ADA MP-2

Easy to modify a patch from factory preset; different thing is obtaining a sound that is still in your ears. Can someone mail me some schematics patches? I'm quite satisfied of mine but i'd like some tips to improve the sound quality since the guy spyridon give me the key of infinite good time with that mod. Good the manual, i have still an electronic one.

I've got an Ibanez FGS series with DiMarzio pick-ups and also use an acoustic Yamaha. I can have all kind of sound from that gear, from acoustic unplugged Clapton style, to EVH tapping and flying playing. Clear and bright to rough and crunchy, hard and fast.
I use a Fender Blues Deluxe with only the clear channel + a CryBaby wha + a DigitalDelayBoss. After years of experimentation i decided to reduce to minimum and find that playing technic is the difference. It depends on what kind of music you play.
I play Am-rock, blues, some metal, Allan Holdsworth, Frank Gambale, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai.
I must tell that with the mod told by spyridon that MP2 is becoming a real Blaster.......no more noise and dynamics all the time.Thanks.

Once it left me because of an electric problem in the gig. It must be stable with something.
Hope it'll live forever but i have some pedal for back up, they are NOT the same but you never know.

No cantact alt all, only downloaded the manual on line.

I owned an MP1 for three days before.....this one is the best pre-amp i never played with, no Triaxis, no Rocktron, no other. The only thing i regret is that i cannot find the original pedalboard which someone told is best.
If you have one MP2 contact the guy spyridon on this database. He's a realgood man.

I use a variety of "Strat" & "Tele" configued guitars that I have both purchased and made myself. They all have Seymour Duncan pickups in them. The typical arrangement is Lil' 59 neck and bridge with a stock strat pick up in the middle or Vintage Rails neck & bridge, stock strat in the middle and a 5-way pickup switch that allows neck and bridge pickups to be used together, real useful for me. Even though my band covers some grungy music here and there, I've never gone for that way mid-scooped sound (although there is enough EQ to do it). I've also had better results getting more sounds using pickups that are not way hot or that have accentuated mids. My whole setup consists of the MP-2, Alesis Midiverb II, ADA Microtube 200 and the foot controller. That all goes to a 1960A cabinet. I go for a while content with my settings and then will tweak for the heck of it. Something that might help other MP-2 owners, try starting out on an empty patch with one of the high gain voices, pull down the "Overdrive" level so that it's just a little "warm". This is a way I've found to create thick, sustaining patches that are a little different from the factory presets. Sounds real good on the neck pickup. Another handy use for the continuous contoller is to use it to variably control the amount of effects return. I also use the emulator outputs to go to the mixing console when we play out. I've noticed that I can get better presence/projection in the mains if my solo patches are mono(not chorused), this puts the solos in the "middle". I've got all my levels set so that I can run the output level on the preamp at 12:00 and the power amp all the way up, this seems to allow more natural feedback and maybe a little better frequency response overall. This preamp has enough range when set this way to create even clean patches that can spread from rythym to solo levels without distorting. The chorus is real good, I've gotten addicted to the stereo capabilties, I don't use the tremelo. Something I haven't been able to accomplish (although is not high on my list) is that ringy, gritty clearer distorted sound that I found in a Mesa Nomad. I was attracted to the three channels with solo funtion in each channel. I'm going to try the modification listed on this site by Spyridon, will write back.

I ordered this preamp through AMS in 1995, or so. I play in a band that does mostly rock/alternative covers and some originals. It has always been important me to be able to pull off varying degrees of distortion sounds and to be able to bump up the over-all level for solos regardless of the sound being hyper-clean or way distorted. This preamp (for me) handles this asignment well, I think the choice of power amp is critical. Some fore thought on creating patches for your live situation is prudent. I highly recommend some kind of continuous controller for using this unit, there are funtions you cannot access without one. I use the ART X-15 with one pedal being global over-all volume control and the other for various functions, depending on the patch (sort of a "poor man's Bradshaw system"). I use ADA's Microtube 200 power amp and this is probably the weak link in the chain sound-wise.

It has never broken down, I'm flying without a net on the backup amp situation, I take real good care of it. I've been thinking about something like the Mesa V-Twin pedal for a back up.

Had a weird deal where apparently the phantom power on the console we were using was working it's way into places it shouldn't in my MP-2. It exhibited the problem when the phantom power was switched off, the input levels from the MP-2 went through the ceiling. I re-wired the cables with TRS plugs instead of XLR, no problem.

