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Audere Vs John East

#43
DaveAceofBass said:
Yes I have and would recommend it to most people wanting a more neutral starting point. I don't miss it on my Modulus VJ, the curve works fine on that bass.
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Thanks Dave, looking forward to re discover my jazz. I already like the sound of it (passive) but if I could give it some more balls at times (just to choose when) that would make it just THE bass...thanks!
 
#44
MaGrass said:
Thanks Dave, looking forward to re discover my jazz. I already like the sound of it (passive) but if I could give it some more balls at times (just to choose when) that would make it just THE bass...thanks!
Click to expand...

Definitely go with the Retro then. The Audere is way more subtle tone shaping. The Retro can give you a wider variety of tones, from dub reggae to that Marcus Miller tone. I'm sure the Audere is great in some applications, but the East brought magic to my VJ, and I've had John design some customized circuits for me since I first tried it. Highly recommended.
 
#45
I'm a bit of a pickup junky. And I'm a big fan of old school passive Fender style tones - for the most part... Which is why I choose Audere. The j retro was very colored, while that is Ok for some folks obviously, for me it just masked what I admire most about certain pickups.

Dave came to a GTG in Hood River years ago. I spent some time with his Audere'd G&L L-2000. Called him the next day and tried to buy it... No luck there. Was able to score a preamp and the tech advice to get it installed though. Really wanted that L2K - MfD buckers through the Audere makes your vintage P or J Bass sound like a cartoon version of itself...

So ... If I'm so enamored of passive Fender'y tones, why a preamp ? Active buffered blend. I am less a fan of the VVT style controls found on the traditional 2 pickup designs. The active blend and transparency lets my bass and pickup combination ring through without adding anything - which is exactly what I want in my on board setup...

My overall philosophy (if it can be called that...) is that my right hand is the dominant tone control on my basses and that my rig provides the schmutz I need room to room.
 
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#46
+1 Wonderful description all around.

An incredibly transparent and dare I say musical preamp.

The tone of the instrument and the pickups, whether you like it or not.

4Mal said:
I'm a bit of a pickup junky. And I'm a big fan of old school passive Fender style tones - for the most part... Which is why I choose Audere. The j retro was very colored, while that is Ok for some folks obviously, for me it just masked what I admire most about certain pickups.

Dave came to a GTG in Hood River years ago. I spent some time with his Audere'd G&L L-2000. Called him the next day and tried to buy it... No luck there. Was able to score a preamp and the tech advice to get it installed though. Really wanted that L2K - MfD buckers through the Audere makes your vintage P or J Bass sound like a cartoon version of itself...

So ... If I'm so enamored of passive Fender'y tones, why a preamp ? Active buffered blend. I am less a fan of the VVT style controls found on the traditional 2 pickup designs. The active blend and transparency lets my bass and pickup combination ring through without adding anything - which is exactly what I want in my on board setup...

My overall philosophy (if it can be called that...) is that my right hand is the dominant tone control on my basses and that my rig provides the schmutz I need room to room.
Click to expand...
 
#51
If i could say it in few words, all i really want from a new preamp is not to make some notes sound less present than others, this is a problem that i encounter a lot when playing the jazz bass, i don't know why but it's something that bothers me despite i like the passive tones...
i don't know if you guys have had the same experience but i find it a little annoying.
Since i've swapped preamp (I put the JE) on the Stingray, the thickness of the things i do became noticed by the other band members too which i guess they didn't hear much before judging by their face expressions...but i don't like to be invasive either, it's a band and it's not about the bass player...but at least i'm having more fun when i can hear the chops i ve been practicing.
I like the dubby sound, that's providing the bass tone i am looking for and honestly u can almost go sub with that mid sweep thingy...
Regarding other after market items i reckon that if you know the right combination
u can make sound nice even your shoe laces...i think it's about the wood of your bass too and last but not least as 4mal says, your fingers are the real dudes there...they actually make a hell of a lot of difference!
 
#52
That makes it sound perfect.

If an onboard preamp cannot give you the honest tone of the pickups by being transparent, then to me, it has missed its primary design goal by a large yard.

Providing additional tonal flexibility through EQ, be it 2, 3 or 4 band, scoop, hump, profile or whatever is the correct design goal for an on-board preamp however this can only be of value to me if that first goal is met.

