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Avalon u5 pre amp question

Discussion in 'Amps and Cabs [BG]' started by 2behead, Apr 19, 2012.

  1. Apr 19, 2012 #1
    2behead

    2behead

    Mar 8, 2011
    portland
    My brother brought his avalon u5 over to my house to play with and I have to say that it made my Musicman hd 130 sound amazing. It added punch and tone, Oh my god...... It was a dream. BUT it got super hot and the sound started to fade a bit so we turned it off. I had a line out of the through into the frount of my head with the active to through button engaged. The Tone on the Avalon was at 4 and the Gain was set at 5 . The EQ settings on the musicman were all flat. Pre amp volume was at 3 master volume was at 10. My amp is fine. Let it cool off and started it up sans Avalon. any one have experience with
     
  2. Apr 19, 2012 #2
    2behead

    2behead

    Mar 8, 2011
    portland
    my amp hot hot
     
  3. Apr 19, 2012 #3
    Jim C

    Jim C I believe in the trilogy; Fender, Stingray, + G&L Supporting Member

    Nov 29, 2008
    Bethesda, MD
    Odd that it didn't sound distorted as the gain structure on the amp seemed pretty sane.
    If you plug your bass directly into the amp vs. the other set up, is the volume about the same?
     
  4. Apr 19, 2012 #4
    2behead

    2behead

    Mar 8, 2011
    portland
    The musicman is a 70's tube head, so just the instrument input. Ya I'm thinking It was hot signal. Just hoping to hear for someone that owns one and uses it with a lod tube head. V-4,SVT,Bassman, Traynor..... will it fry hour head if you use the active pre?
     
  5. Apr 19, 2012 #5
    2behead

    2behead

    Mar 8, 2011
    portland
    the volume was about the same, It was a dirty sound for sure, but it was so sweet. And really not any dirtier that it would have been had I ran the pre @ about 4/ -4 1/2. but it was a wonderfully tight bass sound. What I have been trying to get out of the amp the whole time.
     
  6. Apr 19, 2012 #6
    silky smoove

    silky smoove Supporting Member

    May 19, 2004
    Seattle, WA
    I used to own two U5's, and if memory serves, the thru output is not line level, and should have been fine. Very strange... Although I'm probably just wrong and it is line level.
     
  7. Apr 19, 2012 #7
    agreatheight

    agreatheight

    Dec 23, 2005
    Portland Area, ME
    I recall it this way as well. I had an Avalon u5 for a number of years for recording. The thru output is instrument level and went to whatever amp I was playing / recording while I also rec'd the DI signal. Never a problem.
     
  8. Apr 19, 2012 #8
    agreatheight

    agreatheight

    Dec 23, 2005
    Portland Area, ME
    Oh, that is true. OP - where are exactly you running the cord from?
     
  9. Apr 19, 2012 #9
    2behead

    2behead

    Mar 8, 2011
    portland
    I ran the cord from the through out put on the front but had it set up as active to through to utilize the pre amp to Dr. up my amp.
     
  10. Apr 20, 2012 #10
    StephenR

    StephenR

    May 21, 2009
    SF Bay Area
    The U5 has 30 dB of gain available so it can be used as a pre-amp as well as a DI. There is usually no need to turn the gain up if you are using it as a DI unless the board you are running it to or the pre-amp/amp you are using needs additional gain to have enough signal to work with. I think that type of situation would be really rare, I have never had a soundman ask for more gain from my U5 and I run my gain on either 1 or 2. There are 10 levels of gain setting so each number increases gain by+3 dB.

    I occasionally bring only my U5 (to use as a pre-amp) with a power amp and cabinet to rehearsals and in that case I do use the gain control to set the overall volume level. Using it as a DI with my full rig there is little if any reason to use additional gain. I keep it set on active to through but I don't engage the tone circuit on the U5.

    It sounds like you were using the U5 to overdrive the pre-amp in your amp and your amp was not happy. It also sounds like you may have been more impressed with the overdriven sound of your amp than the sound of the U5 itself. Turn the gain on the U5 to 1 and try again, that will give you a better idea of the "sound" of the U5 itself.