Jule Amps Monique part 5

[chadds]

If Skip doesn’t return that power amp or headphone amp, i swear i don’t have it.......

Neither do I....

 

[peterpalmieri]

Had a last minute gig come up last night , showed up with my bass and Monique. Thought I’d go direct but ended up using an EV ZLX 12p with Monique as my backline rig. Plugged in, it sounded great and literally never looked at it again. Sounded perfect. Thanks Jule!

 

[juledude]

Had a last minute gig come up last night , showed up with my bass and Monique. Thought I’d go direct but ended up using an EV ZLX 12p with Monique as my backline rig. Plugged in, it sounded great and literally never looked at it again. Sounded perfect. Thanks Jule!

Thank you Peter.

 

[allenhumble]

Hey @juledude .....any updates on pricing for your new gadgets?

 

[The_Owl]

I'm very much intrigued by the Simone. I'd love to know what kind of capabilities the Drive knob has. Are we talking everything from slight midrange grind to full on fuzz and everything in between, like for example a Sunn 300T? I want tubes for the saturation and harmonic content they add to a bass tone. If the Simone and power amp can deliver this in such a small package, it would be a dream for me.

 

[juledude]

Hey @juledude .....any updates on pricing for your new gadgets?

Not yet. Soon.

 

[juledude]

I'm very much intrigued by the Simone. I'd love to know what kind of capabilities the Drive knob has. Are we talking everything from slight midrange grind to full on fuzz and everything in between, like for example a Sunn 300T? I want tubes for the saturation and harmonic content they add to a bass tone. If the Simone and power amp can deliver this in such a small package, it would be a dream for me.

I'm very much intrigued by the Simone. I'd love to know what kind of capabilities the Drive knob has. Are we talking everything from slight midrange grind to full on fuzz and everything in between, like for example a Sunn 300T? I want tubes for the saturation and harmonic content they add to a bass tone. If the Simone and power amp can deliver this in such a small package, it would be a dream for me.

The first opportunity to get folks on Simone and gather some idea of where we are going was at NAMM. Even in the artistic confines of the NAMM floor, players liked what they heard. There is nothing in Simone that is not tubes, so "Yes," it is tube saturation we are playing with. As in Monique, a separate, additional tube stage is inserted into the signal path (In Monique this happens when you pull out the Line Out.)

Simone is different in that this additional tube stage can be dialed in or out with the Drive Control. In Monique the additional stage is fixed and throttled.

One thing learned at NAMM is that the Drive Control full off position should be set to where Monique starts, not at zero as it was at the show. From that position we increase Drive as we turn up the control.

We are close enough now that we should have reports from real folks soon. That's where the proof is.

 

[Molan]

Had a recording session on Sunday where I was expecting to use the studio standard DI box that I’ve been asked to use in the past.

When I arrived the engineer said he wanted to record the band as close to ‘live’ as possible using amps and picking up some overspill.

Luckily I still had Monique in my car from the previous night’s gig.

First thing the engineer said was that the dove cage looked like a ‘time machine’

Then I plugged it in and he said he’d never heard anything quite like it before!

Recorded four songs, each in one take, with no adjustment to Monique for any of them. Got a really nice warm tubey tone that fitted the material perfectly.

Will definitely be pushing hard to use her again in the future

 

[juledude]

Had a recording session on Sunday where I was expecting to use the studio standard DI box that I’ve been asked to use in the past.

When I arrived the engineer said he wanted to record the band as close to ‘live’ as possible using amps and picking up some overspill.

Luckily I still had Monique in my car from the previous night’s gig.

First thing the engineer said was that the dove cage looked like a ‘time machine’

Then I plugged it in and he said he’d never heard anything quite like it before!

Recorded four songs, each in one take, with no adjustment to Monique for any of them. Got a really nice warm tubey tone that fitted the material perfectly.

Will definitely be pushing hard to use her again in the future

'Tis a bit of a Time Machine. Technology a lot older than even I am.

Yes. That DI has etched a place in the Studio World that I think will be around a while.

Thank you.

 

[peterpalmieri]

Monique is just so versatile. Use it for direct/iem gigs and recording. The perfect mate for my Berg IP rig or as a preamp for a power amp/ effects return on a run of the mill bass amp. And totally changes the dynamics when a back line is provided.

Jules soft bag for light gigs around town and a pelican case for tough load ins and traveling.

It’s been years and I’ve slowly just gotten rid of so much stuff that never sees the light of day. I’ve kept an AI focus for those gigs where a cabinet but no amp is provided.

 

[krispn]

So I enjoy a passive bass, I'm a simple man at heart...

I have, however, recently got my hands on a bass which has a three band active EQ. I was chatting with a friend who loves his active pre amp and sets up his amp then fine tunes with the on board pre for all gigs. So I decided to try out a comparison where I boosted the on board EQ then boosted the Monique EQ to see which was more musical/useful. My rationale was if the amp can sound good why bother with the on board pre amp.

I have to say while the on board pre sounded more pronounced (neither a plus or negative) Monique was certainly more musical to my ear in how the EQ was boosting- it was in the high end where I noticed it more. I'm not into a heap of zing in my sound and the way Monique is voiced worked so well. I know this from gigging/playing the amp a lot but it was interesting to me to hear it in action A/B'd like that.

