ADA MP-1 Classic

Works just like the regular MP-1 but mine has a slightly newer button style with more of a round bubble in the middle of the rectangular button. I haven't decided if they are better then the original ones or not. It is very easy to use but I'm not a huge fan of the buttons on it. Knobs like some of the Rocktron products would be better.

I have a Lexicon MPX-100 processor going through the effects loop of my classic both of which go to a Peavey Classic 50/50 power amp. I have been using a borrowed Marshall 2x12 as well. I originally had a lot of clipping trouble with the Lexicon but I was able to fix the problem with a switch on the back of the ADA for the effects loop.

I have one of the newer Classics with the fourth(tube clean) channel in it. The solid state clean on the Classic is good and clear but the tube clean is warm and wonderful. IMO it makes a BIG difference! The other channels include the solid state clean, a great distortion channel, and a "brown" distortion that is a hybrid of the tube clean and the distortion. The brown is great for those hard to get tweener tones! The distortion has enough gain to play any kind of music that you want with the exception of maybe death metal. The unit is very quiet at low gain and what noise you get with higher gain is easily taken care of with the built in noise gate. I also REALLY like the chorus in it.

Well, here is the tricky question. My friend has both a standard MP-1 and a Classic that he has had for a few years that have served him wonderfully. I on the other had thought that I was cursed! This Classic is actually the third MP-1 that I have had in the last month! I bought an original one used at a music store 1 &1/2 hours away from home only to have it not stand up to my buddies Mp-1's. I had a severe lack of gain even with new tubes. Luckily I had a 15 day moneyback guarentee! Took that back and on the same day bought my 1st Classic at a different store. Get that home and I thought that I was going to loose my mind! The sound on it keeps going in and out. I change the tubes get it sounding great. I put the dust cover back on it and the tube channels don't work. I take the cover back off take out the tubes put them back in sounds great again. I then begin to play though it while I'm putting the cover back on to see if it may have a sheilding problem. OK, that works now problem solved. I put it in my rack and the damn tube channels won't work again!!! It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. I take this one back, replace it with my current Classic and it works great. Go figure, no wonder they aren't around any more! I had heard rumblings of bad MP-1's now I believe it! But good God the TONE!

No customer support from them because they are as dead as Julias Caeser. I can see why with all the crap listed above! Your best bet if you want one is to get one through a reputable music store. The MP-1 can be hard to find in music stores but when you find one you can try it out and they ussually have a money back guarentee. If you get it home and find out that you have one of the bad ones just return it. I wouldn't purchase one through the mail!

I basically play metal. Dream Theater, Metallica(up to and including the "Black" album), Megadeth, etc. I primarily play rhythm but I really want to improve my lead playing. That is where some of the "tweener" sounds work out great. This unit listed for $699 when it was new in 1995 and provided that you got a "good" one it would have been worth every penny. For the price that I paid it sounds incredible! Not everybody has $1300 for a Mesa Boogie head or Tri-axis. For the money I don't think that you could possibley do any better!

This is one of the best sounding amps I have heard. I have owned Rivers, Boogies, and a host of other amps... this is the one I always come abck to.. You can get any sound that you want out of this thing. From in your face metal to santana smooth to spankin' clean. The built in chorus is the richest sounding chorus on the planet, period!

My rig is as follows: ESP Custom Shop Horizon- ADA- BBE 442- Alesis Midiverb 4- Mono block 60 watt tube power amp- Marshall 1936 2x12 loded with vintage 30s. The only thing I want to change is the power amp. I'd like to go with a stereo power base. However, this setup works very well for me.

Tube driven midi programable preamp with built in chorus. Regular and cab-simulated outputs, fx loop, etc... you should know this stuff by now. Every thing you need... nothing a preamp shouldn't have.

I've had mine for six years now. It works like a champ. I do, however, have a backup MP-1... because if something is left to chance... it will bite you in the ass.

