Well following Richie_Bs evil bay tip off I now own 2 MP1s (it's been a long time since I had one, been using MP2s for many years now). I've now fired them both up and here's the results:
Both are V1 MP1s with top line/inst switch, one is 240 v the other 120v. I started last night with the 240v model (MP1 #1) which seller had advised had issues (and why he bought the other 120v unit).
So patch and power on, lots of transformer hum/vibration through the case, (no amp etc yet), just purely physical. Once you're playing you don't notice it...
It's v1.38. I loaded presets and 1 <> 1 midi mapping, midi channel to All. I could select patches with the front panel, although sometimes I'd select a number eg 4 and it would go 4, 5 and settle on 6. Seems there are issues in the panel buttons. But when it settled it worked and I got decent sound out of it. Ca rumba, I'd forgotten how nice MP1s sound, particularly the clean sounds, wow patch 6 sounds good with a pair of humbuckers (57 re-issues) on the middle position (Epiphone SG) > B200s > 2 Messa 1 x 12 cabs, TC MOne XL mixed in with lite delay/reverb at the desk. Anyway, great tones, god it squeals so nicely (this is a bit of a comparison to MP2 BTW). Try midi pedal, no go, it wont respond to midi input
.
OK so lid off, let have a look... It's had battery mod and some other little stuff. Input jack is at a slight angle and jack is a bit loose when plugged in. I removed and re-seated a few chips, first the sharp PC900 (as I know it related to the midi in) then the Zialog Z84 CPU then did a bit of testing and finaly the EPROM (is dated 26.04.13 (which is a bit weird
that's a very late date for 138). Basically I'm fumbling around trying to make the midi work (it didn't and doesn't
). It would boot sometimes, other times not, one time it went through CC checks and gave error 1, 2 and 3, now it boots to 8, 8, 8, 138, ADA and just stays there displaying ADA... So no longer works at all.... Actually, thinking now about the EPROM date and a couple of other things that seem to have been modded (like there's a cap wired across a resistor near the battery but not in the other unit ??). I might try either my old 138 EPROM (if I can find it or maybe Mikes old one), maybe someone has done a special on it that has gone wrong, someone did the battery mod, what else did they do ?? Put in a custom EPROM ??
It has National 12AX7A-ECC83 Yugoslavian tubes in it. They sounded quite nice while it was working.
Next night (tonight), try the 120v unit MP1 #2 using step down tranny. Knobs are different, all blue on top ? patch power up again lots of transformer physical hum before amp on etc.
This one works fine, responds to midi pedal all good. Front panel working fine (so far) sounds great on cleans, dirty sounds not quite as good as MP1 #1. So off with the lid, it has GT 12AX7s (probably why the dirty sounds aren't as good as the Nationals), they wont be in there long. No battery mod and battery down to 2.6 v (time for a change). Much tidier inside than MP1 #1 (brown cables around tubes better placed to not melt etc.) And no cap across a resistor near the battery as in MP1 #1. One of the transformer bolts has gone awal so the tranny is holding on by one bolt,
not good. EPROM is v2.01
. So very promising so far (and it's getting an MDRT soon
) and tomorrow I'll give it some Mullard long plates.
An overall comment though as I've not had a MP1 for a long time now, I have to say, the MP1 tone has more soul (well to me) than the MP2. Am I just regressing (I used a MP1 for many years and thousands of gigs, but then did the same with MP2), is it an old sock
. But it just seemed to me when I was playing through it that the tone had more soul..
So upshot, I think I'll steal the battery mod and maybe the 240v tranny from MP1 #1 and put them (and some nice new Mullards) in MP1 #2 and send MP1 #1 for a Belgium (3TM?) holiday.