First time MP1 owner

[Lyates1987]

Hi! My name is BJ. I've been playing guitar since I was 7. EVH, steve Vai, Lynch and all the shred guys are pretty much my shit. I love me some bonamassa, stevie ray vaughan, etc as well. Vito bratta brought me to the MP1. I'm familiar with the gear slutz michael wagener posts and settings he's shared for his MP1 and that has given me a great reference point to start with this preamp. The tone was close enough right off the bat. Currently running it though a DSL100 and sometimes a 6l6 5153. It is definietly sensitive to the setup on the guitar. I have an evh eolfgang special and going from that to a mahogany strat style with an SD custom custom is night and day. the out put level of the pickup isn't what separates, it's how the ada reacts to the difereant nuances of the pickup. I'm astounded. Luckily it wasn't that difficult to hone in the iconic sound of this thing. right now im looking for a good solid state rack mount power amp. Really looking at a carvin dcm200l. I'm still in bedroom environment. Got a boss tae to help with that as well. I need to run the power amp in mono because i refuse to wire a speaker cab in stereo. f**king pointless. So Ideally i need a power amp that is easily bridgable. I was looking at art Sla 2s but the speaker outputs are binding. not wanting to spend more than 400 on a power amp. Single rack preferably. Would love some recommendations other than the Carvin.

[Iperfungus]

Hi man and welcome to the Depot!  :banana-upsidedown:

I share your point of view about how the MP-1 reacts to different pickups or different shades of them.
I also share your point about those "old school" guitar heroes, especially Vito.
White Lion are one of my preferred bands yet today.

I assume there's no MP-1 owner on the planet who has not did an attempt with Michael Wagener studio settings. 

About power amps, I would suggest the Marshall Valvestate 8008: 1 rack unit, solid state, 80+80W dual channel, volume control for each channel, can be used stereo or mono (mono input, dual output or one output), long lasting, selectable Valvestate or Linear mode.
Delivers 100% Marshall tone.
I've a couple of them and they are workhorses.
It's not bridgable, but 80W on a single channel are more than enough at home.

I don't remember how the ADA MicroTube power amps work, about being bridgable. 

Another good choice is the Rocktron Velocity 150 or 300 (single rack unit version).

About cabinets...I use a Blackstar 2x12 cab that can be used mono or stereo, just like a Marshall 1922 or 1936.
If you play at bedroom level, you can easily build a stereo rig you can play with not being arrested. 

Last but not least, to improve overall sound at bedroom levels...give to a BBE 362 Sonic Maximizer a try.

[rnolan]

Hey BJ, welcome to the depot.  I've been using a DCM200l in my live rig for quite a few years now, they work well with ADA preamps and can be bridged easily.  However, I highly recommend you try stereo before you write it off.  I wouldn't run any other way as IMHO (and many others) it sounds way better.  Also you can use the chorus as a fattening very short delay (bit like double tracking a snare etc), set depth = 100 and rate = 0.  This sounds great in stereo.

[Dante]

Welcome to the depot BJ!

I found the same thing with my ADA units - each guitar has a different tone, but they all sound good. I ended up just creating a bank of 10 patches for each guitar. More than enough sounds for a 4-hour gig. The hard part was remembering which guitar went with which bank, so I put a small piece of low-tack tape on the back of each guitar's headstock with the bank #.

Poweramps; you really can't go wrong with anything that simply reproduces what you put in. Solid state is totally in the picture, and I can attest to the 8008 being a solid workhorse. I've not had any experience with the Carvin, but they always have great gear for a budget price.

Stereo; Ahhhhh...I go back & forth on this. One rule I have about running stereo is that you use two cabs. Wiring a 4x12 or 2x12 up to be stereo while sharing the same cabinet will do you no good, IMHO. Without the separation (even a wall inside the cab), the sound is just mud. While I prefer to run in stereo, our sound man is just going to mix the entire band in mono anyway, so I lose it in the mains. I hear it onstage or in my IEMs.

Sounds like you're on your way. What do you plan on using for effects? Rackmount or floor based? Both? haha

[MarshallJMP]

Hi and welcome.

For me it's stereo only, it sounds so much better if you have stereo effects. My small setup is a marshall 20/20 tube amp (1U) into 2 marshall 1x12" cabs.

[Harley Hexxe]

     Hi BJ, and welcome to the Forum!

        I completely agree with Dante about wiring a 4x12 cab for stereo, totally not worth the effort.

        It's hard to find a low-wattage power amp these days in a rack format, since people are moving away from rack gear, in favor of more compact rigs.