I've been playing with bands since about 1980, I also own the PA gear we use so money for sound gear gets pulled many ways. Now that these things are turning up used I'd like to get another one for backup. I also have an old Princeton Reverb that I plunk with, it's good for keeping me aware of what a REAL clean sound is. I go through phases where I'd like to really chuck the technology and play through a Nomad or something, I'm surprised more amp manufacturers don't address the main/solo volume thing.

simple and straight foward editing and i love the compare feature
that lets me hear patch before and after any changes!.
why didn't i give it a 10?, simple i love knobs and turning them!
pressing buttons is slow and menu's are hidden unless your there
and you have to document all your patches on a chart like the one
at the back of the manual to record them!, make plenty of photocopies!

actually i have to give it a 11! for sound quality.well mine at least.
Why? ,becouse its me spyridon the guy who has the mod to elliminated
the noise, but im a tone freak and it still didn't satisfie me!,
yea it was great at the metallica and mid swoop boogie sound etc,
but the clean and classic distortion sounds were ok, not great so
i got obsessed again and tested and tested and found a fix! yea i
really found a great natural tube tone ! and the gain and distortion
sounds also improved!,WoW now i'm satisfied my "NEW MOD" has turned
this king of the 80's GEM into a unit that competes and blows away
even the new gear out there today!No preamp comes close at any price!
and i have plenty of feedbacks from people that agree!,e-mail me to read some.

this baby was built right but lookout they forgot something really
important at the factory!, if you have problems or funny things
happening when yours gets "hot", you need to remove the top cover
and applie silicon heat sink grease to the top of the power supplie
heat sink plates top!.don't know why they didn't do that ,its standard
procedure with any electronic unit. i highly advise everyone to do
this to there unit!

no help from ADA there into studio gear now and guitar stuff has been
discontinued!, But if your interested in my new mod and finding out
more about it e-mail me at sse29@netzero.net!, i can also be reached
at sthero@hotmail.com , or click on the link at the bottom,
my other e-mail address at juno is not active anymore!

im into heavy progrock! and i also love playing acustic stuff and
blues, i collect guitars have a tom anderson drop top w/floyd,
brian moore c-90,a couple of MM EVH's about 4 gibsons ,68 tele,
some warmouth guitars i built with there premo parts(i'm a guitar
tech! at a sam ash!), and ibanez,kramers,ovation 12,etc. also i love
rack stuff and collecting pre-amps-got the pod pro,rockmaster,
hafler-boogner,sgx2000,digitech2101+lots more-yes im insane!
but i have to tell you the ada sounds best through a tube poweramp
or in the effects return of a tube amp ex.peavy 5150 wow what a
improvement!, i've got a backup also for experimenting and all i
can say is if your thinking about a rack or for home recording
GET ONE!, and don't forget about my mod!

I think this thing is monstorous. I have two guitars I made from warmoth parts outfitted w/ Lawrence pickups and I literally was able to replace 3 amps I was using, a Marshall VS-100H for distortion, a blackface Fender bassman, and 2x8 Roland JC-80 combo for the cleaner stuff. I've read other reviews where complaints about thin sound, tubby sound, noise, sterile distortion, flat clean sounds, and all kinds of other complaints, and my only guess can be programming errors. It IS very easy to overdrive any area of the signal path, which can cause this clanky distortion that is just plain horrid. And I've heard the funky buzz on the chorus that other people describe. But all I had to do was use the 'compare' button to make gain adjustments so my edits were no louder than the 'tube voicing' with both eq's flat.

Lots. Reverb instead of tremolo would've been nice. You definately have to 'learn' this preamp. Takes a lot of time to get around.

So far, so good.

I called ADA twice when they were just about to shut down business. I owned an Mp-1 at the time, (which I absolutely hated) and I couldn't believe how polite they were. I got to talk to one of the original engineers, and he gave me all kinds of advice. It's a shame they're not around anymore.

I've spent thousands on amps, and they were all all-tube. Started as a kid with Peavys and Crates, graduated to Laneys, Marshalls and Mesas, and then tried Trace Elliot, Kitty Hawk, and even the H&K tri-amp, and the only thing I've heard sound better to my ears was a Matchless preamp (can't remember model) that sold for almost $3000. It was such a suprise because the only reason I bought it was because it was so cheap. I was going to use it for a trade or something, and I expected to hate it as much as the Mp-1.

