Jule Amps Monique

[JimmyM]

I know how much it weighs. It weighs who gives a rat's ass?

 

[BurningSkies]

I know how much it weighs. It weighs who gives a rat's ass?

I can say that double boxed with packing materials it weighs 18 pounds. I would guess that that probably puts it in the 12-14 pound range by itself.

 

[BurningSkies]

The answer on the Sensitivity control is that it does effect the end output, but not in an extreme amount. I found when I moved it from 12 o'clock to all the way up, the volume did go up, but only a small adjustment down on the line out balanced things, and vice versa.

I'm sort of holding on considerations with the output level. I did notice that it was a fair amount less hot than the Kern, which I never came close to running full up in either pre gain or post gain stages. The IPR has a sensitivity of .775v, which means that things like the Crowns with 1.4v may have a hard time. The whole two hour session I didn't have the Line out at less than between 4 and 5 o'clock, with 5 being up all the way. At no point did I clip the input on the IPR.

I wanted to sort of add or clarify this, that the Sensitivity control seems to control what you're hitting the tubes with or how hard they're driving, in the same way that sometimes when you put a different 'gain factor' tube in an amp and you get a different feel but not necessarily more or less volume. The end result is that you do have to jocky the output level a little, but only a fraction. The difference between the Sensitivity at 10 o'clock and the sensitivity at 4 o'clock was only very slight volume tweak (like adjusting from full up to 95% up) . Does that make sense? And while I could certainly get a thick driven tube tone, I never heard a full out crunch or distorted tone out of the unit and that was with my bass' volume full up (its a pretty hot bass when the pickups are run in series).

 

[chadds]

I know how much it weighs. It weighs who gives a rat's ass?

You SVT people are all alike!

 

[juledude]

Your description of the Sensitivity Control is perfect.

The Sensitivity Control adjusts two things at the same time. It adjust the input impedance (directly affecting how your bass matches with Monique) and the input level (directly affecting how, "you're hitting the tubes or how hard they're driving").

Its purpose is truly two-fold: Playing characteristics and tone.

"Sensitivity" happened as a direct result of some pretty serious negative feedback I got a few years back from bass players after they played a bass amp I built (for a company I can't name) and showed at a NAMM show. It had a 9 band parametric EQ in it and way too many knobs. Every player kind enough to comment told me , "Jule, K.I.S.S. "

I wanted to sort of add or clarify this, that the Sensitivity control seems to control what you're hitting the tubes with or how hard they're driving, in the same way that sometimes when you put a different 'gain factor' tube in an amp and you get a different feel but not necessarily more or less volume. The end result is that you do have to jocky the output level a little, but only a fraction. The difference between the Sensitivity at 10 o'clock and the sensitivity at 4 o'clock was only very slight volume tweak (like adjusting from full up to 95% up) . Does that make sense? And while I could certainly get a thick driven tube tone, I never heard a full out crunch or distorted tone out of the unit and that was with my bass' volume full up (its a pretty hot bass when the pickups are run in series).

 

[BurningSkies]

Your description of the Sensitivity Control is perfect.

The Sensitivity Control adjusts two things at the same time. It adjust the input impedance (directly affecting how your bass matches with Monique) and the input level (directly affecting how, "you're hitting the tubes or how hard they're driving").

Its purpose is truly two-fold: Playing characteristics and tone.

"Sensitivity" happened as a direct result of some pretty serious negative feedback I got a few years back from bass players after they played a bass amp I built (for a company I can't name) and showed at a NAMM show. It had a 9 band parametric EQ in it and way too many knobs. Every player kind enough to comment told me , "Jule, K.I.S.S. "

Thanks Jule, its hard to describe the effect of this control to someone who hasn't tried it in this setting. It pushes the tubes, but the tubes aren't necessarily outputting more 'volume'. In the 'before 12 o'clock position the amp sounds very clean and clear and detailed...as you progressively add more past 12, you get a denser sound with more of a feel of harmonic distortion and tube compression/sustain.

