ADA Depot - A Forum To Support Users of ADA Amplification Gear

Non ADA Gear => Speakers & Cabinets => Topic started by: shreddingjoris on February 22, 2014, 01:55:10 AM

Title: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: shreddingjoris on February 22, 2014, 01:55:10 AM
Hooked the ADA to the mark V (combo) poweramp... and it sounded awefull.
Meaning to "bassy" and way to midranged for it's own good.
I might blame the speaker, but overall it sounded bad.

What poweramps/cabs do the ADA justice?
And what about the BBE?
Do u still "need" a cab with the ADA? For example Guitar--> ADA--> BBE--> P.A
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: Dante on February 22, 2014, 09:04:02 AM
I have never been happy with running my MP-2 into the PA.

As for the sound you're getting from the Mark V, I would try fiddling with the EQ more (or starting with it flat). You probably have a lot of bass in the MP1 settings compounded by a ton of bottom end in the Mark V, causing the bottom end to be loose and flubby. My DC-5 has a ton of bottom end, even though I never turn the Bass above 5.

Whenever I plug one of my rack units into a combo, the combo is absolutely CLEAN and I use the preamp for distortion. If I want distortion from the combo, I have the preamp clean.

As for which amps/cabs work well, I find the cleaner the amp the better. Solid state amps are actually quite nice because they don't color the sound, they just make it louder. Cabs: I like to use cabs that are grossly over capable for the amp (like a 50w amp plugged into a 300w speaker), keeping the speakers from breaking up. Some people like their speakers to break up, not me.

I've never been a fan of BBE units when taken out of the studio (my2ยข)
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: kawai2g4b on February 22, 2014, 09:41:14 AM
I was about to post then Dante flat out beat me to the same opinion  :thumb-up:

IMO the Mesa power amp has too dark a character for the MP-1.  The treble prescence that endears me to the MP-1 becomes muffled compared to, say, a good EL34 based power amp.  As the MP-1 is a Marshall toned preamp, it would match up well with those power tubes. 

However, I use a Tube Works Mosvalve MV-962 for a power amp into a 4X12 cab.  The Mosvalves are good warmer SS power amps with a prescence control, which to me is essential.  I agree with Dante that a single speaker at its maximum rating will muddy up your sound.  At the very least go with a 2+ speaker cab if you are going with 60+ Watts.
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: GuitarBuilder on February 22, 2014, 12:48:30 PM
I went the direction of a really clean PA amp: Crown XLS1000 into Peavey 3-way speakers.
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: shreddingjoris on February 22, 2014, 04:19:31 PM
Right now i run the ada True an 11R, where i use its cab sim only. Yea the mark is to dark sounding for the Ada. I placed it into the return fx loop Btw. I guess a marshall cab and marshall poweramp would sound ok. I would like an 80 rock/shred sound like on th xyz album hungry. Here is the sound i have in combination with the 11R

https://m.soundcloud.com/shreddingjoris-guitars/adatest
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: rnolan on February 22, 2014, 10:43:52 PM
Hooked the ADA to the mark V (combo) poweramp... and it sounded awefull.
Meaning to "bassy" and way to midranged for it's own good.
I might blame the speaker, but overall it sounded bad.

