The John East preamp club

[Jeff Roller]

Hi Jeff, since you explained your situation here I thought I'd come on and respond, trust that's OK with the moderation, there are rules for those with commercial involvement, of course.

My original thought was to get up to speed with the whole thread and then respond accordingly, but going through everything just wasn't an option. I've failed that mission several times but would really like to respond and help clarify any tech issues, directly, if that's workable.

> I thought these were plug and play, but it's been plug and PAY lol........

Your system would have been plug and play out of the box Jeff, but it seems someone saw fit to make some mods in removing the volume control flexible connector but didn't add a bypass wire in place of the volume, so the signal chain was broken on the bass/treble circuit board. I'm assuming the target was to make the system active/passive?

The good news is that I checked the bass/treble circuit and the sweepable mid, stand-alone, and they both function. So if you confirm the final config, we can help piece it back to workable for you.

Hi John,
Yeah its impossible to keep up with everything on the interwebs.

Yes, the intention was to make the system active/passive using the toggle switch. One of the failed installers told me the volume pot was bad and tried to install a "work around", so it seems that failed spectacularly.

I sincerely hope my post didn't come across as negative towards you, I've literally been trying to have this preamp installed for 3 years and no one in the area has been capable. I have no doubt the system worked out of the box, I wish I had found someone competent to begin with to install it!

I'm very happy that you contacted me and the preamp is now in your capable hands for sorting.

Please charge me what you think is appropriate as I have no idea what has been done to the components when its been out of my sight!

Thanks again,
Jeff

 

[John East]

Hi John,
Yeah its impossible to keep up with everything on the interwebs.

Yes, the intention was to make the system active/passive using the toggle switch. One of the failed installers told me the volume pot was bad and tried to install a "work around", so it seems that failed spectacularly.

I sincerely hope my post didn't come across as negative towards you, I've literally been trying to have this preamp installed for 3 years and no one in the area has been capable. I have no doubt the system worked out of the box, I wish I had found someone competent to begin with to install it!

I'm very happy that you contacted me and the preamp is now in your capable hands for sorting.

Please charge me what you think is appropriate as I have no idea what has been done to the components when its been out of my sight!

Thanks again,
Jeff

> I sincerely hope my post didn't come across as negative towards you,

Absolutely not, Jeff, I share your disappointment and frustration.

+ Anyone taking on a task such as your requirement should ideally assess and understand the electronics to the extent they can confirm they can complete it successfully.
* If they take it on and can't do it, they shouldn't charge you in my book, there's no result.
* And your system has been returned to you in a bit of a mess too, sadly.

But your bass is absolutely stunning, trust it plays as well as it looks!

It's so worth getting your electronics sorted purely for the bass - nice one!

 

[MaxSpinrun]

I'm still in a pickle with this John East MMSR preamp. Several folks have tried working on it to no avail, the last guy had it three weeks and couldn't get in touch with John, and he hasn't responded to any of my emails.

I contacted the place I bought it from, they are telling me only John is really capable of repairing his preamps. They are attempting to contact him on my behalf, but at this point I'm thinking of buying an Aguilar and scrapping the East pre.

Mini rant, it seems no one in my area is capable or wants to work on this thing. I thought these were plug and play, but it's been plug and PAY lol........

Anyone else make a pre with a sweepable mid control? That's what I really wanted, I have a Skjold with a hybrid East with sweepable mids and I love it!

Wow. Sorry to hear of your troubles. Just had the East MM 3 band with the sweepable minds installed in my Sub Ray, and it works fantastically.

 

[John East]

Wow. Sorry to hear of your troubles. Just had the East MM 3 band with the sweepable minds installed in my Sub Ray, and it works fantastically.

It seems you missed a few posts after the one you to which you responded: - Jeff had issues, for whatever reason, due to unsatisfactory work in modifying a new working product, where the preamp was modified locally and returned to him non-operational.

We arranged that Jeff should send it back to us, along with various additional parts he wanted to complete his project. And in support of our product, I'm going to make sure it's all repaired, revisions rewired correctly, and working to his satisfaction.

It should be completed and on its way back to him later this (coming) week.

