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[Systematic Chaos]

Replacing the caps on the tube board reduces noise even more.
The tube board is where lots of signal passes through...higher rated/higher qual caps help reduce noise.

For the Od1 adjustment fire away with some heavy palm muted E5 chords (Pull me under, Master of Puppets,....) until the clip just lights up occasionally

[rabidgerry]

Replacing the caps on the tube board reduces noise even more.
The tube board is where lots of signal passes through...higher rated/higher qual caps help reduce noise.

For the Od1 adjustment fire away with some heavy palm muted E5 chords (Pull me under, Master of Puppets,....) until the clip just lights up occasionally

Yup SC, I'm familiar with the trim pot adjustment, and I do similar sort of playing to reach what I think are the loudest sound that can be made with my guitar.  Another thing I do is pinch harmonics repeatedly on the low e string.  That's another good one.

Cool, perhaps get a look into the caps replacement at the weekend. Am very busy at the mo

[MarshallJMP]

This is not just a noise mod but also a "tone" mod bringing back the original tone and then some more.

If the gain went up and the noise level is the same then the overall noise level has dropped compared to the gain you had before.If you lower the OD1 trimpot to the same gain you had when it was before the mod you will have have less noise.

A teacher once said to me,"a good amp starts with a good power supply".If the supply is crap so will be the amp.So a good transformer and high quality caps will do the trick.Why do you think those old marshall heads sound so good.Big transformer,big quality caps and a good choke.If i compare my JCM2000 with my marshall plexi you see a hughe difference in the transformers,the 2000 has less caps and no choke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GDY4mYSp9s  Here is a YT clip a marshall 68 plexi,no pedals just an LP straight into the amp.

My mp-1 has all elektrolytic caps replaced.Problem is it's about 60 caps you need to replace.But the sound is much better.

[tomy]

SC explained that to me couple days ago... he put metal oxyde caps inside an amp. He replaced all the caps...
Lot of work but, according to him, it paid : better tone, less noise.

[Systematic Chaos]

SC explained that to me couple days ago... he put metal oxyde caps inside an amp. He replaced all the caps...
Lot of work but, according to him, it paid : better tone, less noise.

Not to mix up things.... It´s metal oxide resistors I personally prefer.
Cap wise, you can´t go wrong with the Panasonic Gold Caps I got from MJMP for my MP-1 tube board back in 2009.
I addition, I always go with either Orange Drop 716P film/foil or WIMA film/foil caps.
Large Filter Caps of preference are TAD (F&T) Gold Caps.
For the real small values it´s Silver Mica. 

[tomy]

Oups sorry !

[MarshallJMP]

I agree with SC except for the metal oxide resistor.I use them also but only where i need a higher power resistor.For the rest it's metal film for me.Why you might ask,well a few reasons,first noise,metal oxide resistor generate more noise and the temperature coefficient is worse then metal film resistors.Metal film resistors also have a higher long term stability.

Soundwise there is no difference.

[MarshallJMP]

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

Sounds way better with a bass line on !

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhh love the bass sound,sounds nasty!!!!

[rabidgerry]

This is not just a noise mod but also a "tone" mod bringing back the original tone and then some more.

If the gain went up and the noise level is the same then the overall noise level has dropped compared to the gain you had before.If you lower the OD1 trimpot to the same gain you had when it was before the mod you will have have less noise.

A teacher once said to me,"a good amp starts with a good power supply".If the supply is crap so will be the amp.So a good transformer and high quality caps will do the trick.Why do you think those old marshall heads sound so good.Big transformer,big quality caps and a good choke.If i compare my JCM2000 with my marshall plexi you see a hughe difference in the transformers,the 2000 has less caps and no choke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GDY4mYSp9s  Here is a YT clip a marshall 68 plexi,no pedals just an LP straight into the amp.

My mp-1 has all elektrolytic caps replaced.Problem is it's about 60 caps you need to replace.But the sound is much better.

  Sorry I should have mentioned that I realise the noise floor will have dropped since the OD1 is now clipping too much and will need adjusted. 

Oh well I sorta mention it in the email text that trim will need adjusted, that's what I was alluding to if you get me.

Is it normal for OD1 to need adjusted after these mods?

Right so this mod is a tone mod not just a noise floor mod?  Ahhh Ok, well it makes sense as it's different.  Kinda Fresher and fitter version of what is was before.

And then there is the MDRT also contributing to things as well I'm sure.

Also I am familiar with the thinking that replacing the caps will help shit.  Remember back to me talking about getting my Rockman Sustainor recapped?  Well perhaps I could recap this now as well.

