If it wasnt for the slight hum factor, this unit would be perfect.

[kentuckyklira]

They´re decent but not great! They have the same problem the Marshall JMP 1 has, too compressed. They don´t react to the volume pot or how hard you hit the strings really well. You just can´t clean up a high gain setting with your volume pot.

My DigiTech GSP2101 on the other hand!

[Panamark]

So if we look at the Value for money argument, (Which is where the
ADA stuff usually blows away all the others)
how much does your Digitech cost KK ??
I might be interested in checking it out if its good value..

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by Panamark
So if we look at the Value for money argument, (Which is where the
ADA stuff usually blows away all the others)
how much does your Digitech cost KK ??
I might be interested in checking it out if its good value..

In Germany you can get them for anything between 150 and 400 Euros. 400 is probably too much, but 200-250 is definitely ok.

Mind you, in the end it´s all a question of taste. You won´t get that super thick and creamy distortion a Marshall JMP1 will get you with all gain levels set to 10. But in my experience, that kind of a setting will get totally lost in a band context!

[ELVIS]

Hmmm...

I have three MP1's...

I bought my first one in 1990 and have been using it ever since...

As far as the low level hum, there is a fix for that and the noise problem at ADA Depot...

As far as compression...It's perfect for my liking...

I also agree tht the tone doesn't clean up much when you turn your guitar's volume knob down...

The clean channel is kind of weak, as well...

But despite the few shortcommings, I love my MP1's and i've yet to hear any pre-amp or any amp come close, except maybe a Fender Super Sonic, which i'm currently looking for a good price for one..

[Panamark]

Originally posted by ELVIS
Hmmm...



As far as the low level hum, there is a fix for that and the noise problem at ADA Depot...

Mine has the lastest version firmware and the noise mod.
Its the same low level hum you get with any older analog
tube equipment. I should have said the newer
digital type modellers have algorithms and filters that
eliminate this type of noise. Its sort of a catch 22 situation,
if you want the great original tube sound, you get the hum..

There is a way around this though. Get a hold of Adobe Audition
(Formerly Cool Edit Pro) its like a supersonic Audacity ! Best
wave editor out there.. (IMHO)

Simply record the hum whilst you are not playing, and profile
it. You can them run that across your final track to remove
that hum....

Theres ways around everything, but you would know that wouldnt
you UNCA ELVIS