Avalon U5

[dberkowitz]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi db...

Sure, class A and tube type preamps do tend to be a bit quieter and warmer. However, I don't want to start carrying around 8-12 pound units as preamps.

The older I get, the less prone to hauling fragile and heavy gear I get. I have herded up all my tube type preamps and confined them to my recording studio these days, not the stage.

Agreed. The pit racks aren't moved by the musicians, but by the crew. Nonetheless, they're very nice. I have a client whose setup in his guitar is the same as Pat Metheny's -- Matrix UST and AMT mic in the body. He runs blends it through a Mackie, adding in a TC2290 and uses a Meyer CP-10 for notch filtering. It's a lot of gear, but he needs it because of that mic and his desire for a huge low end.

[thefonz]

Originally Posted by arashaw

I don't really care for Guitar Center but you could do the old "buy and try" return it if it doesn't do it for you? What do they give you like 30 days?

oh. you must mean the 30 day loan period .

thats not a half bad idea. Im kind of toying around with the idea of getting one of these- because it would make a great studio preamp too, not that i have a great studio, but when I record a track or so at home. Are there outboard Eq options I could use in conjunction with this?

as for venues- it differs, I play mostly at churches and stuff, and most mix engineers i have are competent. then I play at coffeeshops/bars occasionally...and, well. Im just happy if they have a functioning mic stand sometimes. >.<

-trev

[akagilligan]

When I went through this I looked at the U5. Someone said something that made a lot of sense at the time. If you have a sound guy go for it. I don't. I thought about it and in nearly all cases that I thought of there was a sound guy. The feature set didn't fit me signal path. At the time I thought if I was running a UST, maybe if straight in. I run k&k and an effect or two. Solid piece though for sure. Seems like in the right application perfect, but very specific. Don't know much, but that is what I came up with when I looked at it.

[Grant2389]

Hey. I have used a U5 for about 2 years now. The first year at a church with a very great sound guy. The second at a church with a below average sound guy. I feel that it was a great improvement over my PADI. I have found a sweet spot for it and it makes my little grand concert size guitar sound huge. It really is on another level as far as a DI goes. I have also noticed the warmth that others have.

I have had some feedback issues, but once its dialed in it really sounds incredible.

[dberkowitz]

Your feedback issues are separate and apart from the DI. Those are EQ problems.

[akagilligan]

Originally Posted by dberkowitz

Your feedback issues are separate and apart from the DI. Those are EQ problems.

I really need good EQ at me feet. Not very popular and may be crap, but works for me. I ended up with Lehle acouswitch.

[thefonz]

how do you like the Lehle? Ive never even heard of that before haha. Thats why I love this forum.

-trev

[akagilligan]

Originally Posted by thefonz

how do you like the Lehle? Ive never even heard of that before haha. Thats why I love this forum.

-trev

There are people far more qualified than me to give an opinion on the ins and outs of pre/DIs. If a Dtar, Raven, Radial, Baggs or U5 would have had the features and availability I wouldn't hesitate with any of them. All are good Looked at a certain quality level of pre/DIs then tried to find what fit best.

Center stomp is mute...bye bye Hilton VP

Tuner out/xlr out/line out

Parallel mix effects on left stomp. Love that at least half my signal bypasses effects. Controls for mix, boost and phase. Bye bye x blender. Hit the stomp it's EQ to amp straight acoustic bypassing.

Second channel bypasses everything and can be toggled or mixed with other.

Serial loop before parallel. Had volume pedal there, but never needed it.

Great EQ with sweepable mids and notch fit K&K. Bye bye empress ParaEQ.

Red-Eye was solid, but this fits how I play. Seems like a solid piece. People far smarter than me can tell you how it performs, but it hits me in the gut and is dead quiet. Very easy to work with. Lehle seems solid. I stopped looking after I played it.

Now you know as much as I do and a whole lot more.

Larry or Doug may know more on the tech end.

Tom

[thefonz]

Holy crap- that's a nice piece of kit. I'm going to have to give that a serious look; that's kind of the set up I have been going for. On the DI/Pre, how would you describe the tone? Is it pretty transparent? Or does it color it? (not necessarily in a bad way, the Avalon makes everything warm and fuzzy...)

-trev

[akagilligan]

Very warm. Transparent to my ear, but as you know there is a tradeoff when amplifying. Lehle was quick to answer tech questions by email. I was hesitant because they aren't mentioned and I am running passive K&K. I went with a company with a good return policy because it's not something that could be flipped in that price range. If you happen to try one, I'd be curious what you thought. My signal chain is over in the pedalboard thread on in the last two pages. If you go further back in that thread you can see how much I was using and no longer need.

I'd really suggest hitting Larry or Doug up for input.

http://www.rmi.lu/assets/brochures_m...l_EN_(web).pdf