ADA MP1 - does it take dirt pedals well?

[ambient]

I probably gonna pick up one of these, I don't play metal so I need more than just the balls-to-the-wall hi gain distortion I know it's good at.

 

I was thinking to add a few different tonal 'colours' I could throw a couple of dirt boxes into the mix for stacking with the OD of the mp1 or just using with a clean tone.

A low/med gain OD and maybe a fuzz of some kind should get me by.

 

Does the ADA 'take' to dirt pedals well? Or am I completely wrong in my assumption that I'll need pedals to get the range of tones I think I'd like?

[bigjd]

MP-1's will do most anything you want without having to resort to pedals.

The best thing to add is an EQ to the front of it.

I can cop just about any tone I want outta mine except for cranked Recto.

The key is taking the time to mess with the EQ thats built in as well as having one in front of the unit too.

I used a rack EQ in front of mine and the EQ in my G-Major behind it.

[ambient]

Thanks man.

How are the cleans? I hear with the tubes they don't get very clean unless you use SS?

[bigjd]

I can get fender honk clean on the tube channel,probably cleaner if I wanted.

The SS channel cleans are great though.

Very useable. I don't know what kinda cleans your looking for but the MP-1 is very tweakable as far as changing tubes for different sounds.

Here ya go.

 

http://www.adadepot.com/forum/index.php?board=21.0

[Trembulant]

Mine don't take pedals well at all in front, but i don't need them anyway as far as general tones go, i just use eq, i tried a phaser in front and it was noisy as hell, enough that i wouldn't bother.

All it really needs is eq for me, and i use a lexicon thru a mixer, other than that i'm not really a pedal guy anyway.

If you can't get usefull tones from it by itself, then it's probably not for you.

[Hamer95USA]

I've owned and used a stock ADA MP-1 preamp since 1993. I had mine modified to the ADA Depot 3TM "Ultra Mod" MP-1 now. My 3TM MP-1 preamp has so much gain, I have no need or use for any overdrive/distortion pedals with that preamp. It's one of the best sounding tube preamps I've ever owned. Even in stock form, you won't need an overdrive/distortion pedal. I do recommend the outboard EQ as you can get some really cool tones especially in the distorted tube channel.

 

Guitar George

[robertkoa]

ambient : I just received a stock unit with noise mods only and do not do any metal so I had almost the EXACT same questions as you only up until about a week ago when I got this. It will do Fender type cleans on the Tube Clean channel (or mode,whatever we call it) the gain range is very gradual and on my unit very clear with all points in between covered. Meaning with my Koa Carvin Strat H-S-S I can go from very clean thru pushed Fender ,then Blues then Plexi (Jimi's "Watchtower" tone) thru Cream, Gilmour and then modded Marshall tones with some EJ ( not quite as rich of course but closer than many heads will do) and more gain than EVH easily. I'm using classic tones from the 60's to the 80's ,a funkier Fusion with wider ranging guitar tones than most fusion and lots of rhythm guitar and this particular MP1 will do 90% of what I need in the studio.You can't tell it's an MP1 (though for certain "crunch" tones some prefer the JMP1-but the ADA MP1 is warmer than JMP1 with a wider gain range)- real smooth and harmonic-like an amp.If you happen to buy one on EBAY and it's a buzzy fizzy one, you will have to get it VOOdoo Modded, that solves that problem. The demos on the MP1 are like a 4 channel head and ALL the demos are ONLY channel 4.The Demos on MP1(most of them) to quote Beethoven "SUCK") You would not want or need to cheapen the nice tube drive of a good MP1 with a distortion pedal- unless you want a "cheap sound" on one track or song.It sounds like a really good 3 channel Marshall with a Fender channel on it as well . I think the new Marshall JVM 410 probably sounds better judging from the online demo I heard but not sure about the clean channel on the Marshall being as clean, same with the JMP1 - it won't get as clean and not quite as very high gain as stock MP1.These guys are right about the EQ- it's not super powerful but it's a very pro unit- if you get a clear sounding one ( or Voodoo Mod it). If you don't do modern metal -I don't think you'll need the 3 tube versions as they lose the real cleans on "Clean Tube" mode.

[ambient]

Cool, sounds like what I need.

 

I wasn't talking about using stomp boxes to replace the OD of the MP1, just to offer some different textures and options for stacking.

Something like a tubescreamer and a fender blender or fuzz factory.

 

But I could probably do with just the MP1