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The John East preamp club

#1,161
MaxSpinrun said:
I have a Uni Pre 5 knob installed in my Lakland 44-02 with Bart pups. Love it. I'm trying to get some direction on how to set the jumper for pre shape.
Technical Details
• VOLUME / BLEND CIRCUITS
5 Knob Type
3 & 4 Knob Type
VOLUME
PLUG-IN TONE CAPS
BLEND
PLUG-IN TONE CAPS
BLEND GAIN TRIMS
POWER & OUTPUT
VOLUME
PICKUP GAIN TRIMS
POWER & OUTPUT
PICKUP
PICKUP INPUTS
PICKUP INPUTS
• EQ CIRCUIT
BASS
TREBLE (Pull for BRIGHT)
BASS - BOOST/CUT or BOOST ONLY
SET TREBLE CONTROL FREQ
SET BASS CONTROL UPPER FREQ
SET BASS CONTROL LOWER FREQ
SET FOR FLAT RESPONSE or PRE-SHAPER
• BASIC RESPONSE, GAIN & EQ SPEC.
• FLAT RESPONSE: Neutral response setting.
• PRE-SHAPE: Gentle lift at the lower and higher frequencies, peaking +4dBs at 40Hz & 10kHz.
• PICKUP GAIN: Internal Trimmers 0-12dBs for each pickup in Active Mode.
• BASS CONTROL: +/- 18dBs Cut/Boost with internally adjustable 'bass window'.
• BASS WINDOW: Lower Frequency Filter 20-80Hz & Higher Frequency Filter 40–200Hz.
• MID CONTROL: +/- 14dBs Cut/Boost with Frequency Sweep 100Hz – 2.5kHz.
• TREBLE CONTROL: +/- 18dBs with internally Shelf Frequency 1kHz – 7.5kHz, Pull for Bright peaking at 10kHz.
Click to expand...
I can't advise you on the PCB jumper's/trimpot settings etc.. However, I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on how the UNI-PRE works with your Lakland 44-02!!
I have a Skyline 55-02 Deluxe & an old (Bartolini) 44-94 both I've long considered for J-East pre..
*I put a J-Retro deluxe in a MIM active Jazz Bass & it completely changed everything about what I thought was possible for an on-board preamp!! I'd gotten incredible sounds from my old Eden Navigator Pre; (6-bands?) Fully Parametric, Tube preamp/eq w/compressor/limiter about 30 knobs & switches & roughly 4x the size & weight of my highest powered gigging bass head!!
But John East's circuits are genius, And he actually designed a circuit which produced similar results to that Eden Pre, Which fit in my J-bass! I know it's amazing for Jazz Basses but how is it with the Lakland?? I'm assuming you've got the current production pickups & electronics.. Id appreciate any thoughts & impressions you have!! Any negatives??
 
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#1,162
MrB64 said:
Re: J-Bass preamps, have any of you found you like the J-Tone better than the J-Retro?
Click to expand...
Absolutely nothing beats my J-Retro Deluxe not even J. Easts other circuit designs! Mine is quite old, purchased around 2005 & was the very first of the production units especially in the US.. But MAN did he nail it on his first shot!! It's funny I didn't even learn it was Bass boost only until I'd owned it probably 12yrs!! But I love it & still use it every single day!! ;)
 
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#1,164
JfetPre775 said:
I can't advise you on the PCB jumper's/trimpot settings etc.. However, I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on how the UNI-PRE works with your Lakland 44-02!!
I have a Skyline 55-02 Deluxe & an old (Bartolini) 44-94 both I've long considered for J-East pre..
*I put a J-Retro deluxe in a MIM active Jazz Bass & it completely changed everything about what I thought was possible for an on-board preamp!! I'd gotten incredible sounds from my old Eden Navigator Pre; (6-bands?) Fully Parametric, Tube preamp/eq w/compressor/limiter about 30 knobs & switches & roughly 4x the size & weight of my highest powered gigging bass head!!
But John East's circuits are genius, And he actually designed a circuit which produced similar results to that Eden Pre, Which fit in my J-bass! I know it's amazing for Jazz Basses but how is it with the Lakland?? I'm assuming you've got the current production pickups & electronics.. Id appreciate any thoughts & impressions you have!! Any negatives??
Click to expand...
The UniPre 5 is combined with BART Pups. The stock LH3 pre was not giving me what I wanted. @ptidwell does an outstanding job of describing how to adjust the internal settings for the pre. Post # 863, once applied, this pre gives me the flexibility I was looking for. The sweepable mids really help, pull bright switch, icing on top. Active passive very useful. The J bass tone I can get is wide ranging from mellow passive, to active mode giving me great Marcus tone!
 
#1,165
datsaxguy said:
Well, you might think this is silly but I think these preamps are so good they deserve to have a club.

