ADA Depot - A Forum To Support Users of ADA Amplification Gear
Miscellaneous => Discussions => Topic started by: Chamai on May 02, 2016, 10:56:36 PM
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Hi all, here's an excuse to show off my new setup.
I was down at the music store and saw a mint used switchazel pedal ABY pedal. So it suddenly came to my mind to try it out with my MP1 and JCM 2000. I always thought the MP1 was a little thin sounding but it has that 80's mid range that I can't get on my amps even with pre distortion eq and post and all that fun stuff. It sounds way too thin if i want that cheesy 80's mid range So I thought why not pair it up with a tube amp.
As soon as I hooked everything up, I got this huge sound. Even my wife commented on how great it sounds. and this was before I bothered re eqing everything. When running 2 amps with high gain, I really had to thin out the sound a little because I was getting too much low mids. It sounded huge, but muddy. This is where I had to sit down and really mess with my EQ pedal and rack EQ. here is how signal chain goes. (low volume settings, i got kids and wife)
guitar- KORG pitchblack tuner switchazel aby pedal- output 1: Ibanez TS9 - ADA MP1 - FX loop - Fostex 3120 spring reverb - ART 31 band EQ - Mosvalve poweramp - Orange 2x12
output 2: Diamond compressor - MXR mirco amp - Earthquaker devices palisades overdrive - BOSS NS2 - JCM 2000 - FX loop- BOSS ce5 - MXR 10 band EQ - Fostex 3120 spring reverb - Rivera Rockcrusher attenuator - MESA 2X12
Patch setting on ADA B:0, M:-2 T:4 P:2 OD1:4.4 OD2:4.4 dip in EQ from 80hz down, -2 250hz, +1 1khz, +1 2.5khz. 8 o clock on presence knob on Mosvalve
settings on JCM 2000: P:5, T:5, M:4.5, B:5.5 red channel volume: 4, gain: 5.5. -20 DB on Attenuator. -1 31.25hz, -1 16khz.
ADA is boosted with TS9 on 0 gain and volume @ 3 o clock
JCM 2000 is boosted with Palisades with 0 gain and volume @ 2 o clock
results:
cheesy 80's mids from the MP1 and the treble and bass from the JCM 2000. I find that setting the MP1 with low gain and boosting adds an extra layer of distortion giving me a more solid and focus thump. Using an attenuator allows me to cook those power tubes without going death on the JCM. By running 2 amps together, you can get the take characteristics of the amps and combine them. It is very tricky to balance the eq of the amps because you may get a frequency that overpowers other frequencies especially if both amps are somewhat similar since the ADA is based off a modded marshall.
(http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g301/Chamaimeow/IMG_0377_zpsjexv14t6.jpg) (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/Chamaimeow/media/IMG_0377_zpsjexv14t6.jpg.html)
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As soon as I hooked everything up, I got this huge sound. Even my wife commented on how great it sounds. and this was before I bothered re eqing everything. When running 2 amps with high gain, I really had to thin out the sound a little because I was getting too much low mids. It sounded huge, but muddy. This is where I had to sit down and really mess with my EQ pedal and rack EQ. here is how signal chain goes. (low volume settings, i got kids and wife)
Hey Chamai, it all good : all your gear is great and should sound awesome... but don't you think your wife is trying to convince you to stop buying gear (like mine is trying to do !)? ;D
Anyway,do you set it up in every gig ?
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As soon as I hooked everything up, I got this huge sound. Even my wife commented on how great it sounds. and this was before I bothered re eqing everything. When running 2 amps with high gain, I really had to thin out the sound a little because I was getting too much low mids. It sounded huge, but muddy. This is where I had to sit down and really mess with my EQ pedal and rack EQ. here is how signal chain goes. (low volume settings, i got kids and wife)
Hey Chamai, it all good : all your gear is great and should sound awesome... but don't you think your wife is trying to convince you to stop buying gear (like mine is trying to do !)? ;D
Anyway,do you set it up in every gig ?
she's alright with gear as long as bills get paid. what she doesn't understand is why I can't just rock a combo and a few stompboxes like everyone else. i told her it's all about the 80's. even though I was born in 86.
all my stuff stays home coz i never gig as a guitarist. (i suck). And I doubt the sound guy would bother with a stereo setup. Even if he were to run mono, the volume on both amps needs to be perfect. i usually rock the drums and/or keyboard/piano. having 24 experience playing the piano and 13 years on drums i feel much more confident.
my G.A.S is kick in. found a Dean Markley 120 Signature head for sale. i am really curious
http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rch/msg/5536806547.html
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That's a nice setup and some pretty good thinking :thumb-up:
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Nice rig, the Dean Markley would go well in that set up :thumb-up: . I'd be tempted to use it for the the other chan of the MP1 (I'm assuming you are just using one MP1 output ?? or are you already running the Mossvalve stereo ??). So then MP1 is in stereo (big difference BTW :whoohoo!: ) and put the Marshall down the middle >:D . Anyway lots of options.