Presets are exaggerated...typical..., but easily tweaked, with literally 1,000 gradations of tube distortion, awesome

With the right power amp and speakers to fatten the preamp distortion, you can get great sustain without honkiness

lcd illumination went up on me twice, otherwise the unit is dependable

i use it with the filter on all the time ,this preamp is the best i used

i use a fender stratocaster, a fender blues de ville, the preamp is noisy but the noise gate works good.

i can use it without a backup

i can use it

i play rock,for 15 years,i use it with a eventide gtr 4000, a t. c. electronic g-force. i live in mexico and i have a big problem because
my mp2 is broken, and i dont have the users manual ,the technician needs the diagram for repair, and i would like to know how can i use controllers in real time.please help me .i would like to buy another one or two. my e-mail is muloc_13@hotmail. i can pay for the manual and the diagram. thanks.

Very easy to use but very dificult to get a good sound...once you get there you will never leave.

The MP-2 has lots of distortion , so you'll probably abuse of it and call it noisy. Comparing to other preamps like JMP-1 and MP-1 the MP-2
is a worl of sounds. The low gain voices (wich have as much distortion as a JMP-1, with the right tubes)a lot sound better. Tweak the equalizer to clean the high frequencies.
I use an ibanez RG guitar , a marshall poweramp and ADA cabinets.
For using with Guitar amplifiers cut the treble and the presence.
The tremolo, the wha wha and the chorus sound very good specialy if you use them together.
I dont need to use the noise gate but it's very effective.

Its reliable, i used it in a lot of gigs without problems.
Once i had o problem with noisy hum but my tech solved it very
well.

Don't Know.

Very good for getting all kinds of sound from clean to trash to "unbeliveble".

Sound is ok, but not superb. Clean's are good, and you can tweak the sound a lot, but from distortion you wont get any marshall-sound, so if you're looking for a high-gain amp, count this one out.

Jada jada jada, lots of tweakin tho not much effects (chorus, "wah"...).

Not very reliable for a long gig. Once we played for about four hours with lots of volume, and the floor controller stated "error" or something like that. Couse it's valve-preamp, it heats a lot too.

I have used it for six years or so, and it have served quite well. If you like to tweak your sound, this is for you. If you're even a bit lazy, _do not_ buy this one.

My ADA MP2 WAS great. When on a heavy distorted channel, the unit buzzes tremendously. I've tried every grounding configuration I can think of, to know avail. It sounds like it's some sort of capacitance problem. Trouble is, I can't find anyone who can/will fix them! I live in the Chicago are. Anybody wanna lend a fellow string-bender a hand?

Very easy to use, especially for a quick adjustment on stage.

I got the modification that was advertised here by the guy Spiridon. My ADA MP2 blows everything I've ever heard away with the new sound. Nothing comes close, not Mesa Boggie's Tri axis, not Marshall's JMP1, nothing. My ADA MP2 can now emulate any distortion sound with out noise (I keep my noise gate off, I no longer need it)and can get heavier, or lighter, or more crystal clean than anything else on the market. I'm selling my other preamps. I no longer need them.

Never had a problem.

I am a college student studying music. The ADA MP2 with the modification totally covers all my tonal needs. I'm glad I found one.

Very easy to use, I bought a floor model without a manual and managed to figure it all out pretty quickly. I would like a copy of the the owners manual though so if anyone has a copy could you let me know?

I am using a Marshall Valvestate Power Amp into a 1960 4x12 cab. It rocks. Just having trouble with the loud hum I get at higher volume.

Yes it is dependable, I have a buddy who has used this on every gig.

No longer supported by the manufacturer

Been playing for 15 years. This is finally the sound I have been looking for. I play hard rock and metal stuff. Dpending on the Guitar used and the power amp used I imagine it has a wide range of sound possibility.

very easy

READ THIS! ada created what i beleve to be the best preamp in the rack
RELM!(read on),BUT they put the wrong tubes combo in it!yes it has 2
12ax7's standard stuff but all you know about the utterly crappy,farty
noise!sound this unit makes when you crank the gain!looose bottom and
hey my humbuckers are acting like single coils now!got the picture and
yes the noise gate works but that noise is still there when it opeans,
loud 60 cycle hum from hell!.so get out your screw driver cause your
about to transform that ada into a flame thrower that will send mp1's
and overpriced boogie triasses runing for cover!.Is this possible-->
E-mail me for the mod!at sthero@worldspy.net ,for reason use mp2 mod,
after you transform your unit you will have a thight bottom,plenty of
gain,and tone!,and noise so low you can and will turn off the noise gate!,and for you clean and jazz dudes no more distortion on the clean
settings when you pump the base on the eq's!.So dont thrash that ada
mod it! with my help e-mail me!

used it during a brown out and it blow something up years ago but luckily it was still under warranty and they repaired it and havent
had a problem since so make sure your useing good regulated A.C. power
with surge protection!

its out of production but ada is still around making studio stuff but
im afraid support for products like this one is gone!

take your rating up to a 10 also with my help!

