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The John East preamp club

#661
View attachment 4873999 View attachment 4874000 View attachment 4874002
+ I will mark up your picture so that you can carry out the test.
+ What pickups are they?
+ Who carried out the installation?

@John East - Thank you for the continued support. The pickups are the stock Sterling by Music Man ceramic humbucker pickups. The installation was by a local guitar repair shop, ATD Guitar Repar.

I am happy to give it a go, if you don't mind marking the pictures (thank you, by the way, that is way beyond what I was expecting. This has been a pretty amazing experience). It looked like the wiring was pretty different from the example you gave, and I got nervous I would make it unplayable by messing something up. What is interesting, is that it doesn't seem to always happen. I played it this morning and had the volume and treble almost maxed on the preamp and was not experiencing the buzz.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

A.T.D. Guitar Repair
 
#662
smeet said:
Hey all, I haven't read this whole thread, I'm going to, but I have a question for you East experts.

I am buying a Dingwall NG-3 5-string, and I'm thinking about replacing the Darkglass preamp with an East.

I heard LowEndLobster's demo where he was using an East MMSR Stingray preamp, and I loved the fat tones he got, with all eq set flat. I would rather get the Uni-pre, but I wanted to find out if the Uni-pre with eq set flat has the same fat vintagey feel as the MMSR...?

Or do I dare to try the EQ-01??? I love the idea, but is it warm, and how hard is it to dial in?

Here's the video (playing starts at about 5:44):


TIA for any advice!
Click to expand...


Apologies for not answering this sooner.
+ The MMSR has Pre-EB MM Stingray style EQ, but with some extra low end.
* The Stingray voicing, Pre-EB and I understand that all 2B EB EQs have retained the original voicing, has the lowest lows and highest highs around, pretty much, which works well with MM humbuckers.

+ The MMSR has that extreme voicing fixed internally in the design.

+ The UNI-PRE has internal frequency voicing wheels allowing it to mimic the MMSR, but allows for many other tonal adjustment possibilities too.

+ We have created some single input UNI-PREs (no blend) specifically suitable for the Dingwall PUs switch (fitted some very successfully), but it's not listed as a product so far. It's a hand-wired system hooked onto a UNI-PRE EQ.
 
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#663
Apologies for the late response, I understand the situation now in that you bought the MMSR recently.
We had some issues obtaining the pots for the MMSRs, and could only get 1/4" shafts quickly. So we had to obtain some 1/4" knobs too, and you have some black ones. The 1/4" are specifically for the MMSRs.
We do have some 1/4" chrome that we could supply which are the same style as the black knobs you have.
 
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#664
Thank you sir but I got it all sorted out! Had some that fit laying around

John East said:
Apologies for the late response, I understand the situation now in that you bought the MMSR recently.
We had some issues obtaining the pots for the MMSRs, and could only get 1/4" shafts quickly. So we had to obtain some 1/4" knobs too, and you have some black ones. The 1/4" are specifically for the MMSRs.
We do have some 1/4" chrome that we could supply which are the same style as the black knobs you have.
Click to expand...
 
#665
@John East
Hi, John, thanx so much for being willing to participate here.

I have a J Retro Deluxe that I've managed to ding up one of the small trimpots on the underside of the control plate (the little plastic knubs on the trimpot broke off somehow. I guess I was a little heavy-handed with it). My intention is to order another J Retro Deluxe preamp (when the gold plate & knob version becomes available again) and send my current preamp in for repair. Is it possible for you to replace those trimpots (NOT warranty, of course)? And what would be the procedure to return my preamp for the repair?

My current preamp is working and sounding fine, but I'd like to get another preamp and have this repaired and put up as a spare. I really depend on my bass with this preamp in it.

Thank you,
Geri O'Neil
([email protected])
 
#666
I've been watching alot of Sadowsky videos lately (ug GAS) so I decided to try playing with the bright switch engaged on my Lakland 5560/J Retro this morning at church. The extra sparkley top end was a very different sound than I usually use but I liked it alot. Bright but still very musical :thumbsup:
 
#667
Hi,I am Korean.
this is my first time posting.
My English is not that great, so my English expression may not be smooth.
I ask for your understanding.

My bass guitar is a six-string bass guitar from Tomson and is made in Japan.
The pickups and pre-amp are old, so I decided to replace it.
I loved the sound of Eliezar lara bass guitar on YouTube.(aero pickup + john east preamp)


So I bought N6jd pickups from Aero Instrument Pickups.
There are three modes of pickup.
Single Coil/ Series Hum Bucker/ Parallel Hum Cancleing
The mode switch is a rotary switch.

And I purchased the uni-pre 5 knob of John East and requested the installation at the g-cat repair shop.
http://www.g-cat.co.kr
https://www.instagram.com/gcatguitar

There was a problem when I installed it according to the operation manual on the website at the guitar repair shop.
First, the passive mode produces sound, but the volume cannot be adjusted.
Second, there is no sound in active mode
So I sent an e-mail to John East and got a few answers.

I tried reverse the jumper links as shown in the picture, but the problem was not solved.(img07.jpg)
And I tried a lot of other ways, but the problem didn't work out.

Next, I received an email asking me to check if the battery power is normally supplied to the preamp when I plug the jack into the input terminal.(img08.jpg)

When the multimeter checks number 1, the battery power of 9V is normally output.
However, as shown in the figure, 1V (90.8mV) does not come out when checked with No. 1 and No. 3.
Is it right to assume that a short circuit has occurred?
Of course, I plugged in the jack and the battery is in good condition.

