Jule Amps Monique part 5

[krispn]

O

This fits the dovecage well?

This fits the dovecage well?

Nope I meant to say it fits the m700 tardis. My apologies.

 

[Baird6869]

Studioslips bag is good enough for me. Nice and padded. Well made.

Been using a StudioSlips bag for my Dovecage and Minnie for 4 or 5 years and it still looks like new.

Great bag. The only downside (if you can call it that) is lack of cable storage. Doesn't bug me, but might bug some.

Think I am over 5 years with my only amp being a Monique and still have no interest in other amps. Haven't even looked at new amps since I got my Dovecage. Ok, I DID buy a backup Monique (rackmount) a few years back.

 

[BunchyMutt]

Monique arrived and it's beauuuutiful. Well packed too Can't wait to fire it up, but that'll have to wait until later in the week - I'm off to crank out an essay for grad school :***:

 

[BurningSkies]

Music to my ears Thanks for the suggestion about letting it cool down before transport. I'm on the lookout for a 5-6U case. Even though the size is awkward I like it better than two separate cases

I'm always interested in this 'letting it cool down' bit. I'm not sure that it runs terribly hot (you'd do this so the tube elements cool)...and also, are y'all running out of gigs way faster than me? I mean, if our stage curfew is 1.30am, I'm rarely loading out of the club until 2.15 or 2.30 at the earliest. Am I that slow? I mean, our guitar players take way longer to load out than I do...

 

[shwashwa]

I'm always interested in this 'letting it cool down' bit. I'm not sure that it runs terribly hot (you'd do this so the tube elements cool)...and also, are y'all running out of gigs way faster than me? I mean, if our stage curfew is 1.30am, I'm rarely loading out of the club until 2.15 or 2.30 at the earliest. Am I that slow? I mean, our guitar players take way longer to load out than I do...

If the gig ends at 1:30 I'm usually out the door by 1:35

 

[BurningSkies]

Takes me longer than that to coil cables and put my bass away.

 

[shwashwa]

Takes me longer than that to coil cables and put my bass away.

Actually last night took me 10 minutes to get out. Bass in the case, which is never more than 3 feet from me. Coil the cables. Zip the quilter case, which it never leaves, throw the bass over my shoulder pick up the speaker (ampeg svt 210 av) with one hand and I'm gone. Actually probably would have been more like 7 minutes but I stopped to show the bass player in the next band The quilter because he loved the sound and couldn't believe it was so small.

 

[BurningSkies]

Actually last night took me 10 minutes to get out. Bass in the case, which is never more than 3 feet from me. Coil the cables. Zip the quilter case, which it never leaves, throw the bass over my shoulder pick up the speaker (ampeg svt 210 av) with one hand and I'm gone. Actually probably would have been more like 7 minutes but I stopped to show the bass player in the next band The quilter because he loved the sound and couldn't believe it was so small.

For me it's about 10 minutes of coiling my cables, putting my bass in case, wrapping up my IEM stuff. Then the next half hour I'm in the room, possibly visiting the merch table to greet and speak with the audience. I usually field a handful of gear questions from nerds in that time too. Then I spend some time with the venue manager, work on making sure the payment is coming and what our take is, if it's a numbers deal. Visit the bar & door people to thank them for their hard work. Then it's off to stage storage to grab my gig bags, lids to my racks and on stage to further disassemble my setup before loading.

 

[juledude]

I'm always interested in this 'letting it cool down' bit. I'm not sure that it runs terribly hot (you'd do this so the tube elements cool)...and also, are y'all running out of gigs way faster than me? I mean, if our stage curfew is 1.30am, I'm rarely loading out of the club until 2.15 or 2.30 at the earliest. Am I that slow? I mean, our guitar players take way longer to load out than I do...

Unlike tube amps, when Class D Amps are designed and implemented well, there is very little heat excess heat. I understand the cool down effort with tube amps (partly so it won't burn the Naugahyde in the car seats ). It is less important in Class D.

There is little residual heat in either the Jule Amps 2500 watt or 700 watt amps, especially if you run the fan during performances. These amps are purposely over-cooled. This is based on my earlier efforts with other amps and products. The top end temperature, the place where the amp will quietly go to sleep until it cools down, is 100C or 212F. The boiling point of water. Even Austin doesn't get that hot?

I have seen one or two old Monique Dove Cages that have lived near Rivers or the Ocean in cold climates, and it was obvious (corrosion) that water had condensed on the chassis and dried. Didn't change the performance, but it wasn't pretty. The Black cover is powder coated, and not affected, but the horizontal surface of the Dove Cage is Gold Anodized, and that can eventually become corroded in these environments. A light wipe of oil will prevent this from happening even in these environments.

 

[juledude]

For me it's about 10 minutes of coiling my cables, putting my bass in case, wrapping up my IEM stuff. Then the next half hour I'm in the room, possibly visiting the merch table to greet and speak with the audience. I usually field a handful of gear questions from nerds in that time too. Then I spend some time with the venue manager, work on making sure the payment is coming and what our take is, if it's a numbers deal. Visit the bar & door people to thank them for their hard work. Then it's off to stage storage to grab my gig bags, lids to my racks and on stage to further disassemble my setup before loading.

