Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
The John East preamp club
- Thread starter datsaxguy
- Start date
Too late… I grabbed the reverb listed one.
Believe me… it needs it. The pre is the weakest part of the equation.
I don't think you will regret it I have put the East pres in 3 of mine currently and I plan to upgrade the rest eventually They are the best I've tried by far
Greetings, all! I'm torn between getting a J Retro and a J Tone. I do love passive circuits in my P basses and understand the J Tone maintains a "clean" passive circuit, but have heard a MILLION great things about the J Retro!
But the J Tone has a tone knob (I love tone knobs), but only the 4 knob J Retro does (requiring moving the jack).
All opinions welcome!
But the J Tone has a tone knob (I love tone knobs), but only the 4 knob J Retro does (requiring moving the jack).
All opinions welcome!
Last edited:
I installed a J Retro in my bass nearly 20 years ago (with a Bart 9J1 set) and am more than happy with it! However, I'm not a big tone control user, the treble (or mid control, if tuned high enough) provides all I need for a little roll off here and there if I'm balancing the tone between picks and fingers. If it were offered back then, I would have gotten the 'flat response' J Retro. The baked in curve is nice, but I do like a bit more mids now.
I would think you might prefer the J Tone, since you like tone knobs. This will sound the most like a passive J with the benefit of the active B & T controls. This also keeps you from doing the jack relocation.
The J Retro Deluxe looks like it would work nicely with a set of Nordstrand Big Singles. I especially like the 1k cut/3k boost idea but this description I found doesn't answer the question: "Does the passive tone control work in both active and passive modes?"
John East - J Retro Deluxe - Best Bass Gear
John East - J Retro Deluxe - Best Bass Gear
I have an East J Retro Deluxe in my Lull M5V Jazz-style bass. And I just happened to be changing strings on this bass today and I was glancing through TB and found the question. I actually didn't know the answer to this question as I've never tried the preamp in passive mode.
So I just did try the passive mode. And I can verify, yes, the passive tone control does work in passive mode.
Got the UNI-5 pre, used, off reverb with the active/passive toggle option included. Fit perfectly in this bass. I did line the inside of the control cavity with copper foil, and created a central ground point as directed in the East installation instructions. Had to buy knobs though. I installed Sadowsky style knobs, as I like an indicator on my controls. Also had to cut the upper pot stems on the dual pots to accommodate the stacked knob set. Looks OEM now. I was fortunate that I got this bass as a demo model. The seller had reduced the price by almost $500 off regular retail. Kicker is, even at the $1200 (before tax) price, the stock PUPs and Pre are very lackluster. This bass REQUIRED an electronics upgrade to really be usable, IMHO. I even swapped the original Bart MK1's back into the bass to see if they were better with the East Pre. But no. All the definition the LeCompte triple threats provided was gone. So, I put em right back in. The bass itself, is really quite good. This is my first single cut instrument and it is absolutely a different animal. The sustain is excellent, and neck rigidity is very prominent. The fingerboard is very flat, and the neck is fairly flat too. Especially at the upper frets. With the single cut the neck has been flattened as it gets into the body area, making upper reg playing very easy. ( Although, nobody's making any money up there)
I'm going to work with the frequency wheels to find the best registers for my taste, but this is one of the the best pre's I've ever come across, and has turned this bass into a keeper.
Okay, I just got a new (to me) bass with a Uni-4 preamp in it. I just realized this is actually my 2nd bass with an East Uni. Love the tone, wish East's documentation was clearer. There is so much flexibility and so many options built into these things, and the user's manual doesn't go into much detail other than "this exists". So here are my questions: How does the Bass frequency window actually operate? For example, if I roll the high bass control and the low bass control thumbwheels all the way counter clockwise, have I just set the "window" to its widest possible setting? and if so, dialing each thumbwheel clockwise will gradually "tighten up" that window?
Also, my preamp has a substantial volume boost between the active mode set completely flat and passive mode. I'm assuming there's a way to adjust the active setting's outputs that I don't have a huge drop off when I engage passive mode? If so, I can't figure out where it is, and the user's manual doesn't say anything about it.
Hope I've explained all of that clearly. Thanks in advance for any assistance!
Also, my preamp has a substantial volume boost between the active mode set completely flat and passive mode. I'm assuming there's a way to adjust the active setting's outputs that I don't have a huge drop off when I engage passive mode? If so, I can't figure out where it is, and the user's manual doesn't say anything about it.
Hope I've explained all of that clearly. Thanks in advance for any assistance!
You should find 2 blue blocks with screws on them to adjust the active mode gain for each pickup, CCW for unity (the "pickup gain trims" in the manual, located on the blend/volume PCB)
That's what I thought based on the manual, but wanted to be sure before I started digging around. Looks like the previous owner thought that you set pickup blend there instead of, you know, raising and lowering the actual pickups. Bridge pickup was boosted about 80% and the neck was boosted about 25%. So there was not only a significant difference between active and passive, but also between pickups once I rolled them back to unity gain.
Any thoughts on the "bass window"?
I have the 5 knob unipre. I'm not sure, but I think the low wheel is counter clockwise and the high window is clockwise. The extremes of both directions would give you the widest range.
About the wheels there's so much that is still unclear to me as well, but I have posted some initial ideas on where some frequencies might be on the spectrum so maybe that would be of any help. But yeah you are pretty much right about your thoughts. About the volume difference you might want to turn the 2 "wheels" on the blue boxes all the way to the left. That basically means 0 extra gain on your pickups.
Thought I should post a picture of the mostly finished product. I still want to get a custom pickguard and some fretwork done
hi, was looking through the JEast website and trying to understand both the Jtone and JRetro
not really good with this but i notice that JTone has a cut in low frequency while JRetro and an additional Mids knob
not sure which one is more important as i'm looking for something tht can help me cut through the mix
not really good with this but i notice that JTone has a cut in low frequency while JRetro and an additional Mids knob
not sure which one is more important as i'm looking for something tht can help me cut through the mix
