Jule Amps Monique part 5

[juledude]

Got the amp back from the tech. He did extensive testing and couldn't see a fault. Could just have been a gremlin day as I tried different cables from the bass to the head as well as alternative speaker cables.

Gonna fire it up tomorrow and enjoy the tones again!

The tech mentioned that he really liked the design and thought the unit sounded great. He was also quite interested in the hypex power module.

Fingers crossed all remains ok from here on in. I really wanna play this head out live.

Weird stuff does happen. Happens to me in the controlled confines of the shop, so I know it happens in the real world. Cables and jacks will never be my friends. I can tell you that I have zero patience for these slowdowns and the moments of no sound or worse yet, too much sound. I buy the best cables I can find, and they of course break too. Had I my druthers, every cable would be so thick and heavy that it would be difficult to carry, and probably impossible to play with. But I digress. . . Rant complete.

 

[krispn]

Here here

 

[krispn]

I feel like I'm monopolising this thread Tonights rehearsal was great. I messed about with amp and pedal settings on a range of tunes but seriously the amp was neutral for most of the gig. Sure I twisted the controls but it just sounded great in that room set flat. The sens control got moved around around a fair bit and it made an impact but for tonight I know where it sounded right. Don't ask me here or on pm as I can't answer for you.

I've caught up on all these threads and I can understand people asking for settings. Jule can be 'enigmatic' in his responses and I've seen kjung get frutstrated at no 'direct' answer but the truth is if you're invested in gear especially this sort of gear you should trust you instinct and that of the builder. All the old hands knew this who didn't own a Monique.

Monique questions cannot be answered in words. You simply need to embrace and decide if what you hear is what you want. No one can instruct you and if you know you'll know.
I've not slept in many hours

 

[juledude]

I feel like I'm monopolising this thread Tonights rehearsal was great. I messed about with amp and pedal settings on a range of tunes but seriously the amp was neutral for most of the gig. Sure I twisted the controls but it just sounded great in that room set flat. The sens control got moved around around a fair bit and it made an impact but for tonight I know where it sounded right. Don't ask me here or on pm as I can't answer for you.

I've caught up on all these threads and I can understand people asking for settings. Jule can be 'enigmatic' in his responses and I've seen kjung get frutstrated at no 'direct' answer but the truth is if you're invested in gear especially this sort of gear you should trust you instinct and that of the builder. All the old hands knew this who didn't own a Monique.

Monique questions cannot be answered in words. You simply need to embrace and decide if what you hear is what you want. No one can instruct you and if you know you'll know.
I've not slept in many hours

Reminds me of a guitar player who removed all his knobs. I think he was playing an ancient Peavey. When I asked why, he said, "So nobody can copy what I am doing." Maybe he was saving us.

Yes. Monique was designed to make both player and audience feel good with all knobs straight up. From that understanding, from that beginning, a whole lot more can be done. But that, is in the hands and heart of the player.

 

[krispn]

@juleamps
I'm not trying to be 'that' guy. I play my p with the volume rolled off about 5-10% and the tone back about 15-20% cause that's how I like it and the old guys told me this was the sweet spot back in the day, normally with flats. I could list my settings but my feel and touch will be different to the next guys.....

So I gigged the M700 last night with the DI feed going to the desk. The sound I heard was big tubey and made me very pleased. I was running a p bass with flats. DI sound was huge and my singer/sound guy was happy with the level and tone in his iem's The drummer and I were happy on stage and the people in the room danced for the set so I'll guess they didn't know what was happening but they intrinsically knew what was going down. Tomorrow I'll be running a P5 with rounds into a 2x15 and on Monday I'm recording via di out and I'll use both basses depending on the tune/producers preference.

Jule you've made a wonderful amp that just works. As I've said before it's hard to quantify. Monique wants you to use your ears and 'feel' what's happening with your tone. Ignore the knobs and use the rest of your senses to find what works for you. The reward will be plenty.

I'm still post night shifts and still a bit delirious but I know what I heard

 

[chadds]

When Monique came out folks said it sounds good no matter what you do with the controls. My experience is the controls are musical.

We are musicians. I hate running back to the board and back on stage or studio switching between brain halves. Playing, if I need a little more this, I just move the knob. Some weeks the tone controls never get moved. It's organic for humans. I love it. The thing is it really frees your expression to be about your touch.

What does that mean? Take an SWR SM-400. Dial in the graphic sliders set their spots, boost or cut some bass and treble, raise the AE and/or compression. Suddenly no matter how you play it all sounds the same. Great amp by the way if you don't do all that.

Monique is an instrument. Thanks Jule.

