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The John East preamp club

datsaxguy

datsaxguy

Oct 28, 2008
1,738
79
Maryland
#1
Well, you might think this is silly but I think these preamps are so good they deserve to have a club.

I think there should be a J Retro in every jazz bass and a U retro in everything else. (I'm kidding,.........well, maybe not)

If you love your John East pre chime in. No numbers. Just put a pic of your bass w/ the pre and tell us about your John East preamp pup set up.
 
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#2
I'll play!

My Wood&Tronics has a custom East SP2 circuit. It has the flatter tone profile that now is apparently available as an option on the Retro series. The SP2 has thumbwheels inside the cavity to adjust the freq point for each of the 3 bands of EQ, although mine has stacked mid knobs (vol/freq) for ease of use. Its a great sounding preamp, I really like it.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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#7
Lakland DJ5 - John East J retro, Hanson Pups. A killer modern combination as many on the forum can attest to. Having a problem loading pics but found a twin on the forum.

DJ% 6.jpg
 
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#9
J.Wolf said:
Munji, how does the east compare to the flexcore?
Click to expand...

The East J-Retro is a little foggier. It has more of a vintage sound (hence the name). I prefer the clean, modern, hi-fi sound of the Pope. I'd say the Pope has less inherent coloration than the East - that what it's designed for. If you're a vintage guy, the East is the one for you.

I don't mean to make a value judgment between the preamps. It's very subjective, and personal tastes vary greatly. The J-Retro does what it's intended to do very well.
 
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#13
jumbodbassman said:
Is the east closer to the sadowski preamp or the pope??
Click to expand...

Well, neither really. If you held me down and threatened to inject air into my vein if I didn't choose, I'd say the Sadowsky. But the Sadowsky has its own sound, probably a little cleaner than the East. However, the East has 3-band EQ with a semi-parametric mid, so it has a wider palette of tones available. Both the East and the Sadowsky can get a very decent J tone.
 
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#14
had an old sadowski out board years ago and loved it. but the flexcore on my YYS is outstanding and i just love the passive tone rolloff. what a brilliant idea to make quick tone tweaking when active... I met mike when he was about 16 at the shop when i used to hang there in the 80's at the beginning. He was an outstanding player back then and very creative ideas about sound back then...
 
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#16
Interesting, i wouldn't think of east retro as being vintage sounding, but i suppose I get what you mean, it's inherent tone has a definite voicing that is less transparent than other circuits I've used. The flex core has been on my radar since I it came out, Although the east works very well in the particular bass I still have one in. I yanked the east from my main 6 in favor of an 'alien audio' mo west preamp, and i like the result, although the tone of that bass is still not quite where I want it.
 
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#17
J.Wolf said:
Interesting, i wouldn't think of east retro as being vintage sounding, but i suppose I get what you mean, it's inherent tone has a definite voicing that is less transparent than other circuits I've used. The flex core has been on my radar since I it came out, Although the east works very well in the particular bass I still have one in. I yanked the east from my main 6 in favor of an 'alien audio' mo west preamp, and i like the result, although the tone of that bass is still not quite where I want it.
Click to expand...

OK, "less transparent."
 
#18
datsaxguy said:
All are welcome, we don't discriminate. You're in!
Click to expand...

OK, well here is the bass with the East designed ACG EQ01 in it. This picture was actually taken just after I installed an ACG EQ02 in it - which was the first filter preamp I bought. I was so impressed by the flexibility of the EQ02 that I ordered up the EQ01 that it has now.

P1020175_zpsd6bef3c5.jpg


Both the EQ01 and EQ02 are filter based preamps and work differently to a normal two or three band pre. It's a bit long winded to go into their operation here but suffice to say that you can radically change the voicing of your bass to whatever you want with a bit of practise you can go from the bassiest Gibson Mudbucker sound to the clangiest Ric, or from a vintage vibe to hi-fi active.

It does take a bit of getting used to because quite small tweaks can radically change the sound (and in truth, using the EQ01, I've only just got the hang of how to get a nice bit of top end and edge in my tone without it sounding brittle and harsh) and as with everything in life it is a bit of a double edged sword - the very flexibility that can produce absolutely stunning tones is also capable of making poor ones for the unititiated - for example, since the frequency band of the treble and bass stack can overlap, if you really want to you can apply a double dollop of boost to some really ganky frequencies. On balance though, now I'm more used to the way these pres work I wouldn't be without them.

The EQ02 is a little easier to work with since it only has the one bass stack, and my EQ02 now lives happily in my fretless (which is the bass it was originally destined for until it got temporarily waylaid into my 6), again the pic is pre-installation of the EQ02.

P1000151.jpg
 

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