ADA MP-1

This is the sound I've been looking for in 20+ years. I have switched between early 80's hard rock to late 80's & early 90's metal and just about any classic rock. I now play prog rock (Dream Theater, Fates Warning) and with the MP-1 I can nail any tone I'm after. The distortion can go from thick and edgy to super saturated to razor sharp. And with the MIDI control I can call up any preset instantly. Solid state clean is VERY clean and the tube clean breaks up at higher
settings. I have a very light touch and the MP-1 picks up the dynamics and articulation in my technique. Most hi-gain amps squashed and mangled my tone so any expression was totally covered up by the amps character. The sound of the MP-1 blends very well with my technique and allows me to use my hands as a part of the tone.

The features are well documented here, I won't reiterate them. But go to ADADEPOT.COM for all the info you need. That site is the best.

Very reliable, I have retubed mine at least 7 times for different sounds and not once has I failed me in 9 years.

ADA is dead so go to ADADEPOT.COM for any info or help. They have manuals, pics, mods, and a messageboard. Incredible site.

I run from 3 different custom Ibanez RG 421s into the MP-1 then into a Digitech RP-20 (for effects and midi control only)into a Hafler G-150 power amp and then to a Peavey XXL 4x12 cab split in stereo. The MP-1 gives me any tone I need from soft to hard. If you can't afford a Marshall or Mesa amp (I sure can't), this is the next best thing. Also, if the stock sound doesn't sound good to you it can be modified to sound similar to a Mesa Dual Rectifier or Soldano SLO 100. Go to ADADEPOT.COM before passing judgement on the MP-1. It is a very flexable pre-amp.

i used this with a marshal jcm 800 4x12 and a mesa 20/20 poweramp..... it sounds like a boss metal zone.but not even as good....it has lots of gain. these guys who are gettin this three tube mod for more gain than this thing already puts out......well,they need to have there ears checked.how much gain do ya need???? this is one of the buzziest crappy sounding POS ive ever used.save your money. the company isnt even around anymore. what does that tell ya? this thing put em outta business.if yer playin screaming metal,/ it might be alright to use. after all those guys wouldnt know tone if Hendrix busted his strat over there heads!!!!!

midi tube preamp. stereo.fx loop.

it works ...but i dont what'll happen when it needs work.ADA is defuncked.

ther gone like the dinosaur!!!!

its good for a backup i suppose. or if your an ear dead metal head.my advice get a real tube amp.i have a marshall JMP-1 that smokes this thing...sorry ADA lovers .its true...thats what this POS is tryin to do amnyway..sound like a hot rodded marshall..... well the JMP-1 does that wayyyy better than this thing does....but niether sound as good as my JCM 800 head and cab together....

***my little story.....skip below if you dont care, yet it may be helpful to some***

this is where my epic-like journey began. before i was using a crate stealth (pretty good tube head for the price), but i wanted more (ie midi capabilities, to build a rack, simplify my rig, blah blah). like i said before, i like metallica, and after reading one of kirk's interviews about this preamp and reviews here on harmony-central i bought one off the internet.

when i first tried it, it was cool i guess. classic rock tone. and after messing with the settings and all that, thats all i got, a classic rock tone. which is cool in its own sense, but in my band we play thrash, and that wouldn't stand.

this amp is known for its gain, so once again i went back on here and read how everyone put in new tubes. the only preamp tubes i had laying around was an electro-harmonix 12ax7eh and a mesa boogie 12ax7. after i put them in, very little changed.

so then i tried boosting the preamp section with an overdrive pedal, and that helped A LOT. but it still wasnt what i wanted. so then i went back on here AGAIN (i love this site) and noticed one of the reviews below talking about mixing tubes and putting them in a different order (thank you sir for that review). i didnt think it would do much but i tried it anyways and DAMN, that did it.


<actual review>


distortion - i was pleased with my little experiments. the distortion on this thing is pretty heavy, especially for thrash/metal. the tone that i have is fairly scooped...not scooped to hell like ...and justice for all and the black album, but enough mids to actually give my tone muscles. (remember....you may like your 10 bass -10 mid 10 treble settings when playing at home....but play in a band and you will not hear yourself....i guarantee it) it does have a marshall quality to the tone. however, you MUST get another eq to hook up after the preamp. the eq onboard the mp-1 is pretty much crap. you might also want to get an eq to put before the preamp, because from my experiences, good tone = good pickups -> eq -> preamp distortion with onboard eq -> another eq -> and TUBE power amp. with all that, you should pretty much nail the tone youre looking for. but even with all the gain that this beast has, combined with good pickups, you can hear every note when you hit a barre chord.

clean-as for the clean....im not too anal about that. just give me a good scooped clean with chorus and ill be satified. but this preamp does exactly that. people on here complain that it breaks up to early, but i personally like that. i dont want my clean being to crystal clean, just a little dirty. to give you the idea of the clean....listen to "Harvester of Sorrow" by metallica, thats the clean on this thing.