        As MJMP said the Marshall 20+20 is a good choice, so would be a Mesa 20/20, but I don't know if that could be bridged.

        One of my favorites is the ADA Microtube 100 power amps. It is bridgeable, but at 100 watts, that louder than anyone needs in a home, (unless you're slightly mad like me).

        I know stereo rigs aren't for everyone, but I love running my guitar with a stereo rig, and sometimes with 3-channels for a wet/dry/wet rig. And unlike Dante's sound man, I can talk mine into using two mics on my rig and panning them hard left and right. It's a great dimension to find yourself in, especially with panning delays.

        If you're dead set on a single channel setup, of course you can look at a combo amp with an effects loop, and just plug your MP-1 into the return of it to get the power amp section.

Harley 8)

[Lyates1987]

Hi man and welcome to the Depot!  :banana-upsidedown:

I share your point of view about how the MP-1 reacts to different pickups or different shades of them.
I also share your point about those "old school" guitar heroes, especially Vito.
White Lion are one of my preferred bands yet today.

I assume there's no MP-1 owner on the planet who has not did an attempt with Michael Wagener studio settings. 

About power amps, I would suggest the Marshall Valvestate 8008: 1 rack unit, solid state, 80+80W dual channel, volume control for each channel, can be used stereo or mono (mono input, dual output or one output), long lasting, selectable Valvestate or Linear mode.
Delivers 100% Marshall tone.
I've a couple of them and they are workhorses.
It's not bridgable, but 80W on a single channel are more than enough at home.

I don't remember how the ADA MicroTube power amps work, about being bridgable. 

Another good choice is the Rocktron Velocity 150 or 300 (single rack unit version).

About cabinets...I use a Blackstar 2x12 cab that can be used mono or stereo, just like a Marshall 1922 or 1936.
If you play at bedroom level, you can easily build a stereo rig you can play with not being arrested. 

Last but not least, to improve overall sound at bedroom levels...give to a BBE 362 Sonic Maximizer a try.

I appreciate the suggestions! I'll be looking into the valvestate for sure. Yea Vito takes the cake man, his style was so refined.

[Lyates1987]

Hey BJ, welcome to the depot.  I've been using a DCM200l in my live rig for quite a few years now, they work well with ADA preamps and can be bridged easily.  However, I highly recommend you try stereo before you write it off.  I wouldn't run any other way as IMHO (and many others) it sounds way better.  Also you can use the chorus as a fattening very short delay (bit like double tracking a snare etc), set depth = 100 and rate = 0.  This sounds great in stereo.

I'm defintiely not ruing stereo out, I just prefer it with separate cabs as opposed to 1 cab run in stereo. I will play in stereo when i'm playing through my DAW and out my monitors. I can do some fun stuff with that!

[Lyates1987]

Welcome to the depot BJ!

I found the same thing with my ADA units - each guitar has a different tone, but they all sound good. I ended up just creating a bank of 10 patches for each guitar. More than enough sounds for a 4-hour gig. The hard part was remembering which guitar went with which bank, so I put a small piece of low-tack tape on the back of each guitar's headstock with the bank #.

Poweramps; you really can't go wrong with anything that simply reproduces what you put in. Solid state is totally in the picture, and I can attest to the 8008 being a solid workhorse. I've not had any experience with the Carvin, but they always have great gear for a budget price.

Stereo; Ahhhhh...I go back & forth on this. One rule I have about running stereo is that you use two cabs. Wiring a 4x12 or 2x12 up to be stereo while sharing the same cabinet will do you no good, IMHO. Without the separation (even a wall inside the cab), the sound is just mud. While I prefer to run in stereo, our sound man is just going to mix the entire band in mono anyway, so I lose it in the mains. I hear it onstage or in my IEMs.

Sounds like you're on your way. What do you plan on using for effects? Rackmount or floor based? Both? haha

Right now I'm running my effects in the loop of the MP1 and it seems to take it very well. I use a boss harmonist for my chorus effect and it loves that thing! I think for delay I'm leaning toward a good rack mount but I haven't delved into that quite yet. Right now I'm playing around with the MP1 and finding settings I like. I;ve found that this thing sounds great with an SD1 as a boost. Right now I like to play a tamed version of the michael Wagener settings. I left the EQs the same but switched the gains to 4.0 OD1, 3.2 OD2, and 6 on the MG. I swapped some JJ ECC803S tubes in to see how that would sounds. I read that this thing loves the Mullard Re-Issues and that's great because I love those too and am currently running them in a few spots in the EVH and spots 1-3 in my JCM2000. Gonna pull the trigger on a fresh set soon. I haven't decided if I am going to make them Hi gain or not. I'm kinda leaning toward no on that because I'm worried about too much fizz. I'm not a fan of fizz so for me gain is usually down and boosted when i need to.

