[MJK]

I use to have a ADA MP1 years ago and I ran that through a carvin stereo power amp in two 4x12 cabs along with an Alesis effects processor.

I liked the flexability of that set up and running in actual stereo was awesome...

What are some of the BEST preamps out there these days??Mesa?Been looking around but of course most companies seem to focus more on amp heads than preamps.

What stereo poweramps are best out there??

What rack combos are you guys running?

And can you use these POD's,GT8s,and GNX processors as a preamp and run them through the power amp into the cabs??Or are they more for live PA and direct recording??Can you smell the NEWBitity???

I've been out of the music scene for sometime (raising da family!)and have been wanting to get back into playing more seriously now.I mainly play the usual...rock,heavy blues,some metal and have been known to shred a few sweeps when I've had too much coffee...hnoes:

All opinions (and sound clips)are welcomed!

Thanks!:icon_thum

 

[Rawker]

I toyed around with a Mesa Studio preamp some years back and thought it was kind of neat. I think that's based off the Mark II's like Metallica used in the past. Another one I liked was the Marshall JMP-1.

I only owned one power amp in my life and that was a circa 89-90 Mesa Strategy 400 power amp. I ran a Peavy head to the power amp with 2 4X12 Marshall cabs and that thing will kill small animals and anything else nearby. I had to part with much of this set up to make room for baby, so I've scaled down quite a bit.

 

[MJK]

I toyed around with a Mesa Studio preamp some years back and thought it was kind of neat. I think that's based off the Mark II's like Metallica used in the past. Another one I liked was the Marshall JMP-1.

I only owned one power amp in my life and that was a circa 89-90 Mesa Strategy 400 power amp. I ran a Peavy head to the power amp with 2 4X12 Marshall cabs and that thing will kill small animals and anything else nearby. I had to part with much of this set up to make room for baby, so I've scaled down quite a bit.

Hey thanks for the post....

Yeah,I like the older Mesa stuff...I'm probably one of the few people to say this but,I'm not liking the newer Mesa stuff.I think the newer amps sound kind of harsh...a little dry.I tried a Road King.Maybe I needed to tweak it a little more.The older Mesa stuff sounded much more gain saturated,very harmonically rich kind of drive with alot of sizzle and fat.So by what you describe,the Mesa preamps are sounding better...

Thanks!

 

[Joe King]

It all depends on the sound you want. First off, all things Pod, Digitech, Behringer, and the like are compatible with whatever power amp you want to hook up. I even know one guy using Guitar Rig by Native Instruments running through a very fast laptop into a power amp, and then on into cabs.

With that being said, look for something with dual use. Something with some speaker simulator setups to make it compatible with DI for recording. Then decide if you want tubes, or software. If you go tubes, and you like ADA as you said you had one, move up to the ADA MP-2 with the speaker sims, it's totally compatible with computer recording, but will still plug into a power amp, and rock the house. The Marshall was mentioned, the Digitech 2101 is tube as well, as is the Mesa , and that's just to name a few of the most prominent names.

Then there's the transistor/software tones. All the Line 6 options, Behringer's V-Amp, the Vox, (it has a tube, but it really doesn't do much), the Korg stuff, the Digitech RP line as well as the GNX line, and now the new GSP 1101. It's pretty much Digitech's answer to the Pod Pro rack system. I haven't heard it yet, so I can't give you any feedback on it.

I've heard stellar tones from about every unit out there, it just takes some time with them to get a good personal tone dialed, and we all go through the learning curve for the new stuff.

I bought about every transistor type tone machine out there, and wound up with an old ADA MP-2 myself, and I run it through a Mesa/Boogie 2/90 for the loud stuff, other than that it sits on my computer desktop as I mostly record with it.

Welcome back to the world of guitaring!

Cheers!

Jay

 

[MJK]

Jay...

Excellent post!
I'm glad to hear that the floor units such as the PODs and the like are compatible with power amps.Opens alot more choices.

And yes normally I would consider myself a tube guy but,I do try to keep an open mind as I have heard some nice sounds online coming from the "software" side of guitar tone.

The only fears I have about the ADA preamps is (of course) having to buy them used...I play,I hook up stuff...But I am HORRIBLE when it comes to /diagnosing and fixing electrical gremlins...

Anyone try the Carvin preamp?TN100 designed with Frank Gambale?I have used Carving equipment before and I think they put out GREAT stuff...clips didn't sound too bad either.

Thanks again Jay for the info!

-Milt

 

[xTHANATOPSISx]

With the level of tech support adadepot.com seems to offer, I wouldn't be to afraid of buying one. I've basically decided that's what I'm getting for my next non-stringed toy. For the money, they are deffinantly a decent alternative to new gear. Without adadepot, I wouldn't considder buying one. I can live without warranties, but I at least like to know there ARE people well versed in troubleshooting and repairing the gear I have around.

Averaging price of old new MP-1 with price of "new" used MP-x, you make out alright.

So yeah, I want one. Sorry, I'll stop hijacking your thread....

 

[MJK]

Sorry, I'll stop hijacking your thread....

Hahaha...

I wouldn't call it threadjacking man.You actually reassured me about people's opinions with adadepot..I did say that I wanted everyone's opinions!

Its not like if out of nowhere you started talking about "Hot Chicks"!:drool:

Not that I would mind that either!:woot:

 

[tubetonez]

Personally, I'd recommend two different setups for a rack rig. One would be the "traditional" type with a tube preamp like the ADA MP1, Marshall JMP, Mesa Triaxis etc along with a TUBE power amp. IMHO, you really need the tube power amp to get an authentic amp sound. I've run a couple of different ADA based rigs, one with a Peavey Classic 60/60 and one with a Carvin Tube 100 power amp. Previously I'd tried several sold state amps, it's a night & day difference. I hosted the adadepot site for a short time in it's infancy, a lot of good folks there and I'm glad to see they've kept ADA alive.

The other route that I'd go is with a good modeler, a regular power amp and full range PA-type cabs or powered full range cabs or monitors. This way, once your tone is tweaked for your "personal PA" rig it's going to sound pretty much the same in the main PA, DI recording etc. All of the modelers that I've tried have their shortcomings, but they all attempt to recreate every piece of an amp rig, from effects & amps to cabinets & mics.

 

[Nomik]

i use pod xt live with ada SOLID STATE power amp, its sound great.. i try few other tube power amp.. and the ada works for me the best (and he also cheap) like any thing alse in guitar world.. dont trust any one.. only in your ears! good luck.. but one thing i relly belive.. if you go for digitel preamp - go on pod xt live/pro all other digitech , Behringer and other shit like that sound relly bad near to the pod..

good luck.. and sorry for my poor english

 

[MJK]

i use pod xt live with ada SOLID STATE power amp, its sound great.. i try few other tube power amp.. and the ada works for me the best (and he also cheap) like any thing alse in guitar world.. dont trust any one.. only in your ears! good luck.. but one thing i relly belive.. if you go for digitel preamp - go on pod xt live/pro all other digitech , Behringer and other shit like that sound relly bad near to the pod..

good luck.. and sorry for my poor english

Your english was fine and thank you for your input!