I'm running this thing through a Rocktron replifex and a Peavey tube power amp, going into a fender 2X12 cabinet. Yes, it has that 80's ADA high gain rock sound. Feel that puffy hair flappin' and those spandex pants creeping up your ass!! It does the high gain thing well, although it can sound a tad bit nasally and harsh if you crank things on it...The clean sounds? No, not quite. But you can get that deep, mid scoop Metallica crunch if you want. And poison as well....I use this thing when I get a wild hair and want to pretend I'm an 80's guitar hero.....

Hey, for $150, What's not to like?

Rackmount preamp with midi switching and lots of features. FX include compression, chorus, tremolo, graphic EQ, room EQ (unusual knob), wah filter, and a few other things that aren't that important....

No problems yet. I used to have a MP1 too, and no problems with that either....

Never delt with them, and can't anymore, since the ADA guys are out of business (just like those glam bands, thank god...)

This is a good preamp for a specific sound. It doesn't sound like a Marshall, Mesa boogie, or anything else. But it does do it's thing well and has a nitch. If you can find one cheap and want to add to your collection of gear, grab it....

It's easy to get the sound that I expect from it. Like a mellow clean tone to a high gain crunch tone.

I use an asortment of G&l's,ESP's and Robin guitars. All of those guitars are first ran through a nady 1200 wireless then for effects I use a zoom 1010 a dunlop crybaby and a dunlop talkbox. Then for rest of my rig. I first use a morly a/b box and run a mesa/boogie mark IV as preamp into to one of the two ENGL 2x20 poweramps (for clean tone) then into two Marshall 1960A 4x12's and two marshall 1960B 4x12's. Now this is were the ADA MP-2's come in. I have two MP-2's I slave one into the other (for my overdrive) then through a marshall powerbrake and then on to the other ENGl 2x20 poweramp.That is all sent to the same 4x12's ha ha try to find out how I did that little trick.

I can depend on them they have never let me don't yet. I play gigs with them all the time all though I do have two but I use then both at th same time so I guess I wouldn't consiter the other one a backup.

no, because they went belly up what the hell isup with that anyways. They have some pritty nice stuff.

I play really play a mix between shred and death metal. His preamp is a much needed tool if you are building pro sounding rig.

It's very easy to use, i think it's a children toy.

I'm using a ibanez rg-570, a inteliflex in loop, and a jazz chorus amp. The noisy is real, but whit a lot of time you can get very good sounds. I find many fusion tones, how Frank Gambale tones, Scott Henderson, and other jazz fusion guitarrists.

I did not find any web page, and e-mail adress in my documentation. It's a terrible problem, in the years of internet comunications.

I play jazz/fusion. I realy like MP-2 sounds. I'm plaing over 7 years. I like too JMP-1 sounds, and i'd to confess that it's better than MP-2, but i have to say too that i'm not having any trouble whit MP-2 sounds. One more thing to the people that don't likes MP-2 sound: Some times, troubles are not away, they are in us.

Am using an old Zion with neck and bridge duncan JB's, and a classic stacked strat in the middle. I play a wide variety of styles, and have found it to be decent for most. I have had no luck at all getting that Wes,Kenny Burrell thing going on this unit,though.
Some of the hi-gain settings are way too noisy for my taste.
As some other guys have said, that distorted thing that happens with the chorus on clean really stinks.

I have found the preamp to be fairly versatile, am not totally crazy about the "fat clean" jazz setting, too "tubby sounding. The vintage settings are a bit contrived sounding,although i modified the "on the edge" patch to get a quasi-blues setting. The hi-gain settings are decent,especially going stereo thru a pair of good guitar speakers.

Have had no problems at all.

I play it through a peavey classic 60/60 with svetlana power tubes, and sovtec 12ax7lps preamp tubes. I bought it on ebay about 6 months ago, and have been pretty satisfied with it.I recently changed the preamp tubes over to 12ax7lps, and noticed a big difference.A lot less
sterile sounding.

