ADA Depot - A Forum To Support Users of ADA Amplification Gear
ADA Preamps => Original MP-1 => Topic started by: rickeb1 on January 25, 2016, 06:40:52 PM
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I have been going back and forth with my MP-1 3TM. There are times when I love it, but a lot of the time I don't. There is something about it that makes me feel dissatisfied when comparing it to some other amps and preamps, and I think I have worked out that what bothers me is the eq on the unit. I'd like to get some real meaty, throaty, woody drive tones, but turning up the bass produces mud and loses articulation, turning up the mids produces an ugly boxy tone, and turning up the highs pierces my ears. I'm wondering if there is some way of changing the eq points of the unit (to what, I don't really know)? Or, perhaps doing something like leaving all of the tone controls set at 0 and using some sort of outboard eq to supply the "right" frequency adjustments? I am using a Digitech GSP1101 for effects with the 3TM, and it has a 3-band eq that I can use post-preamp. But using it's eq ends up sounding kind of digital and non-organic, so I'm not crazy about that approach.
Or, it just may be that I suck at dialing in tones (actually, I'm sure of that :-[ ).
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Hey Rick, The hardest part about owning a ADA preamp is when to say stop, that's the tone I want, no more tweaking...
There's quite a few posts about eq if you dig around here. And good discussion on where in your signal path works best. And there's also posts about changing the centre frequencies of the eq, particularly the bass, getting down lower for more bass less mud.
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try making a more "scooped mids" patch and use an overdrive pedal to boost the mids up again. Set OD1 and OD2 somewhere around 3.6.-4.2 for the amount of gain you want.
on your pedal, have 0 gain and 50+ on the level until you get your desired amount drive. This will get rid of all the low end mud and will tighten your overall sound.
note that this works well on a stock MP1. I don't have experience with a 3TM.
the trick is to set a patch that sounds similar to an unboosted Marshall type head. From experience, usually an unboosted Marshall has a lot of flubby but bassy low end with not a lot of gain. don't be afraid to up your bass settings because once you hit the ADA with an overdrive pedal, a lot of bass gets cut.
i now treat the ADA like any other amp out there. as much as i hate using pedals up front, it's the only way to get the sound i want from my amps. i always set my tube amps low to medium gain and boosted it with one of my overdrives.
an EQ pedal in after the overdrive pedal helps a lot too. cutting out some higher frequencies by a DB or two can make a world difference or add or cut to taste. Parametric EQ is the way to go, but i find it hard to use on a pedal form. back then i use an EQ in the loop. I find that it works best for final mixes during recording but not for live guitar. because you need to cut out certain frequencies to make room for other instruments. it ends up sounding thin and processed. having the EQ before the pre amp to me sounds way more natural.
hope this helps.
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My patch EQ setup for the 3TM is B 9 M -2 to 0 T 2 P 6 and then i use a ADA MQ1 to fine tune it a bit.Works great for me.I think an analog EQ works always better.I tried the EQ of the G-force and i didn't like it either.Same problem as you had.
It also depends on the entire rig,there are so many things that contribute to the overall sound.Even tubes have a big influence.
Have you tried adjusting the trimpots on the 3TM?
Now altering the EQ is possible but the question is to what.
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Thanks everyone for your responses! I am not familiar with the trim pots mentioned; I'm assuming it means that there are trim pots inside that can be adjusted to change the center frequency of the tone controls? I will try to look through past messages to try to find out more. I really don't want to get a pedal to run in front if I can possibly avoid it, so I'm hoping I can find some other way to deal with the eq. Thanks again!
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Just mailed you the trimpot manual for the 3TM.Let me know if you got it.
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Got it, thank you very much! :)
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No problem,let me know if you have any questions.Also be carefull when turning these,there's some high voltage in there.Best is to use either an isolated or plastic screwdriver,just to be safe.Also don't use ESD screwdrivers since these conduct.