 

[juledude]

When Monique came out folks said it sounds good no matter what you do with the controls. My experience is the controls are musical.

We are musicians. I hate running back to the board and back on stage or studio switching between brain halves. Playing, if I need a little more this, I just move the knob. Some weeks the tone controls never get moved. It's organic for humans. I love it. The thing is it really frees your expression to be about your touch.

What does that mean? Take an SWR SM-400. Dial in the graphic sliders set their spots, boost or cut some bass and treble, raise the AE and/or compression. Suddenly no matter how you play it all sounds the same. Great amp by the way if you don't do all that.

Monique is an instrument. Thanks Jule.

Thank you Chadds. It is truly great to be a part of your creativity.

 

[BurningSkies]

Yep. Creeping up on over 75 shows so far this year plus studio time. Seldom do new engineers or other players fail to comment on how it sounds. I do get a few players who are nervous when trying her out because they're used to 'traditional' brand amps, but they get over it and usually have a few questions. On Saturday the bass player for the opening band was having a hell of a time trying to flip switches and get stage sound (the DI was solidly in the house)...and I finally took pity on him and went up and turned on the power amp for him.

Lately it's been guitar amps going down and my setup being completely solid.

 

[Chiefbass]

Hi! I played with my Monique today to try different sounds. I found out that boosting a little bass and cutting the middle and treble resulted in a great slap sound. There was plenty of higher treble altough the treble control was all the way down.

I tried the same with my Aguilar DB751 but the treble control rolled down took away also the higher treble. It almost sounded like the treble control in Monique was more like an upper midrange control.

The cab is TKS S212 (Swedish brand, great cabs) with the tweeter all the way open.

 

[juledude]

Hi! I played with my Monique today to try different sounds. I found out that boosting a little bass and cutting the middle and treble resulted in a great slap sound. There was plenty of higher treble altough the treble control was all the way down.

I tried the same with my Aguilar DB751 but the treble control rolled down took away also the higher treble. It almost sounded like the treble control in Monique was more like an upper midrange control.

Yes. That will work. Do you play with Mika R.? He has been playing my work for about 8 years, there in Helsinki.

 

[chadds]

Thank you Chadds. It is truly great to be a part of your creativity.

No! Thank you. Many of us waited a good piece of a lifetime for this.

 

[Chiefbass]

Yes. That will work. Do you play with Mika R.? He has been playing my work for about 8 years, there in Helsinki.

Hi! I don't think I Know him. Is he a bass player or guitarist?

So, is the treble control more like a high mid control than a "regular" shelving treble?

 

[krispn]

I'm back! Apologies! Recorded today and the musical director/producer/mate loved the tone from Monique over the regular interface. Big warm tones with more life and character than the direct signal.

In other news the lady and I are going back to Boston in mid feb next yr as we really enjoyed our last trip. Music venues, the more dive bar the better, destinations and beer recommendations welcome. I'll also be keeping an eye on the classifieds from about January. Oh and @BurningSkies if you guys are playing up near Boston around that time we WILL be there! Loving the tunes!

 

[juledude]

Hi! I don't think I Know him. Is he a bass player or guitarist?

So, is the treble control more like a high mid control than a "regular" shelving treble?

If I said, "Yes," to either of the above, I think that neither would be fully truthful. I will try to explain.

This EQ still impresses me. I wish I had come up with the idea myself, but I did not. It has been around in the Hi Fi world since the mid 1950s. It is a bit expensive to implement, so we don't see it in a lot of gear. It is, from a technical viewpoint, three active EQs. Each knob gives us 10db plus (to the right of center) and 10db minus (to the left of center) around a center frequency. So, "No," this is not a shelving, or reductive EQ.

Most EQ circuits we see reduce or degrade chosen frequencies. The idea being that whatever tone is left over after we have reduced some frequency, the leftovers, appear to us as if they have been boosted. As a designer of this kind of EQ you pick where you want that particular frequency to fall off - hence the "knee." The tone leftovers have not been boosted, but it kinda seems like they have because everything else has disappeared. Monique's EQ is not like that. The Monique EQ is active. It is both additive and subtractive.

To make things confusing for everyone (not really, but it makes a good story) I have the High Band and the Middle Band overlapping slightly. This just made sense from a live performance and recording perspective. That makes these 2 bands (High and Mid) somewhat interactive. At the bottom end, the Low Band is separated from the other two by enough that it is not changed by either the High or the Mid. It is not interactive at all.

I hope that helps.

