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Double Bass Power Amps?

lrhbass

lrhbass

Supporting Member
Apr 20, 2009
508
236
Dallas,Tx.
#1
Any TB'ers using Power amps, such as the Demeter Minnie, or the Jules Monique?
If so what would be your assessment . And are they powered by Ice or Hypex.
The Jules is a pretty penny,so a considerable investment,so any info would be appreciated.
 
#4
The Monique M700 is a exceptional power amp. It’s not cheap by any means. I own one.
Jule’s amps are designed to last a very long time. The builds are exceptional with Hypex power
modules, all aluminum chassis ( light weight and corrosion free) winged slot venting on the sides, and a very quiet fan.
 
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#5
lrhbass said:
Any TB'ers using Power amps, such as the Demeter Minnie, or the Jules Monique?
If so what would be your assessment . And are they powered by Ice or Hypex.
The Jules is a pretty penny,so a considerable investment,so any info would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I own a Jule Monique 700. Same power amp as the M700.

It's a Hypex module and sound fabulous.
 
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#8
I recently tried what you are suggesting with a less than successful outcome. I bought a Baby Sumo with the intention of using my pedalboard-mounted Subway Plus preamp to drive it. What I found is that it was lacking the headroom that I was expecting. I had several long pm/email chats with both the Sumo designer and Andy at Mesa and the short of it was that the combination was not a good one. The Sumo input is unbalanced, resulting in a signal loss. Others have used other preamps successfully with the Sumo, but I am not willing to change from the Subway pre as it does everything that I need (and very well, I might add) so I sold the Sumo. OP, if you want to see the long discussion (some of which is admittedly above my head) pm me and I'll send it to you.
 
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#9
bherman said:
I recently tried what you are suggesting with a less than successful outcome. I bought a Baby Sumo with the intention of using my pedalboard-mounted Subway Plus preamp to drive it. What I found is that it was lacking the headroom that I was expecting. I had several long pm/email chats with both the Sumo designer and Andy at Mesa and the short of it was that the combination was not a good one. The Sumo input is unbalanced, resulting in a signal loss. Others have used other preamps successfully with the Sumo, but I am not willing to change from the Subway pre as it does everything that I need (and very well, I might add) so I sold the Sumo. OP, if you want to see the long discussion (some of which is admittedly above my head) pm me and I'll send it to you.
Click to expand...

I agree with the headroom issue if you go this route, though I haven't used the PAs listed here. My experience has been similar with previous preamps in to power sections, that is if the preamp isn't putting out a hot enough signal to begin with - its going to present challenges.
 
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#11
I’ve got the Jule Simone Power Amp. It’s quite nice, and surprisingly a noticeable difference in sound - or maybe feel is a better word. I’ve had a few different ICE powered amps - powered MAS18, Clarus SL, Puma 500, Genzler 350.

My impression is that the Jule (Hypex) is quicker on the front and back of a note. A little less sustain I guess? I’ve been borrowing an Aguilar TH500 recently, I’ll make some sound clips tonight. I’m curious if the difference comes across on recording.

I’m not sure how to draw conclusions though. Even on the ICE powered amps with effects loops there’s a wide difference in feel. For instance, Felix through the Clarus vs Aguilar is pretty different (this is going just on memory). Anybody have a good electrical engineering perspective on why?
 
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#13
Hypex has a great reputation in the audiophile world. NAD electronics uses them in some of their upscale power amplifiers. Originally, Jule used
a Demeter Minnie as the mower amp in his Monique preamp/amp combo. The Demeter used a IcE in as it’s power section. I believe Jule used the IcE in
his prototypes of the M700 but switched as soon as the Hypex were available to him. Mike Arnopol has recently mentioned on Facebook that he’s also moving to Hypex
once he’s settled.
 
