ADA Depot - A Forum To Support Users of ADA Amplification Gear
ADA Preamps => MP-2 => Topic started by: Dante on January 18, 2019, 07:17:30 PM
-
I have put my poor MP-2 through some tough times. When I bought it, I was not gigging. I was going to college and working full time. I had two guitars, turned my rig on once a month to be sure I still remembered how to play and to see that it worked. I was rusty for about 10 years, but the MP-2 always came on, and I always got lost in it for a good while.
2006-ish: I join a local cover band, and realize I'm better than the average dipshit with a guitar in this town. Cool. This is easy, I get a job with a steady gigging band. Since I was a graphic designer at the time, I built us a website, made business cards, hired a photographer, and built us a BAND. We gigged a LOT in a 5-6 year span, and I was not kind to that poor MP-2. Hot, HOT HOT gigs in the Sacramento California sun (over 100° temps several times), cold gigs in Lake Tahoe around New Year's Eve, dropped to the concrete floor from about 3 feet (1m) high - sitting on the top of my combo amp that was on an amp stand, thrown into the back of my VW so many times.
This little MP-2 just keeps on coming. I have been gigging pretty regularly since that band, in several projects at a time, so that's the last 13 years or so, I'd say. To be honest, I'd like my MP-1 Classic as my main rig, but it's busticated right now. It's not that I feel the MP-2 lacks anything the Classic has in a sonic sense, I just like how easy it is to write a great sounding patch with the Classic. Usability is a nice feature for me. But, the MP-2 can do anything the Classic can do.... and a lot more.
I got a cool blue display from Trullmon around 2013-2014 and finally installed it in 2016 I think - lol. It's so cool, I wish I'd done it sooner. TBH, it's not held in by the stock plastic clips anymore. One of them works, the other side is held in by (wait for it....) duct tape
There are some cons:
My super high gain voicings are noisy, and I plan to address them when I get my MicroTube working properly.
Picking attack is not as sensitive on the MP-2 as it is on the Classic.
The pros far outweigh the cons and the MP-2 is my main rig right now
-
Don't think you'll easily be able to fix the noises in voicing 9 and especially 10.
These are inherently noisy because´of too much gain dragged out of the tubes, especially in voicing 10.
Further, I believe the reason for less pick articulation is because the tubes are running on a good amount of negative cathode bias - necessary for the high gains, but squelching pick attack.
Could be wrong, though..
Else I agree it's a damned good preamp. Should've had a build-in reverb ;)
Any words on Trullmon? He was a fun dude!
-
Unfortunately, I have not heard from Matt in a while :( I do hope he's doing well
Speaking of the MP-2.... Here it is in it's natural environment; a local bar full of 'regulars' there for Halloween. Normally, I like to avoid holiday gigs. It's dangerous getting home, avoiding cops or drunks. This lil' bar down the street is full of our friends, this was our first song of the night (aka Sound Check). Yes, I have lights in my shoes. Shaddup
I thought it was my MP-2 in this vid, I can see that's not right and explains the way it cuts through the mix (love the Classic for that). Sorry, it's an irrelevant video for this thread, so I'll post it in the Classic board ;)
Rig rundown: MP-1 Classic in the FX loop of my G-System > MicroTube 200 (bridged mono) > Hughes & Kettner Vortex 4x12 cab. Mic'd with my ol' Superlux. Guitar is an Epiphone Korina V with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and Jazz in the neck. Switchcraft jack & switch. Possibly some paper-in-oil caps in there...can't remember. Great $400 guitar...highly recommended. :thumb-up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJpNc0ENGA
-
Well I enjoyed the video :thumb-up:
-
Very nice :thumb-up: 8)
-
Man I like those shoes. You get your own light show and provides light on the pedal board on a dimly lit stage! :thumb-up:
-
Dang Dante... that sounds good. You are like a stellar combination of Billy Duffy & Revenge of the Nerds. Those shoes :thumb-up: are total rock
I thought I read where the MP2 didn't have good pick attack but I could hear you crisp & clear.
-
I just realized that's my MP-1 Classic in that vid. :facepalm:
Pulled my MP-2 out of storage, hooked it to a 1x12 cab and turned it on. It works! However, there is a jumpy signal....something is loose. I found it (i hope):
Speaker jack in the cab was loose
FX loop in/out jacks were loose on the MP-2
Suspect a bad cable between the preamp and poweramp, swapped that out
Seems to be working now, but I think I heard a couple small volume jumps while playing. Gimme a couple days to try it out, see what's going on.