ADA is no longer in buisness... so if you have a problem you're SOL.

This is a great preamp. The only other one I would consider would be a Marshall JMP-1. The other guitarist in my band plays a Triaxis... I'm not impressed. It sounds really harsh to me... If you can find a used MP-1 classis or a MP-1 I'd recomend it. They are very good units.

Very easy to get a great sound. Editing patches is about as easy as it gets for a single rack-space unit. Presets are a breeze to edit and recall, and editing can take mere seconds if you've gotten used to it and know what you want to do to the patch. My other preamp is a Carvin Quad X-amp, and while I like the Carvin's knobs for quick tweeking of tones, the ADA is the easiest preamp with digital interface I've tried (including the Triaxis, as well as Peavey, ART, and Digitech tube preamps).

Let's begin by making this statement: coupled with an Alesis rack compressor and ADA Flanger, this preamp IS WHAT SMASHING PUMPKINS USED TO RECORD GISH. That said, we can more on. You can get anything from a totally smooth sustaining fuzz (no grit, just smoothness) to any grunge, metal, or blues tone. Metallica used this during the era when they sounded good, and those tones are here too, though I'm a modal-rock/jazz player myself. The smooth, sustaining distortions are great, and can vary from loose, fuzzy warmth to super-tight focus. Where the Carvin preamp tube-routing leads to saturation (vintage combo amp sounds) the ADA lends either toward modern gain tones (like the Mesa Mk.2-3 heads) or toward high-end pedal distortion tones. Two completely seperate beasts altogether, and each VERY cool.

While easy and possessing a range of great sounds, I really would have liked a reverb. The chorus is nice for cleans, but a reverb would have been a more all-purpose effect, as would a compressor or maybe a tremolo. That's my only real gripe. Like the Carvin Quad X-amp tube preamp, it's dead quiet, even with hi-gain settings. Like I said, a different beast entirely from some of the other preamps on the market, but considering the range and some of the tones I've found here that you can't get elsewhere (think the end of "Crush" on the Pumpkin's Gish album), it's worth at least taking a look into. If you decide on organic, vintage tube amp sounds, go for the Carvin. If you want modern rock and alternative, the ADA is my first choice! I play lots of styles, and personally couldn't choose one over the other.

One of the easiest to use compared to basically every gear I've touched. If you spend enough time with it (like any amps) you can get an awesome sound. Editing is extremely easy. Just push the buttons for each control (low, mid, high, voicing, hush, chorus) and control the level for each using the up and down buttons. I bought it used and i didnt get the manual for it but to this day I dont think I'd ever need it.

I use a Schecter C1-plus with a Dimarzio X2N on the bridge. I also run the ADA with the QSC USA 400 poweramp and it sound awesome. The preamp's tube (I replaced them with Mesa Boogie 12AX7A's) but the poweramp's solidstate so the sound is tight. I dont use the factory settings though. I didnt like any of them so I just messed with the settings and basicallly got a great sound out of it. I only use the distortion but I checked out the clean sound and I hated it. It's very weak. Noise isn't a problem at all cuz it has a built in HUSH which works awesome. It's actually better then some HUSH units I've used before. It also has a built in chorus but I never use it. I messed around with it once and i didn't like the way it sounded at all. To sum it up, the distortion and the HUSH are awesome. They both work great. The clean sound's too weak and the chorus is horrible.

I think I can depend on it. I actually dropped my rack case, that it was in, from the top of my cabinet while I was rolling it toward my car and it still worked fine when i tried it out afterwards. It's still good as new to this day. I should bring a backup (You need a backup for EVERYTHING) but these are hard to find cuz ADA's out of business.

Never dealt with them cuz they're unfortunately out of business.

