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[Syntho]

There exists a nice pdf book for the Boss GT series of pedalboards that's chock full of patch programming advice. Does something like that exist for the MP1? If not, is there something like a compendium of threads listed somewhere? I guess my next best option is reading every thread on this forum that I possibly can, but that'd take forever!

[vansinn]

Nope, no such compendium available.
WRT search, you best option will likely be to use google like this:

Code: [Select]

site:/adadepot.com mp-1 mp1 +"question string"

And, you yourself said it, read a lot - and ask a bunch of questions

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Syntho,

    A good place to start would be the owners manual. They're available in .pdf download.

    Go here to get them:  http://adadepot.com/index.php?topic=111.0

[rnolan]

IIRC the MP-1 manual is quite good regarding advice and ideas, also MP-1s aren't that complicated. As Harley says it's a good place to start.  Then there's also a bunch of patch ideas in the patch section, and ask questions to your hearts content, lots of answerer's around here LoL

[Syntho]

A few questions:

1) When using the distortion voicing for heavy rhythm, should I treat OD1 somewhat as a 'boost pedal', and OD2 as the amp's distortion? That looks like a decent way to look at it considering OD1 is pre-tube and OD2 is the tube gain itself: OD2 for the main dirt and OD1 to saturate it further and push it over the edge.

2) Is the Master gain simply an overall level control so that you can attain uniform gain between all of your patches? Or does it also contribute to the amount of dirt? I think it's the former.

3) Is there a consensus as to whether the clean tube voicing or the S.S. voicing is better for cleans? Or just one being better than the other, overall? I'm guessing that for ultra-cleans, S.S. is probably better, but for cleans that could benefit from a little 'sparkle' on top, the clean tube voicing is probably better.

4) I looked at some Paul Gilbert patches and I'm confused at how he has OD1 set to 0 on some of his patches. I thought that would cause no sound to come out at all 

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Syntho,

      I'm not really sure if that is a good way to look at OD1 and OD2, after all there are two tubes in the MP-1. It's my guess that you are actually regulating the amount of overdrive between V1 and V2.

    The master control is for the overall level of the preset level to help balance presets from one to the next. You may want to set your lead presets to have a boost from your rhythm presets.

    There hasn't really been any debate about which is better for clean tones between SS or tube, they are both good, and both have their distinct tonal characteristics. It's best to let your ears decide which clean tone suits you better for the specific song you are playing. I've even gone as far as to crank up the OD1 and OD2 in the clean tube voicing and made it overdrive like a distorted amp. So there is no real limit to how you can manipulate your sound.

     That isn't necessarily true about the PG presets. Bear in mind at the time Paul was in Racer X, he was plugging his rack into his amplifier stacks, so this may have been to keep from over powering his power amp section.

[Syntho]

The manual says that the OD1 "attenuates the pre-tube input signal", so that's where I got the idea from. I guess they're talking about the 2nd tube?

Concerning the Master parameter, the boost you speak of is in terms of volume and not 'gain' (distortion), right?

I read rnolan say that with OD1 set at 0 that there is no sound at all. I went and checked, and sure enough, there's no sound. I don't see how PG got any sound out of his amp with OD1 set to 0

PS: In a patch thread titled something like RiphRaph, a metal patch was given with OD1 and OD2 both set at 9 with the D.T. voicing. They mentioned that there was lots of noise/squealing with it set like that. I went over to my MP-1 and cranked OD1 and OD2 both to 10, and the Master to just wherever I needed it, but there's not a lot of noise or squealing. And that's with a boost pedal in front of it! It's just a nice high-gain sound. There's a little more noise, sure, but it sounds normal for that, and without feedback. Does my MP-1 have some kind of noise mod done to it or something? I wonder how to check for that. Hmm... http://adadepot.com/index.php?topic=118.0

[MarshallJMP]

It's like you say, the OD1 controls the gain of the "booster" (clean tube is clean boost , dist tube is mid boost) and OD2 is the gain between the first and second tube.

[rnolan]

IIRC El (El Chiguete) experimented with setting OD2 = 0 with some good results, but as you say, OD1 at 0 means no signal so I don't know why the PG patches are listed like that 
One difference with the SS for cleans is that OD2 becomes a compressor level which is only available in the SS voice.
It's good your unit isn't too noisy at high gain  , there are trim pots for OD1 and OD2 and where they are set will have some impact.  To check for mods post pics of the internals and MJMP should be able to tell.
Yes the master is the overall level of each patch to balance them with each other for how you play, it doesn't add distortion.  The idea is to set your loudest patch and reference everything to that (so you get a good boost going from rhythm to lead etc)

OD1 does attenuate the pre-tube input signal, it controls how much of the signal coming in the input is sent to the first tube V1 (or SS circuit), or as MJMP says the gain of the booster (which I assume is an OppAmp?), higher OD1 levels drive V1 into clipping.