What poweramps/cabs do the ADA justice?
And what about the BBE?
Do u still "need" a cab with the ADA? For example Guitar--> ADA--> BBE--> P.A
ADA pre-amps were basically designed to run (in stereo) with a clean/transparent stereo power amp (SS or Tube) into 2 (or more) guitar speaker cabs.  A variety of power amp speaker cab combinations work well and do the ADA justice (eg ADA B200s and 2 ADA split stacks, Carvin TS100 and a stereo quad box etc).  The MP2/MP1 classic have cab emulated outs for plugging into a mixer (eg PA but mostly for recording), With the MP1 you need a cab simulator to plug into anything that has a tweeter (eg Studio monitors, PAs) or it will sound very top heavy (you can eq this to some extent but the various cab sims available probably do a better job).
To get a usable sound with the Mark 5 you could try plugging one channel of the ADA into the effects return to by pass all the mark 5 pre-amps but the pre-amps in the mark 5 are connected to/associated with specific power amps (does it have 3 power amps ??) so this may not work.  Alternatively pick the cleanest settings you can and try to get the mark 5 eq as flat as possible.  If you have an early MP1 there is a switch on the top to switch between line and inst level, obviously you'd pick inst level to go into the mark 5 input, if there's no switch the MP1 outputs will be line level so you need to turn the output vol down so as not to overload the mark 5 input.
While the ADA MP series preamps sound good in mono, they sound SOO much better in stereo.
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: rnolan on February 22, 2014, 11:10:39 PM
After a quick read of the mark 5 sales pitch, I'd try channel 1, tight skinny clean (toggle up), eq Off (toggle centre although this is probably the 5 band graphic eq on/off/FS for the channel so you can't bypass the channel eq (treb, mid, bass so adjust them to be as flat as possible, start with them off)), turn Gain down low, master where you need it, Presence off, voicing normal (toggle up), select amp toggle (10w (class A), 45w (class A/B), 90w (Class A/B simul-class)) to suit. That said, stereo power amp and 2 guitar cabs (or a stereo cab) are the go.
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: RandallRG on February 23, 2014, 07:55:21 AM

https://m.soundcloud.com/shreddingjoris-guitars/adatest
Hey Dude just want you to know I took a listen & it sounds very Cool!  :metal:
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: RobbHell on May 06, 2014, 08:53:54 AM
You plugged a Stock MP1 into a Mesa Mark 5? Why on Earth would you do that? And just to clarify Mesa and ADA  go amazingly well together. Hell its my backup/sidekick rig to my Engl and ADA. A stock ADA is gonna sound like shit unto any modern amp.
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: RobbHell on May 06, 2014, 09:08:30 AM
Stay away from the BBE and get a good EQ. YOU'll be much happier.
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: shreddingjoris on May 13, 2014, 03:16:42 PM
You plugged a Stock MP1 into a Mesa Mark 5? Why on Earth would you do that? And just to clarify Mesa and ADA  go amazingly well together. Hell its my backup/sidekick rig to my Engl and ADA. A stock ADA is gonna sound like shit unto any modern amp.

Because i could, i wanted to hear it true a poweramp (wich i don't have), so that's when i came to the conclusion that it sucked true the mesa poweramp/cab combination :-).
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: Dante on May 18, 2014, 10:07:50 AM
Um, I'm doing that sort of thng right now with my DC-5 combo.

I have been running direct into the mixing board lately, and the sound man kept telling me to bring my amp because I literally have no stage volume. Anyone on the dancefloor, in front of the stage, would hear no guitar because they would be behind the mains. So, I started bringing my combo amp and plugging my rig into that.

I must admit, it sounded like :poop: at first, but once I tweaked the EQ a bit, it sounds brutal. I tried running into the FX return, but that gave me the 'web blanket over your tone' sound that I hate. It was almost impossible to brighten it up - once I did, it was causing the clean tones to break up. No good.

I plug it into the input on the front of the amp, and run through the clean channel. As Mesa Boogie owners can attest, the EQ settings don't conform to traditional amps - the settings can look a bit strange, especially on the DC series, like mine. It's complicated, but if you trust your ears and not your eyes, you will find it.

My rig usually runs with these settings (without the rack gear, just into the amp):
Gain = 5.5
Treble = 4
Mid = 3
Bass = 5
Presence = 5
Reverb = 2
Master = 8

With the MP-2 running into the INPUT jack:
Gain = 3
Treble = 2
Mid = 5
Bass = 8
Presence = 0
Reverb = 2
Master = 10

You gotta think outside the box sometimes to find what you need. This worked for me, maybe it'll help others try weird stuff to see what happens.
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: rnolan on May 19, 2014, 06:13:24 AM
Hey Dante, wouldn't it be (much) better to just bring 2 of your 12" cabs and your MT200 ? and run it off the off the ADA outs (while still taking cab sim outs to the desk) ? If I were on the dance floor, that's what I'd prefer to hear  >:D
Title: Re: ADA mp1 in combination with mark V= fail...
Post by: Dante on May 19, 2014, 09:48:55 PM
Would it sound better acoustically? Probably

Do i want to carry all that other stuff? Nope

I'll bring the combo, it has casters and an amp built right in  :thumb-up: