The John East preamp club

[Kubicki Fan]

I thank myself often…..

I use a Mike Lull M5V Jazz-style bass with a J Retro Deluxe. And I use a REDDI Tube DI everywhere. Live and recording. Nothing else. I never leave home without it. It always get high praise from engineers and I'm completely happy on all the recordings I engineer and/or play on with this combination.

That is top shelf gear

 

[Manannin]

Has anyone heard when more MMSR preamps are going to be available? I can't seem to find any.

They are in stock now. Go! I just got mine finally.

 

[XLunacy]

Hi there. I tried using the trim pots on my Uni-Pre to give my signal a boost straight out of the instrument, and I feel that it makes a much bigger difference than I'd have anticipated: it's not just louder, it also has more high end and detail, with a "hi-fi" articulation that I like a lot.

Is it just my ears or is it real ?
Also, how much of a difference does this make on battery life ?

 

[-Boscoe-]

Installed the MMR 3K3B into my Ray4 along with a new Aguilar DCB-M4. Sounds so much better! The preamp was well packaged and well made. Directions were slightly out of date but I was able to figure everything out okay.

 

[Baker69]

I thought about shielding the control cavity on my Sterling SUB Ray 5 before installing a Nordstrand MM5.2 pickup and East MMSR 3 Band pre but the whole system is noiseless.

I am a bit surprised but very pleased by this.

The Nordstrand and MMSR 3 Band are a great combination, ok it was a big outlay on what is considered to be an entry level bass, but I really like it so much it deserved the upgrade.

I'm struggling to find a bridge upgrade for it though due to the narrow string spacing, but that's another story!

 

[RevOgre]

@John East is it possible to wire in an A/P switch into an MMSR 3B4K pre and if so how difficult is it?

 

[kazamamaster]

Is there any documentation or any help you guys can provide for wiring a j retro deluxe 01 to an 18v bass? I know it's possible but just need to anything I can pass off to someone who's doing the work for me.

 

[ctmullins]

Is there any documentation or any help you guys can provide for wiring a j retro deluxe 01 to an 18v bass? I know it's possible but just need to anything I can pass off to someone who's doing the work for me.

Always best to go straight to the source.

https://www.east-uk.com/wp-content/uploads/OperationManuals/jretrodeluxe01.pdf?v=7516fd43adaa

 

[kazamamaster]

Always best to go straight to the source.

https://www.east-uk.com/wp-content/uploads/OperationManuals/jretrodeluxe01.pdf?v=7516fd43adaa

Yeah this manual comes with the pre-amp. Doesn't specifically say much about the 18v portion though.

 

[ctmullins]

Yeah this manual comes with the pre-amp. Doesn't specifically say much about the 18v portion though.

Because there isn't much to say. You connect your 18V source the same way you connect a 9V source. There's obviously not room for two 9V batteries in the control cavity, so you'll need a separate battery box, but you still connect positive to red and negative to black, as shown in the upper right of page 5.

 

[RollandGroove]

Hi there. I tried using the trim pots on my Uni-Pre to give my signal a boost straight out of the instrument, and I feel that it makes a much bigger difference than I'd have anticipated: it's not just louder, it also has more high end and detail, with a "hi-fi" articulation that I like a lot.

Is it just my ears or is it real ?
Also, how much of a difference does this make on battery life ?

I was thinking about doing the same thing. I have a Sterling Ray4HH with a Uni-Pre installed. Did you have a specific process for finding your sound, did you just dial each trim pot up the same amount, adjust individually, etc.?

 

[Geri O]

Yeah this manual comes with the pre-amp. Doesn't specifically say much about the 18v portion though.

For 18v operation, yes, your bass will need to be equipped with a battery box big enough for 2 9V batteries. And you'll need two 9V battery clips wired so the batteries will be wired in series. This means…
The red wire of the first battery clip wired to the hot battery connection of the preamp.
The black wire from the first battery clip wired to the red wire of the second battery clip.
The black wire of the second battery clip wired to the negative battery connection on the preamp.
Honestly, if your bass doesn't already have the battery box in it, the East preamp works just fine with a single 9V battery.

