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Audere Vs John East

#4
interesting ..I like the 4 band Audere better than the J-Retro I have I have in a Jazz bass. In fact it has turned a 62' P Bass I refurbed into a tone monster that goes way beyond the normal range of tones produced by a P-Bass. I know East makes other Pre's than the J-retro but that is my only frame of reference, but I do own a number of basses with active pre's.
 
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#5
Thanks dudes! :)
Also, I am not sure if you know but the J retro now is available in a Flat response variant too...which is awesome and makes me desire it even more. Thats what i am looking into.

I have put one of these preamps into my musicman and pointless to say, things changed in the better way. So yeah, let's head East.

Thanks again for your opinions xx
 
#6
Kirk Bryant said:
interesting ..I like the 4 band Audere better than the J-Retro I have I have in a Jazz bass. In fact it has turned a 62' P Bass I refurbed into a tone monster that goes way beyond the normal range of tones produced by a P-Bass. I know East makes other Pre's than the J-retro but that is my only frame of reference, but I do own a number of basses with active pre's.
Click to expand...

Yes the mid sweep can produce earthquakes...with the stingray you could kill people.

In fact i am almost never touching that knob, i don't wanna see blood all over the place :D

but if left flat, the bass produces a very warm and punchy sound, like the pre EB musicman basses...
 
#7
Having owned both on more than one occasion for each, I would choose the East. It's pricier but IMHO, the Audere doesn't provide anything that you wouldn't be able to get from adjusting your amp. The East on the other hand, improves the sound of your bass PRIOR to reaching your amp.
 
#9
I find this a hard statement to believe...

my understanding is that both preamps offer buffering, then offer blend and tone control... and given the only colour is from tone, clearly any amount of tone control can be done with an amplifier/EQ

A preamp that has a built in contour (East) will, be necessity, not match all amplifier/cab combinations, and so a preamp with a default flat response is essential...East has recognised this and now provides that.

At the end of the day i see the differences being that East provides a passive bypass, and Audere provides Z mode switching.

bongostealth said:
Having owned both on more than one occasion for each, I would choose the East. It's pricier but IMHO, the Audere doesn't provide anything that you wouldn't be able to get from adjusting your amp. The East on the other hand, improves the sound of your bass PRIOR to reaching your amp.
Click to expand...
 
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#11
You may know that the combined resistive loading of pups and pots in a passive makes quite a significant difference in the tone...
There is a three position switch on the Audere that simulates the effect of a different impedance loading on the pickups.. low, mid, high, .. mid is essentially flat, low is bass/mid heavy with gentle treble roll off, and high is flat with a resonant peak..you can then change both the preamp low z gain, and the high z resonant peak frequency.

Its an excellent one switch tone change...iirc there are graphs on the Audere site.

chienmort said:
Z Mode Switching?
Click to expand...
 
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#13
wicked...also, forgot to mention, on my Jazz (it's a MIJ 94), the pickups aren't the stock one, i have changed em with original fenders taken off another jazz bass from 76 or 77...
So already that makes me believe that it wouldn't be bad to put and East....Retro.

It kinda goes together isn't it..they have a decent output but i can feel there's more room for bassy sounds.

In any case, i was more prone to get the East as i already own one (MMSR) and every time I am using it, just blows me away...Live or recordings, it's just the right thingy for me...
 
#14
I've had several Auderes and I find them to be great. Just make sure to match them with the right pickups. I'm quite sure the East is a fine preamp but at the price point, that's a lot of coin to put into a bass whereas the Audere is half the price and is quite a value! I will say this though, I do hope Audere takes notice and starts making one without the Z-mode switching and add a active/passive switch. I rarely ever use the Z-mode switch. I keep it in the middle.
 