 

[MaxSpinrun]

It seems you missed a few posts after the one you to which you responded: - Jeff had issues, for whatever reason, due to unsatisfactory work in modifying a new working product, where the preamp was modified locally and returned to him non-operational.

We arranged that Jeff should send it back to us, along with various additional parts he wanted to complete his project. And in support of our product, I'm going to make sure it's all repaired, revisions rewired correctly, and working to his satisfaction.

It should be completed and on its way back to him later this (coming) week.

Sorry I missed it. I thank you for an excellent product. Works just as good or better than description on web page. I recommend this highly. I have told and demonstrated this to many with high acclaim for this pre. Thanks again.

 

[Meenkya]

Just received my MMSR 3 Knob 3 Band in the mail! It looks very simple to install and the dangerous do-it-yourselfer within wants to install it. Is it as straight forward as it looks? It seems the only soldering is the ground and the 9v (if I have to cut it). Is there anything to watch out for? Tips?

I also ordered the Nordstrand MM4.2 Dual Coil, however the lead time could be a few months. This and the pre amp are all going in a Indo SUB Ray 4. I'm not upgrading for any reason other than to make it mine. I absolutely love this bass and will most likely never outgrow it. In my 8 months of hacking experience, I am truly hooked and look forward to each "practice" session.

Is it okay to install the preamp first? Once the pup arrives, Ill let a local luthier install it. The pup install looks a little intimidating due to pup height issues I think I've read about...lol

Thanks in advance and apologies for the newb questions...this site has been awesome Sorry for crappy pic, with new pick guard...

 

[Funkinthetrunk]

John is the man. Nothing but love for the man and his products.

 

[bloke_zero]

I have almost exactly that setup in a bass (MM4.4) and it works really well.

I think, if it's just the 9V and ground you should be fine. If you're going to sheild the inside at any point it'll be worth reading up about grounding: Understanding Guitar Grounding And Common Mistakes | Fralin Pickups

That combo will sound killer!

 

[SteveCS]

Is it as straight forward as it looks? It seems the only soldering is the ground and the 9v (if I have to cut it). Is there anything to watch out for? Tips?

It really is as simple as it looks. I avoided soldering altogether by using a miniature terminal block for the battery clip connection...
I installed my 3-knob 3-band back in January '19 and it still delivers every day. It also seems equally at home being fed with a ceramic Delano MC 4 FE or the original EBMM Alnico pickup...

 

[Meenkya]

All I can say is WOW! I went for it and installed this morning. It went from what I thought was a nice "electric growl" to this beautiful, full, deep, and very clean version of what it was, wow. I love it. No way to describe adequately at my level. No buzz, just clean, did I say clean, sound. Putting it through a Fender Bronco 40, btw..

Install was very simple. I only soldered two wire tips (from pup) that were screwed into micro connectors on the board. The 9v came with a mid line micro screw connector, unscrew, feed through body, screw down, connection done. I had to solder the ground wires (from pre to bridge/body), cover in shrink wrap, done. The new 9v battery cap proved to make the total length of the battery barely fit in the stock compartment, had to give it a bit of a nudge to push it in. The battery cap is a nice sturdy hard plastic one which I like much more than the flimsy standard one. Yet another fine attention to detail by Mr. East. I'm sure Ill replace the battery box after months of exhaustive research on battery boxes.

The last part of the supplied instructions did say something similar to 'attach the black ground wire from the jack to the guitar ground'. I did not see a black lead coming from the jack that wasn't already connected. It works great so I'm not to worried, unless anyone can input.

My only slight detail nitpick would be the inevitable gaps on the stack knob. The top knob doesn't lower far enough so you either take a gap between the lower and upper knob or pull up on the lower knob leaving a gap on the bottom of the stack. I'm sure I'm blaspheming even mentioning something so petty, so newb apologies in advance. Otherwise a superb 5+ stars to John East for an amazing product that appears to be solidly built and deserving of all the accolades that made me purchase it. Thx all for the guidance. And yes grounding/shielding was incredibly confusing...

