The John East preamp club

[macribas]

I can unplug the pot from the board??? It appears to be soldered in and the bottom of the board is covered in some kind of epoxy or the like. I just have to reattach the pickup wires to the correct terminals or just live with it.

Hold on... let's define "backwards ".

John designed the blend knob to work the "normal" way (from the instructions):
"BLEND KNOB: Sets both the active and passive blend mix for the pickups: ACW for bridge pickup alone and CW for the neck pickup"
ACW means counter clock wise and CW means clockwise.

If this is "backwards" to you, that is, if you prefer the Sadowsky way, then you need to flip the pickups in the board input (install the neck pickup wires in the slots for the bridge pickup and vice versa).

 

[edwinhurwitz]

Hold on... let's define "backwards ".

John designed the blend knob to work the "normal" way (from the instructions):
"BLEND KNOB: Sets both the active and passive blend mix for the pickups: ACW for bridge pickup alone and CW for the neck pickup"
ACW means counter clock wise and CW means clockwise.

If this is "backwards" to you, that is, if you prefer the Sadowsky way, then you need to flip the pickups in the board input (install the neck pickup wires in the slots for the bridge pickup and vice versa).

Exactly. For some reason, it makes sense to me to have the pickup blend knob make it bright as I go clockwise. I was just in a hurry to get to a gig when I wired it up and did it backwards. For me.

 

[SharpCat]

the pickup blend knob make it bright as I go clockwise

Generally I like CW->neck, but this does make a lot of sense--matches the tone.

 

[macribas]

Exactly. For some reason, it makes sense to me to have the pickup blend knob make it bright as I go clockwise. I was just in a hurry to get to a gig when I wired it up and did it backwards. For me.

Roger Sadowsky is not alone then!

 

[Alex Masters]

OK, I took it all out, reinstalled it and rewired the pickups to it and now it seems to work fine. Weird.

Although I have to do it again, since I have the pan backwards as to where I want it.

If the pickup pan is working in the wrong direction, your connections on the balance pot module are the wrong way around. Keep the same position (top/bottom) and flip the connector 180 degrees.

 

[ELG60]

I had one put in this Japanese Geddy, along with a set of Wilde Humbuckers. It's been my primary on-stage bass other than when I need a 5 string:

 

[MrB64]

I had one put in this Japanese Geddy, along with a set of Wilde Humbuckers. It's been my primary on-stage bass other than when I need a 5 string:

View attachment 7312548

I have a J Tone in my MIM Geddy, with SD Apollos. Did you have that bass shielded? Mine has that buzz that's pretty loud if I'm not touching something metal on the bass.

 

[ELG60]

I have a J Tone in my MIM Geddy, with SD Apollos. Did you have that bass shielded? Mine has that buzz that's pretty loud if I'm not touching something metal on the bass.

It's both shielded and has a set of Wilde stacked humbuckers in it. Has no extraneous noise whatsoever.

 

[Bevan777]

Just received a UNi-Pre 4. Very exciting. My 3rd East preamp.

Loving how he’s improved the packaging.

 

[MaxSpinrun]

Very nice improvement! Enjoy.

 

[MrB64]

Mine came packaged like that, 2 J-Tones and a J-Retro.

 

[SteveCS]

Hear the East J-Retro Deluxe on this track:

 

[Xad]

Hear the East J-Retro Deluxe on this track:

Nice! What were your settings?

 

[SteveCS]

Nice! What were your settings?

I didn't play on that. What happened is that in conversation I sang the praises of John East to someone (a professional player with some very high-profile artists who also happens to be a thoroughly decent chap) who then had a Retro installed and sent me a link to this track that he played on.

 

[James Hart]

What is the turn around on emailing sales and/or tech? I'm looking to upgrade my Bee to a "MMSR 3 band 4 knob" but want to swap the volume for a stacked Vol / Passive tone with a small 2-way for going passive. I don't mind wiring it up myself, but want matching pots/knobs. It has been a bit and I've not seen a reply from both addresses.

 

[Al1885]

What is the turn around on emailing sales and/or tech? I'm looking to upgrade my Bee to a "MMSR 3 band 4 knob" but want to swap the volume for a stacked Vol / Passive tone with a small 2-way for going passive. I don't mind wiring it up myself, but want matching pots/knobs. It has been a bit and I've not seen a reply from both addresses.

You are in the US so FatBassTone and BestBassGear both carry the model. Just contact them. Shipping is fast on both.

 

[James Hart]

You are in the US so FatBassTone and BestBassGear both carry the model. Just contact them. Shipping is fast on both.

Thanks, yes I will probably order via FBT when ready, but never said "BUY". I'm inquiring about a passive option on the MMSR 3 band 4 knob with a matching stacked pot and knob in place of the stock volume.

I emailed 10 days ago to sales and 2 days ago to tech.

 

[macribas]

What is the turn around on emailing sales and/or tech? I'm looking to upgrade my Bee to a "MMSR 3 band 4 knob" but want to swap the volume for a stacked Vol / Passive tone with a small 2-way for going passive. I don't mind wiring it up myself, but want matching pots/knobs. It has been a bit and I've not seen a reply from both addresses.

It's been a year since I last heard from John. He used to pick up the phone but that hasn't happened the last couple of times I tried.

 

[John East]

What is the turn around on emailing sales and/or tech? I'm looking to upgrade my Bee to a "MMSR 3 band 4 knob" but want to swap the volume for a stacked Vol / Passive tone with a small 2-way for going passive. I don't mind wiring it up myself, but want matching pots/knobs. It has been a bit and I've not seen a reply from both addresses.

Hi James, what you're suggesting would be quite straightforward with many preamps where the volume is connected directly to the pickup and feeds either the preamp input or directly to the jack, via appropriate switching.
But with the MMSRs (and Pre EB preamps), the PU needs to retain the interactivity with the treble control by connecting directly to the preamp input without a volume pot loading or otherwise affecting the PU signal.
So the volume pot sits between the output of the MMSR bass/treble circuit and the mid circuit input. The output jack is fed directly from the mid circuit output.
Acive/passive is possible but requires the volume control input to be connected to the PU and the volume output directly to the jack. So it wouldn't be a true bypass.
I did create a sketch, quite some years ago, using a P-P switch, and would work with a toggle too. I'll look it out and pass on to you assuming i can lay my hands on it. It would be a less-than-trivial mod, but possible.

PS: I'll take another look, but I couldn't find any emails from you, BTW.

 

[James Hart]

Thanks @John East both emails to the 2 addresses on your site came from [email protected]

I have a 20 year old bass with a Delano MM FE pickup. It has 4 knobs and a switch for series/single/parallel (that I would swap for the P-P active/passive switch) That I am looking to upgrade. I have always LOVED every bass I've played with a J-Retro or U-Retro and I would like one of your pre amps in my bass.

I'm open to other suggestions for a single pickup MM voiced bass.

Thanks for replying, I assumed I was lost in the interwebz. That is why I searched out this thread and posted... I have read this one on and off over the years.