[rabidgerry]

I assume there's no MP-1 owner on the planet who has not did an attempt with Michael Wagener studio settings. 

I have never tried this as I usually find trying other peoples settings is pointless unless you have their exact same setup and I also am not a guy who is into that tone necessarily so I guess I'm the odd man out 

I like the work Michael Wagener has done with Raven and Accept but the American bands he worked with aren't my pint of vodka.

Another good choice is the Rocktron Velocity 150 or 300 (single rack unit version).

Brilliant solid state amps, not just your ordinary SS poweramp, they have some organic feel to them, they weigh 11kg though!  I own two of them and rate them highly.

Hi and welcome.

For me it's stereo only, it sounds so much better if you have stereo effects. My small setup is a marshall 20/20 tube amp (1U) into 2 marshall 1x12" cabs.

As MJMP say's it' better.  I play in a single guitar band and stereo was a game changer for me for all those guy's who said we needed two guitars.  Most of my sounds have a chorus on simply for width and not necessarily for the "ah he has a chorus" on sound although I do that too!

I've multiple setups smallest being like a 2U setup and using an Ibanez Tube King as my preamp into a Koch ATR4502 then into a Boss GX700.  That's what I last took on a plane to Germany.  Then at the show we would be provided two 4x12" but you could easily use 2x12@ in stereo or 2x 1x12" anything at all really so long as you have two and two channels on your amp.

Bigger setups of mine include more in the rack and more cabs.

        I know stereo rigs aren't for everyone, but I love running my guitar with a stereo rig, and sometimes with 3-channels for a wet/dry/wet rig. And unlike Dante's sound man, I can talk mine into using two mics on my rig and panning them hard left and right. It's a great dimension to find yourself in, especially with panning delays.

It annoys me that I am also pursuing this  Just don't know when to stop.

[Lyates1987]

I assume there's no MP-1 owner on the planet who has not did an attempt with Michael Wagener studio settings. 

I have never tried this as I usually find trying other peoples settings is pointless unless you have their exact same setup and I also am not a guy who is into that tone necessarily so I guess I'm the odd man out 

I like the work Michael Wagener has done with Raven and Accept but the American bands he worked with aren't my pint of vodka.

Another good choice is the Rocktron Velocity 150 or 300 (single rack unit version).

Brilliant solid state amps, not just your ordinary SS poweramp, they have some organic feel to them, they weigh 11kg though!  I own two of them and rate them highly.

Hi and welcome.

For me it's stereo only, it sounds so much better if you have stereo effects. My small setup is a marshall 20/20 tube amp (1U) into 2 marshall 1x12" cabs.

As MJMP say's it' better.  I play in a single guitar band and stereo was a game changer for me for all those guy's who said we needed two guitars.  Most of my sounds have a chorus on simply for width and not necessarily for the "ah he has a chorus" on sound although I do that too!

I've multiple setups smallest being like a 2U setup and using an Ibanez Tube King as my preamp into a Koch ATR4502 then into a Boss GX700.  That's what I last took on a plane to Germany.  Then at the show we would be provided two 4x12" but you could easily use 2x12@ in stereo or 2x 1x12" anything at all really so long as you have two and two channels on your amp.

Bigger setups of mine include more in the rack and more cabs.

        I know stereo rigs aren't for everyone, but I love running my guitar with a stereo rig, and sometimes with 3-channels for a wet/dry/wet rig. And unlike Dante's sound man, I can talk mine into using two mics on my rig and panning them hard left and right. It's a great dimension to find yourself in, especially with panning delays.

It annoys me that I am also pursuing this  Just don't know when to stop.

Yea, white lion and extreme aren't everyone's cup of tea (or pint of vodka). I'm mainly in it for the guitar skills and tones (yes Mike Tramp does make me cringe sometimes, but white lion was musically fantastic).  The general production on those records is really good. Michael new exactly what he was doing. The reason I went with the MW settings is because I did not exactly know where to start with the MP1. I figured that would be a great starting point that I can tweak from there to my liking.

As far as stereo, I currently only have 1 cab due to having to play in my bedroom but like I said above, I will never wire a single cab to stereo, just seems moot.

I'm loving the suggestions for which single rack PW to go with. I wish I could fit 2 cabs in my bedroom so I can run in stereo with a Single rack PW but have no problem settling for mono.


