Is it worth getting a john east preamp for a cheaper bass???

[irbass]

I got a 2006 jazz bass MIM, for $200.
Mint condition. The pickups are nordstrand.
I'll replace the preamp, and i'm thinking about
the John East preamp. But i don't know if it will worth
in a cheap bass.

Any idea??
Should i get a cheaper preamp??
Will it sound a lot of better ???paying $325 for
a bass preamp
Any help will be great.
Thank's

 

[Musiclogic]

The quality alone is worth it, East Pre's are killer, if you have the change, There is no reason not to. I have customers with MIM's that have high end pickups and Pres in them, and the love the instruments. If you don't see yourself selling it, by all means.

 

[David Jayne]

Will it sound a lot of better ???paying $325 for
a bass preamp

Does it sound crummy now? You can't polish a turd.

 

[jbrooks]

It's a journey so why not. If you upgrade from a jazz to a jazz you can move the preamp. Maybe not so much with the pickups from a MIM to an American Jazz wince they are different.

I have a beautiful five string American Jazz that I loved the look but not the sound. I was ready to trade it and I was talked into the John East preamp along with Bartolini pickups. I could have saved some money if I did this years ago and probably have 5-6 less basses.

I knew a guy that had a nice vintage Jazz he never played but gigged with a cheap bass outfitted with quality electronics. It was a monster.

Look around here and you might come across one cheap.

Good luck and enjoy the trip

 

[seang15]

I got a 2006 jazz bass MIM, for $200.
Mint condition. The pickups are nordstrand.
I'll replace the preamp, and i'm thinking about
the John East preamp. But i don't know if it will worth
in a cheap bass.

Any idea??
Should i get a cheaper preamp??
Will it sound a lot of better ???paying $325 for
a bass preamp
Any help will be great.
Thank's

A bass is the sound of its pickups. You got killer pups in that bass!!

 

[David Jayne]

A bass is the sound of its pickups.

Here we go.......

 

[Teacher]

I say try it. If you don't like it, or if it doesn't make much difference, you can pull the pre for future use and sell the bass.

 

[bassbenj]

A bass is the sound of its pickups. You got killer pups in that bass!!

I agree and a John East is a killer preamp as well (with price to match).

But tone is subjective. What everybody else loves (me) might not float YOUR boat. Tone is where you find it. So all you can do is just try it and see what YOU think. If you love it, you move on the next step whatever you decide it is. If you don't like it you have to sell it and try to recoup as much of the money that you spent on the "lessons" as you can. That's all.

 

[Angel LaHash]

What we need is ONE GUITAR/TYPES as a base.
<how to compaire how a PreAmp Sounds on a SET Pickup(s)>
<So many different types of Pickups for a bass i would suggest P/J as a standard>
And try all the PreAmps out there all wired in (what ever Pots suggested)
Video it and you can make up your own minds

How Big is this SITE, ie would people who sell PreAmps Be willing to give a DEMO away for them to show to the WHOLE SITE, good advert. With some Sites that do such a thing they then do a Some Quiz for the 2nd Hand PreAmp.

 

[irbass]

Wow. Thanks guys for all information.

I'll try to answer all questions.

I'll keep the bass, I'll not sell it.

The pickups are very nice, but it sound too vintage for my taste.
Maybe I'll move the pickups for a fretless bass and get a new one.
If i decided replace the pickups I'll go with delano, but I'll get cheaper preamp to avoid over price to much the bass

(I got a jazz bass MIM 1999. $80. I'm defretting this one, and
having a hard time doing it. if i replace the pickups I'll use the nordstrand on this bass.)

This 2 basses above i got it less than a month, this is my first jazz basses. I'm newbie in a jazz sound.


My basses and i believe my taste are with these 3 basses below

- Brice bass 6 str's- Upgraded to Bartolini split coil with Aguilar OBP3 I love it. full and warm sound. Heavy sound. Good for a black gospel music.

- Raven 6 str's - Upgraded Reed James neodymium pickups with
audere preamp. Hi fi sound and a versatile bass.

- Ibanez Btb 300 bg 2003 5str's -original, modern funk sound, i love it .
Actually i replaced the preamp because i messed it up trying to put it in passive mode, it was only active.I did it but i lost preamp, so i ordered the same preamp and now it have the switch passive/active.
PS. the pickups are ibanez Not barts. and i don't know why i love the sound of this bass.

 

[David Jayne]

PS. the pickups are ibanez Not barts. and i don't know why i love the sound of this bass.

Expectation bias.

 

[Bob C]

Does the bass have a preamp now? What kind? Have you considered replacing the pickups instead?

You said you will not sell this bass, so you must love the feel and playability of it, right? If you hate the East preamp, you could yank it out and sell it, as has been suggested. Take a loss and chalk it up to experience.

BUT you want to know whether it's worth it. What is missing from your Jazz's sound now? What are your expectations?