 

[chadds]

Thanks Jule, its hard to describe the effect of this control to someone who hasn't tried it in this setting. It pushes the tubes, but the tubes aren't necessarily outputting more 'volume'. In the 'before 12 o'clock position the amp sounds very clean and clear and detailed...as you progressively add more past 12, you get a denser sound with more of a feel of harmonic distortion and tube compression/sustain.

When you hear a guitarist with that clean tone then without a pedal get bite and drive and sustain then back to clean just by changing touch this is what Monique can do. Play some "Soft Machine/Crimson/Yes" chords and it just gets there without being louder. Your bass becomes much more touch sensitive.
One of my sessions is with a YellowJackets meets New Orleans Funk group. Their eyes were bugging because there was no running to the amp or effects to account for these changes from smooth to aggressive and back. If you pluck your higher strings really firmly and play the low strings gently it gives you clear bottom with raunch on top.
It's like using an old 50w Marshall 4x12 for the chords. In reality though that cab would never clean up.

 

[nostatic]

When you hear a guitarist with that clean tone then without a pedal get bite and drive and sustain then back to clean just by changing touch this is what Monique can do. Play some "Soft Machine/Crimson/Yes" chords and it just gets there without being louder. Your bass becomes much more touch sensitive.

This was a reason I loved my Bogner Shiva (last "real" guitar amp I had, many years back). Instead of the amp being a box with knobs, it was an instrument that you played along with the guitar.

I need to quit clicking on this thread...

 

[jsbarber]

I need to quit clicking on this thread...

But you do know why you keep coming back... Think of how much more you'd enjoy those lovely Foderas with a Monique in the signal chain

 

[foderaman]

That will be my problem soon!!!

But you do know why you keep coming back... Think of how much more you'd enjoy those lovely Foderas with a Monique in the signal chain

 

[metron]

Hey chadds what sort of rig setup are you using with your monique?

When you hear a guitarist with that clean tone then without a pedal get bite and drive and sustain then back to clean just by changing touch this is what Monique can do. Play some "Soft Machine/Crimson/Yes" chords and it just gets there without being louder. Your bass becomes much more touch sensitive.
One of my sessions is with a YellowJackets meets New Orleans Funk group. Their eyes were bugging because there was no running to the amp or effects to account for these changes from smooth to aggressive and back. If you pluck your higher strings really firmly and play the low strings gently it gives you clear bottom with raunch on top.
It's like using an old 50w Marshall 4x12 for the chords. In reality though that cab would never clean up.

 

[chadds]

Hey chadds what sort of rig setup are you using with your monique?

Berg IP.

 

[shwashwa]

can you comment on the input impedance range? i am consicering this preamp and i double on electric and upright. with my upright and the piezo pickups im always aware of the input impedance of the amp or preamp im using. i was figuring that i could use the monique with my upright with another preamp in front to match the impedance, but perhaps this is not necessary?

Your description of the Sensitivity Control is perfect.

The Sensitivity Control adjusts two things at the same time. It adjust the input impedance (directly affecting how your bass matches with Monique) and the input level (directly affecting how, "you're hitting the tubes or how hard they're driving").

Its purpose is truly two-fold: Playing characteristics and tone.

"Sensitivity" happened as a direct result of some pretty serious negative feedback I got a few years back from bass players after they played a bass amp I built (for a company I can't name) and showed at a NAMM show. It had a 9 band parametric EQ in it and way too many knobs. Every player kind enough to comment told me , "Jule, K.I.S.S. "

 

[Jazzdogg]

When you hear a guitarist with that clean tone then without a pedal get bite and drive and sustain then back to clean just by changing touch this is what Monique can do. Play some "Soft Machine/Crimson/Yes" chords and it just gets there without being louder. Your bass becomes much more touch sensitive.
One of my sessions is with a YellowJackets meets New Orleans Funk group. Their eyes were bugging because there was no running to the amp or effects to account for these changes from smooth to aggressive and back. If you pluck your higher strings really firmly and play the low strings gently it gives you clear bottom with raunch on top.
It's like using an old 50w Marshall 4x12 for the chords. In reality though that cab would never clean up.