I play both kind?Gibson and Fender. Funk, Rock, Delta Blues, Chicago Blues, Jazz.
Noise is an issue with single coil pickups. It's capable of virtually ANY tone.

Plenty of tones, from Jazz & Country to Metal. Lots of features. Wish it had a tuner though. Best direct-to-board sound I've heard?great for recording or live.

Never a problem. Never.

I had to deal with the company once, with a different model. They were quick and friendly.

I've played for 18 years, I play it through a Marshall 8004 (40x2 watts) valvestate poweramp. I also use a Fender Blues DeVille (2x12) combo. I will probably replace it with a floor effects unit from Boss. They're cleaner.

It takes a bit of tweaking to get a good sound. The presets aren't very useable "as is". You can use them as a starting point, though and edit them to your taste, rename them, and store them in one of the other patch areas (40 thru 128). Editing is pretty straight forward IF you read and re-read the manual. If you got the whole midi foot controller setup like I did then the real time features of the expression pedal really takes some work. I've given up -- I just use a VOX wah in the input signal path. I could never figure out the "global" volume control of the expression pedal -- How do you make the volume swell control ONLY in non-wah mode?!? Firmware version is 1.33. I guess I can rule out further upgrade since ADA WENT BELLY UP! I've had this preamp (I also own an MP-1) for about 4 years now. As you can tell I have a love/hate relationship with this thing.

OK good stuff first. It does create good high gain sounds. I run this thing into an ADA T100S 100 watt power amp (stereo with 2 EL34s per side) which goes into a Marshall 1960A. If you spend time editing your patches you can create pretty good imitations of a high-gain modded plexi, dual rectifier (I actually A/Bd this thing with a Tremoverb in red mode and it came pretty close), and just about any heinous scooped mid sound you can imagine (Dimebag's Randall included). The key is the graphic EQ. You CAN get wolfing bottom end. Still, don't expect super-responsive Bogner. It is noisy in high gain but I just create, say two clean patches per group of ten, and step on the clean patch at the end of a song to stop the chaos. The noise gate IMHO sucks!!! I don't know, I actually like the chorus. I've got some high gain patches that pretty much nail an EVH chorus laden 5150 sound.
Bad stuff: The brown sounds don't come close to "vintage" brown sounds. Hey, if you want broken-up power amp distortaion ala '59 Bassman, get a '59 Bassman (or at least a Clark or Victoria). They just have that fuzzy first stage master volume buzz. The chorus does a strange clipping in clean settings. It's more pronounced with bridge humbuckers -- the more gain your humbucker has the more pronounced this awful crackle. It's as if whoever setup the sound was using a strat and tweaked the input gain into the chorus section based on the strat. It really bites with my Ibanez RG560 on which I dropped a Duncan Full Shred in. This is the most anoying aspect of the MP-2. Like I mentioned above, the noise gate sucks! I never use it.
Just OK stuff: The wah is a good imitation of a Crybaby. At least you don't have to worry about scratchy pots. Also you don't lose gain/tone with the built-in wah like you would with a straight-thru wah. The compression is par for the course -- I hardly use it, don't need it. The tremolo is a nice "extra". If I were more of a trem freak I guess I could really get into it. The clean tones are sterile. Nothing special. If you're looking for that nice '65 Blackface twin clean, it ain't here! Good enuff for metal clean. The effects loop is OK -- I use a Yamaha FX-500 just for a little reverb or delay. Someday I'd like to get something like a Roctron or Lexicon to throw into the loop to get a better chorus. It has so-called speaker emulator outputs (2x12 or 4x12 cabs) which I used once. Didn't care for it. I like close miking my Marshall cab better.
All in all, I love it for the high gain stuff and can stand its failings.

It's reliable. Only crapped out once on the wah. I left it on with a patch I created for bass. My wife and kids came home and just turn the volume down on the bass. I think my daughter (3 at the time) stepped on the footswitch and kicked-in a high gain with wah patch which blew something. I know, sure blame the kids! ADA was pretty good about honoring the warranty (although I had to pay to get it to them) and fixing it and getting it back to me within 2 weeks. But I've never really gigged with it. Just use it at home with my 4-track Fostex.

See above about wah. But it's moot now that they are GONE! Funny how that whole high-gain metal thing, now that it's passe took ADA as one of its casualties. They tried though. They made, what I heard, were low priced sweet-sounding boutique combos just before they died.