I think there should be a J Retro in every jazz bass and a U retro in everything else. (I'm kidding,.........well, maybe not)

If you love your John East pre chime in. No numbers. Just put a pic of your bass w/ the pre and tell us about your John East preamp pup set up.
Click to expand...
I have a j-retro in a '97 MiM J fretless. It's an early one that has the faint 'hsssss' that's there if you know it's there.
I also have a U-Retro in a Michael Dolan custom
They are so fantastic .
I'm in
 
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#1,166
Question for the tech literate in the group. I've emailed East's tech dept, and haven't heard anything.

I put the J-Retro Deluxe in my Fender Ultra jazz, currently with the battery under the plate. The bass does, however, have a double battery box that I'd like to use both for the extra headroom and the ease of changing batteries. This means I'll need to cut the battery wires from the clip and connect them to the wires on the box. However, there are 4 wires from the box, 2 red and two black. What is the correct way to join these to the east preamp?

Thanks
 
#1,167
You want your batteries in series to get 18V out of them.
First red wire goes to preamp, corresponding black wire is connected to second red wire, and second black wire goes to preamp. Feel free to ask if more help is needed 👍🏼

CV0QY.png
 
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#1,168
MaxSpinrun said:
The UniPre 5 is combined with BART Pups. The stock LH3 pre was not giving me what I wanted. @ptidwell does an outstanding job of describing how to adjust the internal settings for the pre. Post # 863, once applied, this pre gives me the flexibility I was looking for. The sweepable mids really help, pull bright switch, icing on top. Active passive very useful. The J bass tone I can get is wide ranging from mellow passive, to active mode giving me great Marcus tone!
Click to expand...
Yes, on my custom, you can soften it down to where it makes rounds sound like flats or you can make your bass growl like a tiger. Plus you have the bypass switch incase your battery quits and throw it into a passive mode.
 
#1,170
DonaldR said:
I'm interested as well to install in my Squier VM Jazz 5. I want to retain the passive side and keep it simple.
Click to expand...
There's so many options that allow you to zero in on the tone you wish. Remind you that it is a strong preamp, and though you tune it down you won't fully retain that passive tone. But it'll work for you. It'll by far help that weak B string a lot. I think you'll like it. IMO it's the best onboard pre on the market
 
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#1,171
MrB64 said:
Re: J-Bass preamps, have any of you found you like the J-Tone better than the J-Retro?
Click to expand...
"Better" is subjective. Both sound great.

The J-Retro has more possibilities, especially with the sweepable mids. But it is more complicated to use. You lose that "passive" character. Even though you can turn off the pre, you lose the blend capability. It's either both pickups or just bridge. In fact it's kind of cumbersome to switch from passive to active and back. There are two switches: one to turn the pre on/off and the other to change the blend mode. When you're in active mode, you're usually in the blend position. If you just turn off the pre, you're going to be in bridge only position, so you need to flick the blend switch as well to have both pickups on in passive mode. For that reason I hardly ever use the passive mode. Another quirky thing is that the Bass pot, although it has a center detent, is boost only. So zero is not in the center, is all the way off (counter clockwise).

The J-Tone is easier to get used to. Very similar to passive with the option of tweaking bass and treble, which are both cut and boost. I'm a blend type of guy, but you can order it in the vol-vol configuration. There is some customization, you can dial the rotary "voicing" controls for bass and treble (which I suspect is a change in the center frequency) and change capacitors for different feels of the passive tone. I haven't played with those settings much because it requires getting under the plate.
 
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#1,172
XLunacy said:
You want your batteries in series to get 18V out of them.
First red wire goes to preamp, corresponding black wire is connected to second red wire, and second black wire goes to preamp. Feel free to ask if more help is needed 👍🏼

View attachment 7262254
Click to expand...


I appreciate you, thanks so much!
 
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#1,180
Hi team,
New to the channel after buying a JPBasses Plume having a custom 2 band John East preamp.

Frederic ROCH

Post in thread 'Official JPBASSES Club'

Hi all,
Pretty new to this forum but more importantly new to the JPBasses family !

Recently acquired this superb Plume 5 Koa from 2004.

Fantastic instrument.

IMG_80461.jpg
IMG_80471 (1).jpg
IMG_80651.jpg
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IMG_80491.jpg
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This bass is 21 years old now and the treble control pot died on me.
This is a single pot (not dual concentric), the bass control having also its own pot.
From what I understood , this treble control should be Cut/Boost with a central detent, but it is freely rotating with no detent or any stop, meaning it goes over 360° with no effect at all.
I'd like to replace this pot to bring my bass to its original glory, but there is no indication of any type or value on the pot casing.
I tried to contact East for the last 2 or 3 weeks from the link on their website, with no luck yet (may be are they on vacation...).
Does anyone here knows something about this kind of pot, or can help me contacting John East ?

Thanks in advance.

Fred.
 
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