Calling all A Designs MP-2 owners!

  • Thread starter Thread starter justharold
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justharold said:
OK, I just got my MP-2...

I barely had time to get it out of the box and hook it up before I had to do a session. I had to record a female vocalist.

I ran her through my Neumann TLM103 and was quite impressed with what I was hearing. Her first take, however, was a tad hot (not that she was distorting or anything...she just pegged the meter on occassions).

So, I backed her off a bit and had her run through it again.

But...before I did...I noticed that the Output Impedence was set for 10k. I then switched it to 600. The sound quality went from good...to GREAT!

After she was done I asked her if she minded doing the first verse again. Only this time I ran her through my Focusrite VoiceMaster.

Just to compare, you know...

Only...there was no comparison. The A Designs blew the VM away. Totally and completely.

I am a happy man, I tell you. :)
Click to expand...

yea I use the ATTY after the pre...connect it to the outputs of the MP2

Interesting that you like 600 over the 10K maybe its the mic but I always use 10K for vox sounds cleaner to my ears.... YMMV

glad to see your a happy owner, another great thing about A-Designs is the customers service, second to none and Pete is a great guy.
 
Teacher,

You are right about the 10k setting. That is, for everyone else that I have recorded SINCE that first female. With her, the 600 was INFINITELY better. However, on myself and on another fellow that I recorded today, the 10k was better. Rather substantially, in fact.

You are also right about Pete. I called the company today to ask them about the settings (whether there was a "right or wrong"). I talked to Pete. Man, he talked to me like I was his brother or something (wait...that's not a great comparison...I dislike talking to my brother. ;) )

Anyway...he's a great guy! VERY helpful.

He, too, said most folks prefer 10k but that it was OK to go either way. It is kind of nice to have the extra flexibilty.
 
I use 600 when DIing Bass, kick and snare...seems to give a low mid bumb in the freq spectrum
 
No, there's definetly no hype about A Designs. In fact they should be better known. The MP1/MP2 is one of the best preamps you can buy at that price point. Great sound. I like the zero-feedback concept a lot. But I never found much use for the 10K setting. The 600 ohms setting sounded much cleaner to me on every source. The only thing I found disappointing was the instrument input, at least on instruments with passive electronics.
 
You know what I'm finding? That the 10k-600ohm switch seems to work better/worse with different mics.

For instance, on my TLM103 the 600ohm setting seems to sound better. Yet with, say, my AKG C414 B-ULS the 10k is better.

Hmmm...interesting...(to me, anyway)

Rossi, have you tried the instrument input since they reworked it and put it on the front of the unit?
 
No, the unit I had (for a review) was an old one with the instrument input on the rear. I haven't been able to check if they changed the electronic layout. The impedance was a bit low, I think only 100k. The specs on the webpage and manual are still the same I think. I felt there was a lack in definition at least with the basses and guitars I used. Nonetheless a great piece of gear. A review colleague of mine recently bought one on my recommendation and was absolutely stunned by the sound. He also uses it on synthesizers a lot.

The impedance switch shouldn't really affect the way a microphone performes. The sound it produces in 10 k mode should depend more on the device it feeds, i.e. the soundcard. Generally speaking, output impedance ought to be low and input impedance should be high. So the 600 ohms setting is the better (cleaner) one at the expense of lower output level.
 
Rossi said:
So the 600 ohms setting is the better (cleaner) one at the expense of lower output level.
Click to expand...

That is definitly contrary to my experience 600 seems to have more color and it definitly has a higher output

I have an MP2-r which Pete graciously put the DI's in the front(The only one in the world last I heard :D ), maybe he crossed some wires in the process by accident.
 
The 10 K setting ought to be the one that gives you a boost. I'm sure Peter would confirm that. He may even say so in the manual.
 
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