[MarshallJMP]

Yes the booster is an opamp, the famous U4.

Take some pics of it and send them to me (email) or post them here and I can take a look if it's modded in any way.

[ddt]

IIRC El (El Chiguete) experimented with setting OD2 = 0 with some good results, but as you say, OD1 at 0 means no signal so I don't know why the PG patches are listed like that 
One difference with the SS for cleans is that OD2 becomes a compressor level which is only available in the SS voice.
It's good your unit isn't too noisy at high gain  , there are trim pots for OD1 and OD2 and where they are set will have some impact.  To check for mods post pics of the internals and MJMP should be able to tell.
Yes the master is the overall level of each patch to balance them with each other for how you play, it doesn't add distortion.  The idea is to set your loudest patch and reference everything to that (so you get a good boost going from rhythm to lead etc)

OD1 does attenuate the pre-tube input signal, it controls how much of the signal coming in the input is sent to the first tube V1 (or SS circuit), or as MJMP says the gain of the booster (which I assume is an OppAmp?), higher OD1 levels drive V1 into clipping.

Correct, I went through the patches myself too and all those with OD1=0 produce nothing else than noise, or a very faint signal. Do we know what is the source of these patches, where they come from? I am not sure why Paul would have them like that.

[rnolan]

Hey ddt, I've no idea where those PG patches came from, someone else may remember?? this is a very old thread.  Given that OD-1=0 basically shuts all input to the gain stage(s), they must be wrong     One reason I can think of to do that would be to have a "blank" patch e.g. if you are splitting your guitar output across a few different preamps/inputs and you wanted to use midi patch changes to select (or turn off) one or more of them for the particular sound you want.  But then why just have OD-1=0? may as well 0 all the parameters (which IIRC is the default for a new/unused patch). 

Another reason might be to have it as a kind of template for new patches where you want different OD-1 drives/settings for various sounds but you like the basic shape (eq/chorus/master vol etc.) of the patch.  So can pull up that patch, adjust the OD-1 for you current need and then store the result elsewhere when you are happy.  But I'm just speculating.

[Harley Hexxe]

I'm curious if anyone ever tried plugging the output of the MP-1 into the input of an amplifier, to see if that 0 setting on OD1 produced any kind of sound? (Sort of like using the MP-1 as a Boost pedal, although that is a weird way to get that effect).

Still, you need some kind of level in OD1 to start getting any tone at all. That may be a typo. It could have been a 9, but someone didn't catch it. I'd have to go look at where OD2 is set with that to see if it makes any sense. I could see OD1 at 9 while OD2 is set at 0, because you'd still get a crunchy overdriven tone that way.

Just sayin'

[rnolan]

Hey Harley, I have run a MP-1 into amp inputs but not with OD-1=0 (no sound no point  ). I pretty much bought the first MP-1 that came into Australia, and I worked it into my "then" rig until I bought (could afford) a B200s, Quadverb and AM802 8 ch desk and built a rack setup.  Back then I was using 2 Marshall heads (1973 50w (with Tom Shultz power soak) & 100w Artist), Rockman X100 (for lead boost as neither Marshalls had master vol or channel switching).  I had a Korg digital delay and a Korg stereo chorus (pedals) and a A/B/A+B switch up front (and the 100w Artist had spring reverb  ).  The X100 has a stereo in (for playing along to tracks) so I plugged the MP-1 outs into that.  IIRC the MP-1 input came off one of the Marshall Artist 4 inputs and the Rockman outs (L/R) went to each Marshall via a couple of resisters to bring the line lv signal down to inst level.  It all sounded pretty good but was very squealy when not playing (not surprising considering I had 4 preamps going with A+B switched), the band called it the beast.  Anyway then I built the rack and never looked back, no more annoying pedals/pedal dancing, or power needed at your feet, programmable lead boost and fx, heaven on a stick.

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Richard,

I only mentioned that to see if anyone got any kind of tone with that particular OD setting. Truth be told, I believe whoever typed up those presets to post on line might have had a moment of dyslexia, and reversed OD1 and OD2. That would seem to make more sense, but anything is possible.

Maybe contacting Paul and asking if he remembers any of that from back in the day?