 

[SGD Lutherie]

A bass is the sound of its pickups. You got killer pups in that bass!!

Listen to two different basses side by side, unplugged. Do they sound identical? Probably not.

Pickups reproduce the tone of the bass, and then add some color to that tone. But the tone comes from the bass, the wood its made from, the hardware like the bridge, and mostly the neck construction.

To the OP, as long as the bass plays god and sounds good, it doesn't matter.

I'm right in the middle of rebuilding a new Squier P bass for a friend for her birthday. I replaced the crummy tuners and pots and made a new pickup, and installed better frets.

it's like a much more expensive bass now.

 

[TN WOODMAN]

If the bass plays well, you bought it for the price of the pickups . If you get the East pre, you 're at 525, or less than a new MIM jazz. You 've now got an awesome playing and sounding bass at an excellent price.

I have Di Marzio Js and the East pre in a MIM fretless jazz and it sounds and plays awesome.

 

[irbass]

Does the bass have a preamp now? What kind? Have you considered replacing the pickups instead?

BUT you want to know whether it's worth it. What is missing from your Jazz's sound now? What are your expectations?

Yes it has preamp, kind of china fender stuff, and tone knob
make a lot of noise. About pickups, maybe I'll replace it.

Sounds like cheaper jazz bass,
I'm expecting modern and good jazz bass sound.

 

[Bob C]

Kind of a tough call on which to replace first. New pickups probably cost less than the John East preamp. But maybe you want/need both.

 

[GBassNorth]

I kinda went the same route a number of years ago with a Fender American deluxe jazz 5. Stock from the factory it sounded ok but nothing stellar. Unplugged it had lots of good tone so I figured it was a keeper but just needed the right electronics to bring out the best in the bass.
I pulled the stock noiseless pickups and replaced them with classic Bart's, that made quite an improvement. The stock deluxe preamp was fairly lackluster as well so i replaced it with the John East deluxe retro for jazz. Wow, what an improvement! Its capable of thundering lows, crisp highs and strong mids plus had an active passive switch to help nail a more traditional jazz sound when needed. I saved the string selection for last and went thru a number of rounds, flats and coated strings before settling on La Bella tape wounds. They allowed me to keep more of the hifi sound than flats but were still capable of old school thump in passive mode.
Those three things combined made this bass a killer. Keep in mind you rarely ever get your money back out of hot ridding a bass, so the best news is that it can all be returned to stock in a matter of minutes if I ever decide to sell, that way I can keep the mods for installation in the next bass I buy and not take a hit on resale value.
I say go for it. Bestbass gear is where I got mine and since then I've purchased 3 other custom sets made to my specs by John East for other basses I own.
Here's a pic of the Fender deluxe jazz 5 (cherry burst) and a custom jazz body P/MM bass (vintage white) I built, both with East preamps.

 

[mystic38]

Any particular reason you wish to get an East pre-amp over an Audere at half the price?.. both are great preamps with the same concept of buffered pickups. After that they have differing approaches to EQ but the unloading of the pups by either of these preamps will make a marked difference in clarity

 

[irbass]

I kinda went the same route a number of years ago with a Fender American deluxe jazz 5. Stock from the factory it sounded ok but nothing stellar. Unplugged it had lots of good tone so I figured it was a keeper but just needed the right electronics to bring out the best in the bass.
I pulled the stock noiseless pickups and replaced them with classic Bart's, that made quite an improvement. The stock deluxe preamp was fairly lackluster as well so i replaced it with the John East deluxe retro for jazz. Wow, what an improvement! Its capable of thundering lows, crisp highs and strong mids plus had an active passive switch to help nail a more traditional jazz sound when needed. I saved the string selection for last and went thru a number of rounds, flats and coated strings before settling on La Bella tape wounds. They allowed me to keep more of the hifi sound than flats but were still capable of old school thump in passive mode.
Those three things combined made this bass a killer. Keep in mind you rarely ever get your money back out of hot ridding a bass, so the best news is that it can all be returned to stock in a matter of minutes if I ever decide to sell, that way I can keep the mods for installation in the next bass I buy and not take a hit on resale value.
I say go for it. Bestbass gear is where I got mine and since then I've purchased 3 other custom sets made to my specs by John East for other basses I own.
Here's a pic of the Fender deluxe jazz 5 (cherry burst) and a custom jazz body P/MM bass (vintage white) I built, both with East preamps.

Nice basses

 

[irbass]

Any particular reason you wish to get an East pre-amp over an Audere at half the price?.. both are great preamps with the same concept of buffered pickups. After that they have differing approaches to EQ but the unloading of the pups by either of these preamps will make a marked difference in clarity

I got audere, and aguilar OBP3 on my other basses.
Actually i want to try the J East, to see what's kind of color it
put on the sound of the bass. But nothing particular.
I was thinking about other pre's. There's a preamp called bassmods
it's $80, i saw some good reviews about it. But J East it's my first choice for now.