MicroCab I vs GCS-3

[JarrettBlackBridge]

A while back I borrowed my friend's GCS-3 and compared it to my MicroCab I.
I've only really tried these two units out but am interested in the other ones ADA made as well but they do rarely come up for sale around here!

Which of the ADA cabinet simulators have you tried and what do you prefer?

[Harley Hexxe]

That was pretty interesting.

    I never got to try any of the ADA pedal stuff with the exception of the Flanger RI pedal which was pretty close to the original one that I still own from the 70's.

    It seems ADA is gone again so I'll probably never have the opportunity to try any of the pedal gear.

    The only ADA Cab emulator I have are the Microcab II's. I do like how they work though. I believe they are the same as the Microcab I, but with an AC power cord instead of a wall-wart.

Harley 8)

[MarshallJMP]

Is ADA gone again??

MCI and II are not 100% the same, difference is the build in transformer and they changed the level of input it can handle, while the I is just line level, the II can handle output levels from a real amp. The cab sims stayed the same.

I have a few MCI's and 2 ampulators and the ampulator is quite different from the MCI but you can't really compare these.

@Jarret, maybe a tip, I find they sound best with no button pushed in. Someone in the comments said to push in 2 buttons, mmm need to try that out.

[JarrettBlackBridge]

The II can handle pass through of a speaker cable then?
That's pretty cool if so!
I actually still haven't gotten around to experimenting with more than one button pushed in but I'll have to try no buttons as well now  :lol:

[JarrettBlackBridge]

That was pretty interesting.

    I never got to try any of the ADA pedal stuff with the exception of the Flanger RI pedal which was pretty close to the original one that I still own from the 70's.

    It seems ADA is gone again so I'll probably never have the opportunity to try any of the pedal gear.

    The only ADA Cab emulator I have are the Microcab II's. I do like how they work though. I believe they are the same as the Microcab I, but with an AC power cord instead of a wall-wart.

Harley 8)

Glad you liked it! This is the only non rack piece I've even seen locally and it just randomly showed up in the used section of a music store!

[Harley Hexxe]

The II can handle pass through of a speaker cable then?
That's pretty cool if so!
I actually still haven't gotten around to experimenting with more than one button pushed in but I'll have to try no buttons as well now  :lol:

Yes, you can pass thru the MC II with the power amp and go to your speaker cabs, and run the cab sim line to the mixing desk, which is how I use them live.

[MarshallJMP]

So Harley, you always use them live? Never mic'd up? At rehearsal I use a Palmer PDI-05 to go to the drum monitor but live I want mic's.

[Harley Hexxe]

So Harley, you always use them live? Never mic'd up? At rehearsal I use a Palmer PDI-05 to go to the drum monitor but live I want mic's.

   You are correct Sir! I don't use mics and they sound good in the mix, or at least the sound man says so. He finds it much easier to get me into the mix with those, and there's no issues with cross-talk and microphonic feedback.

[JarrettBlackBridge]

Back around the end of my playing live I used to run my Engl E530 preamp into a Pod XT pro with only the cabinet portion turned on and plug in direct. Was a sweet rig cause all I had to bring was my 6 space rack case and a guitar!
Relying a lot on the sound guy to give you a good monitor mix though, so I used to also run a signal to a set of in-ear monitors so I never had to worry about not hearing myself.
That was before I had any ADA gear of course!

[MarshallJMP]

Live I use 2 SM57 with gravity mic clamps. I set them up myself before the show at a fixed position, so I know they are setup the way I want them too, also the SM57's are mine.

The stands I use are very easy to setup and there no mic stands standing in your way.

https://www.gravitystands.com/en/products/microphone-stands/16098/ms-cab-cl-01

[JarrettBlackBridge]

That's an interesting concept for a mic stand!
I've seen similar things before but they always had to be screwed into the cabinet  >:(

[MarshallJMP]

Yes it is and it doesn't take up a lot of space.