ADA-MP1 chorus anyone?

[glpg80]

i used to own one. did the 3TM to it from adadepot.com, and never thought that unit sounded right from the start.

but call me stupid, i actually miss the chorus it had. im thinking about using one strictly for its chorus

 

[petejt]

I don't think that's a stupid idea.


Does the MP1's chorus have extra features? Or just a rate control and width/depth?

 

[glpg80]

wet/dry mix, rate/control, and depth.

it gives a lushness that TC nova chorus does not have and i didnt realize how good it was until i started looking for replacements in my future rig.

one downside is its tone sucking. but it is what it is. as long as its early in the signal chain i dont believe it will matter as much?

 

[stefvorcide]

I cant believe after all these years I havent played one at least one!!

 

[craftm1]

Great idea, and I agree, one of the best chours. I had mine modded at Voodo Amps "platinum mod" it helped it a lot. I use to have one with the 3TM didn't care for it.

 

[robertkoa]

I have a " noise modded" one I just got about 8 months ago and use it for clear overdrives and crunch tones.

Don't use the Chorus - I guess I like the digital ones better.

 

[srommes]

I don't get how anyone can dislike the 3TM mod? I owned 3 or 4 stock MP1's and liked them, but just could never gell with them in the end. I liked the initial tone but they always had a "dead" or "lifeless" sound to me. Once I had one modded with the 3TM, no more "lifeless" tone. The thing kills and I'd put it up against any of my other pres which include Fish, 3+, Engl E570 etc. As far as the chorus goes, I love it and it is untouched with the 3TM mod.

 

[glpg80]

...possibly because the unit was fucked up to begin with even before the added tube?

i wont own another one for a while - the one i had sounded like ass - thin, weak, like a cheap modeling unit. it just didnt sound good at all. no balls, or grunt to the tone - very thin and just lifeless. slaved it into a 5150's power amp and it didnt improve - it only sounded somewhat "ok" in front of a solid state POS no-name amplifier one of my buddies own.

no 4/10db switch, and there wasnt a setting that sounded good on it at all.

if i get another, it wont be before i play another one i know works.

and i agree, the 3TM did help the unit alot. i loved the small tunable pots, wish i knew what i know now about electronics back when i owned one. it was still the same way i mentioned above though.

 

[Mailman1971]

...possibly because the unit was fucked up to begin with even before the added tube?

i wont own another one for a while - the one i had sounded like ass - thin, weak, like a cheap modeling unit. it just didnt sound good at all. no balls, or grunt to the tone - very thin and just lifeless. slaved it into a 5150's power amp and it didnt improve - it only sounded somewhat "ok" in front of a solid state POS no-name amplifier one of my buddies own.

no 4/10db switch, and there wasnt a setting that sounded good on it at all.

if i get another, it wont be before i play another one i know works.

and i agree, the 3TM did help the unit alot. i loved the small tunable pots, wish i knew what i know now about electronics back when i owned one. it was still the same way i mentioned above though.

Matt.........what a GREAT sig!!

I was laughing even when I was typing that one out!

 

[glpg80]

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

I had one of ADA's chorus, flanger, delay rack effects units..
The chorus sounded the like the same thing that was on the MP1..
I think it was called a 2FX rack unit.. Maybe look into trying one of those and comparing the chorus on it..

 

[glpg80]

I had one of ADA's chorus, flanger, delay rack effects units..
The chorus sounded the like the same thing that was on the MP1..
I think it was called a 2FX rack unit.. Maybe look into trying one of those and comparing the chorus on it..

wow. that kind of information is gold. thanks bro that is perfect!

 

[petejt]

wet/dry mix, rate/control, and depth.

Cool thanks. When you say "rate/control", do you just mean a single rate control, or is there another part to it?

I like that it has a wet/dry mix control. I wish my H2O pedal did. In fact I reckon all chorus units should come with a Delay Time control- thankfully the H2O does have that feature.

it gives a lushness that TC nova chorus does not have and i didnt realize how good it was until i started looking for replacements in my future rig.

Nice one . Yeah for me the TC style chorus is too slick-sounding, not lush at all. I reckon that's why all the TC heads use them Yamaha SPX90 pitch-changers and harmonisers with them to add that extra warm lush honey that is otherwise lacking. And yet it still sounds a bit digital..

one downside is its tone sucking. but it is what it is. as long as its early in the signal chain i dont believe it will matter as much?

Nah I don't reckon it will matter much. Would a buffer help to kick up the signal a bit after it?

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

I had one of ADA's chorus, flanger, delay rack effects units..
The chorus sounded the like the same thing that was on the MP1..
I think it was called a 2FX rack unit.. Maybe look into trying one of those and comparing the chorus on it..

wow. that kind of information is gold. thanks bro that is perfect!

This is the one I had
There was a few different ADA Effects units that had chorus, flanger and delay back then..

https://cgi.ebay.com/ADA-2FX-flanger-cho ... 27b1e6d194

 

[glpg80]

wet/dry mix, rate/control, and depth.

