Guys, my SS Ultra+ modded MP-1 is back home.
I just want to share with you brothers what I wrote to MJMP by email:
"Phil, I had a couple of hours of amusement here this evening...
The first definition that came to my mind is: PURE VIOLENCE. ^^
Now...I've 100% got what I wanted to achieve: my true MP-1's tones (I worked a lot with the EQ to get my tones) with many improvements.
The new tubes board and the MDRT transformer are fantastic.
The overall noise level is highly decreased (there's some (low) noise when you go to high gain...but that's normal, the noise is lower than before anyway and G Major noise gate easily kills it).
The tone is now more ALIVE...less compression, more natural brightness.
I repeat: I perfectly recognize my sounds here...but there's some more now.
The gain amount is the same (another thing I asked: keep the gain level/amount untouched), but there are more grit, presence and volume.
It's louder than before and I can hear everything better...more detailed and articulated tones.
About the EQ, I didn't touch anything: I just slightly decreased the Presence of power amp's channels and that's all.
I think I'll have to work with that a little more in the next days, while my ears get familiar with the new tones...but the overall tone is awesome already...very "Plexish", as you described it.
I also found that I've not to set the Output Level too high anymore to make all these good sounds come out from the preamp (and this reduces noise as well, when you use high gain settings): at 10-11 'o clock it's awesome already.
That "slight gain drop after 30 minutes playing" issue I described to you is totally gone now: I played for more than 2 hours and gain structure remained unchanged...power chords had the same effect all the time and OD1 clip continued occasionally blinking when I hit the E string hard.
Battery is new and with its holder, so I've not to worry about loosing patches anymore.
) (ahahahahah! The asshole sticker is a blast!!!).
What else? Nothing: it's perfect.
G Major keeps doing its good work with the MP-1 and I'm happy with these sounds!"
There's nothing to add: these mods are fantastic and MP-1 deserves them.
Everyone who owns one of these preamps should mod it that way.