John East - Fender style instruments - Game changing

[VeryTallBassist]

I have his 2 band MMSR in a Ray25CA with a Seymour Duncan SMB5D pickup and it's an absolute killer combination.

 

[Joebone]

EAST preamps rock! For most of the time since 2015, my main player has been a Carl Pedigo interpretation of a 34" 5-string Lakland. I chose the East pre with sweepable mids and a VTC, along with Duncan NYC Soapbars. I now instead have Nordstrand Zen Blades, which seem to enhance the available range from the East pre. The East pre and the Xotic circuit are the only 3-bands that have impressed me - all others (including some big names I won't state) seem artificial/cardboard/woosy/insincere. That said, I have no experience of Nordstrand or some other fine 3-bands...but it's a big world, and we're lucky to learn and access all that we can... CORRECTION - Nordie Big Blades, in clean and clear formulation, not Zen Blades. Sometimes I use them passive, and the East passive tone control is broad and effective - both in passive, and active.

 

[turcmic]

What East pre would you suggest for a P?

 

[juancaminos]

Sorry I don't get it. Are these something new and different? New packaging?
I have six J Retros, they came in plain white boxes.

Two paired with Dimarzio PAF's, two are paired with Dimarzio Area J's. The J Retro/ Area J's have become my sound.

Also have one paired with Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pickups but the Ultra Jazz pups are way too hot.
Then there is one J Retro I have yet to decide what to do with. May install it in my Fender Modern Player Jazz Gen 1.

 

[Marc DLarosa]

Wanna really go NUTSO? Pair them with Delano's...

 

[BobKos]

Wanna really go NUTSO? Pair them with Delano's...

I was wondering about this. I have a bunch of Nordstrand / J.East equipped basses. Fabulous basses. I am in the process of putting another bass together. I have a set of Delano Jazz Pups that I was considering using instead of Nordies with a J-Retro Deluxe. I think I will give this a go. Thx!

 

[lazyeye]

Interesting.

I recently got a Sire V5R five string Jazz bass and, as is, it's quite impressive for the price. But I have toyed with the idea of trying a J-Retro preamp in it.

I've had two basses with Audere preamp and still have one of them and I really like the Auderes. A lot . However, I had to mod those basses (drill holes for the switches as well as cut a side jack on one of those basses), which I don't want to do to this bass. The J-retro seemed like the best option for me in this case.

I'll be watching this thread to see what people think of them. Thanks for the post, Tony.

I have a J-Retro installed in my V5. Absolutely love it

 

[TonyP-]

Sorry I don't get it. Are these something new and different? New packaging?
I have six J Retros, they came in plain white boxes.

Two paired with Dimarzio PAF's, two are paired with Dimarzio Area J's. The J Retro/ Area J's have become my sound.

The preamps came right from him so I’m guessing the packaging.
The Area Js must sound awesome. I’m %100 pulling out the Model Js.
They will only be for passive only for me. I will keep one in a 60s and one in a 70s. Everything else, will be East.

 

[40Hz]

In my experience audere (and most other preamps) kind of take over with their own voices.

Funny, but to my ears at least, Audere makes the most transparent, uncolored bass preamp out there. A lot of players feel it’s too clean and prefer something that’s a little less hifi sounding. Bartolini and EMG preamps are another story. Those do add something of their own to the sound.

 

[ahbass2500]

I will say this…I love these preamps BUT for my sound the Dimarzio Model J (which is my favorite passive pickup) is better just by itself.

^East makes a preamp for this too.

I have a G&L JB5 running JBE pickups. I prefer these pickups without a preamp, but like having options. I run an East J-Tone with them. Full passive functionality in passive mode (volume/volume/passive tone control or volume/blend if you prefer blend) with added Bass/Treble control in active mode. Most of the time, I leave it set to passive. When I want a little more control, I switch it over to active.

The drawback of the J-Tone versus J-Retro is losing the mid control and bright switch. The benefit is having full passive control set in both active and passive mode. As an added bonus, passive tone control with active Bass/Treble Boost/Cut is surprisingly useful. The J-Tone is frequently overlooked, but it is a great preamp.

 

[Geri O]

Yessir my J Retros are life changing!
They eat batteries pretty quickly but worth it. It’s golden tone.

Hmm, when I was using a J Retro Deluxe in my Lull, it didn’t seem to go through batteries any more than other preamps, but I change batteries every 3 months regardless of their remaining voltage, so I may not be running them long enough to see what preamps went through them sooner.

And yes, I’ve moved on from the East preamps, but I still think they are a fantastic choices.

 

[Sid the Kid]

The gentle contour these preamps offer in the neutral setting is intoxicating, and you sir are under the influence!

 

[BobKos]

I agree with Geri-O above regarding battery life. I have a J-Retro Dlx in my #1 bass. I just had the battery go weak about a month ago. My sharpie date written on day of install? 06-2017! I can't complain about that battery life. Should I have changed it a year ago? Probably but it sounded fine up until it went flat. Next time I'll narrow it down to 5 years....

 

[SteveCS]

Hello All,
For my Fender style instruments John East has change the game for me.

If you have not tried one give it a shot for sure.

I just dove in hard.

View attachment 5222804

IME you could not have made a better choice. I've had the East MMSR 3-band for several years now and it is excellent. I imagine John will be taking a day off having sold that lot in one day!!

 

[SteveCS]

John’s stuff is a lot more “organic” sounding if that makes sense, it’s hard to articulate here.
...

Totally agree - difficult to explain in words but once you've played/heard one no further explanation is needed.

 

[Swizzledoop]

I only have one active Jazz with a Suhr preamp from the mid 90's. Is anyone able to provide a comparison? Curious about these.

 

[Fender_Bender]

$2,000 worth of preamps .

 

[InhumanResource]

Funny, but to my ears at least, Audere makes the most transparent, uncolored bass preamp out there. A lot of players feel it’s too clean and prefer something that’s a little less hifi sounding. Bartolini and EMG preamps are another story. Those do add something of their own to the sound.

I had a different impression but there are a whole lot of variables to think about there

Totally agree on Bart and EMG. I actually like EMG a lot as relatively inexpensive solutions, and they are dead quiet. Not a big fan of any Bart stuff so far.

 

[Ricky Caboverde]

I will say this…I love these preamps BUT for my sound the Dimarzio Model J (which is my favorite passive pickup) is better just by itself. The East J Retro just makes if toooo thick. I mean it’s just massive and warm with curved top end. This Preamp I prefer with Alnico 5.

As @ahadl2500 mentioned, though the J-Retro is more popular, I'm loving the J-Tone preamp. It sounds just like my jazz did when passive, but now I have the added benefit of being able to boost or cut bass and treble when I want to make some quick eq adjustment. I highly recommend it, bro

 

[TonyP-]

$2,000 worth of preamps .

Does that bother You?

formal edit for @Fender_Bender

If you think that was bad…When I signed with Lull, I received 3 Lulls in less than 6 weeks.
My God, I Know right