I play metal hardcore stuff with my band. Although it doesnt have as much gain as other amps out there, it's heavy enough. How much gain would you possibly need before the sound starts to turn into mush and you can't even make out the notes that you're playing? I've been playing for around 5 years and the only other amp I liked enough to buy is the Peavey 5150. Now that amp kicks ass! If it got stolen or lost, I'd definitely buy another one. I love the way I got it to sound and the HUSH works awesome so I don't have to worry about spending the extra cash for a gate. Although I've only messed with them a couple times, I hated the clean and the built in chorus. I never use them though so that's no problem for me. I've tried other preamps but they're so damn complicated with all their "special" features. The Classic is so simple and it sounds awesome. What more can you ask for?

Having worked with other Preamps like Digitech and Rocktron, Ive gotta say that this unit is surprizingly easy to work with. I didn't have to study the manual all day long which meant i could just play.

Whatever you do, make sure you've got a decent power amp to go with the unit. When i first got it, I hooked it up to a solid state Randall guitar amp. It sounded horrible! It had the tone of a tin can to be honest, and Im pretty sure it had everything to do with the fact that i was using Randall in the first place. It wasn't til i hooked it up to a Mesa Boogie 50/50 tube power amp that I realized how valuable this unit could be. Even though the MP1 has tubes, Im a firm believer that it still needs to have a tube power amp driving it. Not Crates, Randalls, or Rocktrons. Also, I think it's a great amp to use in the studio, especially if you ever want to try running the unit direct vs. putting a mic on the guitar cabinet. I'm actually more of an advocate of using a mic on your cabinet than running direct, but this unit does a great job of recording tracks directly. Latley I've been very pleased with my MP1. I wouldn't say it's the best preamp ever made but it comes close. I like the fact that it's not loaded down with tons of effects like other processors such as Digitech, or Rocktron. It's a basic tube preamp with built-in chorus, dry distortion, and great clean sounds. I run it through a 100 watt 2 space tube power amp and it sounds excellent. I'm a strat player so I need a lot of gain when Im using one of my Strat's that have the single coil on the bridge, and generally speaking it does the job. From what I can tell, it sort of looks like guitar preamps are a thing of the past. Particularly the 80's. On the other hand, having great sounding rack gear is only a plus for the guitar player in the long run. I have literally played gigs where all I had to bring with me was my 6 space SKB rack case because there were cabinets available for me to run through. However I also understand that finding good rack gear that will model Marshall, Mesa, and 5150 amp heads is very rare. But I do believe that with an MP1 you can get pretty darn close.

So far, it's been pretty dependable. Unfortunatley though, I don't have a back up either.

There is none.

I play Shred/metal from the 80's and that's THE main reason for which I sold my Marshall JMP-1 crap and got that MP-1 Classic. I really dig Nuno Bettencourt's sound on Extreme's Pornograffiti album. It's very trebly and cuts through the mix like a Mofo! I can get the EXACT same sound with this preamp! Paul Gilbert, my idol, also used one when he was with RacerX and that completely convinced me to get one! Paul's tone is sooo good! It's unbelievable!

I like to have a shitload of POURING GAIN on my distortion signal.....but I need that GAIN to be TIGHT! The tightest gain I've heard is the gain from a Boss-Metal Zone....it kicks ass! Next to it, would the Rocktron Chameleon and after that, the ADA kicks in!

Here's my review of the 4 channels:

1) Brown: The best one, by far! It only lacks a little gain, but coupled with power amp distortion, it sounds hella good! I use it exclusively for leads, when a fatter sound is required.

2) Tube distortion: This is the classic tube distortion offered on a regular ADA MP-1. It sounds very gained-out, liquid, it sustains really well. I use it for leads when I want to cope a very edgey and liquid sound!

3) Tube clean: Since I HATE tube sounds in general, I never use that channel, not as "sterile" as I like it!