A rack preamp from the late 80s/early 90s. Offers an EQ (limited to whole number increments that makes it a little difficult to perfectly nail your tone), 2 Overdrive sections (OD1 is the pre-gain to boost your signal before distortion, OD 2 being the actual gain which controls your distortion), master gain (think of it as the sub-volume while the output level knob acts as your master volume so to speak),presence control, onboard chorus (which seems more like a flanger to me), 3 voicings (solid state clean, tube clean, and tube distortion), effects loop, headphone jack (why?), stereo output and midi capabilities.

i REALLY wish it came with reverb, but then again its just a preamp. if i had a choice id swap out the chorus/flanger for reverb. even though my clean always has a chorus on (yeah i like metallica), i seem to get a better chorus tone from my pedals. plus the fact that i only use one type of chorus setting unlike my numerous reverb settings. but then again im sure some you will enjoy different chorus settings at different channels.

seems pretty sturdy to me. spends time in a rack so its somewhat protected from the evils of the world. but i have gigged with this and i never had a problem with it yet.

never dealt with.

ive been playing for about 5 years, and ever since day one, ive been anal about tone. this thing pretty much has one of the nicest tones ive heard coming from a preamp. although you WILL NEED A POWER AMP in order to get excellent tone, but itll still sound somewhat decent through a SS power amp.

however, due to the fact that this is an old preamp, you will have to get some extra things in order to see its true nature. my rig is as follows...

guitar -> line6 distortion modeler (which acts as an eq and adds a tad bit more gain to the front end) -> ada mp1 (reverb in the loop) -> parametric eq -> power amp section of my crate stealth tube amp.

but pretty much if this thing were stolen, i would definately get a new one. unless our band gets signed and we get all rich and famous...then id buy a marshall tsl. but while im awake, ill stick with my mp-1.

but the reason for the 7 is the fact that it requires a bunch of other stuff to make it great.....and the fact that it needs REVERB!

Pretty simple to use.Like all rack gear takes some tweaking but the sound u want comes quiqly.If there was a software editor out there i would gave 10

My setup:Ibanez jem 77fp(with emg active picups)->morley bad horsie wah->boss ns-2 noise gate->ibanez ts-9dx turbo tube screamer->ada mp-1->boss vf-1->peavey s.s. amp(not good).
the sound i can get from this rig its awesome.Just name it and its there.The mp-1 has all the things i need,from crystal compressed clean,to mild sweet fat overdrive,to hard metal distortion.The dynamics and picking response in this thing are great.Of course with hi gain settings u get some noise too,but nothing a good gate can't fix.One notice.This is not a standalone unit.It is a great preamp(with a great price)but u will need some good units with it to have full implementation of this unit.espesially a good power amp and cabs will take your sound to the next level.

Never had problems(lets hope i never will)

Ada is history(too bad) but u can get all the support u want from www.adadepot.com

I play for 8 years rock metal blues.This unit definatly is for my style.The only thing missing from my rig is a microcabII but soon i ll nail one too.

Looks confusing at first but the manual is easy to understand. You just need to experiment with pushing buttons. I got lucky and mine had the manuals for the MP-1 and MC-1 footswitch. It gets great sound by just tweaking the EQ.

Sound is incredible. I play Heavy/Speed/Thrash Metal and this unit kicks it. ADADepot.com has presets by users that allow you to start w/ a setting and you can tweak from there. I use Ruby Tubes for a great distortion.
I run the MP-1 w/a Legionsound poweramp (www.steelsound.com), a dual 15-band EQ, MC-1 footswitch, 2 Jackson Performers (1 custom), 1 Behringer 4x12, 1 custom 4x12. Very loud set-up.

Very rugged and dependable so far. Replaced the tubes when I first got it and it shreds. Since ADA no longer exists, some smart fellers put together www.ADADepot.com. These guys can answer any question you might have about this unit, including mods to get different sounds.

www.ADADEPOT.com

Can't live without this site!!!
These guys are the only existing support.

