MP1 value...

[Dante]

@Dante, that's a nice rig my friend  . 

It is! Picture this; a 4-channel preamp....remind you of anything? Like an MP-1 Classic? It's only got one clean though and 3 dirts....one of them could be classified as a 'Brown' sound.

So, it's Tube Clean, Crunch, Lead, and ULTRA. The Ultra is pretty much MP-2 territory. It sounds great (of course) and it's PROGRAMMABLE. Yup, 128 patches. It has onboard effects that I don't use.

What died in your MP-2 way back when?  My main MP-2 I bought new back in the early 90's has never missed a beat (it does get shitty when I run it on flaky generator power so I bought the 1.5KVA battery UPS for those moments).  And it's still going strong (touch wood LoL)

Not entirely sure what made it 'die' on my, other than old age and lots of movement via gigging.

It was making more hum than tone. Now, it's just kinda noisy IIRC (been awhile since I plugged it in) but I seem to remember hearing all that noise in the background while I'm playing. The Gate tames it, but yeah, probably needs some new parts still

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey vmaxvmax,

I believe that was Richard who commented on the speaker impedance  ;)

But it sounds like you're good to go.

That's an amusing little anecdote with Steve Marriot, but I do agree, having your amps leveled out with the stage volume and blending in with everyone is always a good time. Unfortunately, most guitar players turn their amps up way too loud, and I've been guilty of that in the past too, and that just makes a mess of the whole thing.

Between my ADA gear and my Fender gear, I could bury just about anyone on the stage volume. I just don't like to do that. Maybe I'm getting old 

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Richard,

I understand you want to keep the gear down, but there's really no way around stereo without two cabs. No matter what you do with a single 2x12 cab, you just can't get the width or stereo image out of one cab. The only way to do that is to send each channel through the PA and trust the sound man knows what to do.

With what you are wanting to do, the 2x12 cab would just be a personal guitar amp monitor cab for you and the rest would have to go through the mixing desk.

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Dante,

   The "Brown" is one of the voices of the Classic, and I think the voice LEDs will show both the clean and distortion tube voices active to produce it.

Ultra? Did you find a way to modify your Classic?  :???:

[rnolan]

Well we are getting a bit off topic (MP-1 value). Maybe I should split this off before Kim does it for us LoL...  Not to worry. 

@ Dante, my MP-2 has been down many a dirt track in the back of a ute (I think you US guys call them pick ups?) and it's still fine, seriously, after all these years it's still going strong and sounding awesome, all I've done is changed tubes. I just finished a rehearsal with it, it's just purring away like always and sounding fantastic...  Although I hear you, hence I bought a couple more MP-2s just in case.  I have 2 in my studio rig, one with noise mod and screen replacement, the other was US model but I swapped tranies (so is now 240v) with another spare which has some slight issues (ribbon cable) and gave that one to MikeB. 

@ Harley, yeah down sizing is where I'm at (like you guys).  I used to use this 2 x 12" cab in stereo with my MP-1 rig for smaller gigs or mic'd up for larger gigs (or I'd use a quad box running stereo). Hey it's easier to put in the boot than my 2 x ADA slant split stacks or 2 x Messa P112s (my other choices).  And yes 2 cabs with some space between them does sound better  .  However, since I'm also the sound engineer for the band (you get the picture). Since I use a MP-2 I can also send the cab emulated outs to the FOH (if I need to), which I control... 

@vmaxvmax, I'm perplexed by how may guitarists have negative experiences with sound guys.  It seems there are quite a few (sound guys) who just don't get it  but then they (particularly the younger ones) don't seem to understand subs  and crossover points either (they cross them over way to high and make the bass guitar a mush). One band I used to mix (live) for allot, I got them (the 2 guitar players) to run their Peavey Bandits like monitors angling back at them, so they could hear themselves fine, and they didn't affect the FOH mix.  As a guitarist I understand, that you need to hear yourself at the right vol on stage (so you relax and play better), I miked them up so they also sounded good in the FOH, so everyone happy.  It isn't that hard (well to me anyway)...

[Dante]

I am officially off topic

Hey Dante,

   The "Brown" is one of the voices of the Classic, and I think the voice LEDs will show both the clean and distortion tube voices active to produce it.

Ultra? Did you find a way to modify your Classic?  :???:

No, I was just saying the head I use has 4 channels (like a Classic) and one sounds like the Classic's Brown sound.

the channels (aka voicings)
Clean
Crunch
Lead
Ultra

Clean = Tube clean, definitely not an ADA solid state clean
Crunch = Brown soundish (nails it with a bit of the boost button)
Lead = Big rock distortion, bordering on Metal
Ultra = MP2 territory, very big, fat.....great for scooped mids and the devil's tuning (drop D)

So, in essence, I've found my Classic in a small tube head format. Whatever the format, I just want something reliable, which I have now...because it's only 8-10 years old. Wait 20 more, let's see where I am then ;)

[Harley Hexxe]

Okay, back on topic;

I'm looking at stock MP-1s, unmodified, going for a minimum of $700 USD, to as much as $1100. The minimum was right around what they cost when they were new. In a few more years, I'd hate to see what the prices would get to. That's absurd for something with all that mileage 

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Richard,

I'm only downsizing for certain places that don't let me use an actual amp. For places that do, I still drag out my Fender Cyber-rig, and that's three combos. The plus about those is I can still plug direct to the mixing desk and trim the volume on stage down as low as I want, and I still get to hear my rig in W/D/W.  If I just want a stereo rig, I can use a small 6RU head and a pair of Split-Stacks and that works too. I'm just not going to haul the 22RU effects rack, power amp rack, and all the Split-Stacks to a gig unless they pay me enough.  ;)

[rnolan]

Hey Harley, MP-1 prices have been climbing for a while now, go figure  . 

I used to use this 2 x 12 cab I'm rejuvenating for small gigs back in the day.  At some point I'll build a small combo with 2 x 10", a MP-2, MultiFx and 1 RU power amp.  Mean time, it will work reasonably well with my cut back 4 RU MP-2 rig and can be micked, and/or DI from the MP-2 cab sim outs for medium sized gigs.