If this problem is solved, I think it will work normally.
 

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Last edited:
#668
LegOfTNit said:
Hi,I am Korean.
this is my first time posting.
My English is not that great, so my English expression may not be smooth.
I ask for your understanding.

My bass guitar is a six-string bass guitar from Tomson and is made in Japan.
The pickups and pre-amp are old, so I decided to replace it.
I loved the sound of Eliezar lara bass guitar on YouTube.(aero pickup + john east preamp)


So I bought N6jd pickups from Aero Instrument Pickups.
There are three modes of pickup.
Single Coil/ Series Hum Bucker/ Parallel Hum Cancleing
The mode switch is a rotary switch.

And I purchased the uni-pre 5 knob of John East and requested the installation at the g-cat repair shop.
http://www.g-cat.co.kr
https://www.instagram.com/gcatguitar

There was a problem when I installed it according to the operation manual on the website at the guitar repair shop.
First, the passive mode produces sound, but the volume cannot be adjusted.
Second, there is no sound in active mode
So I sent an e-mail to John East and got a few answers.

I tried reverse the jumper links as shown in the picture, but the problem was not solved.(img07.jpg)
And I tried a lot of other ways, but the problem didn't work out.

Next, I received an email asking me to check if the battery power is normally supplied to the preamp when I plug the jack into the input terminal.(img08.jpg)

When the multimeter checks number 1, the battery power of 9V is normally output.
However, as shown in the figure, 1V (90.8mV) does not come out when checked with No. 1 and No. 3.
Is it right to assume that a short circuit has occurred?
Of course, I plugged in the jack and the battery is in good condition.

If this problem is solved, I think it will work normally.
Click to expand...


does preamp work when not sat in shielded cavity?
 
#671
Does anyone know whether mid frequency sweep knob should have centre click on Uni Pre 4 like let's say on the blend knob? On my preamp Mid boost/cut does have centre click but sweep does not.
 
#674
pepj said:
Notcsure why it would need an indent.
My sweep doesnt on the retro deluxe and neither would it serve much use because the whole point of 'sweep' is that you choose what works to your ears. You select the frequency and then cut of boost it, imv
Click to expand...

Steve88 said:
My uni pre 5 has a center detent on the cut/boost but not on the sweep. A detent on the sweep would strike me as odd.
Click to expand...

Thanks to both of you. I was thinking of it as it should work like a toggle switch on some basses. But now it's all clear.
 
#675
warnan said:
i mean take your preamp fully out of cavity then test if it works. Maybe your preamp doesn't work in active mode is because of that copper shielding... my guess.
Click to expand...


Thanks for explaining this to me.
I'll notify the base guitar repair shop.

With all due respect, the homepage operation manual attaches the grounding information.

GROUNDING IN GENERAL - IMPORTANT!
* All pots shafts need to be substantially electrically grounded.
* This is best achieved using adhesive backed copper foil on the internal face the pots are mounted to.
* Conductive paint is fine for screening purposes, but DO NOT RELY ON IT to ground the UNI-PRE pots.
* Afix an appropriate peice of adhesive copper foil all over the area the pots will be mounted against.
* Solder the GREEN wire from the Jack Ground tag to the copper foil as a 'star' screening point.
* Solder any other ground wires, such as the bridge, pickup cavity screens, close to the star point


Thank you for your attention to this matter.
 
#676
For the last couple days I have been a happy owner of John East UNI-PRE 4.
I paired it with Delano JC4 HE/M2 pickups in my Warwick Streamer CV.
Very pleased with the results. Preamp is super quiet. Some hiss with bright knob activated but I expected that.
This preamp just screams quality.
Endless tone shaping possibilities.
I played a little with pre shape setting but ended up with preamp set to flat response. I like that with all knobs set to center there is no difference between active and passive mode (at least I am not hearing any).
Which setting do you prefer: pre shape or flat response?

And here is my Warwick with this awesome preamp:
02C34C45-9410-4E8C-B5D7-D55C92894A4D.jpeg
ABCB939B-3232-432B-9C56-848F816BB025.jpeg
 
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#678
Just found this thread, and will read all of it. I have a Uni 5-knob in a 34" 5-string that Carl Pedigo built in 2015 - it was my main player until the Pandemic hit, and that preamp is the BOMB! from 2015-2020, my main focus was a band merging latin folklorical/rock/jazz elements, and the tonal flexibility was outstanding. Pickups were Duncan NYCs, each switchable from front coil/parallel/back coil. After a long hiatus, now playing with a straight-up rock band, and the Pedigo has been muscled aside by a Sadowsky Metro Will Lee 5...but upon consultation with the marvelous folks at Nordstrand, I've replaced the pickups with Big Blades... Will soon get to hear them in a band context, but in practice and play-along mode, it seems that the Big Blades unleash more of the Uni's range, particularly on the passive tone control. I'm not generally a lover of three-band preamps, but the East (and the Miura-era Xotic) seem to find the music, while others seem to introduce honk or cardboard. OK, I guess the Sadowsky Will Lee circuit is arguably a three-band, but I think of it more as a situationally useful mid-boost. Anyhow, happy to join the amen chorus re the quality and efficacy of the East preamps!
 
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#680
I've been playing around with building a Jazz bass with Warmoth parts and I think I want an East Deluxe preamp. The part that I always wonder about is the side jack rout. You can get 1/2", 3/4" or 7/8". I guess 7/8" would be safe but is 3/4" adequate?
 

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