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Author Topic: Hi. I'm the new guy...  (Read 5132 times)

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herbyguitar

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Hi. I'm the new guy...
« on: Time Format »

In the beginning I wanted to play drums. I used to beat on cans, boxes... anything that made a noise. 5th grade I asked my parents for a drum set. The answer was a resounding "NO"! "Too loud"... "But why don't you play guitar"? ...OK. At that point a guitar was pretty cool too.

Fast forward several years. My dad said "You'll never make any money playing music". He was partially right. All through high school I played in bands but never made a dime. Then just out of school I played my first paying gig. I took my $50.00 and waved it in my dad's face. Then met up with a road band and played a Mid West circuit for several years.

A friend called me one day from Tacoma Washington. Wanted me to come up and play in a band with him. My adventures took a different route. Now I was playing a West Coast circuit. Did that for several years and decided to settle down in the SW corner of Missouri.

Got married (bought an MP1, Microtube 100, ART X-15, ADA split stack Digitech harmony machine...) and started a new life. Divorced, remarried, quit playing for 10 years (Gear went in storage).

Wife died. A year later a friend called and said "you need to play again Herby. I said "oh, OK". Bought a Carvin V3m and a Digitech 1101. Dug out my old Peavey 4x12 and my old ART Ultrafoot X-15. That was 5 years ago. About 3 weeks ago I bought a Mesa 2 fifty on Ebay and dug out my old MP1 and started working with it again. So it's been 15 years since I played with my MP1.

A little sterile and choppy but that's a very condensed description of my journey...

[edit] Forgot: I like Old Southern Rock, Country Rock, Old 70's and 80's Rock, Metal, Classical Metal. Newer Country, Bluegrass.....  My playing style is a mess of all sorts of different stuff. My favorite tone is a tight, articulate, woody tone. My favorite guitar is a Strat with a compound radius Exile neck (maple), stock SC pickups (tone knob on the bridge pickup), original FR lock. My other favorite guitar is a Strat with Warmoth neck (bubinga wood), Seymour Duncan YJM pickups (tone knob on the bridge pickup), original FR lock.
« Last Edit: Time Format by herbyguitar »
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Gear List: Hell, it changes too fast to keep up with.

MikeB

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #1 on: Time Format »

Hi Herby,
Welcome aboard. Thanks for the story. Sorry about the loss of your wife.
Not too long ago there was a run of batteries dying.  I guess thay are all getting to an age.  Yours may well be on its last legs too, so it might be a good idea to remedy that before you lose all your patches.  There are some threads in here about dumping your mp1 patches onto a computer and some about swapping batteries.
I hope you enjoy the reconnection with your mp1.
Cheerio,
Mike
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I don't feel tardy!

rnolan

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #2 on: Time Format »

Hey hg, welcome to the depot  :wave: , it's good to find out a little more about you and your playing styles, it will help guide some of our/my responses eg tube choice.
BTW, Mike has recently been through the MP1 modernisation path and his MP1 is sounding even better than when I bought it new in 1987 (ish).  Mike and I play in a band together these days (I use MP2s) so I get to hear it first hand  >:D
So any questions you have, we'll do our best to answer them.

Cheers Richard
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Kim

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #3 on: Time Format »

Hi and Welcome! :wave:
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herbyguitar

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #4 on: Time Format »

@MikeB : I don't feel tardy either  :)  Oh. I did the battery mod a couple days ago.

Back in the day I always wanted an old Marshall. I got my hands on a Marshall 200 head. Insanely loud. Piled blankets all over the speakers to make it tolerable. Had to run enough speakers as to not blow anything. A tech friend installed a master volume in it but it never really sounded right. Sold it...

Never had another Marshall. One day I decided "I'm gonna buy another Marshall but this time I'm gonna get one with a saddle on it". I was done riding bareback. That was around 1991 or so. I was at Musicians Friend in Springfield Missouri. The sales person said "You don't want a Marshall. I've got something that blows it away". I walked out with a lot of new ADA gear that day.

A mistake I made a couple years later was to trade my 2 ADA 2x12 cabs for a Peavey 4x12 cab, and instead of carrying 2 rack bags I got a 6 space rack. My reasoning was that I wanted to condense my gear so I didn't have so many pieces to carry. As time went on I realized the folly of trading 2 manageable cabs for one heavy beast. The 6 space rack wasn't too dang light either.

