MP-1 Mods.....

[Greazygeo]

An ADA MP-1 showed up on my door step yesterday. Had been thinking of picking one up again and someone un-knowingly twisted my arm (Thanks Tim ). The clean tones are pretty killer really. The gain stuff is way over the top as to be expected. Cool for soloing.

Looking at the ADA mod sight, there is a mod changing the last gain stage to a cathode follower. Has anyone tried this? The other mods don't really interest me, not looking for more gain. More snap in the attack would be nice.

Having an MP-1 when they first came out, I spent alot of time with it. I always felt the eq controls were at strange freq's. The bass was more of a low mid, mid was ok ( maybe a bit wide) and treble too low. I'm going to try a 31 band with the mp-1 tones set flat and see what happens. Maybe a mod for a traditional tone stack?

Now to wire up a cab stereo....

 

[Subclavian]

I don't have any links to DIY mods for the ADA stuff but I have a Voodoo Amps modded ADA-1 that I absolutely love. I don't think Trace does them anymore but maybe he can point you in the right direction.


sub

 

[Bash_Man]

3TM

 

[thegame]

I tried a "3 tube mod" MP1 a couple years ago & it was surprisingly good. Not great but certainly better than the Triaxis and ENGL preamp I directly compared it with. It was pretty warm sounding with a nice bite.

 

[craftm1]

Had ADA MP-1's since they came out. In my opion, the two best mod's out there are the 3TM mod or the Platinum Mod from Voodo Amps.
Trace does the best. The later is the one I recommend!

 

[Greazygeo]

I don't have any links to DIY mods for the ADA stuff but I have a Voodoo Amps modded ADA-1 that I absolutely love. I don't think Trace does them anymore but maybe he can point you in the right direction.


sub

Thanks Sub. I remember seeing the Voodoo modded ones around, never heard one. With a few tweaks, this could be pretty cool.

 

[Greazygeo]

3TM

You have one of these Bashar? Tell me about it

 

[Greazygeo]

I tried a "3 tube mod" MP1 a couple years ago & it was surprisingly good. Not great but certainly better than the Triaxis and ENGL preamp I directly compared it with. It was pretty warm sounding with a nice bite.

Hmm.....was the tone stack any easier to dial in? That was always the issue for me back in the day. Right now gain one is a 4.0 and gain two 6.0...that's plenty for me.

 

[Greazygeo]

Had ADA MP-1's since they came out. In my opion, the two best mod's out there are the 3TM mod or the Platinum Mod from Voodo Amps.
Trace does the best. The later is the one I recommend!

What changes did you notice?

 

[glpg80]

did the 3TM to one i owned... i dont recommend it personally. it was way over the top saturation and if you turned the gain down to make up for the difference, it just sounded stale, weak, and lifeless. - i sold it off afterwards because it was worth more with the 3TM than going and fixing all of the EQ issues, tranny, cap and op-amp job, etc.

 

[Greazygeo]

did the 3TM to one i owned... i dont recommend it personally. it was way over the top saturation and if you turned the gain down to make up for the difference, it just sounded stale, weak, and lifeless. - i sold it off afterwards because it was worth more with the 3TM than going and fixing all of the EQ issues, tranny, cap and op-amp job, etc.

I don't think it needs any more gain, partly why I was interested in the cathode follower mod... If I can get the eq happening that would be great. This one doesnt seem as noisy as my old one.

 

[griffiti]

An ADA MP-1 showed up on my door step yesterday. Had been thinking of picking one up again and someone un-knowingly twisted my arm (Thanks Tim ). The clean tones are pretty killer really. The gain stuff is way over the top as to be expected. Cool for soloing.

Looking at the ADA mod sight, there is a mod changing the last gain stage to a cathode follower. Has anyone tried this? The other mods don't really interest me, not looking for more gain. More snap in the attack would be nice.

Having an MP-1 when they first came out, I spent alot of time with it. I always felt the eq controls were at strange freq's. The bass was more of a low mid, mid was ok ( maybe a bit wide) and treble too low. I'm going to try a 31 band with the mp-1 tones set flat and see what happens. Maybe a mod for a traditional tone stack?

