John East - Fender style instruments - Game changing

[Joebone]

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.

Agree with Audere as an endpoint on some kind of continuum - but in my one exposure (on a J), it felt sterile. Dare I pun that Audere is austere?

 

[Relsom]

After years putting up with the hiss from my '81 L2K, I installed a U-Retro Deluxe and a set of EMG VJs. It wasn't pretty, but it was the best that bass ever sounded.

 

[NKBassman]

Just perused the John East website for the first time in ages, and now I'm reeeeeally curious about the P-Retro 2-knob preamp.

 

[TonyP-]

Just perused the John East website for the first time in ages, and now I'm reeeeeally curious about the P-Retro 2-knob preamp.

I have heard it person but didn’t play it. It retained that P personally of course BUT the clarity to upper end was off the chart.

 

[NKBassman]

I have heard it person but didn’t play it. It retained that P personally of course BUT the clarity to upper end was off the chart.

The density of features packed into those 2 dual knobs is crazy. And as a passive P-bass guy at heart I appreciate that the default mode is passive with zero coloration.

 

[TonyP-]

^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.

Interesting…I’m going to just keep 2 truly passive for simplicity reasons, however that is good to know.
The latest bumpers on the food network I did is just a simple stock Jazz with the J retro and no complaints

 

[lamarjones]

What model(s) did you get and what basses did you put them into? I'm curious about the J-Retro Deluxe and a pair of Nordy Big Singles.

I have one bass with this setup and 3 with the uni pre and Big Singles. Then one jazz with fralin single coils and a j retro deluxe. Here's a pic, just missing one.

Been through a lot of basses, the East/single coil setup (with passive control) is my dream setup.

 

[_Tay_]

Love my J Retro in my Jag bass it's an awesome preamp! Was thinking of maybe getting a John east for my status but it's pretty good as it is.

 

[logdrum]

I'll say something to the contrary. I have 2 basses with John East (Uni with 5 knob and J-Tone). Although a good pre-amp, I would not say that it is the best, more like most expensive compared to others with similar features. And they are noisy unless you shield the bass and even that may not work if you use tapes (and yes I have EMGs that did not get noisy on the same bass ). No I am not ripping mine out and will stay on that bass. They are not bad. I would say that they are a better value than a Pope which is definitely one of the most expensive. I do like that you can shape the tone by changing the caps but you need to get that from Mouser or Digi-Key as Mr. East doesn't sell them. Audere is the best bang for the buck and is the most transparent of all of them -- all they need to provide is a active bypass and a passive tone (maybe they do now)

I have been using onboard pre-amps since 1988. And I love Bartolini. Probably because that's what I started with
Here's what I have tried:
John East
EMG
Nordstrand
Noll
Pope
Audere
Lusithand
Bartolini
Seymour Duncan

and various OEM like Fender (Marcus Miller and active Jazz) Yamaha and Tune (Japan) as it came on their bass. I like Yamaha's the best for OEM.

For the 3rd party, I am digging Lusithand. I have the 4 band Gallien Kruegger inspired and the filter pre. I will always like Bartolini. My oldest basses have them. Still works for me.

 

[ELG60]

Tony, I'd been waiting for the Fender style knobs to be back in stock before getting a J Retro for a bass I put together earlier this year.

I'd wanted to use them in one of my two Japanese market Fender 75 US reissues, but they sounded too nice in stock condition.

When I bought this Japanese Geddy with a nonfunctioning pup back in September of last year, it was with the J Retro specifically in mind. It's become my #1 4 banger, although currently, I'm using fivers.

It came out exactly as I'd hoped, both aesthetically and tonally:

Edit: I had humbucking Wilde pickups installed and have no issue with hum whatsoever.

 

[Ricky Caboverde]

I'll say something to the contrary. I have 2 basses with John East (Uni with 5 knob and J-Tone). Although a good pre-amp, I would not say that it is the best, more like most expensive compared to others with similar features. And they are noisy unless you shield the bass and even that may not work if you use tapes (and yes I have EMGs that did not get noisy on the same bass ). No I am not ripping mine out and will stay on that bass. They are not bad. I would say that they are a better value than a Pope which is definitely one of the most expensive. I do like that you can shape the tone by changing the caps but you need to get that from Mouser or Digi-Key as Mr. East doesn't sell them. Audere is the best bang for the buck and is the most transparent of all of them -- all they need to provide is a active bypass and a passive tone (maybe they do now)

I have been using onboard pre-amps since 1988. And I love Bartolini. Probably because that's what I started with
Here's what I have tried:
John East
EMG
Nordstrand
Noll
Pope
Audere
Lusithand
Bartolini
Seymour Duncan

and various OEM like Fender (Marcus Miller and active Jazz) Yamaha and Tune (Japan) as it came on their bass. I like Yamaha's the best for OEM.

For the 3rd party, I am digging Lusithand. I have the 4 band Gallien Kruegger inspired and the filter pre. I will always like Bartolini. My oldest basses have them. Still works for me.

Hot take!

 

[TonyP-]

Tony, I'd been waiting for the Fender style knobs to be back in stock before getting a J Retro for a bass I put together earlier this year.

I'd wanted to use them in one of my two Japanese market Fender 75 US reissues, but they sounded too nice in stock condition.