Chadds, making statements like these isn't helping my GAS one bit!

 

[BurningSkies]

Fuuuuuuu....

Heads up. The rack Monique is too wide to fit in my standard sized SKB 4 space rack.

It can't get past the inside handle brackets and only can go in about 5 inches. My SKB is one I've used for various amps and rack units since 1993, and not one of the rotos, but the original heavy mold-injected unit.

It can squeeze into the newer (2011)3 space SKB I have, but its a 'press fit' and not that one I'm comfortable with... and definitely not with any room for the vents.

I'm going to walk away for a few minutes and um...take a few deep breaths.

 

[metron]

Oops

 

[Munjibunga]

Hmmm. I went and listened to all the comparative clips on the site. What I learned is that the Monique, J48, REDDI and Countryman are all good DIs. I didn't hear any remarkable difference between any of them, except that the Monique loses some highs. Certainly, none of them sounded "better" than the others and, as always, personal taste will be the deciding factor in what one chooses. Also, as I've said many times before, the differences, if any, would be completely lost in a gigging situation. Some differences may be perceptible in studio recording.

That is all.

 

[BurningSkies]

Hmmm. I went and listened to all the comparative clips on the site. What I learned is that the Monique, J48, REDDI and Countryman are all good DIs. I didn't hear any remarkable difference between any of them, except that the Monique loses some highs. Certainly, none of them sounded "better" than the others and, as always, personal taste will be the deciding factor in what one chooses. Also, as I've said many times before, the differences, if any, would be completely lost in a gigging situation. Some differences may be perceptible in studio recording.

That is all.

I can't agree that the Monique loses the highs, Munji. I found the treble was very present in my unit (I could actually roll off the highs from my bass more than I normally do and still have them there)...and the treble control gives you something like plus/minus 20db on the treble.

 

[JimmyM]

Munji, a little blurb from Jule's website about those clips:

"The initial bass tracks were recorded directly into a Presonus Firepod, and the backing tracks are simple stock sounds. The Bass tracks were re-amped through a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 into Logic Pro 9. No effects were used in any of the recordings. No reverb, compression, gates, EQ's, nothing. What you hear is purely the DI's."

Um, no it isn't You hear a Firepod reamped through a Focusrite preamp and THEN it hits the DI's. As the owner of both a REDDI and a Countryman Type 85, I can tell you firsthand that the signal chain this well-meaning dude was using eats up a lot of the dramatic effect of the REDDI and Monique. By comparison, here are two clips I did...one is the Countryman, one the REDDI. Both were recorded dead direct into my computer soundcard with no preamping or reamping:

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Now if you can't tell the difference between the Countryman and the REDDI in these clips, you're deaf. Note especially how much thicker and weightier the high notes are with the REDDI. That's the same kind of difference you'll hear with the Monique vs the Countryman, too. Now I guess some folks like it when the high notes lose all the bottom and sound like a banjo, but I'm not one of them

 

[BurningSkies]

Fuuuuuuu....

Heads up. The rack Monique is too wide to fit in my standard sized SKB 4 space rack.

It can't get past the inside handle brackets and only can go in about 5 inches. My SKB is one I've used for various amps and rack units since 1993, and not one of the rotos, but the original heavy mold-injected unit.

It can squeeze into the newer (2011)3 space SKB I have, but its a 'press fit' and not that one I'm comfortable with... and definitely not with any room for the vents.

I'm going to walk away for a few minutes and um...take a few deep breaths.

Oops

Ok, I figured that it was only fractions of an inch that were keeping my 4 space from working, so I had someone else push the side walls out and I could press the Monique in place. It's in and held in place not only by the rack hardware but also the rack sides itself. It may never come out. Hopefully the back vents are enough, because the side vents have absolutely no clearance at all.