My Trusty MP-2

[Dante]

I went through about an hour of songs yesterday, not a single volume jump. I even tried changing my voicing from #8 Vintage High Gain to #9 & #10 for a few songs - ZERO issues. In fact, it's damn quiet - even with single coils.

Now, I didn't turn up real loud, but I will bring the MP-2 to practice tonight just for fun & let you know how it goes (I have the Hughes & Kettner head at practice already, in case the MP-2 gives me any qrief)

[rnolan]

Hey Dante, fantastic  .  One aspect of taking out the EPROM is it does a more thorough boot sequence the first time after you put it back in.  So maybe it was the tubes and all is well  ::)

[Dante]

Whelp, no practice yesterday, but I did turn it up a bit an my MT-100 is acting up. Dammit.

Louder in one channel than the other, a good deal louder. Bridged mono appears fine. I want to say it was channel B that was quieter, but I didn't confirm which cab was plugged in where. I'll do that at next practice.

MT-100 power amps are one of my favorite sounding power amps, but they are delicate. I would look into another one, but since I don't use my rack gear live, I have no motivation to do it right away....maybe when a windfall drops in my lap

[Harley Hexxe]

Dante,

I've had that issue with all my MT-100s.

For whatever reason, they seem to toast the output transistor on one side. I was thinking maybe because I used them in bridged mode.
It sounds now, that it will do the same thing regardless how I run them.

[rnolan]

Hey Dante, just to be sure (if you haven't checked already) swap the inputs over.  One of my MP-2s is going softer then louder on one channel, which made me think I had issues with the mixer channels or leads. 

But as you both say, MT100s seem to have issues  .  BTW what ever happened to the US model Microtube 200 I swapped with you for your US B200s years ago??  The B200s got a nice 240v toroidal tranny and is still going strong (when I spoke with it's owner the other day).

[Dante]

Richard, I bought a minty MT-200 that had just been 'gone thru' and sold the one I got from you. In fact, I had 3 of them at one time, now I'm down to one.

[rnolan]

Hey Dante, good to know  :wave:   Do you prefer the MT1100? or is is because speakers are 50w?  Or do MT100s sound better than MT200s?  Also, did you confirm both MP-2 channels are solid, or had you already established that? (only that one of my MP-2s is playing up on one channel  ) but then is just fades to a bit low, and periodically comes good again.

[Dante]

The MT-200 is fine, both channels are good. The MT-100 is just my sentimental fave I guess, they don't sound any different to my ears than the MT-200...tones are in the preamps ;)

[Dante]

You'll never guess what I've been bringing to practice lately......My MP-2. It's been fine (so far) and it sounds really incredible. It's the only thing that'll hold a candle to the Hughes & Kettner. The added EQ options are what's putting it over the top, I have those tones dialed. It sounds massive and clear.

It's been working so well, that I am going to tempt fate and bring it to my gig on Thursday. I will have my H&K head in the car - just in case

I'm going to run my 2x12 cab on one side of the stage and my two 1x12 cabs on the other side. It'll be like having two split stacks, sort of. Wish me luck. I'll get a pic once it's all set up

[Harley Hexxe]

Dante,

If you need a loaner while you get your MP-2 reconditioned and fully reliable, I'll send you one of mine.

  All you'll have to do is a sysex dump and you'll have all your presets right there. Just say the word.

[Dante]

Thanks Harley, I need it here in California the day after tomorrow - just kidding, I'll be fine. I have two tube heads in the car ;) but thanks for the offer

[rnolan]

Hey Dante, I'm sure it will work fine  , I've never been let down my my MP-2s.  If you get some time, maybe share a few of your favourite patches  .

[Dante]

It seems like I had my MP-2 'gone thru' but my memory - she is not so good looking. It's running great right now, so....YAY, and I'm being gentle with it.

I'll be glad to share patches...Right now, I'm only using FOUR patches. My head has 4 voices (Clean/Crunch/Distortion/ULTRA), so I just emulated that with my MP-2.

The magic is in the multi-effects, different EQs, effects, etc. that I can toggle on/off like a pedalboard. I get 4 at a time, plus a boost and a delay set for each patch.

Previously, I'd run with 10 patches plus my quad switch for toggling effects. Somehow, the way I run now is way more versatile....less is more

[rnolan]

Hey Dante, sounds like the go  .  I've come down to about 4 patches also, similar setup, clean, crunch, ultra (which used to be my rhythm sound), and I have another with auto wah.  FX I have just been using a light stereo delay and room reverb.  But I need to find a couple of new patches for some of the songs we are doing, so while I'm doing that I wouldn't mind trying some of the tones you've cooked up  ;) .  I'm also keen to try the macro (one of 5 built in) that keeps the volume the same just increases/decreases the gain as you move the expression pedal.  I've never tried them (the macros), always meant to but have never got around to it.

[Dante]

Whelp, the gig went great. Kinda slow, but it was a Thursday night, so...

The owners of the place said we were great, want us back on a weekend (that is exactly what we asked for, but we had to take a Thursday to get our foot in the door)

The MP-2 ROCKED just fine. My wireless was a PITA! kept cutting out. Luckily, I bring a cheapo wireless I got from Amazon for $40 and it worked the entire gig (surprisingly). Soundman was excellent, stage volume was great, never touched the volume knob all night

This is funny; I had my MP-2 and MT200 running my 2x12 cab on my side of the stage and my two 1x12s on the other side, behind the bass player. I had my Peavey head sitting on top of the two 1x12s in case I needed it (in case the MP-2 died on me). The head was not plugged into anything, in fact, the speaker wire and the power cable were on top of the amp, under the handle....so, you could see nothing was hooked up. My bass player thought those cabs were too loud and turned down the volume on the Peavey head! Haha....I showed him the MT200 and said, "Channel B is running those speakers, just use this knob"

And...I forgot to get a pic of the setup (I'm so bad about getting gig shots). We have a gig on Saturday at a local pub that usually has bands outside, but it's supposed to rain Saturday, so I'm sure we'll be inside on a tiny stage. Maybe I'll remember to get a pic there. Here's a couple pics from a guy I know (one of each band)

My parts showed up for the MT100, I'll fix that later today