About 2 years after I got the MP-2 I went out looking for that little tube amp that cranks and found it in the Blues Jr. They are good foils for each other. If I feel medieval, I plug my Floyd Rose Classic Strat or the Ibanez into the MP-2. If I feel bluesy, I plug my '62 reiss strat into my Jeckyll & Hyde into the Jr. Other stuff sitting around the house gathering dust: Boogie MK II and Sunn Model T (the real deal -- not the reissue). If it were stolen or lost I dunno. Would I buy another rack-mount pre-amp or would I save up the cash for a REAL amp (Bogner Ecstasy comes to mind).

if you've ever used anything programable this one won't be a problem. it's easy to program but they could have made the EQ bypassable. no brain strain here! getting a sound is a pain but it can be done with a lot of patience.the manual is ok for basics but useless otherwise.

i'm running an ibanez jem, a tubeworks provalve power amp with 6L6's, and a boss GX700 for the effects only through 2 2X12 tubeworks cabs with celestion GL70's. the high gain channels are very noisy but the noise gate helps with that, but the gate is'nt the best. the built in effects are ok for what they are "built in" the chorus does a good job the wah does a good job just remember separate effects are always better. i strive for a george lynch tone and can get it using the warm vintage setting, the dynamic vintage does a good judas priest. the vintage brown does a good 70's,blues,and country thing, and all the high gain settings for me totally suck and i like a good high gain for those whitesnake type leads "is this love", but it's not going to happen with this rig unless i'm mistaken. effects, if you can afford it go with the eventide if not art and boss are fine, i personally don't like digitech they sound cheap to me or maybe it's just the way they alter the tone i just don't like, example "RP-1" horrid to me. all that are musicians really dig the tone i try to get and most of them decide they hate theirs after hearing mine and they all use digitech.

i have used ADA stuff for 7 years starting with an MP-1 and have had no trouble whatsoever. i've had the MP-2 for a couple of years with the same results. but i did own a microtube 200 that would go into protection mode all the time for no reason. other than that the preamps have always been good to me as far as reliability. i would and have giged without a backup for many a gig.

i've never had to use them for repairs but i have called asking questions, especially about the MP-2 because of the noise and i asked about the EQ placement for the tone controls and they were very nice and tried to help but i don't think anyone in their company is a guitarist and they did'nt really know anything about their own piece of gear, strange!

i'm in a variety so i play country,blues,pop,alternative,metal,funk, if it's a hit we probably do it no mattaer what category except for hardcore rap, and i can get everything but a good metallica sound. i have played in bands for 10 years and have art,mackie,alesis, and a lot of carvin gear which i consider the best for the money and the best company as far as warranties go. i had an amp go down and they overnighted me a new one without question. if i lost it i would try out some other gear but i would probably buy it again because of the fact of the variety needed in band situations, can't do enough with a marshall head or boogie head. i don't love or hate it, it's just ok it does'nt make me erect or anything, and the best thing about it is the midi ability to go from country twang to SRV blues to 80's metal at the touch of a button. i did try the JMP-1 by marshall and to me it was worse, to solidstate sounding and no low end. i chose this one because one of my friends had one and his tone was great but he did'nt play any metal so i missed that part of hearing the tone. i really would like a complete bypass for the graphic EQ so you can hear the tone before it gets or needs tweaked. i personally feel an EQ is for tweaking a good tone not as part of the main tone. oh, i hate the room EQ knob, another way to mess up the tone, it really annoys me. i have worked hours on getting a sound then move to another room and realize the room knob just ruined my sound completely. once you get passed the bad high gains and their noise it's a fine preamp and actually helps your playing because if your chops are lacking you'll know with the cleaner distortions. in my opinion the EQ is all wrong for guitar the frequencies muddie more than help or make it thin. i have a lot of trouble with getting way to much low end, to the point it rattles the cones on my speakers and i don't have any of the tones or EQ above 0. i read some of the other reviews and there was a lot of talk about thin sound, i don't have that problem, and i have the room EQ set for all high or all the way right. so, unless you need a lot of variety in your sound i suggest passing on all preamps. if 2 or 3 are enough go out and buy a 5150 or a carvin steve vai model, even the regular carvin amps can't be beat for the money. try out everything as far as 6L6's or EL34's or 5881's because it makes a big difference in tone. i think boogies are stupid in price for what you get as is soldano, my friend bought a sovtek which sounds great fot about the 1\4 of the price. same with the carvin stuff 1\4 the price with as good or better sound compared to a marshall or a boogie and i'm a tone freak. any questins feel free to contact me i love to talk gear.