When I bought this Japanese Geddy with a nonfunctioning pup back in September of last year, it was with the J Retro specifically in mind. It's become my #1 4 banger, although currently, I'm using fivers.

It came out exactly as I'd hoped, both aesthetically and tonally:

View attachment 5223534

View attachment 5223535

View attachment 5223536

Edit: I had humbucking Wilde pickups installed and have no issue with hum whatsoever.

That is banging cool
Stoked for you

 

[40Hz]

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.

Agree. That’s why I qualified my comment by saying “to my ears.” No two pairs are the same.

EMG preamps do have a pleasing sound. I particularly like them when paired with EMGs pickups.

Barts…yeah Barts. Their preamps and pups were considered pretty rad back in the day. You either like their preamps or you don’t. Same goes for their pickups which were always a little too dark sounding for me. I don’t mind them. But they wouldn’t ever be a first choice for me.

Fortunately, we’re spoiled for choices these days. I’m more into the filter based preamps such as you find in a Wal or Alembic. But I still have an Audere in one bass.

 

[40Hz]

Agree with Audere as an endpoint on some kind of continuum - but in my one exposure (on a J), it felt sterile. Dare I pun that Audere is austere?

Absolutely. Pun away!

 

[Ricky Caboverde]

Tony, I'd been waiting for the Fender style knobs to be back in stock before getting a J Retro for a bass I put together earlier this year.

I'd wanted to use them in one of my two Japanese market Fender 75 US reissues, but they sounded too nice in stock condition.

When I bought this Japanese Geddy with a nonfunctioning pup back in September of last year, it was with the J Retro specifically in mind. It's become my #1 4 banger, although currently, I'm using fivers.

It came out exactly as I'd hoped, both aesthetically and tonally:

View attachment 5223534

View attachment 5223535

View attachment 5223536

Edit: I had humbucking Wilde pickups installed and have no issue with hum whatsoever.

That looks amazing

 

[TonyP-]

I'll say something to the contrary. I have 2 basses with John East (Uni with 5 knob and J-Tone). Although a good pre-amp, I would not say that it is the best, more like most expensive compared to others with similar features. And they are noisy unless you shield the bass and even that may not work if you use tapes (and yes I have EMGs that did not get noisy on the same bass ). No I am not ripping mine out and will stay on that bass. They are not bad. I would say that they are a better value than a Pope which is definitely one of the most expensive. I do like that you can shape the tone by changing the caps but you need to get that from Mouser or Digi-Key as Mr. East doesn't sell them. Audere is the best bang for the buck and is the most transparent of all of them -- all they need to provide is a active bypass and a passive tone (maybe they do now)

I have been using onboard pre-amps since 1988. And I love Bartolini. Probably because that's what I started with
Here's what I have tried:
John East
EMG
Nordstrand
Noll
Pope
Audere
Lusithand
Bartolini
Seymour Duncan

and various OEM like Fender (Marcus Miller and active Jazz) Yamaha and Tune (Japan) as it came on their bass. I like Yamaha's the best for OEM.

For the 3rd party, I am digging Lusithand. I have the 4 band Gallien Kruegger inspired and the filter pre. I will always like Bartolini. My oldest basses have them. Still works for me.

I get it man…I owned most of your list and heard all of them but the Lusithand. (Actually never heard of it until now).
I have a few different style basses I play. I’m my signatures it’s Big Singles in series with Bart pres. I love that, for what that is.
In my Schecters it’s all EMG across the board. I love that for what that is.

For me (and just my take for my needs) the John East is “the Fender like solution for an active bass”…specifically.
Buy the way, those older Tune basses just kill…Love them.

 

[red_rhino]

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.

I've had East preamps in 3 basses, a Lakland skyline jazz with Fralins, a Marcus Miller signature jazz w/ Dimarzio Ultra jazz pups, and the jazz in my avatar w/ Sadowsky single coils. In each case, the East never actually changed the tonal characteristics of the bass; it just made them bigger, wayyyy bigger. That was particularly true of the jazz in my avatar. It was a bit much.

My takeaway from all that (and other preamps I've tried) is that if you don't like the sound of your instrument passive, going active isn't likely to give you the result you want. That said, I think the East preamps are marvelous and can sound amazing.

I have a passive Japanese Fender JB-75 jazz that sounds really, really nice. I do like active basses and I'm tempted to drop in a J Retro and see where that goes, but there's a little voice saying "don't mess with perfect". We'll see which voice wins the argument.

 

[DeltaPhoenix]

When I had my Dingwall Super J modded (paint, P conversion, new PG, etc.) I had a ACG/East EQ-01 put in. It’s the second bass that I have had one in. I really love this preamp. It’s scratches my filter-based preamp itch nicely (have had Alembic and Wal basses too).

 

[yainkee]

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.

Something important about these preamps that I learned from from an exchange with the support team at John East is that, despite the bass pot having a center dent, the bass control on the J-Retro is BOOST ONLY. I didn’t expect this, since the other controls are boost and cut, and there’s a center dent, but I now see it in the specs. That may be why it made your sound too fat - it was set at the center dent so it boosted the lows a bunch.

 

[wintremute]

Do they come in a pedal?