Wish ADA MP-1

john nelson said:
Leon, I am curious when you run your MP1 through the AXE FXIII do you have a preset set up for this you can share , I have a few of them and would'nt mind trying them out through the AXE... also have you seen the MP1 plug in nembrinin audio has made or tried it out yet?
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I have the Nembrini plugin, it's the noisiest thing I've ever heard. Which led me to believe that was the prime reason for not modeling it.
 
The ADA units were flawed in many ways. The power supplies were underpowered meaning the heater supply was below specs for 12AX7, the filtering capacitors were not sufficient, and the OPAMPS were noisy, the list goes on. (Funny todays higher wall voltages actually get you closer to spec voltages since the transformers were 115 v input, and todays wall voltages are 120 and up.

Most guys who have them today get them modded including the preamp to sound more modern.

The EQ section has odd values for Bass, Mids and Treble, which makes it hard to fine tune.

They were cool when they came out but really aren't that great sounding compared to today's offerings.

The ADA's used variable resistance controllers on the cathodes and plates and used grid biasing to voice the preamp. These the MP 1's were designed by Todd Langer.

I have modded many of them for people, and no, we don't need them as a model in the Fractal. There is a reason they are no longer around.

This place https://www.adadepot.com/ has tones of info, and guys modding and keeping them alive. Most mod them to a state that they don't even sound like the original preamp.
 
baron55 said:
The ADA units were flawed in many ways. The power supplies were underpowered meaning the heater supply was below specs for 12AX7, the filtering capacitors were not sufficient, and the OPAMPS were noisy, the list goes on. (Funny todays higher wall voltages actually get you closer to spec voltages since the transformers were 115 v input, and todays wall voltages are 120 and up.

Most guys who have them today get them modded including the preamp to sound more modern.

The EQ section has odd values for Bass, Mids and Treble, which makes it hard to fine tune.

They were cool when they came out but really aren't that great sounding compared to today's offerings.

The ADA's used variable resistance controllers on the cathodes and plates and used grid biasing to voice the preamp. These the MP 1's were designed by Todd Langer.

I have modded many of them for people, and no, we don't need them as a model in the Fractal. There is a reason they are no longer around.

This place https://www.adadepot.com/ has tones of info, and guys modding and keeping them alive. Most mod them to a state that they don't even sound like the original preamp.
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Based on the intention of the original design, is there any amp out there you can compare it to? I've read so much about it, but I never get a great sense of what the designer was going for.
 
baron55 said:
The ADA units were flawed in many ways. The power supplies were underpowered meaning the heater supply was below specs for 12AX7, the filtering capacitors were not sufficient, and the OPAMPS were noisy, the list goes on. (Funny todays higher wall voltages actually get you closer to spec voltages since the transformers were 115 v input, and todays wall voltages are 120 and up.

Most guys who have them today get them modded including the preamp to sound more modern.

The EQ section has odd values for Bass, Mids and Treble, which makes it hard to fine tune.

They were cool when they came out but really aren't that great sounding compared to today's offerings.

The ADA's used variable resistance controllers on the cathodes and plates and used grid biasing to voice the preamp. These the MP 1's were designed by Todd Langer.

I have modded many of them for people, and no, we don't need them as a model in the Fractal. There is a reason they are no longer around.

This place https://www.adadepot.com/ has tones of info, and guys modding and keeping them alive. Most mod them to a state that they don't even sound like the original preamp.
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Should we have a model of an upgraded version? By the time you fix the problems, is there anything sonically unique and interesting about them?
 
State of Epicicity said:
Based on the intention of the original design, is there any amp out there you can compare it to? I've read so much about it, but I never get a great sense of what the designer was going for.
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When the ADA came out, modded Marshals were the big thing. So, it does that kind of sound. Rack gear and having 100's of sounds at your fingertips. But mostly in the hi gain British realm.
 
Paul Gilbert and Nuno used stock models and so did most people who used them back in the day.
I have a basically new condition MP 1 classic and it definitely does its own thing with the right power amp. The common mods were mostly more gain and you really don’t need more. The three tube mod on the standard is not an improvement at all . I used the standard model myself for a few years until Triaxis came along. I also had one of the first JMP 1s . Non of them compared to my X88R when I managed to get one which in turn is not as good as my X88ir and Axe 3 which I use now.
 
