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Jule Amps Monique part 5

#283
maisbass said:
Thanks guys. The first set went well but the second set was fantastic tone wise and here's why.

I've been using HPF series 3 between my bass and Monique for a while now. I've been following the impedance comments on this thread as well concerning it.

So I used my hpf the first set as usual but I still noticed my sound seemed a bit over driven for my taste. Not distorted, just overmodulated a tad. I was happy with the tone but just wanted it to be a little clearer and warmer.

Well the second set I decided to remove the hpf and holy cow what a difference. I am shocked at the difference it made and really didn't think it would have made that much of a difference.

Probably not as noticeable at low volumes, but at gig volumes there is a difference for how I set my gear.

My tone was so much cleaner, clearer, and not overmodulated at all.

It was exactly what I was looking for! Even my guitar player commented on how defined and clear my tone was that set.

I do love the hpf, but I loved the tone without it more. I do run my Fodera in active mode so I didn't think it would make much difference, but it did for me. I know I probably could have dialed down my pre on my Fodera a bit to compensate, but that really isn't an option for me because it's set optimally with the fx I use, so I don't want to make changes there. I'll continue to use my hpf, but only on my keyboard bass, not my Fodera.


I don't know if the Minnie is that much better than the crest pro lite, but I love the form factor and it really packs a wallop for such a light, small piece of gear.

I am stoked and loving the new setup!
Click to expand...

This sums up my experience as well. At first it really confused me because I liked my sound at home and when we rehearsed (low volume and one cab). Then at the gig, bang, confusion. It just didn't sound right. At first I attributed it to having new gear and trying to get used to it.

Now with the hpf out of the chain, the tone is great. And just to make sure, the other day I plugged the series 3 back up and there it was again. It is a great tool, unfortunately, I can't use it with my setup. It stays in my rack just in case, but out of the signal chain.
 
#284
+1 on my experience with the FDeck HPF Series 3. I'm now mainly using it with my Crazy8 cab @ volume to keep the excess driver movement under control. Usually not necessary with Monique. I also found it induced a humming feedback when in front of m Puma 900 and having an XLR plugged into the DI; hum disappeared when I pulled the FDeck out of the chain.

On the other hand, recently I played in an extremely boomy room and the FDeck helped calm down the Monique rig so bass was under some control. So it has its uses, but just not as universally useful as I used to think.
 
#285
Have you tried the Monique and Crest Prolite without the Fdeck and compare to with the Minnie?
maisbass said:
Thanks guys. The first set went well but the second set was fantastic tone wise and here's why.

I've been using HPF series 3 between my bass and Monique for a while now. I've been following the impedance comments on this thread as well concerning it.

So I used my hpf the first set as usual but I still noticed my sound seemed a bit over driven for my taste. Not distorted, just overmodulated a tad. I was happy with the tone but just wanted it to be a little clearer and warmer.

Well the second set I decided to remove the hpf and holy cow what a difference. I am shocked at the difference it made and really didn't think it would have made that much of a difference. Probably not as noticeable at low volumes, but at gig volumes there is a difference for how I set my gear. My tone was so much cleaner, clearer, and not overmodulated at all. It was exactly what I was looking for! Even my guitar player commented on how defined and clear my tone was that set.

I do love the hpf, but I loved the tone without it more. I do run my Fodera in active mode so I didn't think it would make much difference, but it did for me. I know I probably could have dialed down my pre on my Fodera a bit to compensate, but that really isn't an option for me because it's set optimally with the fx I use, so I don't want to make changes there. I'll continue to use my hpf, but only on my keyboard bass, not my Fodera.


I don't know if the Minnie is that much better than the crest pro lite, but I love the form factor and it really packs a wallop for such a light, small piece of gear.

I am stoked and loving the new setup!
Click to expand...
 
#288
Does Monique roll off some high end? Trying to figure if it does, or if my much brighter Mesa Buster boosts a bunch. Other than being brighter, there is a hum with my J bass and Buster that will fade away as I roll the tone knob back past half way. Of course that tone is darker than Mo with the EQ set at noon and the tone knob wide open. I'm trying to figure out if Monique's quiet nature is due to better electronics and wiring, or if there is something going on with my Busters baked in voicing vs Mo's.
 
#289
foderaman said:
Have you tried the Monique and Crest Prolite without the Fdeck and compare to with the Minnie?
Click to expand...

I A/Bed the ProLite 2.0 and Minnie earlier this week and was suprised that the Minnie sounded a bit clearer than the Crest at high volumes. Not a huge difference, but the Minnie does sound better to my ears. Not incredibly better, but better.

Also, with the Crest in mono mode, Minnie is much louder.
 
#291
monsterthompson said:
Does Monique roll off some high end? Trying to figure if it does, or if my much brighter Mesa Buster boosts a bunch. Other than being brighter, there is a hum with my J bass and Buster that will fade away as I roll the tone knob back past half way. Of course that tone is darker than Mo with the EQ set at noon and the tone knob wide open. I'm trying to figure out if Monique's quiet nature is due to better electronics and wiring, or if there is something going on with my Busters baked in voicing vs Mo's.
Click to expand...

Monique is the warmest/darkest amp I own, but running recorded music through a full range cab (Thunderchild) or DI to PA shows a present and accurate high end. Jule told me the treble control is around 2k. To my ears, Monique never gets bright.
 
