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Jule Amps Monique part 5

#1,761
maisbass said:
Hey Joel,

You will see you will be varying that sensitivity control with different basses as well. With my Fodera I started using it at 10 like you but as I played with it more and more it now varies between 10-12.

With my passive nordy vpj I find I run it abut higher between 12 and 2.

The eq I primarily run flat unless I need to compensate for room eq adjustments, then I'll tweak it a bit. I have found little eq adjustments go a long way. It's really deceiving at first but I find them pretty sensitive.


The Minnie is no slouch and hits hard but I do find it colors the tone a bit, but in a good way. Seems a bit more "warm" sounding which is nice.
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Cool post and interesting points.

I tend to keep the sensitivity between 12:00 and 3:00, but most often between 2:00 and 3:00. Doesn't matter if I am using an active Fodera 5er or passive vintage P with tapes. Also, I EQ Monique flat with bass and treble boosted a tiny bit. I may bump my mids and add more treble depending on the room.

Regarding power amps, I lean more towards the belief that a power amp is not doing a ton and the tone is in the preamp, but I did find that Minnie is a bit warmer than the Crown and Crest poweramps I used to own.

The M700 may ultimately make Monique sound a minuscule bit better then when paired with the Minnie, but I am not sure that I am ready or could even handle that kind of awesomeness.:help:
 
#1,763
maisbass said:
This^^

You are probably experiencing a level/impedance mismatch by using the DI out. As suggested above, the line output is much hotter and will drive your headphone amp better.
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Yep. I would agree here. Turn the line level all the way down the slowly bring it up until you get the level you need. I don't remember a pull on the DI...but maybe that was a later addition? I've just had mine updated but haven't had a chance to explore it yet.
 
#1,764
Joel,

I have a Markbass F500. As foderaman states, you can use Monique into the effects return of that amp to good effect. Definitely adds something substantial to the f500 sound in terms of both gravitas and character. But it will pick up some Markbass color - the F500 master volume and EQ section will still be active. The gain will not.

If you're looking for a small head primarily for slaving as a power amp and don't need 900 watts, I wouldn't spring for the Puma. It's well regarded, for sure, but pricey and, personally, I wouldn't want anything that would make Monique darker. A used F500 or F1 could be good options. A GK MB800 or MB500 might not be bad, either, in the poweramp role. If you want to use the micro as a standalone as well, then, of course, get one you like.

If you don't mind the size, a Crest Proliite is comparatively cheap and will sound better than the micro heads, I think.

Haven't played Monique through my f500 in a long time. If you like, I can fire it up and see if my aural memory of the coloration is still accurate. I have a Crest Pro-Lite and one other poweramp to use as points of reference.

As evinced by my earlier posts, I missed this F500 reference the first time around.
 
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#1,769
PSR B1919+21 said:
I get a lot of noise through 1/4 out :/ and volume is the same :( also wa7 doesn't have 1/4 input, only xlr and rca's
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What are the input specs on the wa7?

What kind of cable are you using to connect them?

The line out has a ton of output, enough to drive just about anything. The Line Level knob is also PP, so you can get more output by pulling it out. It should also be very quiet.
 
#1,773
Honestly Monique is extremely quiet. Unless there is a problem with your Monique, I would have a hard time thinking Monique is causing all that noise. I would remove your headphone amp from the equation and check Monique that way to see if you are still getting noise. So another words hook it up with your power amp and cab to see if you are still getting noise.

You can also try plugging your headphones directly into the line out of monique as well. Depending on the impedance of your headphones, the volume level may be low, but perhaps you can determine if it is still noisy.

Also the line out of Monique should be blowing up the input to your headphone amp if you tried using 1/4" TS jack to rca. RCA inputs are "consumer" and are usually looking for a -10db input and I believe MO's line out is a true line out at +4db. If what I am stating is correct (Jule can clarify), your line out should be way more than hot enough to drive your headphone amp, unless there is some impedance mismatch going on.