4) Solid state clean: GREAT clean channel! It gives my that sick compression and chorus for sounds that rock hard! Think about the great clean sounds of the 80's with Lynch and DeMartini!
Overall, if you're looking for that "mesa + marshall + lee jackson metaltronix + metal-zone" crunch alltogether, it's got it! And it cuts through the mix very well!
I use it with a Peavey classic 60/60 power amp (groove tubes) and a Marshall 1936 2x12 cab. No effects! EFFECTS ARE THE DEVIL! THEY MAKE ALL YOUR FRIENDS LAUGH AT YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO SISSY TO PLAY DRY AND BE CLEAN LIKE ANY SHREDDER MUST BE! I WILL NEVER USE EFFECTS OTHER THAN DISTORTION AND CHORUS ON CLEAN SOUNDS!
Having that said, the sound quality is good if you like LIQUID SUSTAIN and great CRISPY CRUNCHY Lead SOUNDS!

It sounds best that anything I've ever tried (including MANY mesa shitty amps, damn I HATE mesa...) It beats the crap out of the BOUTIQUE preamps out there....I wish it would be a little tighter in the distortion area and that it would have more input headroom for high-output pickups. I'll give it an 8. Just because it's not tight enough!

It has basically 4 channels: 1 brown, 1 distorted, 1 tube clean, 1 solid state clean. Chorus is built-in. There is a speaker emulation function, and it is possible to select a 4x12 or a 1x12 speaker cab. There are loads of presets and loads of patches that can be created (I think 128). There is some clip leds that help to fine tune the sound. The access to presets os very easy with my DOD Control-7 controller. Saving and editing are very easy. Overall, a great unit in that category! All it lacks is a reverb!

I think it looks very well made and it is probably much better that Rocktron's stuff! I believe it will hold up well to my abuse!
However, since ADA is not in busineess anymore, I wouldn't like it to fail!

ADA IS NOT IN BUSINEESS SINCE a long time!

This preamp kicks ass for that crispy tone I crave.
The best preamps out there, for shred, are:
-Rocktron Chameleon 2000....there is enough gain, if you max it out and EQ it properly.
-Rocktron Voodoo Valve: It has tubes, so it doesn't sound as tight as I like it!
-Rocktron Piranha: Sounds great, massive gain, I LIKE GAIN!
-BOSS GX-700: It sounds really great, especially that Metal-Zone emulation, damn, the metal-zone has the greatest distortion known to man!
I will probably get a Chameleon soon....just to get a tighter, not as crispy sound out of my rig.
BTW, I use ESP (no ltd's!) and BcRich guitars, loaded with Dimarzio's, because Dimarzio's are the way to go for shred metal!
If you want to get the best metal RHYTHM SOUNDS, stay away from it......it doesn't sound as FAT as it's needed to do that. But if you want to SHRED SHRED SHRED SHRED SHRED LIKE MOFO IN HEAT!....buy it NOW! It's great!

I play METAL....and I mean SHRED/METAL! I need a badass lead tone, fat, punchy, warm, singing, true, crisp, crunchy!!! This thing delivers that.

Simply stated: If you want to know how this unit sounds, get yourself a CD named "Pornograffiti" from the band Extreme. It sounds just like Nuno, 'Nuff said!

My only gripe is that it's got a WEIRD....very bizarre singing on the high-end presence thing....it may just be my amp.

I use it with ESP (real ESP!!) and Dimarzio Pickups....these are the only true choices for lead guitar and shred!!

Oh yeah, the clean is fucking great and I never tried to get OD sounds from it cause I don't care!

You know 'Em!! It pretty straightforward....easy to tweak! Fine!

What it lacks is a good built-in noise gate!!!

I would depend on it. It's not a toy!! like a rocktron or something...it's a real preamp made to be used and abused!

The company is out of businees....so that sucks!

I used to have a Marshall JMP-1 sh*tty preamp and this thing kills it easy man!! I've tried Rocktron stuff, Mesa, Marshall, BOSS, Peavey...name 'em....I tried them all! BUT NONE OF THEM HAVE THE CRISPY SOUND OF THE ADA! NONE! THAT'S NUNO'S SOUND AND THAT'S THE PERFECT LEAD SOUND!!! PERIOD.