That said, it's not as noisy as I remember, and I'm using voicing #8 for my 'ultra' sound. That's encouraging. Stay tooned, I'll report back after I play around a bit
-
I'm back. I'll be playing the MP-2 a bit more today but I definitely hear volume fluctuations in voicing #8 (dynamic high gain). I plan on trying some other voices too see if it's just that one
The fluctuations are not gradual, they are very sudden. This makes me suspect something loose (again). This poor unit has been rattled a bunch, not surprising I find all these loose bits.
-
I hope it's nothing like lifted traces
-
No no, I haven't been inside this thing.
The quick fluctuations I was hearing was related to the noise gate. Shut it off, and now i have slower volume swells and drops. Something is up. It happens in all the higher gain settings. Not sure about the cleans (just thought of that).
If I remember right, it was voicings 6 & up. Of course the lower ones do not have a lot of gain to them.
Could it be a bad toob?
-
Hey Dante, so voices 6 and up include OD2, 5 and lower only OD1. So it could be a tube? Hope so and certainly the place to start. And while you have the lid off, get you multi meeter, and measure DCvolts between the test point (easy to spot near the tubes) and the chassis (a screw hole will work). It should read between about 182DCV to 190DCV. It's supposed to be 190DCV or a little less. If it's above 190DCV, you need to replace R913 (just under V2).
Some of the other things that could maybe cause swells and drops are:
ChorusOne Chanel not connecting properly (in stereo connection)Tremolo
-
I'll crack it open in a few days, no hurries
-
I had to open up the MP-2 to get my eprom out, so I changed the tubes while I was in there. I had a TAD and a Tung Sol in there, I put another TAD in the same spot (it's the exact same tube) and put a Sovtek 12ax7 in the other slot
No volume jumps so far, only about 15 minutes of noodling tho. I will be playing the MP-2 a bit more over the next couple days to see if I just had a bad tube
Sounds fantastic - especially those Crystal Cleans with small amount of compression....wow
-
Hey Dante, good to hear :thumb-up: . I've been running up my 2 studio racked MP-2s of late as I get recording going again. So one of them is having volume jumps on one channel, so I moved to the other one, it fades and then comes back from time to time :facepalm: :dunno: , although seemed to settle after a while. I was also flicking between 2 x 12 and 4 x 12 on the cab sim switch, wow, big difference, much brighter and more open on the 2 x 12 and quite boxy (funny that LoL) on the 4 x 12. Initially I was just running clean program from the main outs (wondering if the vol fades were dirty jack related) and that also sounds very nice... The tubes are pretty much as new, I've hardly used either of them for ages.
-
I went through about an hour of songs yesterday, not a single volume jump. I even tried changing my voicing from #8 Vintage High Gain to #9 & #10 for a few songs - ZERO issues. In fact, it's damn quiet - even with single coils.
Now, I didn't turn up real loud, but I will bring the MP-2 to practice tonight just for fun & let you know how it goes (I have the Hughes & Kettner head at practice already, in case the MP-2 gives me any qrief)
-
Hey Dante, fantastic :thumb-up: . One aspect of taking out the EPROM is it does a more thorough boot sequence the first time after you put it back in. So maybe it was the tubes and all is well ::)
-
Whelp, no practice yesterday, but I did turn it up a bit an my MT-100 is acting up. Dammit.
Louder in one channel than the other, a good deal louder. Bridged mono appears fine. I want to say it was channel B that was quieter, but I didn't confirm which cab was plugged in where. I'll do that at next practice.
MT-100 power amps are one of my favorite sounding power amps, but they are delicate. I would look into another one, but since I don't use my rack gear live, I have no motivation to do it right away....maybe when a windfall drops in my lap
-
Dante,
I've had that issue with all my MT-100s.
For whatever reason, they seem to toast the output transistor on one side. I was thinking maybe because I used them in bridged mode.
It sounds now, that it will do the same thing regardless how I run them.
-
Hey Dante, just to be sure (if you haven't checked already) swap the inputs over. One of my MP-2s is going softer then louder on one channel, which made me think I had issues with the mixer channels or leads.
But as you both say, MT100s seem to have issues :facepalm: . BTW what ever happened to the US model Microtube 200 I swapped with you for your US B200s years ago?? The B200s got a nice 240v toroidal tranny and is still going strong (when I spoke with it's owner the other day).
-
Richard, I bought a minty MT-200 that had just been 'gone thru' and sold the one I got from you. In fact, I had 3 of them at one time, now I'm down to one.
-
Hey Dante, good to know :wave: Do you prefer the MT1100? or is is because speakers are 50w? Or do MT100s sound better than MT200s? Also, did you confirm both MP-2 channels are solid, or had you already established that? (only that one of my MP-2s is playing up on one channel :facepalm: ) but then is just fades to a bit low, and periodically comes good again.
-
The MT-200 is fine, both channels are good. The MT-100 is just my sentimental fave I guess, they don't sound any different to my ears than the MT-200...tones are in the preamps ;)