The manual not a must but makes it MUCH easier to get good sounds. The interface is intuitive and informative with an LCD display for all parameters. It has XLR recording outputs that sound very realistic with direct recording and two effects loops. Standard 1/4" ouptuts are provided as well. Plenty of versatility with the inputs and outputs.

I have been happy with the unit in many different configurations but it lives in front of an Ampeg V2 head with 4x12 Cab. At first I had trouble with what appeared to be noisy distortions, but with the help of the manual and some twideling - no more problems. The noise gate works very well and is flexible. I am also able to closely emulate the clean sound of my '64 Fender Deluxe Reverb with the clean sounds - it warms the ampeg up nicely. The effects are excellent in stereo mode and adequate in mono. I have heard only two preamps which I prefer (Triaxis and JMP-1) but the MP-2 gets high marks for the price to quality ratio. I've seen them sell as low as $350. What's great is that you can get very realistic DRASTICALLY different sounds at the touch of a button. This is a much more professional unit than anything I've seen by Digitech. These sounds are the real thing.

I would be very confident gigging with this unit.

Never had to use it.

Overall this is a very versatile unit capable of warming up sterile amps and producing many different sounds accurately. I wish it had more effects like delay and reverb - but they obviously put their money keeping the signal as true as possible (it is an all analog signal path). It does the clean thing very well with nice break-up at the edge of distortion. The crunch is somewhat unique and very satisfying - especially for high gain lead tone.

It takes too much time to change parameters. I guess a data wheel would speed things up considerably.

I'm using this with an Alesis Quadraverb, Mos-Valve power amp, and 2 12in Carvin British Series speakers. I love the sound of this amp, when its appropriately tweeked for my ears. I get some great blues, jazz, and fusion tones tones. The hi-gain metal tones sound great too (harmonically rich, smooth sustain, a variety of fundamental voices to choose from). However, I agree with others, that the noise is simply unacceptable. The noise gate works great in most cases (the fader option is cool), but it just can't handle the noise generated from the over-the-top distortion settings. The clean tones can be really nice (the crystal clear patch demonstrates this, but I might have modded that one). One sound I would like that I haven't tried to dial in is a vintage-compressed- tweed-edge-distortion kind of sound. Bet I could get it if I tried. You can't beat this unit for added features. The on board effects sound great. I don't what the deal is with on the other reviews, but I really love the chorus on this unit. At subtle/low settings, the sound is very spacious, fills the room. The wha is great too, but I don't have a controlled for it. The tremelo is nice too. The compressor does a basicly good job. The recording outputs and cabinet simulation are fantastic. I just got a 4-track recorded and feel really fourtunate to have these features! My only concern other that the noise, is that it's frequency range dosen't extend low enough. I would like more punchy bass frequencies coming out of it. However, this is acheivable through the recording outputs with cabinet emulation. So, the problem may be my speakers or power amp.

Haven't had any problems. I've owned it for 4 years now.

Have not dealt with them.

I like this preamp a lot. I find that when I do get frustrated with it, it is because I'm wanting the sound a different amp (classic Marshall grind). This amp is not a Marshall, Mesa Boogie, or Fender. It is an ADA with a sound all it's own, which is quite nice. If you appeciate it for what it is/does, you will be very impressed. If you are trying to find the sound of some other amp, buy that one and stop flaming the ADA for your problems. Stop diss'n a trumpet for not sounding like a violin!

The user interface for this preamp is not perfect. There are no major glitches in the methods to configure the presets, but it is nowhere near as clear and intuitive as some other preamps like the Boss GX-700. Once you learn the basics of the preamp (from the manual), it may not be necessary to refer to the manual for most operations. The manual is passable, nothing great - but is certainly better than nothing!
It takes a fair amount of tweaking to get excellent tones from this unit.

