@ Chamai,
ADA was best known for rack gear, not guitar amps, even though they were trying to move in that direction towards the end, before they disappeared. As I pointed out in my earlier post, for the current ADA team to design and build a new rack based on the MP-1's simplicity, but would stand up to the sounds of today's amplifiers, would be a very expensive risk for them. Maybe, (this is pure speculation on my part), if they had not disappeared in 1994, and had been around making amps, and such all this time it might be a different story. But that's something no one could know for sure, because they've been gone a long time. So now they're back, and I'm sure funds and resources are very limited for them at the present time, and they are basically starting like a new company that has never been around before. The current market is very different for them than it was back in the 70's. Sadly, guitar-based arena rock isn't at the top of the charts these days, but electronic based loops with weird vocorder induced vocals creating syrupy melodies is what's in the Top 40. Hard Rock and Metal are basically underground these days. So, from a business standpoint, a new ADA rack is an expensive and risky proposition at the present time.
I partially agree with you about how the power amp section is an essential part of the overall tone of the electric guitar, but I think you are leaving something out of your equation. The preamp, and how it hits the poweramp in the front end of it is what determines how the overdrive come out to the speakers. This was an argument I had with ADA a long time ago before they disappeared, was that the preamp over powering the front end of the power amp combined, was what made the kind of overdrive that everyone loved out of a guitar amplifier, but by then, the T100S was already out of production, as it was getting too expensive to make, and sales weren't that good for it.
As for the amp head, maybe if ADA had been around to support the line of combo amps they were making, and growing their catalog of guitar amplifiers, they would have eventually worked up a 100 Watt tube beast that could go toe to toe with the best of them. But they vanished only a few short months after they introduced their combos.
@Guitar Builder,
It would be nice to see a system like you describe from ADA, but I disagree with the proprietary floorboard concept. MIDI should be kept in place because it makes it more accessible to other market controllers, and is more economically feaseable, but definitely the addition of USB for connectivity to a Mac or PC is a good idea, for recording into a DAW direct. And as an afterthought, it's also a good idea for editing the parameters of the preamp in your laptop, maybe even to download updates to the software to keep the preamp current.
@ Gerry,
Yeah brother, there is a heavy bias that leans towards the valve amplifiers here, but that's because those of us who were fortunate enough to experience a good quality valve amp, with speaker cabs that matched up to them, have heard and even felt the difference that it makes. No one here has laid down the law and stated that this is the only way it should be done, we've only stated that this is something that we personally prefer for our own guitar tastes.
I agree with you fully on the fact that a good sound is exactly that, a good sound, and it doesn't matter what you use to get it. I stated that in an earlier post on this topic, about how everyone who knows what kind of tone they are looking for, will go after that tone on any gear they end up buying. Brand names really mean nothing when you can get what you are after from the gear you are able to afford.
I also agree with your statement about ADA making a new rack system, because racks are in the underground scene right now and not in the mainstream. I also wouldn't buy an ADA amp head if they came out with one either, since I never bought or even tried out any of the ADA combo amps they had out before they vanished. I had too much money, time and effort invested in my rack gear at that point to just simply drop it and follow that new trend. I've never been one to follow trends anyway. I've always used whatever worked for me to give me the tone I was after. Even in the 90's, when I would go buy a piece of rack equipment that I needed, I would hear some of the sales guys tell me that racks weren't in fashion anymore. I would always reply with the fact that racks, like amplifiers were only tools, not clothing, something they weren't smart enough to see. It pissed off a few of them HAH!
As for your tone, I like the tone you're getting, and I believe you are going about it the right way for you, as I have heard a lot of your music already. (Still waiting on that album to see how it pans out as a body of work). I've turned on a few people here locally to RBOTN, and so far, the reaction seems to be positive. It may please you to know that some of the guitar players that I've let hear a couple of the songs, have all commented about your guitar tone in a positive way also. A few like me, have compared it to vintage Priest tones.
I also agree with the MP3 label. "MP" was a designation for MIDI Preamp, but if they add USB to it, what would that be, MUP-1, or UMP-1? Does it then become a Pre-UMP?