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#15
mystic38 said:
I find this a hard statement to believe...

my understanding is that both preamps offer buffering, then offer blend and tone control... and given the only colour is from tone, clearly any amount of tone control can be done with an amplifier/EQ

A preamp that has a built in contour (East) will, be necessity, not match all amplifier/cab combinations, and so a preamp with a default flat response is essential...East has recognised this and now provides that.

At the end of the day i see the differences being that East provides a passive bypass, and Audere provides Z mode switching.
Click to expand...

I wasn't talking about matching cab configurations or anything of the sort. What I was really getting at is that the Audere is very transparent. The Z mode switch is nice. No doubt. But I personally find that the East improves the overall tone a lot better than the Audere.
 
#16
mebbe being a bit dumb here but thats the bit i dont understand.... if a preamp is transparent to me that means it cant get better than that..ie its letting the pickups do their job..
Are you referring to the contour that the East adds?.. if so thats cool, i just have no use for that.

bongostealth said:
I wasn't talking about matching cab configurations or anything of the sort. What I was really getting at is that the Audere is very transparent. The Z mode switch is nice. No doubt. But I personally find that the East improves the overall tone a lot better than the Audere.
Click to expand...
 
#17
Yep...hidden information is that Fender SCN and N3 pups need to be modified to work with the Audere...

and +1 for the passive switch, but mostly cos i am a lazy bugger who doesnt want to unplug the bass all the time.:)

DWBass said:
I've had several Auderes and I find them to be great. Just make sure to match them with the right pickups. I'm quite sure the East is a fine preamp but at the price point, that's a lot of coin to put into a bass whereas the Audere is half the price and is quite a value! I will say this though, I do hope Audere takes notice and starts making one without the Z-mode switching and add a active/passive switch. I rarely ever use the Z-mode switch. I keep it in the middle.
Click to expand...
 
#18
Mmh...price difference between the East and Audere...

Isn't this an universal (sad) truth of our society that you pay for what you get...?

I am sure that the Audere can be an improvement compared to the basics but based on what i've read in this thread, a lot of bass pals are going for the East...mmh.

Too late!! I have oredered a J retro Flat response!! :D

I will post a video as soon as the transplant is done....
That's the only example i can give of how good an East can sound in your bass...

 
#19
I had a couple of J-Retro installs in a couple of 1997 Fender Jazz Deluxe fives and decided I preferred the stock preamps. I came to the same conclusion with the Audere plate installs I've come across.

I currently own a couple of basses with East U-Retro preamps (R Bass singlecut 5 and Glasstone J type 5) and they work great. I had an Audere initially in my semihollow Brubaker KXB-6 Tonechamber and was amazed at how weak it sounded vs. my other Brubakers with Bartolini or Aguilar preamps (both 9v installs). Trying to tweak the capacitance was fairly frustrating. Swapped it out for a Bartolini NTMB and never looked back. As soon as I made the swap the bass really came alive.

If I were modding a Jazz type bass I'd probably go with a Bartolini NTMB or Aguilar OBP-3 space permitting. I look for something that hits full, hard and clean. The Bart TCT-H in my Surine J style bass is also pretty amazing.

I guess the key is that anything can work as long as you don't compared it to anything that works better for you.
:cool:
 
#20
nope, not at all..there is a very limited correlation to what you pay and what you get.

my understanding is that you had already decided to purchase the East preamp (if i read your original post correctly), other than that, there is no conclusion in this thread at all...about the same number have picked east as have picked Audere, and one other picks bart or aguilar..

you read into it what you want, i will simply conclude that there is a good set of choices, and personal taste, bias/prejudice and budget comes into play.

MaGrass said:
Mmh...price difference between the East and Audere...

Isn't this an universal (sad) truth of our society that you pay for what you get...?

I am sure that the Audere can be an improvement compared to the basics but based on what i've read in this thread, a lot of bass pals are going for the East...mmh.

Too late!! I have oredered a J retro Flat response!! :D

I will post a video as soon as the transplant is done....
That's the only example i can give of how good an East can sound in your bass...

Click to expand...
 

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