Cool thanks. When you say "rate/control", do you just mean a single rate control, or is there another part to it?

I like that it has a wet/dry mix control. I wish my H2O pedal did. In fact I reckon all chorus units should come with a Delay Time control- thankfully the H2O does have that feature.

it gives a lushness that TC nova chorus does not have and i didnt realize how good it was until i started looking for replacements in my future rig.

Nice one . Yeah for me the TC style chorus is too slick-sounding, not lush at all. I reckon that's why all the TC heads use them Yamaha SPX90 pitch-changers and harmonisers with them to add that extra warm lush honey that is otherwise lacking. And yet it still sounds a bit digital..

one downside is its tone sucking. but it is what it is. as long as its early in the signal chain i dont believe it will matter as much?

Nah I don't reckon it will matter much. Would a buffer help to kick up the signal a bit after it?

tone wise it is very full, and can sound terrible if you are too wet because it can be overpowering (think 80's chorus and a mix that is too high and then imagine your tone suffering from it), but once you hear TC chorus which is supposed to be well renknown back to back with ADA chorus, you can tell the TC is missing a chunk of frequencies in their chorus effect that the ADA covers and then some.... ADA is the definate winner b/w them when the ADA is used sparingly i believe

i believe it had wet/dry, im about 60% sure on this - it was a number system 1-X as to how wet it was. the whole unit was like that since it was digitally controlled.

as far as a buffer, the ada is only good up to 15Khz i believe - honestly i only want it for wet clean tones, dry tones, and/or a subtle chorus kept on all the time on distortion at a 5% mix and used sparingly for its abolity to give that lush 80's tone. for distortion i would use something else to be honest. that is probably where i would choose something else that i know would compliment your preferred delay, reverb, etc.

maybe someone else can chime in, but i dont remember it being too friendly with other effects. but by itself... it would be worth having easily IMHO.

 

[petejt]

tone wise it is very full, and can sound terrible if you are too wet because it can be overpowering (think 80's chorus and a mix that is too high and then imagine your tone suffering from it), but once you hear TC chorus which is supposed to be well renknown back to back with ADA chorus, you can tell the TC is missing a chunk of frequencies in their chorus effect that the ADA covers and then some.... ADA is the definate winner b/w them when the ADA is used sparingly i believe

Yup you're right about the TC missing a chunk of frequencies- to me it always sounded scooped in the mids and thus a relative emphasis on the higher frequencies. I prefer a darker, warmer chorus effect which is fuller- thick like golden syrup!

I understand what you mean about overpowering- sometimes I get right into just slamming on all the effects, but after a song or too it can get a bit too much. And yeah the 80s went too overboard which is why chorus gets a bad rap. Heck I love chorus yet even I get sick of how its so excessively cheesy in those dated songs! particularly all the pop crap...
Sometimes with some of the stronger effects e.g. Electro Harmonics, it can get out of hand & too swooshy.

as far as a buffer, the ada is only good up to 15Khz i believe - honestly i only want it for wet clean tones, dry tones, and/or a subtle chorus kept on all the time on distortion at a 5% mix and used sparingly for its abolity to give that lush 80's tone. for distortion i would use something else to be honest. that is probably where i would choose something else that i know would compliment your preferred delay, reverb, etc.

What would you use then for distortion?

 

[glpg80]

for chorus?

well, it WAS damage control nexus that was on my to-do list, i dont like TC chorus for the above reasons, and eventide's is not the type of chorus i prefer. but the damage control nexus model had a very unique chorus tone that stood out and balanced well with distortion, but i think i prefer the ADA's for clean.

im a picky douche when it comes to effects, but im not sure what i am going to use now.

 

[petejt]

for chorus?

Yup.




I wrote a longer response earlier, but forgotten it since the internet crashed and then I had to run out for some errands.

(self-FAIL for posting while at work!...... )


Hang on, I think I remember now. Yeah- I haven't heard of the Damage Control Nexus chorus before. Is it new or an older device? What is it exactly that you don't prefer about the Eventide's chorus? Is it too digital, or "burpy" like Eddie Van Halen's later chorused sound?

I also now remember writing a long ramble about my own effects muddles. I think I'll leave that one for a little later. Maybe my next post......

 

[glpg80]

its now a discontinued product.

i may look into lexicon chorus for distorted tones and see how they do - but not many people own them to let me try one out, and the clips are spare when you get into the upper end racked models.

eventides? the entire unit has a sterile shrillness character to it, and im not talking about the effects, but the unit itself and its added character to your tone. its a colouration taste that i absolutely hate, and the 2290 TC delay does it as well.

it may be just be how the units record?, but its in the converters that eventide's use i believe - and all of their products have it. i just hate the colouration factor they give.

 

[stratotone]

A couple of pedals to look at that you might dig also:

CF7 from Digitech. Has enough options I bet you get something close to the ADA in there.

Boss CE20 - lots of options and runs at line level... sounds great in a loop. Very rich.

and one of my favorites, the old Rockman chorus (1/2 rack).

Pete