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John East East U-Retro 5 Knob Deluxe
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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$320.00
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10.0
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Description:
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VOLUME (Single Knob)
The Volume has two sections under the same knob. A high impedance section is used for the passive path and a separate additional section is utilised in setting the volume for the active path.
When used active, this knob has active circuitry after it so that the feed to your amplifier is a low impedance drive. A 0-12dB preset allows gain adjustment for the imput stage of the preamp.
BLEND (Single knob)
The Blend knob, fully operational in both active and passive modes, sets the balance between the pickups. This is a very conventional control type, used on many different types of basses. Turn it fully clockwise for the neck pickup alone and full anti-clockwise for the bridge pickup. The midway position, which has an indent, gives an equal mix of both pickups.
BASS & TREBLE (Knob stack)
TREBLE (+12dB @ 3 kHz, -12dB @ 1kHz)
The upper knob is the Treble control with boost and cut. The central 'flat' position is indented. The cut settings work on lower frequencies compared to boost to give a deeper sound when the top is rolled off.
BRIGHT (+8dB @ 7kHz)
Pull the Treble knob for the Bright setting.
BASS (+15dB @ 50Hz)
The lower outer knob is the boost only Bass control. The frequency band of boost gets progressively lower as the boost is increased. An indent midway is included to aid the setting of this control.
MID LEVEL & FREQUENCY (Knob stack)
BOOST/CUT (+/- 12dB)
The upper knob controls the amount of Mid boost or cut at frequencies according to the setting of the Frequency knob. The midway indent is the 'flat' position.
FREQUENCY (150Hz - 3kHz)
The lower outer knob is continuously variable and sets the Mid frequencies for boost or cut.
PASSIVE TONE (Single knob)
The passive tone pot consists of two sections, one for each pickup. Two sections are necessary since the pickup signals are kept separate and fed to their own individual input amplifiers prior to the electronic blend circuitry.
To retain the characteristics of a true passive tone, its circuitry is connected directly to the pickups at all times and therefore function in both active and passive modes. The roll-off frequency is set to give a deep mellow sound.
ACTIVE PASSIVE SWITCH
Pushpull on the passive tone knob.
POWER
The PP3 battery is switched on automatically when a mono jack is plugged into the socket.
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Author
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BarkerBass
Registered User
Registered: September 2007
Location: York/Newcastle, England
Posts: 673
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Review Date: Sat January 17, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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3 band eq with mid sweep, active and passive modes: full passive mode with tone roll off, blend and master volume, tone control works in active and passive mode, bright switch on treble knob, quiet operation, high quality parts and flexible wiring, screw
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Cons:
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tight fit into control cavity
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Upgrading the stock eq in my yamaha bb605 with single coil pickups because the stock preamp was noisy and had a mid boost switch but no real control for boost frequency, not versatile enough for me.
The U-Retro 5 knob deluxe is perfect for me. 3 band eq with mid frequency sweep on 2 stacked knobs and passive blend tone control and volume 
The bass control is boost only but has a mid dent which makes setting it easy to achieve a cut effect if needed. the bass sound powerful and deep without being over powering unless boosted fully, it really gives the low B a nice thick bass without being too boomy but this is all about how much you boost. The treble is nice and subtle IMO, boosting it makes slap crisp and finger style has a brighter feeling without adding too much click and clack depending on how hard you play. If you pull the treble knob (top half of bass/treble stack) it activates a bright switch that adds 8db at 7Khz, this adds more top end shine to slap and helps get that marcus style sound, its also great for finger style, boost treble fully and activate this to get a pick style attack with the roundness of fingerstyle playing, I haven't tested it in a mix yet but I imagine it'll help you cut through nicely. The Mid control is brilliant, the sweep from 150hz-3khz is perfectly voiced, deep full low mids, punchy thick mid mids and crunchy grindy high mids are really useful in both boost and cut to get alot of powerful and distinct tones that will help your bass stand out or sit back depending on its use, just what a mid control should do IMHO.
The passive tone knob also works in active mode which is nice to have that to fall back on if you need a quick deep mellow tone change.
Passive mode is pretty standard, blend volume and tone controls work fully in passive mode, activated by pulling the tone knob. The active mode has a slight colouring of the tone even when flat with a slight low mid boost in a noticeable but very subtle warmth even so it's not big enough to notice a volume change between active and passive modes. Passive mode lets your bass's pure tone shine and the tone control works like any other with a really nice deep warm sound when rolled off and subduing the treble and high mids when rolled off half way etc.
Overall this preamp is amazingly versatile and has far more functions than any other I found, it may seem pricey (I got mine half prince on ebay) but I'd still be just as happy if I'd have payed the full £200.
In my bass it was a squeeze into the cavity and luckily I have a battery box because there's not way I could have fitted the battery into the cavity with it but that was mainly the layout of the pots stopping the circuit board fitting upright so I had to lie if flat over the top of the pots. All the controls are on very flexible wires so you can probably make it fit into any arrangement of holes unlike some fixed spacing preamp modules. The pickup connections have screw in terminals so you don't have to solder these wires but you do have to ground the pots and if your bass is like mine and has a side mounted barrel jack I had to wire this too but it wasn't too much trouble with the whole installation, including a few wires coming disconnected and having to be resoldered, took less than an hour, probably about 40 mins because of the squeezing it in but it's made my bass from a nice player with limited pre into a versatile bass tat plays and sounds amazing can't put it down!
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Praise and Worship Bassist #80 Rockin for Jesus!
Team Trace Elliot #11, 5+ Basses #39 BTB club #18
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mixx80
Registered User
Registered: November 2009
Location: Nashville
Posts: 326
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Review Date: Fri August 5, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $320.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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For the most part user freindly
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Cons:
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Needs longer shafts
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Very useful range of tones. Easy to install. Shafts a tad bit small to thread through a Lakland bass but found a way around it. Sometimes staticky...maybe a grounding thing and I tried everything to get rid of it but it only happens when you turn the treble or midrange pots otherwise quiet ! The East pre's have found a home in all of my basses. Good overall product and a nice man as well !
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Lakland 55-75 DJ -55-01 Ltd.- 44-01 Ltd.-Fender P-Bass
Kara Clark.com
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