Good affordable seperate valve preamp and fx unit?

  • Thread starter Thread starter geetarmikey
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geetarmikey

geetarmikey

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Using a GSP1101 for all my tones which has been great, but I'd like to step it up a bit in the effects quality dept and also get a nice valve pre for my main sound now. I play in a few covers/function bands so need versatility mainly. Thinking of something like a JMP or an ADA for the pre and maybe a TC G Major for fx? Nothing ridiculously expensive and something I could maybe find on ebay?

Would even a first gen Fractal or Ultra do the trick as well?

All suggestions welcome!
 
geetarmikey":3ajd4pt3 said:
Using a GSP1101 for all my tones which has been great, but I'd like to step it up a bit in the effects quality dept and also get a nice valve pre for my main sound now. I play in a few covers/function bands so need versatility mainly. Thinking of something like a JMP or an ADA for the pre and maybe a TC G Major for fx? Nothing ridiculously expensive and something I could maybe find on ebay?

Would even a first gen Fractal or Ultra do the trick as well?

All suggestions welcome!
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I currently use a JMP-1 and a TC Gmajor2 and does exactly as you mention! They work well together but the JMP does marshal and nothing else really. I also have an ADA mini set up. Works well for the shreddy stuff :)

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ADAs rule! If you want super cheap, grab a used Alesis Quadraverb and for like 300 you have your pre-amp and fx..
 
I have a JMP-1 and think it's awesome. Solid clean, overdrive, high gain, and metal tones.
 
Thinking about it, a JMP would be a good way to go as most of my distortion patches in my GSP are modelled after some Marshall or other. How are they for reliability?
 
I have no idea how old mine is, but it works like a champ.
 
Cool, they do actually sound pretty good on the youtube demos I've seen. Any others apart from that and ADA I could be considering?
 
Have you thought about the mts stuff. I have a randall rm4 and it's a great unit. Can hold 4 completely different type amps.
 
Good suggestions, after something midi switchable too I should have said. What about Rocktron Prophesy? Not seen them mentioned much on here!
 
Hughes & Kettner Access, Marshall JMP-1, Rockton Pirahna or the ADA MP-1 for the preamp. For effects I'd suggest the G-Major 2 or keep the GSP1101 and use it for effects only.
 
geetarmikey":phz95i4j said:
Good suggestions, after something midi switchable too I should have said. What about Rocktron Prophesy? Not seen them mentioned much on here!
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The JMP-1 is super reliable, cooling is good and it's pretty quiet. Has speaker emulated outs for recording and MIDI plus Marshall foot switch compatibility. The FX loop is mehh... it does the job. The Cleans are its weakest point, very lacking, the VooDoo mod can bring it back to life.

The ADA can do Marshall quite well, it's cleans are great, especially for the 80s bright chorusy feel. There is an solid state and tube setting so you get to choose.

The JMP-1 is a hybrid tube amp so the enthusiast would argue it's not a true tube amp, most people don't give a shit, the tone speaks for itself. Def Leppard, ZZ Top, Smashing Pumpkins, Iron Maiden etc have been using them live for years, reliable and simple.

I like to run an over drive infront of the JMP-1 and roll the gain back on the pre-amp, sounds really nice.
 
What are ADAs like for reliability? I'll be using whatever I get every weekend so needs to be roadworthy!
 
geetarmikey":1a909ytr said:
What are ADAs like for reliability? I'll be using whatever I get every weekend so needs to be roadworthy!
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They are very solid, however just like a car, more things are likely to go wrong when using a 30+ year old unit over a 15+ year old unit. I had my ADA serviced a while back, no problems with it. The only thing I hate are the stupid spongey buttons on the face, sometimes you need to press really hard down to get things to adjust. The ADA has more "bite" than the JMP-1 in my opinion.

Listen to some early Extreme or Racer X to hear it in action.
 
Yeah, I love the tones the ADA can get, the first Skid Row and White Lion albums were doine with it too I think. Is it midi switchable to go with an fx unit?

Cheers for the responses, guys, but what are we saying about the Prophesy or even the Line 6 PRO X rack?
 
Mesa/Boogie Studio Pre-amps work great and go for around $400.00. Much better than the Peavey, very sweet sounding. I haven't tried the Marshall but the ada I had wasn't reliable so I got rid of it.
 
Some of these preamps use Lithium batteries for memory, so whatever you grab make sure you have some extra. I had my rig go down years ago(ADA + Mosvalve power) due to bad battery.
 
Ive been thru a few preamps... ADA Mp1, Mp2, Mp classic, Rockmaster, TriAxis..Ive played a Jmp1 and thought it was good, but never owned one. This would probably be the best for the money.

The Rockmaster is all tube, but theyre pretty old now. So it might be hard to find a nice one. I did this with a Rockmaster and a Classic 120/120 power amp.

 
Triaxis and the Gmajor. Might be at the top end of your budget, but it you look hard, you can find a Triaxis pop up for a good deal. I got mine for 700$ and it really has some great tones in it.
 
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