I wanted to offer my opinions on the sound quality of this preamp after reading other comments.
I agree that the high-gain settings are noisy. The noise gate seems to work well to help this. I have not used the onboard effects enough to have an opinion either way.
I purchased my MP-2 about a month ago and have been using it and its onboard speaker simulation mostly for direct-input recording into my PC. I previously used the Boss GX-700 preamp which has the Roland COSM amp modeling. I have also used this preamp with a 100 watt Marshall tube head by plugging the output of the MP-2 into the Effects Return jack. The head powers a 4x12 cabinet.
A few reviewers say that the preamp sounds thin no matter how it is set up. I disagree. The default presets are very "80s high gain" sounding. The preamp offers a very dramatic level of configurability : 10 tube voicings, graphic EQ, and general tone controls. I have found that the "RAW" default preset sounds fantastic through the Marshall and 4x12 with some tweaking to the preamp variables - very warm and thick. Many other presets have a typical metal mid-scoop.
As stated earlier, I replaced a Boss GX-700 preamp with the MP-2. The difference between the two is really amazing. I recorded a couple of tracks of a song with the GX-700 and then added the MP-2 to the mix. In comparison, the MP-2 sounds so much warmer/richer/tube-like than the tube modeling GX-700. I ended up re-recording all of the GX-700 tracks with the MP2 and the difference is really outstanding.
The MP-2 requires a lot of tweaking to get the sounds you are looking for. This is difficult for me because after tweaking the presets for more than 10 or 15 minutes my ears become numb to the nuances of the changes. I firmly disagree that it sounds thin but you need to take the time to work the preamp.
The speaker simulation is good (IMO.) - again, comparing it to the Boss GX-700 which is supposed to excel at simulation, the MP-2 sounds better to me. I have also found that the presets that I use through the speaker simulating sound very harsh when going through a real cabinet.

no opinion. I opened it up to take a look inside and everything looks robust. The unit is quite heavy.

I have heard that ADA is out of business currently so n/a.

I play mostly rock and have been playing for 10 years. I own several guitars and the Marshall amp referred to in this description. I would probably buy another MP-2 if this was stolen now.
I really love the flexibility this preamp offers. I dislike how it is difficult to get a very good sound. I think it sounds very good for recording straight "into the board" - as I said earlier, much warmer and richer than the GX-700.
I would suggest anyone to buy this preamp, but be prepared to take the time to master it.
Areas of improvement are: too noisy on high gain settings, UI is not great, make it easier to dial in great tones.

I haven't had problems with getting a good sound out of it. But I ended making all of my patches, the presets are a bad joke!!! It didn't had a manual.

I use it as main preamp then by FX loop use a Yamaha FX770 muti effect, then it goes to a Marshall power amp (80x80) and out to a Hughes & Kettner 4x12 cab Rockdriver equipped. The sounds are OK, the only problem is that at hi-gain settings it becomes pretty noisy. The noise reduction however works Ok. I really like the sounds I get out of it!!!

Yes I can depend on it!!! I have too!!!! I don't have enough money to buy a backup, and if I had, I would have bought a TriAxis!!!

Well... the thing is good. The problem is that is not that friendly to use, however it has potential. Ive being playing for 10 years and right now I have a sound a really like and this preamp is most of my sound. I was never searching a preamp to sound like Pantera or Metallica or anyone else and this preamp has really good posibilities! I would only wished it had a reverb instead of Wah. Enjoy Music!!!

If ADA could have made this any harder to program, I'd like to see them try. Too many ways to clear a program in the last steps. I'd like to see the Marshall JMP-1 fashion of programming, amp style, quick and easy. It's too complicated and volitle. Editing patches is a total pain. The manual really isn't too much help. It's not very easy to use, even with a MIDI controller

I used this with a standard tube amp. With my strat, it was okay, but the high gain pickups in my Paul wreaked havoc with this thing, it simply couldn't handle the load. The unit is very NOISY, that is until the gate kicks in, for which the threshold, even when adjusted, is too high. The distortions are thin, weak, and shrilly, with WAY WAY too much gain. Terrible sounding. Even when played through a power amp into a cabinet, it wasn't very good. Totally artificially. The signal path on the MP-2 is digital, compared to the all analog signal path of the MP-1 and the Classic. The ten different building blocks aren't so different, only with massive changes in the amount of gain. An awful piece of equipment.

I feel bad for you to have to depend on this unit, but speaking objectively, it switched well, and if I liked the sounds, it would be a great unit.

ADA customer support is terrible. They wanted $$ just to talk to me, and then wanted to charge me $30 for a manual. I politely declined. They need to be more friendly, especially since the unit is so hard to work with.

Please don't waste your money on this. Buy an MP-1, or if you need more building blocks, the MP-1 Classic. The MP-2 doesn't even utilize the blocks that made the MP-1 so great. The chorus is awful, and unless you like distortions you can't control, and clean sounds that are artificial sounding, pass on it. The only thing that made this unit worthwhile to me is that I traded it straight up for a MP-1 Classic. Avoid at all costs, and if you are in the market for a preamp like this, spend it on the cheaper JMP-1 (the best preamp availible besides the Mesa Tri-axis) or the MP-1 Classic.