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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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$452.60
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9.7
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Description:
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U5 SPECIFICATIONS
Circuit Topology: 100% discrete, high-voltage Class A
Gain: Switched 3dB steps, maximum gain 30dB
Input Impedance: 3 ,000,000 ohm unbalanced (single ended)
Maximum Input Level 24dBu unbalanced, 400w speaker input
Output Connectors (2): XLR type, pin 2 hot electronic balanced
Maximum Output Level (Class A): 30dBu DC coupled, balanced 600 ohms (mic and line out)
Headphone Output: 0.5w into 600 ohms
Noise 20kHz Unweighted: -100dBu minimum gain position
Distortion THD, IMD: 0.1% at 10dB
Frequency Response, -/ 0.5dB: 5Hz to 100kHz
Frequency Response, -3dB: 1Hz to 500kHz (input band limited)
High Cut Filter: -3dB at 8kHz minimum phase design
Tone Selector: Six position rotary switch, all passive filters
AC Power: Internal toroidal AC supply
Dimensions: 8.5 x 3.5 x 12 in (216 x 88 x 305mm)
Weight-Packed: 12lbs (5.4kg)
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Author
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PB+J
Registered User
Registered: March 2000
Location: arlington va
Posts: 1504
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Review Date: Tue April 19, 2005
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 0
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Pros:
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fantastic sound--warm, clear detailed, deep. Really remarkable
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Cons:
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clunky, big, heavy for what it is, not cheap
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The U5 is a Di box with limited tone shaping options. You can use it as a DI or as a preamp or as both at the same time. Avalon makes high end recording gear. The idea of the U5 was to build an extremely high quality DI--class A, high voltage high current--with very simple controls. I play about 4-8 gigs a month, mostly electric bar band gigs and upright jazz gigs.
It\'s an astonishingly good sounding piece of gear. It gives you really deep, rich, warm lows and clear, sweet highs with no unpleasant gritty clanky bite. The tone coming out of the thing is both \"fat\" in the best sense and also very hi-fi--but not in a bad way. I have always shied away from \"hi fi\" figuring I play bass, not piano or guitar, and I don\'t want all that range. The U5 has none of the things I disliked about \"hi-fi\" (sterile tone, irritating highs, boomy lows, weak midrange) but has all the range. As a result the bass sounds great--sweet, whole, musical. I\'ve used ampegs, SWR, and sansamp preamps mostly. The Ampeg B15, to me, is about as good as you can get but it\'s a 30 watt amp. The U5 is not as \"tubey\" as the B15--no tube compression--but it\'s not as saggy either, and the sound is equally pleasing. You don\'t get that irritating set-jaw ear fatgue thing with this box--it just plain sounds good. It picks up your playing style much more effectively--variations in touch are clearer right way, as are changes in the tone knob. Rolling back the treble doesn\'t make the sound muddy, it just cuts some treble--you still hear yourself, the tone control just has more precision. If you\'ve ever plugged your bass into a really good studio preamp, you know the sound I\'m talking about.
I\'ve the box for about five month now, electric and upright, so this isn\'t just a new gear review. A lot of amps/preamps offer you tons of eq options--active tone controls that let you boost and cut your way to sounding like anything. The downside, I think, is that they tend to mask your playing a little. I really liked the sansamp RBI--versatile, cheap, functional--but it\'s hard to see going back to it. I can\'t imitate an SVT with the avalon, but I can get a gorgeous rich bass sound that reflects what my fingers are doing much much better. It sounds deep without mud, authoritative and articulate. I play more or less old school fingerstyle, with flatwounds mostly. The hi-fi thing should bug me, but with the Avalon it doesn\'t.
The six preset tone filters give you some very nice settings--most are pretty subtle. The last two radically cut the bass, the second cuts the mid-midrange sharply. I don\'t use them much--it\'s mostly just the eq filters off and I eq it with my fingers. I usually have the hi-pass switch on, to cut high string noise. Otherwise, it\'s just straight into the pa or a power amp, or both at the same time--you can send the signal to the xlr line out AND to a 1/4 out whch you can then feed to a power amp, for a monitor or to support the pa. Or you can run the xlr line out into a poweramp
You don\'t believe me--you\'re thinking how can it be any good without a bunch of tone knobs? Well I don\'t know, but I DO know I don\'t miss the knob twiddling at all, the bands LOVE the tone, and I spend more time actually playing--the whole experience of bass is just more musical.
