Ada MP-1 CLASSIC Owner's Manual page 7

ADA MP-1 Classic owner's manual
VOICING
The voicing selects the overall tonal characteristic of a Program by setting the tube bias, gain
and contour equalization. This is much like selecting either the clean or dirty channel of a
channel-switching amp. but in this case, there are many more to choose from:
Voice
1
2
3
4
* There are 2 LED's on the left side of the display labeled CLEAN and DIST which change
with the voice selected, and remain on in all display modes to give the user an idea of what
kind of program it is.
OVERDRIVE 1 & 2
The OVERDRIVE settings determine the amount of gain in the front end of the preamp
before the signal is fed to the tube or solid state preamp. For any Voice, adjusting the
Overdrive parameters will result in radically different tones.
In the clean Voices, the Overdrives are set low to keep the tone crystal clean and dynamic.
Higher overdrive settings in the clean tube Voice will cause the signal to go into a warm tube
compression. In any clean Voice, the INPUT clip LED will light when going into hard clipping
as a result of too high an Overdrive setting. In the tube Overdrive Voices, setting the
Overdrive values higher results in more tube compression, sustain, drive, and harmonics.
The INPUT clip LED is disabled for the Brown and Distortion voices, since boosting the
signal to overdrive the tubes is the basis of these two Voices!
MASTER
The MASTER volume control is used to even out the relative loudness of the programs,
especially between clean and distorted programs. If this parameter is set too high, the
MASTER clip LED will light
BASS, MID, TREBLE and PRESENCE
The BASS, MID, TREBLE and PRESENCE controls are used to tailor the frequency
response of the preamp. Each band is adjustable in 2dB steps with a range of -12dB to
+12dB. It is important to note that the ADA'S exclusive contour sets the tone shape
differently for each Voice. The result is that the usable range of each of the tone controls is
over its full range. Boosting the bands will sometimes result in the TONE CONTROL clip LED
lighting. Either back off the clipping TONE CONTROL band(s) or one of the upstream
parameters in the signal path, namely the OVERDRIVE and MASTER controls.
The MP-1 CLASSIC features unique 4-band Tone Controls, where the tonal characteristics
of the four bands automatically adjusts or reconfigures when a different voice is selected. For
example, a clean voice has a very broad boost of the higher frequencies in the TREBLE and
PRESENCE range, producing sparkly shimmering highs. However, those same TREBLE and
PRESENCE controls characteristics when used in high-gain distortion voice would produce
lots of unwanted hash and sizzle. Instead, the MP-1 CLASSIC's TREBLE and PRESENCE
controls in distortion Voices are adjusted to boost and cut in the frequency ranges that
produce more crunch, more "in-your-face" tone and faster string attack. Similarly, the MID
and BASS controls frequency ranges change with the voices as well for example, the BASS
control in the clean voices is very broad, allowing for a full-bodied, warm bottom end. For
high-gain voices the Bass control is narrower, producing lots of chest-thumping bottom end
without sounding mushy. The changes in the MID control frequency for different voices
accounts for the radically different harmonic content of the various voices.
Tonal Description
Solid State Clean
Clean Tube
Brown Tube Overdrive
Classic MP-1 Tube- Distortion DIST
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LED's On*
none
CLEAN
DIST & CLEAN