Now to wire up a cab stereo....

I'm the proud owner of 3 stock MP-1s and 1 3TM modded one. I love them. I've got extra stock ones because I had plans on modding one to the 3.666 mod. But since I picked up a Mesa Quad preamp, I get all the evil scooped sounds I need. I'll probably sell on of the stock ones. I'll keep one as a backup.

My current rig is a MOD50. Love it. However, up until I got it, I played through a semi-small rack with a stock MP-1, and a 3TM MP-1 for solos. Loved the tone. Still have the rig as a backup. Plus enjoy recording with it.

I've never tried any DIY mods. But "THE MAN" for MP-1 mods is marshalljmp. Cool guy as well.

 

[rupe]

I still have my original from when they first came out ('87-'88?). I actually like it better than any of the mods that I've heard as they all seem to focus on more gain (which I never thought the unit needed) but really didn't seem to effect the voicing in a significant way. I think choosing the right preamp tubes is key (depending on what you want...I'm using some old Raytheons that sound fantastic...experiment), and a BBE Sonic Maximizer is great addition as well...adds some missing spank to the top end.

 

[spacemonkeyevolution]

http://www.adadepot.com/adagear/detaill ... 1/mods.htm

There's a good site about mp-1 mod's. I've had 2 ADA:s, one was modded with 3.666 and other with soldano/rectifier/5150 mod. Rectifier mod was a bit disapointment (altough it has very selling name), it felt like... like... shaving beard with bad razor . Sound was more round and not so define. But 3.666 was very good. Would defintely have it again. Poor mans triaxis, and really not so far away from it. It kept bass in control better, and was more cutting than one with rectifier mod. Many say that 3.666 has too much gain in it.. and it's true if you keep your gain knob at 10 (hint: you can back it down too )

Great device, hopefully you find best mod for you.

 

[Rayneman]

Glad you dig it George. Besides that I found some old Rockman 1/2 space units as well...

A "sustainor" I think and one or two more. I used to have a distortion generator, but I don't know where that went. Anyway, I A/B'd that MP-1 againt a Triaxis and thought it was much better. Go figure.

 

[jabps]

I'll ad my 2 cents since the ADA was my first rack pre and I traded a damn good Marshall JMP 50 watt head to get it years and years ago. Which was a mistake as I spent the next few years going from rack pre to rack pre.

Anyway that being said my first ADA was okay...I agree with Greasy...the EQ was always weird to me.

Long story short I had Todd Langer mod mine. A good friend of mine knew Todd, we sent the ADA out got it back and it was much better. 3rd tube for added gain, lower noise and the eq range had been tweaked. The only thing I added was...yikes the dreaded BBE in the rack. That's the only time the BBE has ever worked for me but that was my main rig for awhile.

The only reason I ever got rid of the ADA modded by Todd is I bought the Langer pre-amps of which I had 2. I eventually got the ADA back but by that time I had left the whole rack pre/power amp thing behind. Should have kept it though.

Is the 3TM mod based off Todd's added 3rd tube? I really don't know what Todd did but his mod sounded much better than the stock ADA...again, the eq was better, noise was less and the gain was just more "real" feeling for lack of a better description.

 

[craftm1]

Less harshness, better sustain more useable gain. It is just better in every aspect. I'm not sure if the actual tone stack changes but you can shoot Voodo Amps an e-mail, they are really good about answering any questions you might have. I've had three ADA MP-1's modded with these guys over the years. Great to work with and great products!

 

[stratotone]

If you're not diming the gain, have you thought about a 12au7 tube or a 12dw7? Would fatten it up a bit.

Pete

 

[killertone]

The best mod for an MP-1 is to buy a JMP-1.

I did it in 1993 and still have my JMP-1.

 

[Greazygeo]

I'm the proud owner of 3 stock MP-1s and 1 3TM modded one. I love them. I've got extra stock ones because I had plans on modding one to the 3.666 mod. But since I picked up a Mesa Quad preamp, I get all the evil scooped sounds I need. I'll probably sell on of the stock ones. I'll keep one as a backup.

