@ Richard;
I was just kidding about putting 12AU7's in the MP-1. There's really no need to since it already does pristine clean tones very well as is.
You know, I never really thought about it before but the Classic does seem to lean more towards the Marshall side of things than the original MP-1. I have gotten several comments in the past about how my rig sounded like a few Marshall tones.
@ Soloist;
I remember the day I auditioned the JMP-1 in the store I was at because that was where I was able to compare that with the MP-1 Classic. Both preamps were current at the time, and I know the poweramp they plugged me into was one of the Marshall Mono Block models, but I don't recall if it was the 9100 or 9200 model. They had that amp hooked up to a Marshall 4x12 cab for that audition.
I'm not sure if the JMP-1 was just a display model of a used one, but I remember spending a good amount of time with it trying to find some good factory tones that would strike a chord with me, (no pun intended). I had some pretty high expectations from that piece of equipment, but in the end, I had found only one preset in there that sounded fairly workable and that was only when I pressed the Bass Boost button with it. For the most part, the other presets I sampled were very thin and weak sounding. Maybe there was something wrong with particular preamp?
In any event, they hooked up the Classic to that rig, and there was a big difference in the presence, and body of the guitar tone, and that was the day I bought my 2nd Classic! I was really disappointed at the JMP-1. I guess I was expecting to hear more of what you describe that you get from it, but I just didn't hear it from that preamp that day.
Harley