Jule Amps Monique part 5

[BunchyMutt]

Something I forgot to write last night: The unpleasant distortion I was hearing when I first played the Monique was solved by pushing the Line Level (and Sensitivity knob? not remembering what the final setting was) back in. I wasn't getting any clipping indicators on my interface so I'm assuming it was overdriving something within the preamp.

 

[chadds]

That knob pulled out gives a boost in gain. Nothing within the Monique will make itself distort. Your gear wasn't liking the mismatch. In recording you can hear distortion and voltage or impedance mismatches that don't show up as highly driven levels on meters.

 

[BurningSkies]

Yeah, I've never seen the Monique have an 'internally based' distortion. I would suggest you were driving something past the output too hard.

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
View attachment 2788109

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.

There's just something to how it shapes the notes that's different. I've always supposed that its something in relation to the the tube rectifier and the 6SL7's. I know that I tried a different EZ81, a vintage Mullard and didn't like what it did...ended up feeling lifeless and kind of flat. The Sensitivity control plays with that and can sort of 'squish' the feel a bit and also make it feel sort of thicker and give more weight to the notes.

 

[krispn]

I was gigging my Monique again last night. Put some new round wounds on the AVRI '63, tweaked the action and intonation and it was a delight! I normally keep flats on that bass but felt like a change - I've never played it with rounds into Mo'. Like many of the guys here I use a HPF/LPF (Broughton Audio) which tamed the new string zing but kept a nice quality to the tone with the occasional bit of drive when I used them together. I will say that '63 P bass has the most responsive passive tone taper that I've found in a bass and by keeping Mo' flat in the treble and using the tone pot I was nailing all kinda's P bass tones. No drive from Mo' but the Sens was pushed a bit more than normal to bring out the rounds and a bit of character. Job was a good 'un! I gigged last week and didn't have my own cab so last night that just made everything right.

 

[BurningSkies]

Oh hai guyz.

 

[ahc]

Oh hai guyz.

View attachment 2793962

And what have we here? Spill the beans if you please.

 

[Peredur]

I would guess at 2.5K but I could be wrong

 

[BurningSkies]

Jule's been quietly building a rackmount M2500 for my live rig.

It was time for this to happen for me. I've been killing IPRs on the road for a handful of years now and I've been trying to upgrade my stage amplifier setup since we've really been playing a lot.

I don't know that there are a whole lot of the M2500 out in the wild, but so far they've all been in the 'stand-alone' format to fit under a dove-cage and for my needs and lifestyle rackmount works best. The new case may give Jule a bit more elbow room to work.

 

[BurningSkies]

For those playing along at home, I'll have the worlds most confusingly mislabeled (and unlabeled) amp setup. Here's my Monique preamp:

...and this is what happens when I play it:

 

[BunchyMutt]

*no puppies were harmed in the making of any Jute product.

 

[BurningSkies]

*no puppies were harmed in the making of any Jule product.

Knowing Jule, I can't see him harming any animals. Just not the type, which makes sense that he creates things that have 'pile of puppies' tone to them.

Looking forward to trying out the new muscle in my setup. The IPR2-3K will find second life in the rack that holds my Kern IP-777, and/or possibly for PA use if needed. My old IPR-3K had a strange failure where it gets fan-motor noise leaked to it's out but only with an unbalanced input. It's also been put on PA duty.

 

[chadds]

*no puppies were harmed in the making of any Jute product.

Okay fine. But there's the question of that phantom bunny shadow.

 

[Baird6869]

I have been using the DI out on my Monique and it really sounds fantastic!

I was going to pick up a Reddi, but straight out of my Monique to the board gives me a crazy good tone. This pre never ceases to amaze me!

 

[BunchyMutt]

Okay fine. But there's the question of that phantom bunny shadow.

Well, always.

 

[BurningSkies]

...Jule's been busy, y'all.

Some updates:

Here's the Hypex amplifier in it's new home. As Jule points out, the power supply on this is well over-spec, it can provide for multiple units if there as call for it. This is the class D version of 'big iron'.

Here's the front of the unit. The original green LED that indicated 'armed and ready' has been replaced with a single blue LED in the center of the chrome Jule Amps logo. I love how simple and elegant the front panel is:

Business in the front, party in the rear?

Lots of ventilation, powercon connector for high current...20 amp fuse, and adjustable fan speed.

While this was going on, I was out on the road with my Monique for a quick Halloween tour. If anyone ever tells you that you should wear a full latex body suit, multiple layers, a cape and full coverage mask/cowl on stage, you should say no. This was super fun but wicked brutal for hours a night.

Although the final result was pretty epic (some nights we had Robin rather than Commissioner Gordon):

 

[Dave W]

Rack mounted M2500?

 

[BurningSkies]

Rack mounted M2500?

Yep. For anyone interested, I believe Jule has a couple of rack enclosures waiting to go. Get in while you can!

 

[kevk]

Yep. For anyone interested, I believe Jule has a couple of rack enclosures waiting to go. Get in while you can!

Curious...what is the depth measurement?

 

[BurningSkies]

Curious...what is the depth measurement?

That's a question for @juledude to answer. I'm sure he'll be around soonish.

 

[juledude]

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

The salt air (delicious as it is) can cause havoc on all electronic gear. The first gear I worked on spent all its time on the ocean or flying through fog and clouds. That was a while ago, but nothing has changed.

Something I forgot to write last night: The unpleasant distortion I was hearing when I first played the Monique was solved by pushing the Line Level (and Sensitivity knob? not remembering what the final setting was) back in. I wasn't getting any clipping indicators on my interface so I'm assuming it was overdriving something within the preamp.

Yes. That Line Level Knob gives us +10db when we pull it out. Way too much for a lot of gear. Perfect for some powerful amplifiers.

Pulling that Line Level Knob out mid performance with the level turned up is a very bad thing. Especially if you are a 2500 kinda player. ;-) If you want to do that, just make sure it is turned to zero first.

There is a girth added to the notes with the Line Level pulled out. This is because we are adding a second tube stage to the signal path. Some players like that tone, and always play with the Line Level pulled out. They know to keep the level properly low. Just one more tool.