My current rig is a MOD50. Love it. However, up until I got it, I played through a semi-small rack with a stock MP-1, and a 3TM MP-1 for solos. Loved the tone. Still have the rig as a backup. Plus enjoy recording with it.

I've never tried any DIY mods. But "THE MAN" for MP-1 mods is marshalljmp. Cool guy as well.

If I can make the eq section work better I'll be happy.

I still have my original from when they first came out ('87-'88?). I actually like it better than any of the mods that I've heard as they all seem to focus on more gain (which I never thought the unit needed) but really didn't seem to effect the voicing in a significant way. I think choosing the right preamp tubes is key (depending on what you want...I'm using some old Raytheons that sound fantastic...experiment), and a BBE Sonic Maximizer is great addition as well...adds some missing spank to the top end.

I did swap alot of tubes back in the day..using a Rockman eq helped some, but that unit was mostly center for midrange adjustment. Hope the 31 band works out. The cleans are awesome on it.

http://www.adadepot.com/adagear/detailled/ADA-MP-1/mods.htm

There's a good site about mp-1 mod's. I've had 2 ADA:s, one was modded with 3.666 and other with soldano/rectifier/5150 mod. Rectifier mod was a bit disapointment (altough it has very selling name), it felt like... like... shaving beard with bad razor . Sound was more round and not so define. But 3.666 was very good. Would defintely have it again. Poor mans triaxis, and really not so far away from it. It kept bass in control better, and was more cutting than one with rectifier mod. Many say that 3.666 has too much gain in it.. and it's true if you keep your gain knob at 10 (hint: you can back it down too )

Great device, hopefully you find best mod for you.

Thats the site I was looking around on. Not looking for more gain.

Glad you dig it George. Besides that I found some old Rockman 1/2 space units as well...

A "sustainor" I think and one or two more. I used to have a distortion generator, but I don't know where that went. Anyway, I A/B'd that MP-1 againt a Triaxis and thought it was much better. Go figure.

Uh oh! More stuff. I had the delay and eq...very nice wish I had the delay back.

I'll ad my 2 cents since the ADA was my first rack pre and I traded a damn good Marshall JMP 50 watt head to get it years and years ago. Which was a mistake as I spent the next few years going from rack pre to rack pre.

Anyway that being said my first ADA was okay...I agree with Greasy...the EQ was always weird to me.

Long story short I had Todd Langer mod mine. A good friend of mine knew Todd, we sent the ADA out got it back and it was much better. 3rd tube for added gain, lower noise and the eq range had been tweaked. The only thing I added was...yikes the dreaded BBE in the rack. That's the only time the BBE has ever worked for me but that was my main rig for awhile.

The only reason I ever got rid of the ADA modded by Todd is I bought the Langer pre-amps of which I had 2. I eventually got the ADA back but by that time I had left the whole rack pre/power amp thing behind. Should have kept it though.

Is the 3TM mod based off Todd's added 3rd tube? I really don't know what Todd did but his mod sounded much better than the stock ADA...again, the eq was better, noise was less and the gain was just more "real" feeling for lack of a better description.

Interesting. I was reading somewhere that he did alot of MP-1's back in the day.

Less harshness, better sustain more useable gain. It is just better in every aspect. I'm not sure if the actual tone stack changes but you can shoot Voodo Amps an e-mail, they are really good about answering any questions you might have. I've had three ADA MP-1's modded with these guys over the years. Great to work with and great products!

Cool. I may try that avenue.

If you're not diming the gain, have you thought about a 12au7 tube or a 12dw7? Would fatten it up a bit.

Pete

I had not really thought of trying anything different. My main issue with these has always been the placement of the eq freq's....the bass is centered too high, maybe 200hz. The mid is around 500-600 which is fine. The treble is way to low and too wide Q. The presence seems about right. Strange!

The best mod for an MP-1 is to buy a JMP-1.

I did it in 1993 and still have my JMP-1.

Funny. Never spent alot of time with one.

I like the Mod4 MKII. Killer tone! Also the noise mod works great as well. This mod makes the clean modes a little dirty, but the high gain is fantastic!

I wouldn't want to affect the cleans any. Very nice for country type stuff.