Downsides: it\'s heavy for what it is, and clunky. You can rack mount it, but it takes two spaces and the rack mount adaptors are pricey. Right now I have it in a little skb case--more to carry! It\'s got limited eq options--yeah, I said i didn\'t care, and I don\'t, but facts are facts. So far i have not missed the tone controls one bit
Simplicity--a great sound, simple controls, concentrate on playing music instead of playing the amp and imitating someone else
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Skeptical but resigned
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porteous
Registered User
Registered: March 2006
Location: Berkeley, CA
Posts: 110
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Review Date: Mon May 15, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $200.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Tone, Tone, Tone
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Cons:
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rack ears are expensive
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I initially bought this cause it was cheap on eBay, and I needed a good DI. After hearing how much it improved the tone of my bass, I started using it also as a preamp, running into an SWR Bass 350 amp. At some point, the SWR amp quit working, and while it was in the shop, I borrowed a power amp and tried using it with the U5. Wow, now I know what "hi fi" sound it. I've since sold the SWR amp and how using the U5 with a Stewart 1.2 power amp...I have acheived tone nirvana! Who needs a bunch of tone controls on a pre-amp? My bass has bass and treble boost/cut, and the few built-in passive tone filters on the U5 sound great.
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agreatheight
Registered User
Registered: December 2005
Location: Portland Area, ME
Posts: 3920
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Review Date: Sun October 8, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $450.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Great tone, very intuitive
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Cons:
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Some say it's pricey
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I have used the U5 in my recording studio for the past three years and I am super pleased with it. Simply put, the U5 is the best studio DI I have ever come across. It's very intuitive and takes zero time to get a great recorded tone. As others have mentioned, this isn't a knob machine, but I prefer something this easy to dial up. I always surprise the bass + amp + mic purists with the U5: 90% of bassists choose to just use the DI signal when they request a mic'd signal. Overall, it's warm sounding yet still quite detailed and sounds good with both passive and active instruments. It's a dope item. Some think it is a bit pricey, but it's a class A piece of studio gear. And it's worth every penny.
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wicked sweet tight
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fullrangebass
Registered User
Registered: May 2005
Location: Europe
Posts: 3604
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Review Date: Thu November 2, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Tone and simplicity in one
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Cons:
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rack ears are expensive
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provided you have a great source of sound (your bass with your sound) this is what you have been looking for.
Simple to use, allows the instrument shine through. Can be used as DI, preamp or both. Whenever I need to perform and there is a PA, the sound engineer gets my signal from this DI. The same goes for recording. I get my U5 and that's it.
It is not intended for those who need many controls to feel secure, or those who seek their sound away of their instrument.
Not cheap, but highly recommended
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Life not understood (apprehended) is life not truly lived.
First you need to feel what you want to be, and then you need to be what you want to feel
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triplelutz
Registered User
Registered: November 2006
Posts: 1251
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Review Date: Fri November 10, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 0
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I see your Avalon here....I have one in my rack that I use as a preamp too. I had it modified so that the volume knob is a smooth rotating pot that you can actually turn all the way down. I also had a 1/4 inch jack put on the back so I can come out of it and go into my amp....It's sweet. I use it just like that...no tone presets, and the Active switch on.....It's the secret weapon of my rig!
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Aguilar, LowEnd, Elixir, Evidence. All you need.
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batman1
Registered User
Registered: September 2007
Posts: 101
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Review Date: Wed December 9, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $585.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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crystal clear
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Cons:
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none
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the avalon u5 is well worth the money. it is crystal clear, you can really hear what your fingers are doing. out of my bass gear, this silver box is what i am most proud of. if you are looking for a super clean, super transparent preamp, look no further.
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KillerB
Registered User
Registered: November 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 46
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Review Date: Sun June 12, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $533.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Cristal clear sound you always want to here
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Cons:
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None
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I use two lines from the rig to PA
1: Avalon U5 without using preset settings for about 75%
2: Tube Pre-amp post DI for about 25% ad some tube warmth
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Gear:Vanderkley VA615|Lab Gruppen fp3400|Vanderkley cabs|Glockenklang Bass Art Classic|Fender Jazz Bass '68 &P|Tsj.Double Bass|Sadowsky MV5-24|De Gier Bebop|Elrick Evolution|
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HeavyJazz77
Registered User
Registered: January 2013
Location: Virginia
Posts: 273
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Review Date: Sun January 27, 2013
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $495.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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massive headroom, dead clean, decent eq curves, only the best components constructually
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Cons:
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think the power cable should be hardwired and the rack ears were totally over priced ($80?!)
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Everything sounds awesome through this - an industry standard w/o a doubt! Would like to have my own EQ control sometimes though.
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Impassioned aficionado of all things bass, the fine ales of Belgium and green-eyed brunettes.
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