 

[John East]

All I can say is WOW! I went for it and installed this morning. It went from what I thought was a nice "electric growl" to this beautiful, full, deep, and very clean version of what it was, wow. I love it. No way to describe adequately at my level. No buzz, just clean, did I say clean, sound. Putting it through a Fender Bronco 40, btw..

Install was very simple. ...

My only slight detail nitpick would be the inevitable gaps on the stack knob. The top knob doesn't lower far enough so you either take a gap between the lower and upper knob or pull up on the lower knob leaving a gap on the bottom of the stack.

+ Did you set the height of the pot shafts by adjusting the back-nuts?
* The top nuts should be set so that their upper faces are just level with the tops of the pot threads, ie just enough thread for the nuts, and no thread beyond the tops of the nuts.
* (This is to minimise the height of the pot shafts so the knobs can be fitted with just a clearance gap)
* Then tighten the back-nuts, a washer between each back-nut and plate, to retain the correct height.

The diagram illustrating where the rubber centering ring is fitted, shows the top and back nuts in their correct positions.

Apologies for the instructions, they need revising! The ground wires used to be black but they could be confused with the black battery wire, so we changed to green (grass in the ground) for the 0V/Ground connection.

 

[Meenkya]

Thank you for your swift personal response Sir! Amazing product coupled with amazing CS, rare indeed.

I was ignorant to set the pot heights, operator error! I cannot wait to get home and level out the stacks and they will be perfect aesthetically. No apologies needed for the instructions, I'm sure it is most likely common knowledge.

Thank you again for a great product that has exceeded my expectations in every way.

 

[HELLonWHEELS]

Has anybody ever paired a Uni pre with G&L humbucker MFDs?

 

[BassinCT]

Has anybody ever paired a Uni pre with G&L humbucker MFDs?

I have not tried that combination, but I'm wondering if you are referring to the MFD's from an M series or from a passive design. My understanding is that they are wound to different specs and have a slightly different character.

Because the Uni pres are so "tweakable", I'm sure you can make it work with practically any pickup. The flexible eq and the advantage of buffered blending would make it worth a try. Those MFD's are balz!

 

[HELLonWHEELS]

I have not tried that combination, but I'm wondering if you are referring to the MFD's from an M series or from a passive design. My understanding is that they are wound to different specs and have a slightly different character.

Because the Uni pres are so "tweakable", I'm sure you can make it work with practically any pickup. The flexible eq and the advantage of buffered blending would make it worth a try. Those MFD's are balz!

The MFD's from my L2000 are my favorite pickups of all time, but I'm in the camp that feels like the preamp is lacking. I think those pickups would benefits from having a passive tone control as well as a bass boost/cut. Looking into getting a custom warmoth build (or something else) with L2000 MFDs and a John East Uni pre.

 

[Syl_Funky_bass]

Hi All,

Has anyone any experience pairing a Uni-Pre with a set of Nordstrand NJ5FS (on a jazz bass V)?
I'm curious to hear about it.

Thanks

 

[Funkinthetrunk]

Hi All,

Has anyone any experience pairing a Uni-Pre with a set of Nordstrand NJ5FS (on a jazz bass V)?
I'm curious to hear about it.

Thanks

I use Nord NJ4 with the Uni-Pre on the below bass. Sounded so good that I couldn't get myself to sell it.

 

[Nuage420]

Hi all, I recently installed a Uni-Pre 4 into my beloved EHB1005MS. I am absolutely blown away with the new voice this has given my bass. I found it here used but uninstalled for a fantastic price and snagged it up not knowing anything about it other than it was used in a lot of boutique builds. I can confidently say I'll be purchasing more in the future as my collection grows and upgraded preamps are needed!

 

[Killing Floor]

Hi, y'all. Anyone know if it matters which way you wire the pickups in a J-Retro? Is there anything in the preamp circuitry that is polarity sensitive?

 

[bigtone23]

Hi, y'all. Anyone know if it matters which way you wire the pickups in a J-Retro? Is there anything in the preamp circuitry that is polarity sensitive?

The manual shows the grounds being on the volume side of the connectors, hots on the jack side of the connectors. I don't know if it makes a difference, but I defer to the designer. I hooked mine up just as shown.
https://www.east-uk.com/wp-content/uploads/OperationManuals/jretro01.pdf