What the hell is that?! Possible "prototype"?

[StanSki]

(vid ref here for you youngsters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l5tpY6SXMc)

So Kim throws me this Viper (hat tip) and it has this pedal with it to control the channels. Cool enough, but it displays some interesting writing and marks of human intervention...


The front panel with 4 switches and 4 LEDs.


Writing says: Snake Charmer Proto 3-23 (3 being the strongest number of the blob)-95 (3/23/95)


Markings showing LED spacing for drilling.


Internals: Board, jack, switches, etc.


The rear panel.

Is this someone's project?
Is it an official piece of ADA history?
What the hell is that?!

[MarshallJMP]

I think I also have something like this but mine is in a DS-4 housing,but the PCB looks the same.I always wondered what it was used for so now I know.Jur gave it to me years ago.

[rnolan]

Seems like ADA history from 1995..

[MarshallJMP]

From what I can tell they used a ADA 4x4 midi pedal housing and they put in another pcb so it can switch the viper.

Took some pics of the pedal I have and the PCB is almost identical.But mine is housed in a DS-4 pedal (one button not used)

[MarshallJMP]

Here's the schematic of the switch if someone is interested.

[Harley Hexxe]

I vaguely remember those 4x4 pedals now that I see a pic of one again. I also remember thinking at the time, that I didn't like the slider switch on a foot pedal for switching MIDI, that it wasn't a practical pedal for me.

   It looks like Kim got his hands on one of the first Vipers before they officially went into production, or at least it's a very strong possibility.

     Harley 8)

[MarshallJMP]

Strange they put it in different housings, I wonder why. We seem to have 2 prototypes already.

[Harley Hexxe]

Strange they put it in different housings, I wonder why. We seem to have 2 prototypes already.

   They were experimenting, and used what was on hand at the time of development to see if they could get it to work in a real time live situation. More than likely, they hadn't decided on the footswitch functions and features yet. That's why you have a DS-4 switch that was modified for this amp. They may have wanted to add another function to the foot switch, but decided against it later on in the testing of the amp. With these combo amps, it seems ADA wanted to streamline and simplify their equipment line so it would appeal to the simple minds that were dominating the music scene at the time. You have to remember in the 90's the Grunge scene was pooh-poohing anyone who used rack gear at the time.

    Harley 8)

[MarshallJMP]

yeah could be, I wonder were Jur got it from ?

[Harley Hexxe]

   If I remember this right, didn't Jur buy all the leftover stock parts from ADA as a bulk package? That was probably thrown in with it.

[MarshallJMP]

No that was all the paperwork from ADA.

[Harley Hexxe]

I remember he had a lot of NOS parts at one time. I was also thinking about this, that foot switch may have been the very first they used in the development of the foot switch for the Viper. They would have started with a 5-button switch, in case they needed to add something, but decided to just leave it at 4 buttons, so they grabbed a 4x4 case and used that instead for the second prototype. They probably got a price quote that was better for the 4x4 style box than the DS-4 style, which had been out of production for a while already.

[MarshallJMP]

All the NOS stuff came from the Belgian importer here in Brussels. He still has a lot of ADA stuff but he won't sell it. Also lot's of parts. I bought my 2 ADA cabs and my MXC pedal pack from him. He also has the serial nr 1 MP-2.

[vansinn]

EDIT: Perhaps this discussion is best split off to a separate thread..


To my knowledge, from talks with Jur and SAN back then around and after the time when Jur had gotten diagnosed with cancer and gave me the ADADepot, Jur bought complete drawers with spare parts sometime after ADA had been reported gone from the scene.
Jur did not buy these from ADA, but rather from John Nady.

ADA and Nady had arranged that ADA could use some of Nady's unused ware house space.
Once the ADA stuff were inside Nady's space, John Nady, allegedly with police present, simply refused ADA access to his ware house, and thus ADA lost these drawers, which included some paperworks too.
Later, Jur contacted John Nady, whom quite willingly sold-off those drawers to Jur; IIRC, to the tune of some $600 or so..

What in my humble opinion took place was that John Nady were in contact with other parties who would love to see ADA disappear - because at this point, halfways everybody known on the scene were using ADA gear.
Thus, some random European buying the spare parts came as a blessing to "them", whoever "they" might've been..
Methinks "they" would likely have been some Hormone Group sitting, or about to position themselves, at the top of the gear/software music industry, later to buy up a number of other bizzes in order to control the market.
Cry out the modern buzz phrase conspiracy theory if you will..

[Harley Hexxe]

All the NOS stuff came from the Belgian importer here in Brussels. He still has a lot of ADA stuff but he won't sell it.

   Well what is he going to do with that stuff, just sit on it?