Funkinthetrunk said:
Audere is just too subtle for me.
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#53
Audere said:
We do many things to keep our pricing lower for players
1) We build our own products - for example - we own the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] (the link is a windows video) that builds our circuit boards.
At first we out sourced production but we found that getting our desired quality/cost tradeoff was impossible.
We have always done final assembly and testing in house, in addition we have recently in sourced the board production.
Building the boards in house allowed us to offer the new Pro JZ generation with more features at the same price.
2) We buy our parts in significant volumes
3) We sell direct instead of through distribution
4) We have automated the order processing via the web

Like all things there are tradeoffs - the lower cost but less sales process support works for many players.
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David you've set yourself up very well in terms of your production and sales chain, absolute max credit to you!

There are a couple aspect which do elevate our prices overseas. I suspect my units would certainly be lower in cost if produced in the USA:

1) Major which I've never sought to mention = USA/UK exchange rate. It's probable that a UK Pound (GBP) buys about the same in the UK as a USD does in the USA, can of coke for example. (Having visited the USA a number of times, would seem to add up to me) I would guess the same equivalence applies to a potentiometer, capacitor and a chip.

But the current exchange rate is approx. 1.55 USD per 1.00 UK GBP. So we automatically get a 55% hike in price into the USA.

2) We also sell through dealers, and their gross mark-up, not taking out any costs for shipping, premises staff & sales costs etc, is roughly double what we make on a unit shipped to dealers.

So our pricing has to take account of the above.

For you, selling direct on your own turf, certainly a big win all round.
 
#54
Hello
What's the solution for a 67 jazzbass , i have an east retro on my 72 Fender that i love but perhaps the Audere is best choice for 60's bridge pickup position ?
Thanks
Laurent
 
#55
mystic38 said:
That makes it sound perfect.

If an onboard preamp cannot give you the honest tone of the pickups by being transparent, then to me, it has missed its primary design goal by a large yard.
Click to expand...

Interesting....when you're boosting or cutting different frequencies, that's being transparent? The only "honest tone" of your pickup is going straight to the jack.
 
#56
John East said:
David you've set yourself up very well in terms of your production and sales chain, absolute max credit to you!

There are a couple aspect which do elevate our prices overseas. I suspect my units would certainly be lower in cost if produced in the USA:

1) Major which I've never sought to mention = USA/UK exchange rate. It's probable that a UK Pound (GBP) buys about the same in the UK as a USD does in the USA, can of coke for example. (Having visited the USA a number of times, would seem to add up to me) I would guess the same equivalence applies to a potentiometer, capacitor and a chip.

But the current exchange rate is approx. 1.55 USD per 1.00 UK GBP. So we automatically get a 55% hike in price into the USA.

2) We also sell through dealers, and their gross mark-up, not taking out any costs for shipping, premises staff & sales costs etc, is roughly double what we make on a unit shipped to dealers.

So our pricing has to take account of the above.

For you, selling direct on your own turf, certainly a big win all round.
Click to expand...

When is my J retro flat response ready? :)
I am becoming inpatient...been waiting for bass direct since 2 weeks!
They said it was out of stock so I am taking the chance to speak to the man itself...
Btw, congrats on the MMSR....it brought my stingray back to life, big up John :bassist:
 
#57
Its unclear whether you are being deliberately obtuse or simply didnt understand.., so, given I assume you know my answer if the former ;), I shall infer that you didnt understand my post...

I meant (and sorry, i thought it was obvious) that a preamp with controls set flat should be transparent...ie neither add nor remove any frequency bands...

Funkinthetrunk said:
Interesting....when you're boosting or cutting different frequencies, that's being transparent? The only "honest tone" of your pickup is going straight to the jack.
Click to expand...
 
#58
I have one of each and they are both great for different reasons. I paired the Audere with a set of Chisonics because I wanted to retain the natural tone and I use the J-Retro with a set of Fralin single coils for the more aggressive, slap-type sound. Both great preamps, can't go wrong with either.
 
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#59
lowendmafia said:
I have one of each and they are both great for different reasons. I paired the Audere with a set of Chisonics because I wanted to retain the natural tone and I use the J-Retro with a set of Fralin single coils for the more aggressive, slap-type sound. Both great preamps, can't go wrong with either.
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Hello
So the Audere Will retain the passiv tone ..
 

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