Andy Eagle said:
Paul Gilbert and Nuno used stock models and so did most people who used them back in the day.
I have a basically new condition MP 1 classic and it definitely does its own thing with the right power amp. The common mods were mostly more gain and you really don’t need more. The three tube mod on the standard is not an improvement at all . I used the standard model myself for a few years until Triaxis came along. I also had one of the first JMP 1s . Non of them compared to my X88R when I managed to get one which in turn is not as good as my X88ir and Axe 3 which I use now.
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Most people have no idea that the ADA's use an Op Amp for the first gain stage input. One of the mods was to increase the output of that Op-Amp. The JMP-1 uses diode clipping for the distortion just like the marshal heads at that time.

Gilbert and Nuno only used the ADA on one album, and they then ditched them once their endorsement deals ran out.
 
baron55 said:
Most people have no idea that the ADA's use an Op Amp for the first gain stage input. One of the mods was to increase the output of that Op-Amp. The JMP-1 uses diode clipping for the distortion just like the marshal heads at that time.

Gilbert and Nuno only used the ADA on one album, and they then ditched them once their endorsement deals ran out.
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I know . They sound ok stock and at the time they didn’t exactly have much competition.
 
Yes +++++1 . for the ADA MP-1 model.

And don't forget the others famous users:
  • Vito BRATTA (White Lion)
  • Dave SABO (Skidrow)
  • Alex Skolnick (Savatage)
  • Stef Carpenter (Defstone)
  • Mark Tremonti (CREED)
They all used stock ADA-MP1. And don't forget the clean sound with the famous ADA chorus.
 
MDProd said:
Yes +++++1 . for the ADA MP-1 model.

And don't forget the others famous users:
  • Vito BRATTA (White Lion)
  • Dave SABO (Skidrow)
  • Alex Skolnick (Savatage)
  • Stef Carpenter (Defstone)
  • Mark Tremonti (CREED)
They all used stock ADA-MP1. And don't forget the clean sound with the famous ADA chorus.
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I thought Stef used Marshall JMP-1, and you forgot Kirk Hammett (used it for his leads on AJFA and the clean sound on "One").
 
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Also would be interested in approximating the late 80s/early 90s Les Claypool bass tone when he was using an MP1 "modded to let more bass through by a friend"
 
+1 for the ADA MP-1 because I'm old, nostalgic, and want to know it's in there ;)

I never owned an ADA MP-1 but a friend of mine did.

It appears that preset 45 is the setting that Michael Wagoner used with Nuno, Vito, Skid Row, etc.

I've tried the Nembrini plugin and it's pretty decent, but not sure I'm going to buy it. NAM (Neural Amp Modeler) has a site for tone captures and there appears to be some nice captures out there including for bass: https://tonehunt.org/search-results?search=ada. Some require an IR and some are full rigs.

All that said, I have to say that I've really been enjoying Leon's preset lately. To my ears it sounds better than anything else out there, outside of owning the actual ADA MP-1.

Lastly, Michael Nielsen dissects Nuno's ADA tone in this video. At the end, he says that the power amp makes a big difference and a Friedman kind of takes this sound to a richer, more three dimensional level.

 
brewerz said:
+1 for the ADA MP-1 because I'm old, nostalgic, and want to know it's in there ;)

I never owned an ADA MP-1 but a friend of mine did.

It appears that preset 45 is the setting that Michael Wagoner used with Nuno, Vito, Skid Row, etc.

I've tried the Nembrini plugin and it's pretty decent, but not sure I'm going to buy it. NAM (Neural Amp Modeler) has a site for tone captures and there appears to be some nice captures out there including for bass: https://tonehunt.org/search-results?search=ada. Some require an IR and some are full rigs.

All that said, I have to say that I've really been enjoying Leon's preset lately. To my ears it sounds better than anything else out there, outside of owning the actual ADA MP-1.

Lastly, Michael Nielsen dissects Nuno's ADA tone in this video. At the end, he says that the power amp makes a big difference and a Friedman kind of takes this sound to a richer, more three dimensional level.

Click to expand...

I thought he used his VHT
 
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