Avalon U5 tricks?

[Son of Bovril]

Ok, I've finally spent some time with the avalon. From what I read the objective of this DI/preamp is to get the cleanest/purest signal from your bass to the board/amp without changing the sound... right? Now I don't have any gear for measuring just exactly how close that signal is to the one directly from the bass, I can however confirm that there is definitely something else going on inside that box though

Even with the eq bypassed, it's almost like there are more harmonics and added presence and fattness to the tone? but there is no tubes and supposedly no added "color"?

so whats the deal... are you telling me that this is how my bass always sounded but all the other amps i tried just never reproduced it properly?

[ModuMan]

I'd like to learn more about it as well. I do use the Tone control (I favor 2) but would be interested to know what else is going on.

[Son of Bovril]

It certainly adds fullness to the low end, enough so that I actually cut back slightly on the low end compared to all my other preamps.

I was at first concerned because I already own an EBS microbass and thought the Avalon being SS would be very similar sounding but it is completely different to my ear... much warmer, richer and more detailed. It even seemed to add more character than the aguilar tube DI I've tried before...

[KJung]

To me, the Avalon has a voice... very wide and pure in 'no EQ' mode (kind of like a 'super buffering effect'). IMO, it is a MUCH better DI than it is a preamp for use in live performance driving a power amp.... those 'baked in' voicings with the tone control are for the most part too extreme (for me anyway), and that super wide voice is typically just what you don't want for a bass in many contexts.

IMO, better to use tools as they were designed... DI's for DI, bass specific preamps for live performance bass amplification (or even better, an expertly voiced and preamp/amp matched all in one head that has a tone profile you like, the power you need, and enough on-board EQ to keep that tone you like relatively constant from room to room).

IMO and IME!

[Son of Bovril]

Yeah I agree, in many styles of music the wide open tone is not actually what you are looking for and it seems counter productive to be degrading the tone of the U5 with other inline effects/eq unless they are of the same quality...