Jule Amps Monique part 5

[BunchyMutt]

Other than a noise reduction, are there differences running from the Direct out or the Line out into a power amp?

 

[juledude]

Other than a noise reduction, are there differences running from the Direct out or the Line out into a power amp?

There may be no advantage at all. It it dependent upon the environment you are playing in.

If the amp has a DI input, like a console does, then it may be a better match as per noise reduction and level. Unfortunately, just because we see an XLR input jack, (or output jack for that matter) it does not mean it is a balanced signal. It is the balanced nature of the wiring that gives us the noise reduction. It must be balanced on both ends.

If you use the 1/4" cable you could also have good results. As long as we keep the 1/4" cable fairly short (6' or a couple of meters, I can't see that we would be picking up much noise in any environment.

Purposely, the maximum DI output of Monique is lower than the Maximum Line Output level. This is to keep from blowing up consoles with too much input level. Consoles are happy closer to 0db than the +13db or so that most Line Level devices put out.

 

[BunchyMutt]

There may be no advantage at all. It it dependent upon the environment you are playing in.

If the amp has a DI input, like a console does, then it may be a better match as per noise reduction and level. Unfortunately, just because we see an XLR input jack, (or output jack for that matter) it does not mean it is a balanced signal. It is the balanced nature of the wiring that gives us the noise reduction. It must be balanced on both ends.

If you use the 1/4" cable you could also have good results. As long as we keep the 1/4" cable fairly short (6' or a couple of meters, I can't see that we would be picking up much noise in any environment.

Purposely, the maximum DI output of Monique is lower than the Maximum Line Output level. This is to keep from blowing up consoles with too much input level. Consoles are happy closer to 0db than the +13db or so that most Line Level devices put out.

Excellent, thanks Jule

 

[chadds]

Had a great gig last night. Bamboo Monique on an AER Basic Performer. Dearmond Ashbory. Big fat acoustic bass tone. The last tune was “Ugly.” Driving uptempo Jazz. The perfect break tune.

Monique just did it all. The mids are pushed out like a 9 month pregnant ladie’s pretty belly. Monique can maintain airy almost scooped tone with fatness. So the upright like timbre is evident. The lows are huge and not muddy.

Jule, thanks again!

 

[BurningSkies]

Had a great gig last night. Bamboo Monique on an AER Basic Performer. Dearmond Ashbory. Big fat acoustic bass tune. The last tune was “Ugly.” Driving uptempo Jazz. The perfect break tune.

Monique just did it all. The mids are pushed out like a 9 month pregnant ladie’s pretty belly. Monique can maintain airy almost scooped tone with fatness. So the upright like timbre is evident. The lows are huge and not muddy.

Jule, thanks again!

Yeah, I was in studio doing pre-production last night, though Monique has been in the studio now for a few weeks of residency.

Last night was with the exception of one re-take; me using my Dingwall fanned-fretless for 3 songs. That bass not only has the usual compliment of pickups + Darkglass Tone Capsule preamp it also has a piezo bridge and second preamp that you can blend with the magnetic...sounds SO good. Somewhere between acoustic bass and electric fretless.

Interestingly, the person producing/engineering the sessions wants as little of his board/pre and as much Monique as possible, so I was running the Monique with the DI maxed out and the output 'pulled' for as much signal as possible. Never done it like that before but his attitude was 'why hear my stock board pre when it can be all yours?'.

 

[Valveman]

Bamboo Monique and Minnie

I thought what an amazing aesthetic this was and thus began the effort to find something like it. It's been quite a road but now the search is over. Introducing Monique and Minnie in a traditional cherry flavor with creamy knobs and red jewels.

 

[juledude]

Bamboo Monique and Minnie

I thought what an amazing aesthetic this was and thus began the effort to find something like it. It's been quite a road but now the search is over. Introducing Monique and Minnie in a traditional cherry flavor with creamy knobs and red jewels.
Wow! Just Wow!

Art.

 

[basshack]

Bamboo Monique and Minnie

I thought what an amazing aesthetic this was and thus began the effort to find something like it. It's been quite a road but now the search is over. Introducing Monique and Minnie in a traditional cherry flavor with creamy knobs and red jewels.

That’s stunning!

 

[BobaMosfett]

Last week a fellow bassist came by to try out my Monique 700 with his Ken Smith 6. We heard a bit of distortion on the lowest notes. He played mainly towards the bridge pickup (big pushing low-mids), and although the none of the frequencies were boosted, his bass had a noticeably higher output than any of my (mostly passive) basses.
He suspected the distortion came from the speakers (Trickfish TF112), but since it wasn't very loud, I thought the preamp couldn't take the Smith signal.
As we all know, Monique doesn't have a real gain control, and in the end I had the sensitivity all the way down and pushed in. We could still hear some distortion.
What is the experience of other Monique users with high-output active basses? Do you also get distortion when hitting Monique with a full signal, or are my speakers to blame?
My friend really loved the tone of Monique, but this issue could be a deal-breaker for him.

 

[juledude]

Last week a fellow bassist came by to try out my Monique 700 with his Ken Smith 6. We heard a bit of distortion on the lowest notes. He played mainly towards the bridge pickup (big pushing low-mids), and although the none of the frequencies were boosted, his bass had a noticeably higher output than any of my (mostly passive) basses.
He suspected the distortion came from the speakers (Trickfish TF112), but since it wasn't very loud, I thought the preamp couldn't take the Smith signal.
As we all know, Monique doesn't have a real gain control, and in the end I had the sensitivity all the way down and pushed in. We could still hear some distortion.
What is the experience of other Monique users with high-output active basses? Do you also get distortion when hitting Monique with a full signal, or are my speakers to blame?
My friend really loved the tone of Monique, but this issue could be a deal-breaker for him.