I tried many other tube amps and this unit can hold balls with almost all of them. Once you do a mod from the support site, this puts all those $1000+ heads to shame. Why pay for a name when you can pay for this kind of quality. I still have yet to fill all my 128 patches (yes, 128).
If there was one thing to change, it would be that the power switch is on the back and is hard to get to in a rack. That's all I can complain about. ADA kicks!!!

when i first got it home i was not too impressed.the dist tube is way too hot and muddy for hi speed hi clarity runs,but push the clean tube channel and look out!so many great tones from ej to satch to al dimeola live there.the eq is very effective but needs to be carefully adjusted as sometimes the difference between great and awful are a couple notches away so to speak.noise can be taimed with a hush unit.I perfomed a mod [the cathode follower circuit change courtesy of mark howell and ADADEPOT.COM THE SITE FOR ALL THINGS ADA]that makes for a much more Marshall crunch contour,with slightly less gain..not a issue for me as i use a dostortion pro into stock plexi 100,s also a great classic semi dirt tone ala daydreamer from trower is obtainable at any volume hendrix,shred,blues,fusion they in there.

mine is from 1988 .I bought it for the price... 125$used at guitar center.the presets are of course a joke and may mislead newbies into thinking its shit.It does require some experimenting to get to the goodies,but they are in there.3 channels [hot tube,clean tube,clean solid state]lots of midi storage,nice chorus,loop,shit input jac,headphone in.

get the best tubes you can afford.also a battery for the memory I GOT ONE AT RADIO SHACK for 3$ watch the input jac it would be a good idea to replace it using the dead bug trick [a simular ideais avail at adadepot.com]

R.I.P

i love mine for price nothing caan touch it.I would replace immed.In fact I am going to buy 2 more if I can find them for less than 170$ .if you dont dig the dirty tube channel try the clean tube maxed out or close to it.also try the marshall mod it does make a difference. it takes about 2 hours only because the parts are very small and you don"t want any mistakes.if your not sure of your electronics skill,any tech can do it it should not cost much its not brain sergery

I play a variety of musical styles ranging from classic Marshall "plexi" sounds to jazz. This unit sounds very good, but some of the digital sample pre-amps sounds better. However, they samplers are more expensive.

The ADA MP-1 sounds better than many amp heads.

If your unit is noisy, I suspect its time for you to change tubes and/or upgrade your guitar cable or shielding.

I have a first or second year ADA MP-1 and I had a second used one that was at least five years newer, but in tough shape. The price information listed by others is accurate.

My ADA MP-1 goes directly into a stereo high constant current power amp and into a stereo Marshall 2x12 cabinet.

I like the fact I can save my sounds and easily step through the sounds in comparison to most items of this type.

I found my older reverb unit added noise and limited the signal out of the ADA. I guess I would have found a reverb more useful than a the included chorus. I also wish ADA's excellent flanger sound might have been included.

I've used several sets of tubes and had a diode repleaced on my original unit.

The backup unit worked pretty good until is suffered a catstrophic failure. The backup unit had bee exposed to a lot of mosture over the years from what I could tell. Many ADAs live hard lives.

I would say slightly milder and quiter tubes are my choice, but if you want to get a harder sound like Metallica, it will respond with the a tube selection like Rubies. If you can find Mullards, then the ADA MP-1 will sound more like an older Marshall. Mullards can be expensive.

Instead of checking internet vintage tube suppliers or vintage guitar stores, you might be better off check surplus military stores like Mendelson's in Dayton, Ohio. An old timer from the military told me to look for slightly used or NOS Raytheon tubes first and then RCAs and avoid the cheaper commerical grade GE tubes. The guy said Mullards are good, but "good luck on finding them in this country."

I don't know which brand of new tubes to recommend, because the ones I like best don't seem to last that long. The closest you can match the complete tube type designation, the closer the tube should be to the original sepcification in terms of sound and noise supression.

I talked to the head person among others several times among others and it was on my suggestion the MicroCab option was developed.

I had excellent support with ADA when compared to most other companies. I'd put them at the same level as Yamaha, Martin, and Prescription Electronics and slightly better than Modulus, Duncan, SWR, and today's Gibson.

I wouldn't buy another at this point, but they are great units if you're on a budget and you already have a power amp.

My constant current power amp is made by AB, but I'd think most any name brand would be good if it is realiable and quiet.

I have some instructions and wiring diagrams. I'd be willing to sell my ADA to a person in need.

Very easy to use . . . I've had it since 1990 and NEVER had a problem with it . It's so easy to use and create new sounds. The manual is very self explanatory. The MIDI is easy to use.

I use a customized Ibanez and a PRS Custom 24 with a X-11 MIDI pedal to control it . With the MP-1-> Digitech S-200 -> a TubeWorks MosValve 240watt amp--> two Mesa/Boogie cabinets. It sounds great! I can get a perfect silky Santana tone, exellent clean/blues tones and all in between.