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That's a nice setup and some pretty good thinking :thumb-up:
thank you sir. i am really enjoying this new setup. did a straight trade for a mesa dual rec for my vintage modern. i wasn't a huge fan of the vintage modern. it was too smooth sounding and muffled. traded my jcm 900 combo towards a new keyboard.
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Nice rig, the Dean Markley would go well in that set up :thumb-up: . I'd be tempted to use it for the the other chan of the MP1 (I'm assuming you are just using one MP1 output ?? or are you already running the Mossvalve stereo ??). So then MP1 is in stereo (big difference BTW :whoohoo!: ) and put the Marshall down the middle >:D . Anyway lots of options.
yea i really want that dean markley. wife for sure wouldn't let me pick it up and had to pay a bit of income tax this year which sucked. I am running mono on the MP1. i would love to try running it in stereo but then i would need another cab or have to rewire my cabs to stereo. have 50/50 of the sound from each amp makes it a lot easier to balance.
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Chamai, Nice rig :thumb-up: When people ask you where you play, just tell them you appear nightly in the dining room ;)
I tried like hell to get my sound man to run my rig in stereo. No go. The whole PA runs in mono anyway :dunno:
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Chamai, Nice rig :thumb-up: When people ask you where you play, just tell them you appear nightly in the dining room ;) :thumb-up:
I tried like hell to get my sound man to run my rig in stereo. No go. The whole PA runs in mono anyway :dunno:
yeah Dante, I like the idea : "I only play home because there is no F@€$$cking sound man on this earth good enough to get my stereo tone" :thumb-up:
Most of sound man don't want to bother with additional tracks " less is enough" :dunno:
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thanks guys
i just bring my electric drumset to my gigs so i have complete control over volume. the rest of the band uses mic up small combos instead. we went to place small place that came with 100 watt half stacks and the sound guy wants to mic those up too. but their small bass combo does not get mic'ed. sounds amazing pushing a solid state bass amp that gets over powered by 2 mic'ed up stacks. and did i say the sound guy can't balance the volume on the 2 guitarists? i don't know how these guys get hired.
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Wow, seems lots of bad sound guys around (one reason I don't go to gigs much as the engineering is so poor and I just bitch about it all night, the young ones have nooo idea how to xross over a sub for example). Sounds like they are just lazy and don't give a F$$k
Hey TG, If I was your sound guy, I'd be hassling you to run stereo :thumb-up: and I'd mic and di you. I'd want you and the FOH to sound the absolute best I can make it (given whatever gear limitations I have to work with).
Before stereo digital FX everything was mono, then there's was the discussion/augment that stereo was no point in a large room (as stereo image is in the centre and not that wide). A load of crap I'd say, it's worth going stereo just for the FX (particularly reverb), then careful panning (eg right guitar a bit more in left FOH, and left guitar a bit more in right FOH etc), you have to blend it all together with the stage sound so everyone in the room gets a decent mix/sound, so it's not the same as sitting down in front of your home stereo in the right "sweet" spot, but it's lots better than mono :thumb-up: >:D
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Well it's always better to bring your own soundman.He knows the band and the sound needed.
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Well it's always better to bring your own soundman.He knows the band and the sound needed.
AGREED :thumb-up:
Our sound man is considered a part of the band, and he gets an even cut. O0
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Hey Chamai,
Nice rig there :thumb-up:
That Palisades Overdrive is made right here where I live. Carl is the mad scientist of sound effects boxes, and a funny guy to boot! That box can dial in anything from the old TS-808, to the heaviest grunge tones.
I never really have a problem with the sound men when I'm playing my stereo rigs. They usually mic me up with two mics when I'm playing my Fender combos, or two line outputs from my Microcab when I'm using my ADA stack. I just ask them to pan one channel hard left, and the other hard right, then they can EQ, and level it in with the rest of the band. That works well even with a mono PA setup. After all, they have all those extra channels for a reason :crazy:
Harley 8)
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A mono PA set up is stupid IMO and it won't sound as good if there are stereo sources (even just FX), if you have no choice well work with what you have, but it's never going to be stereo like you get at home, hence earlier comments...
