Jule Amps Monique part 5

[juledude]

That amp looks pretty good. I've had it saved as a favorite on reverb.

I picked up on years ago that was sold as a rack mount DI and Jule it was as well. Bought it used from GC and it turned out have power and I love it. I already had a Doce cage for years.

If the cab top Tardis on reverb came down a bit I'd pick that up too.

Hi Peter.

Beautiful day in Santa Cruz.

Builds, back when that left the shop, were great, but documentation - not so much. That Monique may have the Hypex 700 built in, and it may have the Aguilar 800 built in. With the top off, I can tell you what it is immediately.

The gold sticker on the far left tells me it is one of the first amplified Moniques built (even before serial numbers). That is also the first rack enclosure we used. Front graphics are also first iteration. They really do seem to just keep doing the job.

 

[peterpalmieri]

Hi Peter.

Beautiful day in Santa Cruz.

Builds, back when that left the shop, were great, but documentation - not so much. That Monique may have the Hypex 700 built in, and it may have the Aguilar 800 built in. With the top off, I can tell you what it is immediately.

The gold sticker on the far left tells me it is one of the first amplified Moniques built (even before serial numbers). That is also the first rack enclosure we used. Front graphics are also first iteration. They really do seem to just keep doing the job.

 

[peterpalmieri]

Thanks Jule, this is the one I picked up a few years back. Thought it was just a pre and was going to rack mount in the studio but turned out to be powered and I use that for gigs and the dove cage lives in my studio.

 

[peterpalmieri]

Unlike the one on reverb mine has a volume knob.

 

[juledude]

Thanks Jule, this is the one I picked up a few years back. Thought it was just a pre and was going to rack mount in the studio but turned out to be powered and I use that for gigs and the dove cage lives in my studio.

That was when we were making sure the idea worked.

You have what may be the first of what came to be called "De-Monique." Back then, we built the Monique here in Santa Cruz and shipped it down to James Demeter (Paso Robles, CA) for the addition of the ICE (not Aguilar) 800 amp. He then sent it on to the customer. James is a good guy to work with. I greatly respect him and his gear.

You've got quite the piece there.

 

[LakeEffect]

Fun to follow this along. Thanks for the learning experience all!

 

[peterpalmieri]

More goodness, I spend a lot of time with Mo.

With a bass with hot pickups; make sure the line is pushed in. Turn all the EQ off and roll back the sensitivity to noon. Great clean tone.

Low output bass; pull out the line and sensitivity. Turn all the EQ all the way up and use the sensitivity to dial in the saturation.

You may our may not want to use those on a gig but it will give you some insight on the magic of everything being dependent on each other.

A pulled out line is giving you to much gain?, before pushing it in dial back the sensitivity and see if that gets you where you want to be.

The darn thing is a Swiss Army knife. Have fun.

 

[juledude]

A digression regarding the source of the musical Swiss Army Knife.

Mark Sampson, died several weeks ago. Mark was very much a family man, very much a genius. A friend.

No one in my life taught me more about how to extract the music, the smiles, the "Swiss Army Knife", from electronics than Mark. He also told me the story (quite a few times) of how, early in his career, he had to rebuild the guitar (there were 3) Prince threw over his head at the end of each performance on the Purple Rain tour. We laughed a lot.

We have lost a great one. I miss him.

 

[peterpalmieri]

Well couldn’t help myself and picked up the Tardis that was on reverb with a nice studio slip cover. Now I have a Dove Cage, a racked De-Monique and a Tardis. Along with a paycheck.

I do have like new Noble I decided wasn’t for me will get around to listing that in the classifieds or reverb soon.

Not just a silly move fairly practical, the dovecage lives in my home studio and travels on amp less gigs. The De-Monique is racked in a 4 space rack with a top and bottom vented rack space. It’s great for ferry trips, aggressive load ins and keeping cool on a hot summer stage but it’s not all that practical to grab and go when I just want a small cab for a gig. The Tardis is one hand, a bass on my back and a 1x12 in the other, easy one trip gig rig.

 

[juledude]

Well couldn’t help myself and picked up the Tardis that was on reverb with a nice studio slip cover. Now I have a Dove Cage, a racked De-Monique and a Tardis. Along with a paycheck.

I do have like new Noble I decided wasn’t for me will get around to listing that in the classifieds or reverb soon.