Whole lot of work.

 

[BurningSkies]

Whole lot of work.

Moving gear is work, practicing is work and time in a van is work. Playing is not...and talking to people who have paid to see us, who connect with our music...isn't work. That's the good stuff, and that's the stuff that makes people further connect with us. You know in our band messaging that we always talk about the Root Shock family, 'the massive', etc. That's because they are. Hugs and handshakes to everyone who wants them. Gear nerds get invited up to wear my bass for a few moments and ask questions about amps, etc. It makes sense in a human-to-human way but it also builds REALLY loyal fans.

Even though we have a merch person at every show, the band is programmed to head over after the set or between if we have multiples. People really want to meet band members and have personal exchanges.

 

[juledude]

That's the stuff that lasts, that matters, not as much as the music, or maybe not like the music. But it does matter. A smile goes a very long way. Used to call it "Right Livelihood."

 

[BurningSkies]

That's the stuff that lasts, that matters, not as much as the music, or maybe not like the music. But it does matter. A smile goes a very long way. Used to call it "Right Livelihood."

Jule, you of course are a person who understands humanity connecting with humanity.

 

[pawnshopbill]

I have seen one or two old Monique Dove Cages that have lived near Rivers or the Ocean in cold climates, and it was obvious (corrosion) that water had condensed on the chassis and dried. Didn't change the performance, but it wasn't pretty. The Black cover is powder coated, and not affected, but the horizontal surface of the Dove Cage is Gold Anodized, and that can eventually become corroded in these environments. A light wipe of oil will prevent this from happening even in these environments.

I can relate. Cocoa Beach will tear everything you own apart. Any oil recommendations?

 

[BunchyMutt]

Got a chance to test out the Monique for a bit today recording to a newer generation Scarlett interface and then into DAW, ABing back and forth between Monique and no Monique.

My favorite setting is with both the sensitivity and the line level knob pulled out. Still messing with favorite eq and sensitivity settings but it's not as big of a difference as I was expecting or hoping for. Notes are evened out a little, a tiny bit of heft and authority is added but not much and not in a way that's necessarily "better." Without the Monique my tone has a little more grind and graininess, a little more clarity. With the Monique it's a tiny bit more smooth and round, almost like there's a low mid heft to it that doesn't add mud in any way.

I'm torn about the sensitivity knob. I really like it turned up for my clean tone, but my turning up the sensitivity past 3 o'clock for my distorted tone introduces some pretty unpleasant artifacts, like something is distorting in a bad way. Could be that my distorted tone has A LOT of content around the 900-2K region

I'm not really noticing the difference in feel that everyone's reported back but I also haven't blasted it through my fearful 12/6/1 yet

 

[BunchyMutt]

After listening back to comparison clips there are some character shifts that I like:

Open, distorted Bs sound anemic without the Monique. The Monique also reduces some distortion artifacts that have always been annoying and fatiguing to my ears. I'm also liking the way the Monique tone sits a little more solidly.

 

[BurningSkies]

For most recording, I leave the sensitivity way down low. Live I run it between 9 o'clock and 1 0'clock. I find that there's a noticeable difference in the way the preamp sounds to me with any of these, though it may be subtle to some.

Something else to note, we're not all hearing the same thing from the sensitivity control...because one of the things it does is alter input impedance. So depending on what you're feeding it, passive or active buffered signal, you're getting different things out of it.

 

[BunchyMutt]

For most recording, I leave the sensitivity way down low. Live I run it between 9 o'clock and 1 0'clock. I find that there's a noticeable difference in the way the preamp sounds to me with any of these, though it may be subtle to some.

Something else to note, we're not all hearing the same thing from the sensitivity control...because one of the things it does is alter input impedance. So depending on what you're feeding it, passive or active buffered signal, you're getting different things out of it.

All fantastic points. Thanks!

 

[juledude]

I can relate. Cocoa Beach will tear everything you own apart. Any oil recommendations?

WD40 or any light oil will do. Looks nice on the powder coating too. Best to remove the six side screws and pull the black cover off to wipe on the oil. The cover will be held to the chassis by the gray neoprene seal, but it will pull up and off.

 

[BunchyMutt]

Played through the Monique some more this evening through the interface and DAW. Found a setting that sounded great for both distorted and clean:

Line Lvl pushed in, Sensitivity also pushed in I believe - I'm forgetting what the final setting was. Balanced Lvl not at 0 obviously. Since the EQ is very musical, turning the low down that much didn't have as much effect as other eqs, just tightened it all up

I'm beginning to understand what folks meant when they talk about feel. Playing clean along to a funk rhythm the 16th notes just leapt out with definition and warmth. Definitely a vintage sounding thing going on. To be fair, my rounds are so old they're basically flats, but when I bypassed the Monique it felt unfocused and unbalanced. How did this translate to playing the same riff and style? It was terrible. I felt like I was fighting against it.

Distorted tone: the setting above helped yield thick, raspy, grindy tones. Just how I like it.

I'll have to record some comparison clips, ideally tomorrow.