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#292
monsterthompson said:
Does Monique roll off some high end? Trying to figure if it does, or if my much brighter Mesa Buster boosts a bunch. Other than being brighter, there is a hum with my J bass and Buster that will fade away as I roll the tone knob back past half way. Of course that tone is darker than Mo with the EQ set at noon and the tone knob wide open. I'm trying to figure out if Monique's quiet nature is due to better electronics and wiring, or if there is something going on with my Busters baked in voicing vs Mo's.
Click to expand...


Monique is definitely a darker amp than most others I've had, probably why I like it so much since I prefer a darker sound. I agree with other posts about the treble. It doesn't have that zing that rips your head off! It's more like a finished, polished, high end sheen that is very musical and useable and not bright at all.
The mesa amps (which I do love too) can get a lot brighter, especially the carbine m6,9, etc (which I don't like). I always loved the 400+ and the walkabout, but it can get bright if you go crazy with the top end. I have not tried the buster yet.
Honestly at this point I am very content with my setup now and for the first time in a long time I feel completely gassless! Nice!
 
#293
Funny, I found the Monique quite bright and treble extended. Quite even through its range. Of course, compared to the Mesa M6/9 anything would sound dark, and I do agree there is not as much upper treble extension into the sizzle zone as a GK or whatever.

The Monique sounded quite similar to my Glock Blue Soul using the Roscoe with the Monique set flat ( although it would break up when I dug in a bit, which was not really my thing)
 
#294
KJung said:
Funny, I found the Monique quite bright and treble extended. Quite even through its range. Of course, compared to the Mesa M6/9 anything would sound dark, and I do agree there is not as much upper treble extension into the sizzle zone as a GK or whatever.

The Monique sounded quite similar to my Glock Blue Soul using the Roscoe with the Monique set flat ( although it would break up when I dug in a bit, which was not really my thing)
Click to expand...

I think this is all relative to how you set Monique. If you really pump the sensitivity past noon I notice you get a big bump in the highs and upper mids, especially with it pulled out. In that case, I agree with you Ken.

I run my sensitivity lower usually between 10 and noon depending upon the room. I'm also playing a bass with a rosewood neck as opposed to maple so obviously this will effect the overall tone as well.
 
#295
On the topic of fuzz, I just checked out Monique+Demeter800D with a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. Monique's settings for mostly at noon except the Sensitivity was 2:00. Using a Rob Allen Solid 4 (early 50's style P, tone knob on full) with Status ground wounds and a pick, I played through the song form one time each for various settings of the Micro-Fuzz. This is an original surf tune from the reboot of an old project. Recordings were captured from Monique's DI straight into a Zoom H6. Ummmmm, luscious fuzz! Get down!

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#297
monsterthompson said:
So, going back to my initial point in this, is it the darkness of Mo that allows hum free operation because the hum frequency is eq'd out , or is it the quality of the electronics? Every other amp I've owned has shown some sign of hum.
Click to expand...

I've never really experienced any hum with any of the amps or preamps I've owned with the exception of having a ground loop with my Read Pre once…. So I'm not quite sure how to answer that one. Are you sure it isn't anything else in your chain that is creating the hum?

No doubt that Jule is using top notch electronics, but perhaps there is another issue at hand here.

I know when I use my Fodera in single coil mode I'll get a hum when favoring the bridge pick up.
 
#298
Ukiah Bass said:
On the topic of fuzz, I just checked out Monique+Demeter800D with a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. Monique's settings for mostly at noon except the Sensitivity was 2:00. Using a Rob Allen Solid 4 (early 50's style P, tone knob on full) with Status ground wounds and a pick, I played through the song form one time each for various settings of the Micro-Fuzz. This is an original surf tune from the reboot of an old project. Recordings were captured from Monique's DI straight into a Zoom H6. Ummmmm, luscious fuzz! Get down!

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Click to expand...

Ummm Fuzzilicious! Nice!
 
#299
maisbass said:
I've never really experienced any hum with any of the amps or preamps I've owned with the exception of having a ground loop with my Read Pre once…. So I'm not quite sure how to answer that one. Are you sure it isn't anything else in your chain that is creating the hum?



No doubt that Jule is using top notch electronics, but perhaps there is another issue at hand here.



I know when I use my Fodera in single coil mode I'll get a hum when favoring the bridge pick up.
Click to expand...


Single coil him is a different thing . I too have never experienced hum in any combination of gear I've used.

However, the op is talking about direct recording I think, and that is a bit of a different thing. I've heard of many strange loops and buzzes in that sort of situation from guys plugging complex signal chains into a reasonably low end recording system.
 
#300
maisbass said:
I've never really experienced any hum with any of the amps or preamps I've owned with the exception of having a ground loop with my Read Pre once…. So I'm not quite sure how to answer that one. Are you sure it isn't anything else in your chain that is creating the hum?

No doubt that Jule is using top notch electronics, but perhaps there is another issue at hand here.

I know when I use my Fodera in single coil mode I'll get a hum when favoring the bridge pick up.
Click to expand...

i guess when i get your walkabout in the mail, i'll be able to verify this statement ;)

weird. i wonder what it is about my rigs that hum. last night my Buster was humming; just bass cable, head, cab. i wonder if i have a dirty power supply. the hum does seem to reduce when my hands touch the strings, vs when i make no contact with them. in either case, i can still hear it.
 

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