I was pretty happy with my rack setup though. I had (top to bottom) strip, NADY wireless, 2 processors, and my ADA pre and power amps.

All I have left of my ADA gear is the MP1. Now I wanna make it the dream amp I've always wanted and finally found. So now it's a matter of tweaking it... and that's why I'm here.

Great site and good people. I'm likin' this place.

[edit] : How do I find the version number on the MP1? Is it inside?
« Last Edit: Time Format by herbyguitar »
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Kim

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #5 on: Time Format »

A mistake I made a couple years later was to trade my 2 ADA 2x12 cabs for a Peavey 4x12 cab, and instead of carrying 2 rack bags I got a 6 space rack. My reasoning was that I wanted to condense my gear so I didn't have so many pieces to carry. As time went on I realized the folly of trading 2 manageable cabs for one heavy beast. The 6 space rack wasn't too dang light either.

How do I find the version number on the MP1? Is it inside?

I know I certainly prefer lugging some extra stuff if it's gonna be lighter than one big heavy thing.  I'm keeping my rig split into two easier-to-manage rack cases; once you put a tube poweramp in there then a single rack case gets more heavy than convenient.  Right now it's a 4U for preamp, fx, tuner, powerstrip and another 4U for poweramp and Powerblock.

If by version number you mean which Eprom is installed, it will say on the screen at startup.  1.37, 1.38, 2.00, 2.01, etc.  The most common ones are 1.38 and 2.01.  The early ones (1.xx) usually had the Line Level switch (accessed through a slot in the top lid) while the later ones (2.xx) usually didn't have the switch under the lid.  I say "usually" because a 1.xx chip can be installed in a later unit and a 2.xx chip can be installed in an earlier one.....even though it may not have come with that particular eprom from the factory.
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herbyguitar

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #6 on: Time Format »

Ah. OK. I have rom version 2.1
I was reading in another thread that there was a MP1 version 1 and 2. I'm thinking this may be different than a rom version #.

I did end up getting another rack (2 space about 2 weeks ago) for the amp (that thing is heavy). Had to because I only had a 4 space (acquired about 5 years ago when I started playing again).

Now I'm just playing in a house band and my 4x12 cab stays there. I use 2, 1x12 cabs at home.
« Last Edit: Time Format by herbyguitar »
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rnolan

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #7 on: Time Format »

So there's V1 and V2 hardware, V1 are the early units with the output line/inst level switch on top (as Kim was saying).  If it has that switch (a slider accessed through the top lid), it's a V1, otherwise a V2.  I think there were some PCB revisions within each version ? MJMP will know better than me.  The rom is actually an EPROM and 2.01 was the last update.
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MarshallJMP

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #8 on: Time Format »

The mainboard went from Rev. A to G, the midi board had 2 rev, the old rev was also used in the MQ-1 but it had different jumper settings. The new rev had the line in discarted.
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herbyguitar

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #9 on: Time Format »

I have Version2 and EProm v 2.01
Midi IN, OUT, and THRU and phantom power which I route through the midi cable to power my X-15

I did the battery mod last week and when I turned the unit on it said loading...'something'... ERROR. Can't remember the entire message. Is that normal? As far as I can tell everything loaded back to stock except the volume of preset #1. It stayed @ zero but I reset it back to 5. It retains all edits.
« Last Edit: Time Format by herbyguitar »
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rnolan

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #10 on: Time Format »

Hey hg, all normal  :thumb-up: , when you change various things it can throw up errors on the first boot, the control side of a MP1 is a computer which controls some of the analogue circuits and switching etc.  When you change out the battery, any saved patches are lost (as they are stored in RAM which needs power from the battery, or the unit when its on) and also triggers a full error check (my guess).  You can load/restore the factory presets (they are stored on the v2.01 EPROM), you cab access them directly or load them into presets.
Anyway, if it's working, all is good.  If you haven't read the manual for a while, read it now  :thumb-up: , somethings you will already know, but others eg play modes... you may not have thought of before  :dunno:
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MarshallJMP

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Re: Hi. I'm the new guy...
« Reply #11 on: Time Format »

When you replace the battery it will count from C1 to C128 and then you get err1,2,3 and all the presets are gone. So yes that's normal, no worries  ;D

To reload the factory presets just push STORE, it will blink and the BANK and 1 together. It will say "presets loaded".
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