I play just about every kind of rock guitar you can put your finger on. Anything from Van Halen to Dream Theater, Rush, U2, Marillion...you name it. I can squeeze alot of good tones out of this box if you take the time to program them in. Its not a quick-dial-up deal, it just doesnt work that way this time. Like any rack gear, its good...but you've gotta tweak it for awhile to get it just right. Isnt that a verse in the bible of rack gear? Decent tones though. I dont think that it shines above any other amp ive ever had (6100, Peavey 5150, '67 Showman), it sits right about in the middle of the crowd I think. This box sounds best when its working with other rack gear I think. If you run it with maybe a processor or two (something decent people...a lexicon, tc electronic, eventide), and maybe another good preamp...im sure it would sit in fantasticly. But by itself I just dont think its got the punch to make a mark on people. Its got an adequite amount of low end...could use more. Its every....average or....7.

Takes alot to impress me at my older age now days...thats why ill leave this one at a 7. I used to say, heck yeah this amps a 10! Then 2 weeks later I'd be back in the stores seeing whats new and exciting in the amp world. I bought this preamp on a whim actually, it was an inexpensive way to solve an expensive problem of mine. I managed to get this last one off the showroom floor. I hear ADA went out of business after a fire some years ago. This amp has 4 distinct tones it makes. The first, knows as Solid State (or SS), turns the 2 12AX7's in the box off and just runs as nice clean tone. Its not terrible, but I expected alittle more sparkle. I like the clean tones that sing at the high end frequencies. These cleans are alittle unclear at times. The second channel is known as Tube Clean (or CLN), which is alittle nicer then the SS channel. It ads the extra low end, sparkle, and clarity you get from tubes instead of solid state. The third channel is known as "Brown", which is a new gain designed for the MP-1 classic instead of the MP1. Its alittle less ballsy then the fourth channel, but sounds better at lower gain settings. The fourth channel, or Distortion, is pretty straight forward. No hoop-la or hidden identities. Its crunchy, its gainy, its....distortion. Pretty basic sounds, nothing spectacular. This box has built in analog chorus which is pretty fat, not quite as nice as some digital ones ive heard, but still decent. I run this preamp through my Marshall 6100LM anniversary head. It really depends, sometimes I'll think it sounds great....other times it'll make me cringe, and I mean REALLY cringe. This preamp marked the end of my rack-gear extravaganza. The push button controls on the front are cool at first, but really become annoying when your trying to find a sound quickly. I miss those old knobs...they're great =). Its a cool preamp box, its got stage outs, recording outs, 2 effects loops, and all the usual stuff in the way of EQ. (bass, mids, treble, presence controls). Outside of that...its pretty basic. I cant say that theres any feature on this box that jumps out and says "HEY~! IM NEW AND INNOVATIVE!" nah...not this time.

Well I cant say that I would rely on it, but then again im not much of a person to rely on anything these days. I used to think my Marshall would NEVER go out on me...I'd gig with that amplifier and stick my neck out by saying I'd never need a backup, that is, until it died in the second tune of our 3 song set at a battle of the bands....good freakin' going...Marshall. I havent had a ton of experience with the MP-1 classic yet. Seems decently solid, like every other rating its gotten so far. I wouldnt let your roadies play football with it in the parking lot after a gig or anything...but I'd be pretty sure it would turn on next time I used it under normal circumstances.

My MP1 classic came all by itself...not even a manual. you'd think they were the phantom company? well...they arent around at all anymore...I guess they might be!

