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[INRI]

I'm actually a tube guy, but I have fallen completely in love with the Solid State sound from the MP-1. How can I get that sound without actually owning one? As much as I'd love to they are hard to get and expensive. Theres something special about the chimey upper mids and compression thats just so so sweet and ethereal.

I've experimented with plugging my guitar direct to my mic-pre (Scarlett 2i4), since its solid state. On the way in I used analog chorus in stereo and used digital delays and reverbs. But that could only take me so far. Ive been thinking about also using my compression and getting an Empress ParaEQ to shape the tone to sound like the MP-1.

Any thoughts of on this? Are there any other "components" to that sound that I would need to fully realize that project?

[Dante]

Welcome to the Depot!

Man, I feel that. It's a magical thing to get those cleans, but as you say, this gear is getting harder to find and that makes it cost more in the process. Not to mention, the gear ain't getting any younger and parts can/do fail.

Have you tried any of the newer ADA pedal based stuff, like the APP-1? I wonder what those cleans are like? I haven't tried them myself
EDIT: Just watched a video, the APP-1 doesn't sound that clean. Sounds more like an actual tube amp (can't believe I'm saying that) with a bit of breakup...not the SS clean you seek.

The MP-1 pedal looks like it's just a dirtbox, so also no help on the clean side

The closest I've come to MP1 or MP2 cleans is running into a solid state preamp (Boss GX-700), but it is a compromise. I still prefer the MP2 cleans over just about everything but I use whatever I can get when playing live & it's good enough for those knuckleheads.

I'd imagine an modeler would be able to achieve this, but I'd need something different than that for gains. You're not gonna convince a 'tube guy' that your modeling rig sounds 'just like a tube amp' - it's just not gonna happen

[Harley Hexxe]

Hi and welcome to the Depot,

Do you have any kind of guitar amp at all? If you have a solid state amp, that could be a starting point, especially if it has an effects loop in it.

I can approximate the SS cleans of the MP-1 with my Gallien-Kruger 250ML. They're a bit hard to find, but not nearly as expensive as the ADA gear. I have seen a couple of them around in local shops.

Just a thought

[INRI]

Hi and welcome to the Depot,

Do you have any kind of guitar amp at all? If you have a solid state amp, that could be a starting point, especially if it has an effects loop in it.

I can approximate the SS cleans of the MP-1 with my Gallien-Kruger 250ML. They're a bit hard to find, but not nearly as expensive as the ADA gear. I have seen a couple of them around in local shops.

Just a thought

Thank you. Well, I used to have a Rocktron Chameleon preamp, but it died on me. So the only Solid State I have now is an old Peavey practice amp. This doesn't have any loop (just headphones out, which sound amazingly clean BTW). I was toying with the idea of using some sort of cable from the headphones out and then into the interface preamp, but I chickened out.

I also have three tube amps; Vox AC15, Fender deluxe BF and an ENGL Powerball, which has awesome cleans BTW.

[INRI]

Welcome to the Depot!

Man, I feel that. It's a magical thing to get those cleans, but as you say, this gear is getting harder to find and that makes it cost more in the process. Not to mention, the gear ain't getting any younger and parts can/do fail.

Have you tried any of the newer ADA pedal based stuff, like the APP-1? I wonder what those cleans are like? I haven't tried them myself
EDIT: Just watched a video, the APP-1 doesn't sound that clean. Sounds more like an actual tube amp (can't believe I'm saying that) with a bit of breakup...not the SS clean you seek.

The MP-1 pedal looks like it's just a dirtbox, so also no help on the clean side

The closest I've come to MP1 or MP2 cleans is running into a solid state preamp (Boss GX-700), but it is a compromise. I still prefer the MP2 cleans over just about everything but I use whatever I can get when playing live & it's good enough for those knuckleheads.

I'd imagine an modeler would be able to achieve this, but I'd need something different than that for gains. You're not gonna convince a 'tube guy' that your modeling rig sounds 'just like a tube amp' - it's just not gonna happen

Never tried em, and they dont seem possible to get a hold of these days, looks like production stalled. But, like you say, they are aiming for something more contemporary. I wish they would make a pedal based on the solid state of MP-1, containing no tubes (for lower price) and just the tone controls with compression.

Would also be awesome if they made one called "CRYSTAL CLEANS", based on the tube clean on the MP-2, with the same stuff.

[rnolan]

Hey INRI, seems AD/A has closed down  .  When they started back up again their focus was very much on pedals and their CAB sims, seems that's what people want these days.  And the pedal market is so saturated, hard to make money and stay afloat and manufacture in the US.  We all wanted a MP-3.  I liked the idea of combining the best of MP-1, MP-1 Classic and MP-2 but that would have cost a b*mb to do and with the market all about amps, pedals, cloners etc. hard to make viable economically. 

So you could use the HP out of your Peavey.  It should work fine into 2 line inputs with an insert lead (TRS > 2 x TS).  You could run it into 2 amps (same cable) being really careful to keep the level low, or it will distort the amp inputs (though shouldn't hurt anything  ) or use the amp fx returns (if they have them).  The way I used to do it with my Rockman X100 which only had HP out, I made a lead (mini TRS > 2 x TS), with 2 voltage divider resistors in each TS plug to drop it to inst level, then each into a Marshall ('73 Marshall 50 and 100w Artist).

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey INRI,

   The headphone out comes from the preamp section of the Peavey, so you can plug that into any of the inputs of your other amplifiers and not hurt anything. It's just like adding another preamp stage to those amplifiers. Start with the levels on the headphone out at the midway point, and bring up the volume on the amplifiers until you get what you want.