I agree with your assessment of the situation and your plan in general.
I have always preferred MDA to MDMA, honestly. I do find it to be significantly more psychedelic, longer lasting, and with it's own kinda serenity that means you really don't miss the extreme touchy-feely loveyness while you're on MDMA. Ultimately this kinda weirdness, a truly "altered state" with perceptual evidence in the form of hallucinations as standard versus the "inner" alteredness of pure MDMA in reasonable doses... damn, the more I write the more I wonder if this says something about me, haha...
To me it seems perfectly believable and almost a no-brainer that "pills" were broadly messy admixtures of various MDxx type compounds way back when, just thinking back to my own days of acquiring a bunch of pills of fuck knows what and the extreme variability in effect I became reasonably sure back then that I could identify MDA versus MDMA in most situations based solely on the subjective difference and the duration, I mean who knows, when you're mashed up in crazy situations, who really knows anything, I might be delusional. But then going on to sample both pure MDMA and pure MDA my initial suspicions were confirmed. Actually I wondered if I'd ever taken a "pill" that didn't have some MDMA in it, even if it was heavy on the MDA. MDA, in fact, can be a little "cold", almost, despite the serotonergic surge going on behind the scenes regardless.
I like both of 'em, don't get me wrong. And depending on context, MDMA is the superior option. I'd often prefer it if I planned to be moving around and dancing or whatever (fuck I feel old lol) because it has less tendency to induce extreme monginess where you're somehow too blissed out to think about moving from whatever lil grimy corner in an inconvenient dangerous place on a dimly lit staircase you and your crew have somehow camped out on... along with a shit ton of people going through the exact same thing. I also find it to be more socially "forcing", NOT ALWAYS, there's a definite methylene-social-mong which acts against the pro-social drive but, even so... just IIRC the prosocial effects of MDMA are more reliable. Also in intimate settings with a romantic partner MDMA is the obvious choice, exactly because of the loviness.
They overlap a lot though... I dunno exactly how close to the error margins of set and setting any of these effects really are (except the duration and psychedelia, I guess, which seems relatively objective). MDA while prone to inducing venue staircase couch-lock, can also trigger prosocial drives via - and this is purely my, probably bullshit, theory - it's own unique mechanisms of mood enhancement sufficiently silencing that lil voice so many of us have that makes us second guess just trying to make friends with a stranger - and, IME, possibly related, is that this serene bliss can manifest as a sort of unshakable confidence... of course, MDMA has this capacity too but somehow... the emotional flood that is more pronounced on MDMA makes me trust the actual implications of the effect less. Like... there are some events I recall being glad I was on MDA, sketchy ones, dead ones where some underground organizer fucked something up (or maybe it was just shit) - or even totally unplanned detours resulting in wandering around civilization trying to hide your buzzing from the normies... I actually loved that shit, on MDMA I feel I'd be anxious about getting to wherever the original plan was or some dumb shit...
I will say finally the night before I split up with my ex I stayed up all night doing about 300mg pure MDA I'd had stashed, she wasn't into drugs and I was in a somewhat bad place, if it wasn't that, it wouldn't have lasted in the long run anyway but somehow... I just did not feel catastrophically sad. A bit said, for sure. I did a lot of thinking and then we spoke the next morning calmly, amicably ended things - like, it was like I cold see things in perfect emotional Clarity and that sense was somewhat contagious... it was genuinely the kindest, most mutually respectful breakup ever.
Later on I did the typical oh fuck oh no I'm gonna try to get her back haha.... but that's just how I roll a lot of the time.
But I just could not see an analogous situation transpiring if I'd been taken MDMA instead. I woulda spent the night in bizarrely elated fear, if I could wait til morning I'll probably love-bomb her for a but until she got over her mystification and did what she woulda done eventually anyway.
Finally (lol, sorry, really gave you my life story eh) your plan to dose MDMA first and then less MDA later is perfect and optimal. Generally with repeated does the more sought after empathogenic elements of all MDxx empathogens start to fade, and conversely, the hallucinogenic, confusing effects start up. So given something like this is going to happen anyway... why not make it your choice? Otherwise you'll likely just want to try to chase some of the dragon with more MDMA instead. Also - depending if this matters to you, won't matter to everyone - to an extent everyone gets messier as the night goes on and less attuned to whatever irrelevantly nuanced differences there would be between you being MDMA-dominant vs MDA-dominant would be less and less significant. I mean, I dunno i that's been studies, who gives a fuck anyway lol I'm embarassed I typed it. I lterally just made that up completely, it's BELIEVABLE though I reckon and some people into it for the "networking" or worse... maybe I'm getting a bit conspiratorial here haha, again, just spitballing. But, some truth there, possibly.
What would happen if you took them both at once? Very likely nothing surprising, for a while you'd feel better than usual, then the feeling would start to wear off and you'd regret dosing anything too early.
Finally! Really this time... your does mentioned are impressively conservative. This isn't advocacy by any means but when I was a kid I think 6-9 pills throughout the night was to be expected, some of those wee surely on the high end, maybe like 200mg/pill, and 8 pills in you're be talking in word salad mooching about shirtless, annoying DJs, and probably being judged by those who went there without really knowing what the plan was for large groups of substance-approving attendies... then the next day you wake up in a bush some 50 miles off track... haha that last thing didn't happen to me but something pretty similar happened to a friend. This post is bringing back memories... obviously that era was crazy fucking dangerous, and people did die, and not solely from adulterants. Your own (in my eyes, ultra conservative) approach is a winner, and a silver lining around humanity's future prospects... but equally try to bear this in mind and reduce your stress on the day.
final edit... went back and read your Qs to see if I'd missed anything. You do mention specifically about wondering on the wisdom of trying both at once... honestly, while in principle it's good to try things one at a time, despite all the differences outlined (which, not every one even agrees with - some people genuinely cannot tell, iirc)... MDxx compounds are actually really NOT that diffent to either other. They synergize - there's really little chance in your current naivety you'd be able to tease out many differences. It might be like just taking a heftier dose of MDMA that day. And, honestly... you will have a good time... it's almost impossible that you won't. It''ll be a damn fun day.
IMO, anyway:
- MDMA best for lively, vibrant locations with lots of people
- MDMA best for intimacy (I mean, like, solo sex with a partner but whatever floats your both, within reason)
- MDA best for more underground, maybe less packed locations
- MDA best for just tripping in a house or somewhee normal
Oh, I forgot, missinging, MDMA maybe better coz less change if just forgetting why and where you're even walking in the first place.
Lol... feel like I really didn't do that wrap up neatly but whatever I'm tired