It's my primary in my rack system I never take anything else with me . I've replaced the battery, and have a back-up. But thats all. I've used it in the studio, on stage and no matter what or where it's kicked ass.

Never needed to get it repaired. The company was great when I lost the manual. I u'sted to love the magazine that came out for a while.

I play rock/metal/blues and it's a versitile/wicked little pre-amp. I've been playing for 18 yrs. I also own a 72 Stratocastor, a thin body Ovation acoustic,a Fender FR-50 resanotor. If I "lost it" in some way I would replace it possabily with a MP-2 or another MP-1. I just love love the ease of use.The only thing I would want is a tuner in it. The only thing I ever had a problem with was the phantom power to the controler, but I got that corrected really easily. It created my "signiture sound" and I love it; smooth distortions, hard gutsy full out distortions, silky sustain, clear clean tones and smoky blues tones.

I use Ibanez S470 w/ DiMarzio Steve's Special in bridge, Fender Amrican Strat with SD JB in bridge/59 in neck, ESP/LTD EC-1000 w/ dual EMG 81's. ALl these guitars sound awesome through the MP-1. I play death metal, black metal, hardcore, heavy metal, jazz, blues, country, all sorts of shit, everything sounds good on it. With an eq, I use a Behringer PROEQ, dual 31-band, and this thign puts out some seriously brutal distortion if I eq it to. Even without the eq, it sounds awesome.

Uh, everyone knows the damn features...MOVING ON!

Never had it fuck up, never even worried about it. It's solid.

Never dealt with them, and don't plan to.

I've been playing for 5 years, I gig a lot, do a lot of studio work, and this preamp is just too good for the money, should cost over $700, but I'm not complaining, heh. Would buy another if it were stolen, but not after I shoved apple cores up the guys ass that stole it. Peace.

I'm currently running: Epiphone Les Paul w/EMG 81 -> Ernie Ball Volume -> ADA MP-1 -> Roland JC-120 (ADA outs into Roland effects loop, using ADA level knob for volume). There's a hint of noise with the more extreme distortion levels, mostly ground hum from my crappily wired room and lack of a power conditioner.

I play mostly metal/hard rock stuff in the vein of Tool, but venture into Metallica territory and some blues stuff, too. This amp covers it all. Sounds more organic than a JMP-1 (and with a better interface), and again, is much cheaper than the Triaxis. The tubes give it just enough warmth to be enjoyable, but it doesn't quite compress or break up like an all-tube amp... but it's not, so why should it?

Again, s.s. setting is clean as a whistle, the clean tube setting is nice and warm, and can hit that really great tubey crunch when the ODs are pushed. The dist tube setting has a little too much gain for me most of the time, unless I'm playing some really over-saturated lead stuff (which is when the chorus DOES sound good. I get a decent Van Halen/Satriani sound out of it). It's not perfect, but 85 bucks for a piece of guitar history? Count me in.

Nothing fancy, other than LOTS of MIDI storage space. This is my first piece of MIDI gear, and I've totally fallen in love with freedom you get... once you read the manual. For everything. I got the matching MC-1 foot controller. It's pretty simple. The solid state "voicing" sounds crisp and biting (especially with the treble jacked), and both tube sounds (clean and dist) are great. A really wide selection of tones. It's no Triaxis, but for around 2% of the price... not bad. The chorus is pretty digital, but I try not to use it much.

Connections are pretty standard for a preamp: outputs, effects loop, and headphones. I'm told there's a "speaker modeling" switch on it, but I still can't find it. It's supposed to be on top, but I just can't find it.

Editing is a breeze, but reading the manual does help.

I haven't had to change the battery or tubes yet... but I've only had it for a couple months. I'm planning on backing up my presets and changing tubes in the near future so I can be assured that it'll be good for a while and I'm covered if the battery dies. I would buy one in an instant if it were stolen or totally died, and I would gig with it expecting it to work on ANY occasion. The only thing I'd do with a backup is program more sounds into it.

::sniff:: No more ADA... that makes me sad. I think I could probably get it fixed just about anywhere, though... it's a pretty popular amp. Given a 1 because, as we all know, there's no more ADA.

I've been playing for about 10 years, and only started playing in a band about a year ago. This is the newest piece in the tone puzzle. I'm planning on getting a TC Electronic G Major and a Mesa/Boogie 2:90, but I'll never get rid of my ADA. It's so easy to use, and it sounds great. The only thing I wish is that they would have taken more time with the chorus... but that's what the G Major will be for. :)