In fact I have many units I'm sure could recap.  Ever since I bought all this old shit!

Ok what exactly are the electrolytic caps for and how do the affect the sound?  I realise they die after about ten years or so, or should I say dry out. EDIT: oops MJMP has just answered this two posts up

MJMP could you alter your JCM2000 then?  Or have you done so already.

[MarshallJMP]

Yes the OD1 gain can change due to the D16 diode.

A recap is always good to do.

Nope ,i'll never get a plexi sound out of the 2000.It's not a bad amp but it doesn't have the wauw factor.

[rabidgerry]

Yes the OD1 gain can change due to the D16 diode.

A recap is always good to do.

Nope ,i'll never get a plexi sound out of the 2000.It's not a bad amp but it doesn't have the wauw factor.

Ok Ok Ok, lets go off topic again lol

Right so if JCM 2000 can't do a plexi, what is it good for?  Even better question, when it came out, was it supposed to deliver "Plexi" tones?  Just curious.  I suppose it can't be faulted if the amp wasn't designed to have that ability to recreate certain tones.

BTW  Is there anything on here I can read or perhaps you guys can fill me in, on what the design and goals where off the ADA MP1.  Ok So I know it is Marshall voiced correct?  Is it meant to sound like a JCM800 hot rodded?  You know that kind of stuff.

Can you get a "plexi" tone with an MP1?  Just curious about these sort of things, not that any of it will affect me or my requirements.

[Systematic Chaos]

Ok Ok Ok, lets go off topic again lol
...

Can you get a "plexi" tone with an MP1?  Just curious about these sort of things, not that any of it will affect me or my requirements.

Long shot....with some eq tweaking. Tube Clean with ODs more or less maxed and some added tube poweramp saturation/distortion

[MarshallJMP]

Yes the MP-1 is marshall voiced in a way.But it doesn't "nail" the 800 sound.But it's close.The 3TM does nail a 800 hot rodded sound better IMO.

The 2000 was more designed to be a hot rodded 800 but it doesn't sound as good as a 800.

The plexi sound is almost impossible to get out of a preamp because it's a 50/50% sound,50% preamp distortion,50% power amp distortion.And with a preamp you don't have that power amp distortion.Even if you use a tube power amp.Now you have to set a plexi ridiculously loud to get that sound.

[rabidgerry]

Ok so MP1 doesn't nail an 800, so what does it do?  What did people use it for?  Does it have as much distortion?  Like what were they trying to achieve?  Why was it popular?

To me accuracy in nailing certain amp tones isn't required so none of this matters to me, but I am curious, just interested in the story.  If a piece of gear has something unique about it and doesn't quite copy something else then that's a bonus in my tonal goals, it means it has it's own unique flavour, I hope you guys understand me?

MP1 for me sounds nothing like 3TM so if a 3TM does hot rodded 800 well then I'm just assuming the MP1 falls short by quite a bit.  To me the 3TM sounds a lot more modern, than an old JCM800 hot rodded, but I'm sure you can get that out of it also, you guys are the experts not me.

Although I will say now that my newly modded MP1 feels like it has enough distortion for me.  However I will for variety make patches with less distortion on the unit so I can hit a boost.  Different distorted tone textures is cool by me, so achieving sounds using slightly different methods is valid.  I still have to use an EQ in front of MP1.  Not tried that yet.

[Systematic Chaos]

Now back in the day 99.9% of the LA Hair and Glam scene was pairing their 2203/JCM800 with some OD or Dist pedal or other to get a more focused and higher gain.
The (original) MP-1 took that and transformed this refined (pre-)amp sound in a preamp circuitry, add MIDI, one Solid State and 2 Tube/IC channels, an FX Loop and a Chorus.
In my book the MP-1 is "The" hot-rodded JCM800 of the late 80s/early 90s.

Now the 3TM takes that initial vibe and moves it one step (or better 2 Triodes  ) further. If I were tempted to give a comparison: Marshall 2555 Silver Jubilee on maximum steroids

If you wanna go a tad bit more to the traditional Marshall sound/vibe I´d say Mod1 (cathode follower).

For a more modern (think DSL/TSL/sorta JVM) Marshall sound the Mod4MkII does the trick.

That leaves Mod3.1 and 3.666 ....
Question: What do SLO100, 5150 (block letter) and DualRec have in common??
Answer: The overall preamp circuitry design (by Mike Soldano = SLO100)...just some alterations in terms of gain stages/cascading here and there....don´t forget the Recto poweramp design....
Strip them all of their poweramp stage and back down to their bare simple preamp and the blueprints are not that different from each other.

YMMV.....