NPaD: It's a doozie

digitalscream

Finally, after many years of trying to find a decent one, I've got it...



A UK-voltage ADA MP-2!!!!!

A tiny bit of rack rash (for a 30 year old unit), and - after a valve change - it sounds bloody fantastic. I know a lot of Nuno/Gilbert purists say the MP-1 is the one to have, but to my ears this thing does everything the MP-1 does while simultaneously fixing the problems (lack of a noise gate or any EQ beyond the tone controls).

I haven't played with the wah or trem yet, and I probably won't, but the chorus is just as lush as the one on the original, the gate works just fine, the compressor is a marvel for 80s-style leads (which basically form my entire bag of tricks), and the Room EQ is astonishingly useful (it seems to behave sort of like a combination of a tilt EQ and parametric EQ depending on where it's set).

All for the bargain price of £175.

Now, if you'll all excuse me, I need to go and price up a MIDI rack rig to go with it...

grappagreen

Enjoy! I had an MP-1 in the early '90's and loved it..

digitalscream

Worth noting that I've not even plugged it into a power amp and cab yet - just running it direct into my interface and running IRs in Reaper, it sounds bloody fantastic. Not had that from any preamp ever.

Colour me seriously impressed.

mrkb

Ive got one thats UK voltage (that ADA sold me when I lived in the states in the 1990s) Also got the MPC, Quad switch and expression pedal (they need a bit of TLC as the switches are intermittent). I set it up with a Digitech TSR24 and Marshall 8008 into an old marshall 1x12 a few weeks ago and it sounded good.

mrkb

Theres a good MIdi software editor available that someone has written - will dig the link out tonight.

digitalscream

mrkb said:

Theres a good MIdi software editor available that someone has written - will dig the link out tonight.

Cheers, although I'm not sure it's necessary - the front panel is ridiculously easy to use. I expected to have to dig out the manual, but after 30 seconds of getting my bearings, I didn't feel like I was missing anything. For a push-to-get-menus thing, it's brilliantly intuitive.

Now I've just got to think about how I'm going to use it. I reckon a TC G-Major ought to do the trick, but...my MIDI controller has four buttons. So...four tones + a separate tap tempo switch, or three + tap on the controller? Who knows...

It's been a long time since I've even considered this stuff!

mrkb

I found it useful for backing up presets and moving them around.

https://github.com/ValdemarOrn/Mp2Editor

digitalscream

Actually, backups are a very good point. I'll download it (and see if it runs in Linux...). Cheers!

digitalscream

OMG! I just remembered - I've got an old ART SGE Mach II kicking around!

Ohhhh, this is gonna be fun. It doesn't have delay trails, and I'm not even sure it has tap tempo, but who cares...80s fun!

p90fool

I still have fond memories of those ADA preamps, they sounded and felt excellent and arrived at around the same time that "real" amps were starting to sound crap. 

I'd love to hear it if you ever do a quick video with it. 

darcym

this is a great find, I've got an MP1 and have been on the look out for an MP2 - as putting them in the rack together feels like it would be an amazing rig or opportunity, great find at a great price, so now I'll need to take the green N4 and this when you get bored. 

keep an eye out for one for me please ! let me know how you get on too, from my limited time with the MP2 compared to the MP1 the clean sound is nicer (and more options as you say with the EQ) and the gain sounds are pretty much identical so it's the best of both worlds.

hollywoodrox

digitalscream said:

Finally, after many years of trying to find a decent one, I've got it...



A UK-voltage ADA MP-2!!!!!

A tiny bit of rack rash (for a 30 year old unit), and - after a valve change - it sounds bloody fantastic. I know a lot of Nuno/Gilbert purists say the MP-1 is the one to have, but to my ears this thing does everything the MP-1 does while simultaneously fixing the problems (lack of a noise gate or any EQ beyond the tone controls).

I haven't played with the wah or trem yet, and I probably won't, but the chorus is just as lush as the one on the original, the gate works just fine, the compressor is a marvel for 80s-style leads (which basically form my entire bag of tricks), and the Room EQ is astonishingly useful (it seems to behave sort of like a combination of a tilt EQ and parametric EQ depending on where it's set).

All for the bargain price of £175.

Now, if you'll all excuse me, I need to go and price up a MIDI rack rig to go with it...

Man that is so awesome 

hollywoodrox

digitalscream said:

Worth noting that I've not even plugged it into a power amp and cab yet - just running it direct into my interface and running IRs in Reaper, it sounds bloody fantastic. Not had that from any preamp ever.

Colour me seriously impressed.

So could one buy something such as this and plug the outputs into a focusrite 2i2 into logic ?
or I remember someone in the guitar shop having a small 3 or 4 space rack in a poly flight case  which was ace . I bet you could put a power amp in and a Palmer cab sim thing and play through a pa or a cab . I used to love all the flashing lights lol 

digitalscream

hollywoodrox said:

digitalscream said:

Worth noting that I've not even plugged it into a power amp and cab yet - just running it direct into my interface and running IRs in Reaper, it sounds bloody fantastic. Not had that from any preamp ever.

Colour me seriously impressed.

So could one buy something such as this and plug the outputs into a focusrite 2i2 into logic ?
or I remember someone in the guitar shop having a small 3 or 4 space rack in a poly flight case  which was ace . I bet you could put a power amp in and a Palmer cab sim thing and play through a pa or a cab . I used to love all the flashing lights lol 

Yep, absolutely.

digitalscream

My day just got better.

Not only does the old ART SGE Mach II I found in a box still work, but my dad called me and said he still has the matching ADA hybrid power amp I gave him years ago.

Which is stereo.

Tomorrow is mostly going to be spent putting together the most 80s-tastic rig I've ever had.

fastonebaz

Your work bench looks straight out of Doc Brown's in Back to the Future  

digitalscream

fastonebaz said:

Your work bench looks straight out of Doc Brown's in Back to the Future  

That's the tidy bit!

tekbow

Nice, I always fancied an MP1 or 2.

Toe_Knee

Nice one. Enjoy. If you need a solid cheap midi controller look up the melo audio midi commander. Every switch is fully configurable and you can add two expression Pedals.

I've been liking for a stock mp-1 /mp-2 for ages. Looking to replace my triaxis with one. They keep going above £600 though which I refuse to pay as a year or so ago they were selling for 150-200

fretmeister

£175

What a bargain!

digitalscream

Toe_Knee said:

Nice one. Enjoy. If you need a solid cheap midi controller look up the melo audio midi commander. Every switch is fully configurable and you can add two expression Pedals.

I've been liking for a stock mp-1 /mp-2 for ages. Looking to replace my triaxis with one. They keep going above £600 though which I refuse to pay as a year or so ago they were selling for 150-200

Cheers - I've got a Peak FCB4n2 which I'm going to use to start with, as well as the original controller for the ART SGE Mach II (although that one only does PC commands).

I got really lucky with this one; I've got a search saved on eBay and it popped up about 5 miles away. Messaged the guy to ask what price he was aiming for, and he got it at a low price himself. At £175, I wasn't even going to haggle!