 

[Ethereal Thorn]

I avoided this by using with a 24volt mod it uses the same space and connector as a single 9 volt

 

[XLunacy]

I was thinking about doing the same thing. I have a Sterling Ray4HH with a Uni-Pre installed. Did you have a specific process for finding your sound, did you just dial each trim pot up the same amount, adjust individually, etc.?

I simply dimed both trimpots I was satisfied with the relative level of the pickups so I did not need to use the trimpots to match them in volume.
I suppose ideally you'd isolate one pickup and adjust it separately, and then adjust the second one to match the first one.

After some more testing I realized that boosting the levels via the trimpots does not alter the tone as I thought, it really was a case of louder = better. I found out however that having a stronger output at the bass lead to less overall noise in the signal chain with no ill effects so it's still a win I'll just leave it that way and see for myself about the battery life.

 

[kazamamaster]

For 18v operation, yes, your bass will need to be equipped with a battery box big enough for 2 9V batteries. And you'll need two 9V battery clips wired so the batteries will be wired in series. This means…
The red wire of the first battery clip wired to the hot battery connection of the preamp.
The black wire from the first battery clip wired to the red wire of the second battery clip.
The black wire of the second battery clip wired to the negative battery connection on the preamp.
Honestly, if your bass doesn't already have the battery box in it, the East preamp works just fine with a single 9V battery.

I've got one of the new player plus jazzes so it's got an 18v compartment. I should be set then I suppose.

 

[Geri O]

I've got one of the new player plus jazzes so it's got an 18v compartment. I should be set then I suppose.

Yes! Is that battery compartment a simple cutout that has room for two batteries, or is it a compartment that flips out to insert two batteries?

Edit: actually, either way, you should have a single red wire and a single black wire coming from that battery compartment area to the control cavity. You'll simply connect those wires to the corresponding wires on that control plate. You'll probably have to cut the clip off, solder the wires together, and use some heat shrink over the soldered connections.

 

[bigtone23]

I was thinking about doing the same thing. I have a Sterling Ray4HH with a Uni-Pre installed. Did you have a specific process for finding your sound, did you just dial each trim pot up the same amount, adjust individually, etc.?

What I like to do is dial the trimpots to match the 'usual' volume of my other basses, especially the basses that may go out and gig in tandem with the one I'm adjusting. This way when switching between basses between songs, there is less adjustments made to the amp/preamp/console to compensate for the varying outputs of the basses.

 

[kazamamaster]

Yes! Is that battery compartment a simple cutout that has room for two batteries, or is it a compartment that flips out to insert two batteries?

Edit: actually, either way, you should have a single red wire and a single black wire coming from that battery compartment area to the control cavity. You'll simply connect those wires to the corresponding wires on that control plate. You'll probably have to cut the clip off, solder the wires together, and use some heat shrink over the soldered connections.

The batteries flip out. Is that more of an issue you think? I've got a fairly competent tech who's doing the work for me.

 

[RollandGroove]

What I like to do is dial the trimpots to match the 'usual' volume of my other basses, especially the basses that may go out and gig in tandem with the one I'm adjusting. This way when switching between basses between songs, there is less adjustments made to the amp/preamp/console to compensate for the varying outputs of the basses.

Thanks so much for the response and idea. Very much appreciated. I may dig into it this weekend.

 

[RollandGroove]

I simply dimed both trimpots I was satisfied with the relative level of the pickups so I did not need to use the trimpots to match them in volume.
I suppose ideally you'd isolate one pickup and adjust it separately, and then adjust the second one to match the first one.

After some more testing I realized that boosting the levels via the trimpots does not alter the tone as I thought, it really was a case of louder = better. I found out however that having a stronger output at the bass lead to less overall noise in the signal chain with no ill effects so it's still a win I'll just leave it that way and see for myself about the battery life.

Ha! Fair enough. I may start there and see what happens. I really appreciate the response. I posted to the other person that replied that I may dig into it this weekend. Once I do, I will post results.