The John East preamp club

[pmad_bass]

1st time seeing this club!!! Yes I'm a member wit my Lakland 55-60, BUT anyone has DJ retro they want to sell, please View attachment 4449709 holla at me!!

Which one is on your 55-60 currently?


My DJ-5 should ship today. Prob leave as at least for a week (if I can hold out that long) before I order the J Retro.

-PM

 

[daddymactx]

I believe its a J retro 01. It was in the bass when I purchased it. I also have a DJ-5 & been on the wait list for a DJ retro since about May-June so you may wanna pop on the list!!!

 

[pmad_bass]

On the wait list.

 

[Alex Masters]

I've got a GB Guitars Merlin with single coil pickups and a John East Uni-pre 5. This bass sounds soo good!.

 

[Syl_Funky_bass]

Hi All,

I have a Uni-Pre 4 installed on my Fender VB Jazz V signature. I love the pre-amp! So good!
The only thing I noticed is that I have a very low output level when the pre-amp is on passive mode, compared to my passive Precision basses it's quite strinking. How can I fix this?

Thanks!

 

[Mr_O'B]

Hi All,

I have a Uni-Pre 4 installed on my Fender VB Jazz V signature. I love the pre-amp! So good!
The only thing I noticed is that I have a very low output level when the pre-amp is on passive mode, compared to my passive Precision basses it's quite strinking. How can I fix this?

Thanks!

Should have a trim pot on the preamp that will allow you to make adjustments.

 

[Joyscoop]

Should have a trim pot on the preamp that will allow you to make adjustments.

Does the trim pot have any effect on the output when on passive mode?

 

[Mr_O'B]

Does the trim pot have any effect on the output when on passive mode?

Yes, it effects the passive mode volume.

 

[Syl_Funky_bass]

Yes, it effects the passive mode volume.

Are you referring to the pickup gain trim pots?

if not can you please provide further info/pics? Thanks!

 

[John East]

I bought my J Retro used. It looks brand new but is there anyway of telling whether it's the newer design with the flat response vs the old design?

There's normally a sticker stating FLAT RESPONSE on the bass/treble pot (one in the middle). The original STANDARD version doesn't have any specific marking. We can always confirm the type from a pic of the component side of the circuit board.

There's not a newer and older design, they, the original pre-shape & flat response versions, are both current.

 

[Funky40]

a Heads up,
the East uni-pre 3, ...the one with 3 stacked pots, is back in stock again !


snag as long there is to grab

 

[NordicBard]

The Uni-Pre 5 is still the single best thing thing I ever purchased.

 

[Steve88]

While practicing this morning, I found a new way to look at and use my Unipre5. This may not be news to some, but it was a big improvement for me.

My Lakland 5594 has a fairly strong mid response. I could get good sounds out of my bass, but not quite perfect as there was always a bit of "honk" in the tone even when boosting other frequencies.

I found this morning that if I use the mid sweep to find and cut the "honk" frequencies instead of boosting the mids above or below, the blend knob can work as a sort of "psuedo mids" knob to change how the tone sits in a mix depending on the pickup blend. Then apply bass/treble EQ to taste. Subtle changes with the treble and tone knobs were easily heard once they weren't fighting the mids. It was such an improvement that I played for about 3 hours this morning

 

[J.Wolf]

While practicing this morning, I found a new way to look at and use my Unipre5. This may not be news to some, but it was a big improvement for me.

My Lakland 5594 has a fairly strong mid response. I could get good sounds out of my bass, but not quite perfect as there was always a bit of "honk" in the tone even when boosting other frequencies.

I found this morning that if I use the mid sweep to find and cut the "honk" frequencies instead of boosting the mids above or below, the blend knob can work as a sort of "psuedo mids" knob to change how the tone sits in a mix depending on the pickup blend. Then apply bass/treble EQ to taste. Subtle changes with the treble and tone knobs were easily heard once they weren't fighting the mids. It was such an improvement that I played for about 3 hours this morning

I've definitely used the uni for this. It's pretty effective at notching stuff out due to how powerful it is. And really it changes the perception of the overall "shape" of the bass's tone. A very cool way to use this preamp!

 

[SteveCS]

While practicing this morning, I found a new way to look at and use my Unipre5. This may not be news to some, but it was a big improvement for me.

My Lakland 5594 has a fairly strong mid response. I could get good sounds out of my bass, but not quite perfect as there was always a bit of "honk" in the tone even when boosting other frequencies.

I found this morning that if I use the mid sweep to find and cut the "honk" frequencies instead of boosting the mids above or below, the blend knob can work as a sort of "psuedo mids" knob to change how the tone sits in a mix depending on the pickup blend. Then apply bass/treble EQ to taste. Subtle changes with the treble and tone knobs were easily heard once they weren't fighting the mids. It was such an improvement that I played for about 3 hours this morning

IME it is normal to cut when using EQ for 'corrective' purposes and boost for 'effective' purposes.

 

[Joyscoop]

While practicing this morning, I found a new way to look at and use my Unipre5. This may not be news to some, but it was a big improvement for me.

My Lakland 5594 has a fairly strong mid response. I could get good sounds out of my bass, but not quite perfect as there was always a bit of "honk" in the tone even when boosting other frequencies.

