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Avalon U5 vs Eclair Evil Twin

JoeyDLess

JoeyDLess

Guest
Aug 14, 2014
16
7
Greater NYC Area
Disclosures
Endorsing Artist: Warwick Bass
#1
I'm looking to upgrade my rig in the next month or so. I've used an Avalon U5 in just about every studio I've ever been to, and i see a ton of them live. I have never even seen an Evil Twin in the wild.

Has anyone used either, or both? Any pros and/or cons one way or the other?

My brother says that the Evil Twin is great because of the tubes and it's also great for vocals in the studio (which i dont care so much about since i would just use whatever the studio has).

I'm looking to get the best, and clearest sound live. I've settled on either the Avalon or the Eclair. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

When I pick either up, I'll be sure to post recordings.
 
#2
No info on the ET but the U5 is a killer piece. It's almost better on a great acoustic guitar than it is on bass... As my sound co develops further, I intend on adding a few U5's into the stage rig. Lot's of acoustic support in my part of the world and the u5 seems to be a standard with the high end players.

That said, I'd be way interested in hearing an ET.. it's all about options...
 
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#6
Well it's a matter of taste. For me I've got tubes in all my amps so I dont need any more tube saturation drowning out my 29hz to 110hz boom sound if I want it. The Reddi and expecially the Evil Twin will give great mids and highs and saturation but it's gonna pull some tone away from that low low end sound for 5 string especially(what I play). The avalon m5 is more in line with an SSL tone for bass(which is my preference). Then if you need that xtra saturation, get a tube saturation pedal, or new amp, or tweak your gain nob a bit.

Guess it just depends on what gear your currently using, what music your playing, and if you want more grit/saturation in your tone.
But all 3 of these are shaging awesome di's just depends on what your going after. I didn't see what that was in your post so trying to cover the bases.
 
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#7
I play in two rock bands, an R&B band, and i do some session work, so I kinda need to be a "tone chameleon" at times.

The new head I'm gonna get soon is not tube driven, so having a tube DI definitely helps. I play almost exclusively 5 string basses, and heavy effects. The CS-2 I use at the front of my board helps kinda give me my own sonic space. I also mess around with octaves and subs, but my "clean" playing isnt terribly boomy, so maybe the low end loss in the DI is ok?

For dirt, I use stompboxes, i dont overdrive the head or di to get that sound. Just basically want to get a clean, pure, warm, tone, and then throw my FX in the loop.

I mean, the price difference isn't huge, so maybe I'll end up with the REDDI after all. It would look kinda cool with the red DI and black head and cab.

All this would be driving a 500w tube head (or a 1000w solid state) through a 410 and/or 410 + 210 cabs.

All of this advice has been extremely helpful! You all rock both of my socks!
 
#8
dairyman3833 said:
Well it's a matter of taste. For me I've got tubes in all my amps so I dont need any more tube saturation drowning out my 29hz to 110hz boom sound if I want it. The Reddi and expecially the Evil Twin will give great mids and highs and saturation but it's gonna pull some tone away from that low low end sound for 5 string especially(what I play).
Click to expand...
Gotta disagree. Sounds great no matter what bass I play, even the rare times I pull out the 5 ;)
 
#9
Ah, this might be a deciding factor, for me against the REDDI: Is it rack mountable?

I've seen a ton of pictures and they're always chilling on the head, or cab, or pedalboard. I havent seen any with rack ears.

Ideally, i wanna have my head, DI, and power conditioner all in a like 4U or 6U rack.

If the REDDI is rackmountable, maybe I'll just wait for the next paycheck and go with that
 
#11
JimmyM said:
Gotta disagree. Sounds great no matter what bass I play, even the rare times I pull out the 5 ;)
Click to expand...
Right your taste runs that way. What style do you play? Rock/jazz/reggae/americana/metal? BTW, that can influence your taste as well.
Also have you ever tried running your bass into an SSL board via lets say a regular JDI radial DI/or some other not total crap solid state di?
If you can try it. And then do it with the Reddi. Might make more sense what I'm trying to say and not really getting it into words.

For me I'm in 2 projects right now. One is a Funk Metal project called Fist Funk Fury, and for that project I like more grit in my tone to cut threw the mix, and the Reddi would work for that one more so than my other project which is Americana called Shannon Richardson Band. That one an Avalon works better for. But if on the Fist Funk I wanted to also be able to get lower deeper tones without all the grit, it sounds cleaner if I scale back my gain on the head and go through the Avalon/or JDI even. But no doubt the Reddi and Avalon are both bitchin DI's. And with either one you really can't go wrong.
 
#12
SSL board with a Countryman and U5, yes. Even used a 5. But I've always been fine with the sound of a 5 coming through a cab that's a little higher tuned in the lows like an 810e, and never wanted prominent fundamental on those low notes anyway.
 
#14
Both are great so I say get both! You can probably get one on Zzounds.com or Americanmusicalsupply.com over payments and just pay for the Reddi straight out, then do 4 monthly payments for the Avalon. Then you can have both sounds....:)
Never can have to many sounds. I guess it's like asking which compressor is better a Neve or an SSL....
 
#15
The Alleva Coppolo BASSACRE 2014 ...A-Design had a Prototype of a Rackmount REDDI.. As well as a high gain BLACK REDDI.
Rack mount version is close to where Leland is pointing But in the background

IMG_2396.jpg


IMG_2373.jpg





JoeyDLess said:
Ah, this might be a deciding factor, for me against the REDDI: Is it rack mountable?

I've seen a ton of pictures and they're always chilling on the head, or cab, or pedalboard. I havent seen any with rack ears.

Ideally, i wanna have my head, DI, and power conditioner all in a like 4U or 6U rack.

If the REDDI is rackmountable, maybe I'll just wait for the next paycheck and go with that
Click to expand...
 
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#19
The Evil Twin was used on Green Day's Dookie with an active P/J Fender (which I have deduced to be a P Bass Plus Deluxe), and an Ampeg SVT-II. The tone is INCREDIBLE!




They dialled in the drive a fair bit, set the boost at 3K and probably didn't use the -20db thing for the extra insane distortion clips. Cuts through a mix like a white hot sword through melted butter!


 

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