John East J Preamp - who is using one?

[Freddie75]

Hi guys,

So here's the story;

I have a 2007 USA Fender Jazz Deluxe 4 string and am looking to upgrade the preamp.
I like the weight and size of this bass and can dial in a great sound for most part, however, I sometimes find it to be a bit brittle and harsh when slapping (for the pulls) and when I dig in - finger style.

A couple of bass-chatters have recommended this particular pre - and I've had a look online at it as well as listened to various sound clips although its always hard to tell until you are in a live situation.

I really like that you can switch to passive mode and that it apparently fits straight into bass with no mods required.

Has anybody on else here changed the stock pre of a fender deluxe j to one of these and if so what were the results? It costs £200 so want to make sure its gonna be worth it! Is the passive mode any good?

Also, I have no electrical experience but am good at reading and following instructions so is this something I could do myself relatively easy or should I just go pay somebody who knows what they are doing?

Many thanks in advance!

Freddie

[Paul S]

I've fitted a couple of these to various Jazz basses I've had and, as far as I am concerned, they are absolutely brilliant. They open up the tone so well, add a depth and character to anything you dial in. Passive is fine, too, although with the active side on I found I didn't ever use it passive.

I fitted them myself each time and, speaking as a technically inept and very impatient type of chap, found it fiddly. There isn't a whole lot of spare room under that control plate and you have to be extremely careful about positioning the battery to it doesn't put pressure on any of the wires - I actually broke a solder joint in a ham-fisted attempt at forcing the whole battery/wire bundle in. I also seem to have grounding issues whenever I fit a J East preamp - be it P Retro, J Retro or U Retro (currently the only one I have) and it always seemed to take a while to track don the source of the hum. Usually grounding the pots.

[Treb]

I installed one (a DJ Retro) this week into my Lakland DJ. Installation isn't too diffucult. The pickups can be connected using screw terminals. The ground wires need to be soldered though. Screw terminals aside, it is a good idea to tin the wires from the pickups before screwing them in. So being able to solder propely is a must imo, having a wirestripper, solder and iron too.

Fitting it all in the cavity is fiddly, you will manage with a bit of patience though. Note that you may have to do some minor woodwork. Mine would not fit as is. The active/passive switch needed some room to fit. I removed a bit of the side wall of the cavity to make it fit.

Soundwise a big step forward from passive. The mid sweep is great to have. The bright switch is indeed bright, too much for me, ymmv. Being able to switch to passive is a great addition should you encounter the dreaded flat battery. I'm happy with mine. Good luck!

[BigRedX]

I used to have one fitted to a Squire VMF Jazz. It's OK I supposed but it didn't really do anything that I couldn't already do with the tone controls on my BassPod. Also fitting it required routing out another couple of mm from the depth of the control cavity and then having to re-shield everything.

IMO too much hassle for no appreciable gain, but then I'd have probably said the same about any of the similar pre-amps available for the J-Bass. I personally can't see the point of fitting something in your bass that doesn't really do anything more than you should already be able to do elsewhere in your signal chain.

[hubrad]

I had one briefly, a while back.
An amazing piece of kit, but with all those knobs and switches my poor brain just couldn't compute in real time so I sold it on and went for a simple bass/treble job.
If the reason you're considering this move is harshness in a Fender J (albeit a US DLX), this is the third time in a few days I've come across this comment. I'd also consider other aspects such as strings.
Tone-wise, so as to suss out whether a change of pre would actually have the desired effect, why not get hold of a parametric eq? If you can reshape your tone suitably then at least you know just which frequency(-ies) your pre needs to work on.

[bubinga5]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1430730449' post='2763991']
I used to have one fitted to a Squire VMF Jazz. It's OK I supposed but it didn't really do anything that I couldn't already do with the tone controls on my BassPod. Also fitting it required routing out another couple of mm from the depth of the control cavity and then having to re-shield everything.