#14
I am in the market for a power amp and am looking at the two Jules amps. I like the Simone because it could be such a tight little package with the Felix (either on a pedal board or amp top) but I am really drawn toward getting one of the older Jule Hypex amps which I have been keeping my eye out for but they are elusive. The big one would definitely be more of a schlep then the little Simone.
HEY @BenRolston can you expand on your experience with the SImone and compare to the 18P (if you can) or just talk about what you like and what works and what does not? THanks
 
#15
flatback said:
I am in the market for a power amp and am looking at the two Jules amps. I like the Simone because it could be such a tight little package with the Felix (either on a pedal board or amp top) but I am really drawn toward getting one of the older Jule Hypex amps which I have been keeping my eye out for but they are elusive. The big one would definitely be more of a schlep then the little Simone.
HEY @BenRolston can you expand on your experience with the SImone and compare to the 18P (if you can) or just talk about what you like and what works and what does not? THanks
Click to expand...

Piro,
If I understand it correctly, the Simone is built around the Hypex power amp (abet a smaller one) just like my M700.

‘Nothing was lost in the effort to present a small and light 500 watt bass amp. This is a Hypex Amp module just like all the other Jule Amps.”
 
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#16
A few tests with various combinations of gear. The difference is subtle but does reflect what I hear in the room. These were recorded fairly close miked to avoid bleed from the acoustic sound of the bass and thus sound quite pickup-y.



@flatback I'd struggle to accurately compare the MAS18 with the Simone as I never had them at the same time + the MAS speakers are such a different beast. I'm certainly curious what the Simone would sound like through a passive 18. I do remember going from a separate amp (genzler or clarus) to the powered cab was a similar feeling to going from the Aguilar to the Jule -- cleaner / quicker by a few degrees.
 
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#17
It's quite a coincidence that this thread popped up as I was just thinking about this the other day. Since most amps tend to be voiced more for bass guitar than for upright bass, I was thinking it would make sense to plug into some sort of acoustic preamp and then plug that straight into a poweramp, then run that either through a bass cab or a PA speaker and cut out any sort of traditional bass head that would color the tone in potentially undesirable ways. I'm glad I'm not the only one considering this!
 
#18
Ben Rolston said:
A few tests with various combinations of gear. The difference is subtle but does reflect what I hear in the room. These were recorded fairly close miked to avoid bleed from the acoustic sound of the bass and thus sound quite pickup-y.



@flatback I'd struggle to accurately compare the MAS18 with the Simone as I never had them at the same time + the MAS speakers are such a different beast. I'm certainly curious what the Simone would sound like through a passive 18. I do remember going from a separate amp (genzler or clarus) to the powered cab was a similar feeling to going from the Aguilar to the Jule -- cleaner / quicker by a few degrees.
Click to expand...



Since I have a powered MAS 1/8 with a bypass switch, that “allows you to switch out the internal power amp” and use a head to power the passive cabinet, I might try using the Grace Felix and my M700 to power the MAS 1/8 v2 I own.
 
#20
Ethan Eriksen said:
I have a question regarding power amps. Most of them I see are two channels. So people who use discrete power amps, what do you do with the second channel? Just leave it vacant or do you run it bridged for more power?
Click to expand...


IMHO what you do should be tailored to your speaker's specs and what you are trying to accomplish. If you are running a PA, you could use left and right for stereo. Or you could run one channel of the amp for mains and the other channel for monitors.

If the amp is used for your bass rig, you might biamp and use one side for a subwoofer and the other side for a mid/high cab.

If you are running mono and full range, choose based on how much power you need. If your cab can only handle 500W, there is little potential benefit to running a bridged amp that can feed the cab 1700W. In fact, you put the cab at great risk with this approach. Better to use one side that can only send the cab 500W.

FYI This example is based on the QSC PL325 which can provide 1700W at 8 ohms bridged or 500W at 8 ohms X 2 in stereo mode.

If you are running a pair of 8 ohm cabs, then you choose between 500W X 2 or 2500W bridged at 4 ohms. If you go with the bridge option, the amp can supply 1250W to each cab (2500/2 = 1250). IMHO that's still a massive amount of power for a 500W cab.

If you are running a pair of 8 ohm cabs that are rated for 400W each, you would probably choose to run both off one side of the amp. At 4 ohms, the PL325 is rated for 850W X 2, so one side will provide 425W to each cab. This exceeds each cab's 400W power rating by 25W. If you run a cab on each side of the amp, the power is 500W X 2, so the 400W power rating is exceeded by 100W.
 

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