 

[BurningSkies]

To make things confusing for everyone (not really, but it makes a good story) I have the High Band and the Middle Band overlapping slightly. This just made sense from a live performance and recording perspective. That makes these 2 bands (High and Mid) somewhat interactive. At the bottom end, the Low Band is separated from the other two by enough that it is not changed by either the High or the Mid. It is not interactive at all.

I hope that helps.

This makes complete sense in use. If I find myself to be fussing with the mids to highs region (as a person who plays with a fair amount of bass boost and roll off to certain degrees in the other areas), I find that I do adjust both of these controls. And it makes sense that there's a gap between the lows and where the mids play...Because the bass control doesn't mess around with the tone in the mids at all.

I'll also be interested because I have a new bass coming sometime in the near future with a preamp that has a 3 band EQ...Bass (70hz) , Mid (500hz), Hi-mid (2.5k). To me, on paper 70 seems higher than I'd normally like, and 2.5 is probably a great point...but it leaves the really high stuff untouched. Sheldon has suggested I may just need to roll more off at the amp stage, not knowing that I already do.

 

[juledude]

This makes complete sense in use. If I find myself to be fussing with the mids to highs region (as a person who plays with a fair amount of bass boost and roll off to certain degrees in the other areas), I find that I do adjust both of these controls. And it makes sense that there's a gap between the lows and where the mids play...Because the bass control doesn't mess around with the tone in the mids at all.

I'll also be interested because I have a new bass coming sometime in the near future with a preamp that has a 3 band EQ...Bass (70hz) , Mid (500hz), Hi-mid (2.5k). To me, on paper 70 seems higher than I'd normally like, and 2.5 is probably a great point...but it leaves the really high stuff untouched. Sheldon has suggested I may just need to roll more off at the amp stage, not knowing that I already do.

All of us, me included, focus on the center frequency of each of the EQ controls and that is a bit of a disservice to the rest of the EQ. The rate of change of each of the controls is very important. By that I am referring the the width of the Active EQ band throughout the full sweep of the control. If it is a rather narrow (is peakish a word?) range, we will end up frequently twiddling the controls to find the sweet spot. If the width is wide, it can give us quicker/easier access to that same sweet spot. An overly wide width can also add to confusion if it does not manage band overlap properly.

I feel bad subjecting y'all to the innards of this issue. I do so because I believe that nothing I do matters but the smile of the player in his or her zone.

 

[BurningSkies]

All of us, me included, focus on the center frequency of each of the EQ controls and that is a bit of a disservice to the rest of the EQ. The rate of change of each of the controls is very important. By that I am referring the the width of the Active EQ band throughout the full sweep of the control. If it is a rather narrow (is peakish a word?) range, we will end up frequently twiddling the controls to find the sweet spot. If the width is wide, it can give us quicker/easier access to that same sweet spot. An overly wide width can also add to confusion if it does not manage band overlap properly.

I feel bad subjecting y'all to the innards of this issue. I do so because I believe that nothing I do matters but the smile of the player in his or her zone.

Seems to be working. I haven't strayed in 5 years. I've been married to Monique the same amount of time as Courtney. I don't think either are going anywhere.

 

[peterpalmieri]

All of us, me included, focus on the center frequency of each of the EQ controls and that is a bit of a disservice to the rest of the EQ. The rate of change of each of the controls is very important. By that I am referring the the width of the Active EQ band throughout the full sweep of the control. If it is a rather narrow (is peakish a word?) range, we will end up frequently twiddling the controls to find the sweet spot. If the width is wide, it can give us quicker/easier access to that same sweet spot. An overly wide width can also add to confusion if it does not manage band overlap properly.

I feel bad subjecting y'all to the innards of this issue. I do so because I believe that nothing I do matters but the smile of the player in his or her zone.

I'm going to guess a good number of us have some experience with selecting frequencies and the Q width. With outboard gear and/or in the box stuff. On stage it's nice to have something that works well and is simple. Great sound in the noonish range gives some flexibilities for wierd rooms and stages. Don't use the EQ much but does exactly what I need when I want it.

 

[Chiefbass]

Thank you Jule for your comprehensive reply! I really like that you take the time to explain all those technical things for us all.

 

[chadds]

Copied this from the "thank Bergantino" thread. Pasted with an addition.

Some of us mention him when we say our prayers at night.

Seriously. Some manufacturers are making their gear because they want it done right. It is obvious that it's not for profit alone. They get to eat, pay their employees, and contribute through taxes etc. Yet when you play their gear it's like they have to do it.

They are old world craftsman that offer impeccable customer service. They want to know what works and doesn't. In some ways a large held corporation can't do this. These makers have given me the tools that sound phenomenal, that get out of my way, with pro features and reliability.

Thanks Jim.
Thanks Jule.