I am a huge fan of avalon. There preamps are simply amazing. To give you an idea I was just mixing a show at club in town and the bass player brought along an avalon preamp. I took that signal and we also mic'd the cab. I gotta say the avalon was unreal. We barley had the bass mic in the mix.
I’ve used an Avalon for over 17 years now in live perfomances. That and a ‘71 SVT with a BagEnd 4x10, 1600 watt encloser. Avalon just butters me up, clean and warm with tons of headroom. Many big name bassists, like Reggie McBride, have been solid Avalon guys. Reggie has worked for Keb Mo’ Stevie Wonder, he’s been on over 60 albums. On one tour with Keb, there were no amps on stage, only U5’s and vT-737sp’s. Cleanest stage I’ve ever seen or heard. Reggie turned me on to them in ‘01. They’re made local in So Cal.
I started with a U5, then a couple years ago bought the M5. Makes me a better player, honestly. Gives me confidence to take chances I might not with other pre’s, it just has my back. Serious quality and as tough as the road gets.