I found this morning that if I use the mid sweep to find and cut the "honk" frequencies instead of boosting the mids above or below, the blend knob can work as a sort of "psuedo mids" knob to change how the tone sits in a mix depending on the pickup blend. Then apply bass/treble EQ to taste. Subtle changes with the treble and tone knobs were easily heard once they weren't fighting the mids. It was such an improvement that I played for about 3 hours this morning

Yeah, I was equally glad when I realised that too. My problem wasn't "honkiness" per se but rather "mud", coming from a frequency region I would guess would be around 250-300Hz. A pretty aggressive -5Db in that region produced a sweet-sweet tone that I love.

What I've also discovered is that my implementation of my Uni-Pre in a pedal form (you can see it a few pages back in this thread), and depending on the pickup used, can be susceptible to serious compromise of tone due to the cable (which has its own impedance) that sits in-between the pickups and the preamp itself. Baffled by my Nordstrand Zen Blade producing a blander and more muffled sound than the cheap pickup of a borrowed Ibanez SR300, I started experimenting - a shorter cable (just 12" long - essentially a pedal-to-pedal patch cable) freed the Zen and allowed it to sound as it should. So I insterted a Palmer DI inbetween the bass and the Uni-Pre, and with a normal length cable everything is perfect. The bass shines (a Frankenbass - a Cort B4 body + electronics and a Dean Edge 4 neck) and the Zen Blade is really sublime indeed. The weird thing is that before the addition of the DI, the cheap pickup of the SR300 seemed to be impervious to the added impedance of the long cable. Well, not that weird actually - it's probably due to having different impedance which didn't allow the addition of the cable to alter its performance too much.

 

[tombowlus]

While practicing this morning, I found a new way to look at and use my Unipre5. This may not be news to some, but it was a big improvement for me.

My Lakland 5594 has a fairly strong mid response. I could get good sounds out of my bass, but not quite perfect as there was always a bit of "honk" in the tone even when boosting other frequencies.

I found this morning that if I use the mid sweep to find and cut the "honk" frequencies instead of boosting the mids above or below, the blend knob can work as a sort of "psuedo mids" knob to change how the tone sits in a mix depending on the pickup blend. Then apply bass/treble EQ to taste. Subtle changes with the treble and tone knobs were easily heard once they weren't fighting the mids. It was such an improvement that I played for about 3 hours this morning

This has always been my favorite feature of East preamps, going back to my first Skjold with an East preamp. I love the ability to "fix" a room on the fly. If you encounter some problem frequencies, dial in a boost, sweep until it gets really bad, and then turn that boost into a cut. Super fast, and super effective!

 

[John East]

Hi All,

I have a Uni-Pre 4 installed on my Fender VB Jazz V signature. I love the pre-amp! So good!
The only thing I noticed is that I have a very low output level when the pre-amp is on passive mode, compared to my passive Precision basses it's quite strinking. How can I fix this?

Thanks!

The level in passive is entirely reliant on the raw output of the pickups alone. Passive means that there is no "active" help from any electronic stages which could boost or change the contour of the response of the direct pickups output signal.

So if there is a difference in level between active and passive, you either have some EQ boost dialled, the internal pickup gain presets are set for an increase in gain, or a combination of EQ and gain trim(s).

To check this:
+ Set all 3 EQ boost/cut knobs, bass, mid & treble, to their centre clicks, 50% of rotation.
* Note: The bass control can be set to boost only, internal user setting, in which case back off fully. Factory default is boost/cut.
+ Bright pull on the treble pushed down to off.
+ Internal gain presets fully backed off CCW. (counter-clockwise - old-style clock with hands)
+ Vol max, pickup blend panned fully to one pickup.
+ Then switch between active and passive.
* The levels and sound should be the same or very close if feeding a regular rig or Instrument Input.
- The sound might be slightly brighter with active mode due to the 'buffering effect of the preamp.
NOTE 1: If you are feeding a Line Input, the input impedance is likely to be considerably lower than an Instrument Input, which will sap a lot of the passive signal, the active signal will be unaffected.
NOTE 2: There's an internal setting to select flat response or pre-shaper, factory default is flat response, ie what goes in comes out. The pre-shaper gives ~4Bs boost at the low and high end, so any tests should be done with the flat response setting.

 

[cbdriver]

Hey fellow bassists,
I'm now a proud, excited owner of a Uni-Pre 4! Ordered direct from John. Very impressed w/ how quickly my order arrived from England to the US. I had a small complication during my self install and Mr. East was excellent in his communication while I was resolving my (self induced) issue. My Warrior DM 5 is Bartolini equipped & I was hungry for the options of active / passive, passive tone control & the infamous variable mids! WOW... what an arsenal of tonal options @ one's fingertips. The former 3 way mid frequency switch is now just a "dummy".

 

[cbdriver]

Have any of you ran the Uni-Pre in both 9v & 18v? If so, did you see much of a positive difference in 18v?
The Warrior's Bartolini pre was wired 18v but the cavity area for the batteries was barely large enough to house them with the flimsy, soft vinyl covered connectors (which I hate). I appreciate the solid connector John uses!
I'll need to remove a bit of wood to fit an extra battery, which I don't have a problem with doing. Will I see enough different to make it worth the effort? Thanks for any insight…..