That is all!

 

[chadds]

So I enjoy a passive bass, I'm a simple man at heart...

I have, however, recently got my hands on a bass which has a three band active EQ. I was chatting with a friend who loves his active pre amp and sets up his amp then fine tunes with the on board pre for all gigs. So I decided to try out a comparison where I boosted the on board EQ then boosted the Monique EQ to see which was more musical/useful. My rationale was if the amp can sound good why bother with the on board pre amp.

I have to say while the on board pre sounded more pronounced (neither a plus or negative) Monique was certainly more musical to my ear in how the EQ was boosting- it was in the high end where I noticed it more. I'm not into a heap of zing in my sound and the way Monique is voiced worked so well. I know this from gigging/playing the amp a lot but it was interesting to me to hear it in action A/B'd like that.

That is all!

Dude! Comparing Monique with an onboard pre is Big Apples and little oranges. Full on hand wired 6SL7 pre with Baxandall eq to a bass’s internals no contest. Now a good passive a good active can only be positively enhanced or supported through Monique!

We fuss here on TB like we have to choose. Why not get a bass that just sounds good? Then pre, amp, cab that does too?

 

[BurningSkies]

So I enjoy a passive bass, I'm a simple man at heart...

I have, however, recently got my hands on a bass which has a three band active EQ. I was chatting with a friend who loves his active pre amp and sets up his amp then fine tunes with the on board pre for all gigs. So I decided to try out a comparison where I boosted the on board EQ then boosted the Monique EQ to see which was more musical/useful. My rationale was if the amp can sound good why bother with the on board pre amp.

I have to say while the on board pre sounded more pronounced (neither a plus or negative) Monique was certainly more musical to my ear in how the EQ was boosting- it was in the high end where I noticed it more. I'm not into a heap of zing in my sound and the way Monique is voiced worked so well. I know this from gigging/playing the amp a lot but it was interesting to me to hear it in action A/B'd like that.

That is all!

I use the EQ on the Monique to get the baseline tone I want on stage, from there, the onboard EQ on my bass makes 'micro' tweaks to my rig's tone. So, if I want to hear a little more brightness than what I have dialed in on the amp, I use my preamp and just bring up the treble a little. Similarly if there's song that doesn't want as much bass, I just take it down a little bit.

 

[boamedt]

Ive had the monique for a while now and i play bass through it as much as music and it sounds soooo good. The monique with my broughton hpf/lpf makes great fun of using the monique. I love tweeking the signal with my bass, but i have pretty much found my sweet spot for that. Playing music files through it has been equally amounts of fun. As each track is recorded differently, its fun to play with the monique controls and with the broughton in combo to gain the best sound. I setup my 2000w henry 8x8 for my dad with the monique and a crest 3.0 in his driveway. I hooked up my phone and told him to pick a song. He obliged, i turned the volume up, he liked....then i turned the volume UP, and he was amazed.....as was everyone else within a mile or two radius...just ridiculously glorious. My dad cried uncle so i turned her down. Im sure the neighborhood and surrounding area had no idea what just hit them. I cant believe how unbelievably clear this preamp is at ungoldly levels

 

[krispn]

@chadds @BurningSkies
I totally agree with you. Comparing an on board pre is night and day to a well designed pre amp but it was interesting for me to experiment. Having the option is no bad thing and I look forward to hearing what I can get combining both - expanding my knowledge and tones over the coming weeks and months.

 

[Ric Vice]

Dude! Comparing Monique with an onboard pre is Big Apples and little oranges. Full on hand wired 6SL7 pre with Baxandall eq to a bass’s internals no contest. Now a good passive a good active can only be positively enhanced or supported through Monique!

Gotta love those 6SL7’s there are tbree of them in my Ampeg B-15N(C)
Best preamp tube ever.

 

[Ric Vice]

Jule,
Does the Simone use 12AX7's in the preamp.

 

[juledude]

Dude! Comparing Monique with an onboard pre is Big Apples and little oranges. Full on hand wired 6SL7 pre with Baxandall eq to a bass’s internals no contest. Now a good passive a good active can only be positively enhanced or supported through Monique!

We fuss here on TB like we have to choose. Why not get a bass that just sounds good? Then pre, amp, cab that does too?

 

[juledude]

This area of how the pre in the instrument interacts with the front end of whatever it is plugged into is really kinda fun. Lots to know/learn, from my standpoint. Also lots to lose or gain, depending on how it is handled.

Passive/Active is like Cinerama (Only cool old folks remember Cinerama.) versus any of the Buster Keaton movies. Who is to say which is better, but they are dramatically different.

All that stuff, impedance, EQ, dynamics, levels and other technical choices made on both ends have everything to do with the sound. Remember the HI/LO switches on guitar amps? Yes, they were about HI/LO levels, but they were also about offering choices to accommodate different pickups. One might even say that the Sensitivity Control on Monique is a way of saying, "Heck, I don't know what is going to be plugged in here, so let's give the player a way to dial in the good stuff." One might say. ;-)

 

[BurningSkies]

Jule,
Does the Simone use 12AX7's in the preamp.

They're 6AK5...