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I understand that Richard, but PA equipment is a lot like guitar equipment. For stereo, you have to bring along that much more gear, and have that many more connections etc.
And that all depends on how much you're getting paid for the gig...is it worth it?
This is the same reason I'm looking at a fly rig for some of the smaller clubs and for Open Mic nights. Around here, you don't even get paid for them.
While nothing gets me off like playing my guitar through a full blown amplification system that sounds completely killer, That's a lot of work for free.
Harley 8)
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Hey Harley, totally agree, work with what you have (the crowd most likely don't notice or care LoL). When I was much younger I'd take everything I could, these days I take as little as I need. Though I run the FOH stereo if I can. As you say, we do allot of work for free (or so little it may as well be)
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Hey Richard,
Actually, the opposite is true. The audience wants to see the huge back line...that wall of amplifier stacks that tells them in a subconscious way, that they are about to get blown out of the water! Even though most people are oblivious to the fact that the guitar they are hearing is coming through just one cab, and mic'ed through the PA system :lol:
...Ohhh the fickle public :crazy:
Harley 8)
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+1 :thumb-up:
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Hey Richard,
Actually, the opposite is true. The audience wants to see the huge back line...that wall of amplifier stacks that tells them in a subconscious way, that they are about to get blown out of the water! Even though most people are oblivious to the fact that the guitar they are hearing is coming through just one cab, and mic'ed through the PA system :lol:
...Ohhh the fickle public :crazy:
Harley 8)
It reminds me Dante's topic "Fake wall of Marshall" : People get impressed by so much gear !
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THIS IS A REAL THING
People expect the big stack, having no idea they're hearing the PA. I get comments all the time about my tiny little speaker cabs sounding 'huge' and it's funny because, there's still just one mic doing the guitar here....one.
Haha...like a 4x12 (or two) is gonna change that? no. it's not.
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I always wanted to get one of those little 9v powered Marshall amps that you could clip on your belt. I'd put it on the front of the stage, run a cable to it and stick a mic in front of it to give the illusion that I was actually using that for my amp setup. Obviously, my real rig would be hidden offstage... :lol:
But back in my earlier ADA days, I tried two MP-1 preamps simultaneously wih a Y cord to the inputs. One was stock and the other was a MOD3. It took a bit of fussing to get dialed in right, but was pretty neat having one cab with the stock MP-1 sound and the other cab the MOD3 sound.
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THIS IS A REAL THING
People expect the big stack, having no idea they're hearing the PA. I get comments all the time about my tiny little speaker cabs sounding 'huge' and it's funny because, there's still just one mic doing the guitar here....one.
Haha...like a 4x12 (or two) is gonna change that? no. it's not.
You know, it's kind of odd that it works this way, but with a single speaker cab, my ears always hear it as being a bolder, more "In-your-face" kind of sound, than it does with a 4x12 cab. When I first noticed that many years ago, I used to think the sound man/engineer wasn't very good. Then a studio engineer explained the frequency cancellations that occur in speaker arrays when they get mic'ed up and mixed with a band. This was when I finally expressed my disappointment at not being able to get a big guitar sound through a wall of speakers in the recordings like I hear in front of the amps. It was an expensive lesson after trying four different studios and ending up with similar results from each one. That's where the Microcabs really shine their brightest. I wouldn't do a live or recorded gig without one now. Set it for a 1x12 sealed cab and dial a bit more thump in it, and it's good to go!
Harley 8)
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Could be why my 1x12 cabs project so well, that and the ported enclosure.
Maybe Gerry has an opinion on the 1x12 theory, he uses several of them I believe
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Hey Dante,
Ported 1x12's definitely make a difference in a live mix. Being a Strat player myself, I need that extra bass response from the speaker. That allows the Strat to sit better in the live mix, and that is my rule of thumb when recording too. If we have a good sound live, then that's what I want the recordings to sound like too.
Harley 8)
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i learned through out the years that in house sound guys don't know what they are doing.
best solution is prob bring my own mixer and tell the sound guy to hook it up to the PA. all he needs to do is watch.
electric drums is a must these days
DI the bass
hope for the best for guitars.
anyways. i was just test out different power amps for my MP1. i conclude that tube power amps makes a huge difference. way more balls. not sure if i like my mesa powered MP1 or jcm 2000 powered mp1. time to sell my mosvalve.