I noticed your headphone amp is a tube headphone amp. Are you sure your tubes are working properly in the headphone amp? Have you tested it with other equipment as well?

Just throwing things out there to think about.
 
#1,774
maisbass said:
Honestly Monique is extremely quiet. Unless there is a problem with your Monique, I would have a hard time thinking Monique is causing all that noise. I would remove your headphone amp from the equation and check Monique that way to see if you are still getting noise. So another words hook it up with your power amp and cab to see if you are still getting noise.

You can also try plugging your headphones directly into the line out of monique as well. Depending on the impedance of your headphones, the volume level may be low, but perhaps you can determine if it is still noisy.

Also the line out of Monique should be blowing up the input to your headphone amp if you tried using 1/4" TS jack to rca. RCA inputs are "consumer" and are usually looking for a -10db input and I believe MO's line out is a true line out at +4db. If what I am stating is correct (Jule can clarify), your line out should be way more than hot enough to drive your headphone amp, unless there is some impedance mismatch going on.

I noticed your headphone amp is a tube headphone amp. Are you sure your tubes are working properly in the headphone amp? Have you tested it with other equipment as well?

Just throwing things out there to think about.
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I'll add that very early on I had a bad tube in my Monique and it had nearly no output level. It took a couple trips across country to figure it out. The line level should be enough or more than enough signal into any 'front end' that you'd plug a bass into normally.
 
#1,775
Thanks for answers, yes I've tried monique with apogee duet2 also, with the same issues, and I've tried wa7 without monique, it works just fine. But as soon as I try monique 1/4 into wa7 rca (all levels are set to zero!) I hear a decent amount of noise. With xlr output on monique into rca input on wa7 everything is dead quiet, but the volume is pretty low (even with xlr/sens/wa7 volume knobs all the way up) :(
 
#1,776
PSR B1919+21 said:
Thanks for answers, yes I've tried monique with apogee duet2 also, with the same issues, and I've tried wa7 without monique, it works just fine. But as soon as I try monique 1/4 into wa7 rca (all levels are set to zero!) I hear a decent amount of noise. With xlr output on monique into rca input on wa7 everything is dead quiet, but the volume is pretty low (even with xlr/sens/wa7 volume knobs all the way up) :(
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Have you done any troubleshooting with @Jule Potter ?
 
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#1,777
BurningSkies said:
Have you done any troubleshooting with @Jule Potter ?
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I'll second this. My Monique Tardis might be the quietest piece of gear, in terms of stray electrical noise, that I own. Quieter than most solid state stuff I've played.

Re. impedance mismatches, I was told that the output impedance of Monique was around 10 KOhm, if that means anything to you. I am far from certain of that, however, so I'd verify that with Jule.

I've found Jule to be conscientious and responsive when I've had questions for him. I'd hit him up about this.
 
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#1,779
BurningSkies said:
I see you own a 777 as well... I'd love to hear your take between the two. I played one for a year or two before getting a rack-Mo, and recently have spent a few weeks on the 777 as my Mo went back to Jule. They're very very different sounding units.

I had an interesting gig this week with the Kern where I had more people than usual comment to me about my tone specifically. I always think of it as being very pretty in a big smooth way (I hate the term 'creamy' but it fits). But its soft and it feels like you don't get much punch out of the front end of the note. While the Monique to me is much more fun to play...punchier and 'springy' with the note envelope. I'd say that it's less 'pretty' sounding (not intended as an insult). I feel like Jule's pre handles diads & triads better and more harmonically. Although my wife who was back at the far end of the bar/room in a long long room with lots of people...commented that I was just as loud as usual but had more 'clarity'...which I found interesting.
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The Kern and the Monique comparison is an interesting one. I like them both but they're similar enough that I don't know that I will keep both. The Kern sounds a bit rounder/thicker/darker to me but not in a bloated way. The Monique sounds thick as well but seems to 'feel' quicker. In some ways, it's almost like a hypothetical blend of the Kern and a Demeter 201s.
 
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