Fog Lifter Vs MDA Board

Without wanting to start another war, has anyone compared the Fog Lifter to the MDA board? I would prefer just the facts and no personal opinions about the modders.

Yes.

Care to elaborate on that?

I will....I have both and they both improve the sound.

Having said that, I prefer the MDA for the ability to switch it on and back to stock in case you had a specific tone you didn't want to change. Also it has a jumper that allows you to cut the MDA's enhancement in half which is pretty cool to boot.

ricky said:

Care to elaborate on that?

Click to expand...

Sorry, was just stating the facts, here is the subjective piece:

I posted in another thread that the Foglifter does exactly what it states, less boomy crap on the Density, better range on the Presence and slightly more present mids (to my ear.)

The Salvation MDA board does similar thing but with the added feature of push/pull pot that when it's pulled out makes a *huge* difference to the effect making the amp much more focussed, immediate sounding, mid present...and well, 'huge'

IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU LIKE BOTH IN DIFFERENT WAYS. WHICH WOULD BE YOUR PREFERENCE ON AN RM50?

I haven't tried one in an RM50 yet....my 50 sounds fantastic, so haven't really messed with it.

I have MDA in Lynch Box
I have Foglifter in Lynch Box

Comparing these two, prefer the MDA

I have Foglifter in MOD50
I have a stock MOD50

The Foglifter is only a minor improvement in the MOD50 but for the money, hard to argue with having a more useable Density/Presence.

I've had both installed in my MOD100. The most I can say is they are both a vast improvement over stock, but different from one another. I believe it to be a total personal taste thing.

Hows the install on the MDA? Do you need to let Anthony know what type of board you have? (Like on the Foglifter?) or is it one size fits all? Its time for me to get one...Cant believe I havent already.

rblyn said:

Hows the install on the MDA? Do you need to let Anthony know what type of board you have? (Like on the Foglifter?) or is it one size fits all? Its time for me to get one...Cant believe I havent already.

Click to expand...

I think the RM50's all have the same board. For the MOD series amps there are two different types of connectors. I disassembled my amps and took pics of my boards for Anthony, so he could match the connectors for the MOD series amps. Again, I'm pretty sure that the RM boards are all the same (as far as connectors go).

Oh, if you can work a screwdriver and possess fingers, install is simple.

drewiv said:

if you can work a screwdriver and possess fingers, install is simple.

Click to expand...

That's what she said...

drewiv said:

rblyn said:

Hows the install on the MDA? Do you need to let Anthony know what type of board you have? (Like on the Foglifter?) or is it one size fits all? Its time for me to get one...Cant believe I havent already.

Click to expand...

I think the RM50's all have the same board. For the MOD series amps there are two different types of connectors. I disassembled my amps and took pics of my boards for Anthony, so he could match the connectors for the MOD series amps. Again, I'm pretty sure that the RM boards are all the same (as far as connectors go).

Oh, if you can work a screwdriver and possess fingers, install is simple.

Click to expand...

Thanks Drew! Sounds simple enough! This would be for my RM100's...hopefully same deal..I will send him an email and see what's needed.

I have a foglifter in my RM50.
I think it sounds better, a bit more present and less boomy.

I also have an MDA board in my LB100 with a Mercury transformer.
I wired in a toggle switch to turn on and off the jumper.
There is a nice place to put the switch on the back just below tube1 fuse.

I wanted to hear the difference in real time and be able to switch at any time, but it turns out he difference between "full" and "half" MDA is very subtle.
I wish the MDA didn't disable the Density knob, but it does sound very good, especially with MM transformer.
The combination is a huge difference from stock and sounds like a high end amp now to go with high end modules.
I also like that I can go back to stock if I want a darker sound.

A bit of an aside here, but am I incorrect in thinking that the MDA board improves the tone of the amp even when the pot is pushed in? My amp certainly sounds--or seems to sound--better with the MDA in the "off" position than it did before I installed it.

I put Fog Lifters in both of my RM50 combos. Clear and open with more air on the top is what they did for me. It's not subtle either. It makes a BIG difference. I've not tried the MDA. Not much work or cash for a major improvement though.

Honestly, I have the Foglifter in on of my amps, and its not really my thing. I generally set my presence very low, and even with it basically turned off, there are tones some great tones I could get when my amp was stock that I can't get anymore. Yes, the sound might be more clear, but I there are certain sounds I can't get anymore

I have a Foglifter installed in a RM100. Much improved in my opinion. No desire to have the stock sound.

Looking forward to getting the Foglifter and upgrading my RT2/50 soon. I have had a number of Salvation mods over the years and only recently purchased some of Jaded Faith's mods (four total). Extremely impressed!

What I would like to know is whether or not the difference is that drastic if you start off with a Randall updated presence board in the first place? I know the first few generations were cloudy or dark and the controls had to be bumped up. The later amps have different values on the presence board and they were less smokey. Could this be where a lot of people are saying they didn't notice that much of a difference vs. those who said it was night and day?

Kapo_Polenton said:

What I would like to know is whether or not the difference is that drastic if you start off with a Randall updated presence board in the first place? I know the first few generations were cloudy or dark and the controls had to be bumped up. The later amps have different values on the presence board and they were less smokey. Could this be where a lot of people are saying they didn't notice that much of a difference vs. those who said it was night and day?

Click to expand...

I think you are right. I have one of the very first RM100s and it was totally dark and not very "high fidelity" sounding until I installed the fog lifter.I also have one of the last RM100s and it doesn't need a fog lifter it sounds as good or better than the old RM100. With that being said I need to get one for my RM20.