If you can eliminate the noise by turning the volume down on the bass and the amp up to compensate for the lower instrument volume, it is a good indication that Monique is getting too much signal from that bass. Not definitive, but a good indication, a good place to start.



How much level is that bass putting out? Any specifications available?

 

[Groove Doctor]

Last week a fellow bassist came by to try out my Monique 700 with his Ken Smith 6. We heard a bit of distortion on the lowest notes. He played mainly towards the bridge pickup (big pushing low-mids), and although the none of the frequencies were boosted, his bass had a noticeably higher output than any of my (mostly passive) basses.
He suspected the distortion came from the speakers (Trickfish TF112), but since it wasn't very loud, I thought the preamp couldn't take the Smith signal.
As we all know, Monique doesn't have a real gain control, and in the end I had the sensitivity all the way down and pushed in. We could still hear some distortion.
What is the experience of other Monique users with high-output active basses? Do you also get distortion when hitting Monique with a full signal, or are my speakers to blame?
My friend really loved the tone of Monique, but this issue could be a deal-breaker for him.

1. +1 to Jules’ advice.

2. Ask him to test/replace the battery in his bass - My M700 can handle my very hot Tobias 5 string without distortion, even when lows are boosted on the bass’ Preamp with no fuss.

3. Would a different Preamp tube respond better?

 

[juledude]

1. +1 to Jules’ advice.

2. Ask him to test/replace the battery in his bass - My M700 can handle my very hot Tobias 5 string without distortion, even when lows are boosted on the bass’ Preamp with no fuss.

3. Would a different Preamp tube respond better?

Thank you. Excellent path.

Yes. Tubes well implemented don't care much about the level coming in. Unlike solid state devices that will blow themselves up if the input voltage exceeds the DC rails. One could (PLEASE DON'T - DOING SO CAN KILL YOU) put house mains on the input of a tube and it would still live. Wouldn't sound good, I am sure.

A digression: I've heard rumors of folks testing cabs by hooking up the mains directly to them for a short time, and that story always scared me. Anybody know if it is just a myth?

Hottest pickups I've had the pleasure to work with are some of Carey Nordstrand's. Beautiful beasts, but very high output. Monique worked fine.

 

[BobaMosfett]

1. +1 to Jules’ advice.

2. Ask him to test/replace the battery in his bass - My M700 can handle my very hot Tobias 5 string without distortion, even when lows are boosted on the bass’ Preamp with no fuss.

3. Would a different Preamp tube respond better?

Turning down the volume on the bass didn't occur to us, strangely. So I guess that's the first thing to try next time I see him. I'm not sure about the exact output level on the Ken Smith, but it was pretty loud.
I'll bring some fresh batteries as well!

Thanks for your replies!

 

[juledude]

Turning down the volume on the bass didn't occur to us, strangely. So I guess that's the first thing to try next time I see him. I'm not sure about the exact output level on the Ken Smith, but it was pretty loud.
I'll bring some fresh batteries as well!

Thanks for your replies!

We are very much in this together.

Strangeness happens. . . For almost two weeks, our final test environment was exhibiting an intermittent short duration scratchy noise and an intermittent shimmer on high frequency high level notes. This is the same cabinet, amp, and bass that has been in use for years to final test every piece of gear that goes to a customer. Both problems started simultaneously. It seemed possible we had a problem with our gear. Stopped shipping.

End of story. . . A bad connection inside a Speakon cable Connector at the Cabinet end (the scratchiness) and a bad 9 volt battery in the test bass (the shimmer). The 9 volt battery still had voltage when measured with a voltmeter. It would drop out and then come back up. I didn't know they could do that.

Sometimes I want to be a bricklayer.

 

[nalapit13]

We are very much in this together.

Strangeness happens. . . For almost two weeks, our final test environment was exhibiting an intermittent short duration scratchy noise and an intermittent shimmer on high frequency high level notes. This is the same cabinet, amp, and bass that has been in use for years to final test every piece of gear that goes to a customer. Both problems started simultaneously. It seemed possible we had a problem with our gear. Stopped shipping.

End of story. . . A bad connection inside a Speakon cable Connector at the Cabinet end (the scratchiness) and a bad 9 volt battery in the test bass (the shimmer). The 9 volt battery still had voltage when measured with a voltmeter. It would drop out and then come back up. I didn't know they could do that.

Sometimes I want to be a bricklayer.

So, what you’re saying is the holes in the bricks are actual for tubes, all right, I’ll take one of them also.

 

[juledude]

So, what you’re saying is the holes in the bricks are actual for tubes, all right, I’ll take one of them also.

Is FEDEX still abusing us?

 

[GBass001]

We are very much in this together.

Strangeness happens. . . For almost two weeks, our final test environment was exhibiting an intermittent short duration scratchy noise and an intermittent shimmer on high frequency high level notes. This is the same cabinet, amp, and bass that has been in use for years to final test every piece of gear that goes to a customer. Both problems started simultaneously. It seemed possible we had a problem with our gear. Stopped shipping.

End of story. . . A bad connection inside a Speakon cable Connector at the Cabinet end (the scratchiness) and a bad 9 volt battery in the test bass (the shimmer). The 9 volt battery still had voltage when measured with a voltmeter. It would drop out and then come back up. I didn't know they could do that.

Sometimes I want to be a bricklayer.

You're on! I'll buy the bricks, the steaks and the beer. A bbq built by a true craftsman is a rare thing these days.

 

[Christian Houmann]

The monique was great sounding in a recording session

 

[juledude]

The monique was great sounding in a recording session View attachment 3638623

Excellent.
Did Morten help you out?

 

[ghorvers]

Setup for three upcoming shows.