I appreciate all the suggestions and feel very welcomed here! Looking forward gathering as much knowledge about this preamp as I can!!

[Harley Hexxe]

     Hey BJ,

         When it comes to learning about the MP-1, you've come to the right place

         I'm assuming that the cab you have is a 4x12, which is a bit of overkill of a bedroom. You really can't crank it up close to where it needs to be to move the air it was designed to do, unless you are looking for an excuse to get new replacement windows installed

         For a rig like that even 2x12's can be a bit much. Maybe a pair of 1x12" or even 1x10" cabs would be plenty. Orange makes some great sounding 10" VOW speaker cabs that are killer for guitar, and I think they handle a decent amount of power. Every now and then, I see these pop up on evil-bay. The same goes for some of these single rack power amps, but check the seller's ratings! There are a lot of shady characters on there these days.

         Here's another thought that occurred to me, If you can find a pair of powered FRFR studio monitors for a decent price, try plugging the MP-1 into those at a music store, and see what you get out of them.


Harley 8)

*Edit*  I take that back. Orange only has 1x12" and 1x8" ext cabs. I guess the 10" speakers are only available in the combo amps.

[rabidgerry]

ENGL does a 10" https://www.thomann.de/gb/engl_e110_gigmaster_cabinet_110.htm but that price is shocking 

quite a few here ranging in prices also

https://www.thomann.de/gb/misc_guitar_cabinets.html?oa=pra

Don't get me wrong btw about White Lion or any of those bands, just not my thing so those tones don't interest me.  I guess My interest in the MP1 is largely because it was a Marshall-esque device in a rack format and was a lot more versatile.  I do however prefer my Peavey Rockmaster pre-amps.

[Lyates1987]

     Hey BJ,

         When it comes to learning about the MP-1, you've come to the right place

         I'm assuming that the cab you have is a 4x12, which is a bit of overkill of a bedroom. You really can't crank it up close to where it needs to be to move the air it was designed to do, unless you are looking for an excuse to get new replacement windows installed

         For a rig like that even 2x12's can be a bit much. Maybe a pair of 1x12" or even 1x10" cabs would be plenty. Orange makes some great sounding 10" VOW speaker cabs that are killer for guitar, and I think they handle a decent amount of power. Every now and then, I see these pop up on evil-bay. The same goes for some of these single rack power amps, but check the seller's ratings! There are a lot of shady characters on there these days.

         Here's another thought that occurred to me, If you can find a pair of powered FRFR studio monitors for a decent price, try plugging the MP-1 into those at a music store, and see what you get out of them.


Harley 8)

*Edit*  I take that back. Orange only has 1x12" and 1x8" ext cabs. I guess the 10" speakers are only available in the combo amps.

You're correct there, I do have a 4x12. Stereo set up will eventually become a part of my life. I've got a couple amp heads in which 2 of them are 100 watters so that's mainly why i've been sticking with the 4x12. I use a Boss TAE for attenuation in the bedroom. I'm going to be clear on attenuators, there is not a single attenuator around that does not suck out tone in some way shape or form, but the boss TAE is about as good as it gets for me. I thought it was better than the UA ox, more shit you can do with it etc. I was looking into getting an EVH 2x12 at one point but I only have room to stack it on or under the 4x12, no space for Left or Right stereo set up. I actually do play around with stereo effects through my DAW which I can hook my MP1 straight into with my audio interface or into the effects loop of the TAE and into the interface. but I will say when I play, I get off to feeling the sound and tone through my 4x12 because you just can't compare when playing through studio monitors. Yes, hearing problems will be part of my future lol

[Lyates1987]

ENGL does a 10" https://www.thomann.de/gb/engl_e110_gigmaster_cabinet_110.htm but that price is shocking 

quite a few here ranging in prices also

https://www.thomann.de/gb/misc_guitar_cabinets.html?oa=pra

Don't get me wrong btw about White Lion or any of those bands, just not my thing so those tones don't interest me.  I guess My interest in the MP1 is largely because it was a Marshall-esque device in a rack format and was a lot more versatile.  I do however prefer my Peavey Rockmaster pre-amps.

I've been able to get some good marshall tones out of this thing. To be frank the Michael Wagener settings had too much gain for my taste in playing and feel. I trimmed OD2 down to 3.2, left OD1 at 4 and trimmed the master down to 6 leaving the EQs in place I love what I'm getting from that. I'm not into a tone of distortion or gain. Not into the super fizzy stuff, just a good saturated crunch. I have read good things about the rockmasters. May get one for the hell of some day, I got the rackspace!