Not just a silly move fairly practical, the dovecage lives in my home studio and travels on amp less gigs. The De-Monique is racked in a 4 space rack with a top and bottom vented rack space. It’s great for ferry trips, aggressive load ins and keeping cool on a hot summer stage but it’s not all that practical to grab and go when I just want a small cab for a gig. The Tardis is one hand, a bass on my back and a 1x12 in the other, easy one trip gig rig.

Not silly at all.

 

[peterpalmieri]

Just a little bit different, that’s what I love about tube gear. Testing the Tardis to make sure it works properly and it does. Running the 1/4 line output to my powered Bergantino IP112&112ex just like I would the dovecage.

And wouldn’t you know it, it’s not the same. I’ll have to run the hypex to passive speakers to do my testing there. Just to assure the seller it arrived in tact. Can also compare it to the De-Monique at that point which has both a line and volume knob. My belief is the volume knob is simply a power amp attenuator.

With that all out of the way I will have to take a look at the tubes in each and see if they are all the same.

As many of you know the line level is not a preamp gain knob, the input gain is manipulated by the push pull and how the sensitivity is set. Making the level Monique sees from an instrument very important. Hotter output instruments will saturate more then others, some need the line level pulled to get good saturation, others are overdriven if you pull out the line level. That can be more finely adjusted with the sensitivity knob.

I know I have said anything yet. So basses going into the Tardis are hot in comparison to the Dovecage. More saturation and more level to the power amp. More easily overdriven and way less line level to reach the same volume. Same principal holds true for the DI output more saturation and have to back off the balanced level before hitting a mic pre as compared to the dovecage.

Neither good or bad just different, freaking love these amps. And looking forward to more time with her. I say all this because for me when they don’t sound identical I want to know why and that process helps me understand the amp better and make musical decisions. Where turning the knobs becomes a lot like right and left hand muting on the instrument. You just do it without giving it much thought.

Jule you are a genius or at least very lucky, I hope the family is well.

 

[peterpalmieri]

For fun, everyone loves the pics.

Tested the hypex, has a separate switch for the power amp section and a nice fan. Neither needs to be on in the studio which is cool.

No favorites among my children, I know it’s tough being me.

 

[juledude]

For fun, everyone loves the pics.

Tested the hypex, has a separate switch for the power amp section and a nice fan. Neither needs to be on in the studio which is cool.

No favorites among my children, I know it’s tough being me.

I think the apparent difference lies in the type of potentiometer used for output level control. The potentiometer used for level control in the 700 watt Moniques is not the one used in Moniques without the amp .

Monique 700 watt Amp versions have a logarithmic taper pot for Line Out/Volume control (our ears operate logarithmically ).

Monique without the amp - standalones (Dove, Rack, Desktop) have a linear taper pot for Line Out control.

Why? Linear taper pots give us an accurate visual indication as to how much juice we are sending to a remote amp. A Linear pot turned half way up gives us half the level. Turned 3/4 up gives 3/4 of the level and so on.

Logarithmic pots (and our ears) are strange. A logarithmic pot turned half way up give us less than 1/3 of the available level. Turned about 3/4 of the way up we get about 1/2 the available level. It does make sense on a slide rule, but I suspect I may have the last one of those left.

And thank you for your kind words Peter.

 

[basgitarr]

A question about Monique 700-how do you control over volume? Does the line level pot also act as master volume? Or do you control it at the instrument?

 

[basgitarr]

*overall volume

 

[peterpalmieri]

Line level controls the output volume but not the DI output. Pulling the line level knob does boost the out put of both

 

[basgitarr]

So just using Monique and a speaker cab, volume is controlled by line level volume pot? It’s like a master volume for the amp?

 

[juledude]

A question about Monique 700-how do you control over volume? Does the line level pot also act as master volume? Or do you control it at the instrument?

Yes. The Line Output control functions as both Amp volume control and Line Out level control. It gives us some flexibility.

We can get a simple effects loop using a combination of the Line Out output and Amp Direct input on the back of the Monique 700. Doing so moves the Amp volume control out of the Monique 700.

 

[basgitarr]

Excellent, thanks for the info!

 

[J.Wolf]

looking at selling my dovecage, with an additional full set of higher gain tubes, if anyone is interested... thx