Ive been playing enough years to know that this isnt anything spectacular, but it isnt terrible either...its a good preamp. If I were again on the market for preamps I'd probably go after a MESA Triaxis. Bottom line is this preamp just doesnt DO it for me. It doesnt make me smile, jump up and down, my heart rate beat alittle faster because its got good tones...it just doesnt do it. I tell you all, if your looking for versatile with good tones and not much hassle, throw away your complicated racks and go to your nearest store to check out the new Line 6 Flextones. Even I, the tube man, was extremely skeptical until I played it for an amount of time on my own. Ive been considering it for awhile...might pick it up in the near future. Look out for line 6...they're on they're way up. I'd call this preamp the preamp of no suprises. if you wanna be suprised...buy something else...but if you want solid tones...who knows...it might be the one for you.

The ADA MP-1 Classic is relatively easy to use, but you do have to do some reading of the manual & tweaking to get the most out of it.
Personally, I find pre-amp units a little bit harder to tweak than a standard amp but there are usually more options and control available.
I bought the floor model at Long & McQuade in Scarborough, Ontario for $343.85 Canadian funds. It was the last unit they had in stock.

The sound ranges on the ADA MP-1 Classic from very clean to very high-gain.
I ran this pre-amp through the Effects Loop of my Rockman XP-100 combo amplifier when I owned it and used my Fender Standard Stratocaster with it. (Poplar body, one-piece maple neck. Seymour Duncan "59" humbuckers in the neck & bridge positions, and a "Duckbucker" single-coil in the middle position)
The MP-1 Classic could get very trebly with lots of high-end because it is a pre-amp unit and not a "complete" amplifier. I originally liked the tones I heard from the ADA, but I found that dynamics were missing that comes from the power-amp section. There's tons of distortion and gain, but you can't control that amount of distortion by rolling down the volume knob on your guitar. (You CAN do this, but not very well)
This is the dynamics I personally look for in an amplifier - it means a lot to me to be able to control my tone in that manner. The high-end of the unit eventually started to bother me and I sold the unit to someone through the local classified ads. I owned it for just under a year.

I never experienced a problem with this unit while I owned it so I would consider it reliable.
I heard that ADA is now out of business so if you do own one of these, you will have to find someone to maintain it for you.

I never needed to contact ADA concerning my MP-1 Classic pre-amp so Customer Support was not necessary for me.

Overall, I think the ADA MP-1 Classic is a fine guitar pre-amp. It's capable of achieving good clean & distorted sounds and if channel-switching is something you look for, then the ADA is great. If you enjoy high-gain sounds like the Peavey 5150, Soldano's, or Mesa/Boogies, then this pre-amp can cop those tones too.
I MIGHT buy this unit again if I had a good power amp to go with it and if I was planning to put a rack together. It's great to be able to control a rack with all it's versatility, but a "Regular" amp has so much more appeal and tone to me.
I'd recommend this pre-amp to any player who enjoys high-gain sounds and versatility. A great unit. ________________________________________________________________ Please visit my web site where you can check out links to my other reviews here at Harmony Central and to see what gear I have for sale!
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Way basic. The LED front-display window tells what you can / cannot do when you're searching to program sounds. All buttons are labeled and lit... very intuitive. Read the manual... in two small pages you know all there is to know.

There are 39 presets on this take-off of the MP-1. The 128 program boast is based on four foundations of sound... solid state / tube clean / brown / and full overdrive. The clean - tube voice with chorus cranked is nice and the brown is gritty and useful to throw some authentic blues in your face. Beyond that... I was unimpressed. I was hoping for a variety of distortions with the possibility of a tightly compressed metal effect. (I know tube is generally the wrong place to look for it.) The best I came up with was a heavy fuzz that made me want to brush my teeth after hearing it. Overall... There was nothing distinctive from this preamp that couldn't be accomplished with your Hot Rod or other tube amp.

Stick it in your rack and it won't break. Set it on your amp and it's history.

N/A

I like a thick chorus and found the highest setting on the Classic MP-1 insufficient. I like a pissed-off distortion that shakes your jimmies to the depth of your soul and it wasn't there. The unit is super basic... you got tube warmth and overdrive... that's it. If you have a solid state amp and want a tube affect... buy it used. Otherwise, look elsewhere.