IMO too much hassle for no appreciable gain, but then I'd have probably said the same about any of the similar pre-amps available for the J-Bass. I personally can't see the point of fitting something in your bass that doesn't really do anything more than you should already be able to do elsewhere in your signal chain.
[/quote]i tend to agree with BRX. an external preamp is a better, cleaner, less hassle option. i have fitted 3 J retros, and i had battery fitting issues, grounding issues, lots of buzzing. they are fantastic preamps, but after a while the hassles involved over take the pro's. keep your instrument original, maybe get a Sadowsky, or an Aguilar external preamp and save yourself the bother.or a Bass Pod.

Edited May 4, 2015 by bubinga5

[Freddie75]

Thanks for your input guys - I appreciate it.

I may well look at an external preamp instead.

Regards
Freddie

[danny-79]

Just upgraded the pre-amp in my Stingray For A John East, and sorry that I did not do it sooner, I cant recommend these pre amps enough

[paul_5]

I've fitted 2 of the J Retros and never had any problems - even the older models with solder tabs instead of screw terminals were a doddle to install. I'd recommend an East to anybody playing a Jazz bass.

[danny-79]

Recently brought a second John East for my other Stingray, the plan was to leave one standard but any play that bass was getting was purely out of guilt for no playing it, so have one in each now

[Bobthedog]

I have one in my USA Jazz Deluxe and initially struggled with getting the sound i wanted out of it. I now ahve it sorted and from an active angle, am extremely happy, I do not use the passive setting as the volume fall away is quite significant. Would I do it again? Yes but not if it was my only guitar.


PS if you are in Swindon it is not too far to John's house. Go and pick it up from him. I did and he offered to fit it for me there and then.

Edited June 29, 2015 by Bobthedog

[JTUK]

I have 2 retro deluxes and I find them very good.
I don't actually want them to change the sound too much so I try and just pump up
the passive sound a tad.
I like to run the basses active and passive so I'm not looking for extreme tone shaping
which you could do with +- 12db on tap.

I basically use them to tweak onboard as I've down the core sound on the amp
so I can keep twiddling to a minimum

as with all these thing you could get quite a few totally unusable sounds out of them...and
this applies to amps as well, of course, so I try and keep the 'activeness' as transparent or low key
as I can...so they are used as just a livener, imo.

[mrtcat]

I use a j retro and a stingray pre. Both are great and I found the j retro particularly useful as it gives me really usable mid control.
John is a really nice guy and is only about 40mins away from you. I'm sure he'd happily fit it for you.

[landwomble]

Had a J Retro in my jazz for about 15 years. They're great and fairly easy to fit. Space is a bit tight sometimes but it's pretty straightforward. They sound great and are simple to use.
Passive mode is there too for when your need it.
I find batteries last me, oooh, say, 6 years ;-)

[PatrickJ]

Reviving this old thread as I'm looking to swap the pre-amp on my Mayones J Bass.

The stock mayo one is quite hissy and causes a slight and intermittent pop when adjusting the bass control, not to mention a noticable volume change when switching between active and passive modes 

I've heard good things about the East pre-amps but since this thread is almost 4 years old I figured I'd check to see if the new offerings from Aguilar, Markbass etc have moved things on at all.

The East looks relatively easy to install, given you can buy a preloaded plate which is a big plus.

The other pre I was looking at as a Glockenklang - I think these are stock on some Jabba's but not heard much about them so thoughts welcome .

[Drax]

On 07/02/2019 at 22:11, PJ-Bassist said:

Reviving this old thread as I'm looking to swap the pre-amp on my Mayones J Bass.

The stock mayo one is quite hissy and causes a slight and intermittent pop when adjusting the bass control, not to mention a noticable volume change when switching between active and passive modes 

I've heard good things about the East pre-amps but since this thread is almost 4 years old I figured I'd check to see if the new offerings from Aguilar, Markbass etc have moved things on at all.

The East looks relatively easy to install, given you can buy a preloaded plate which is a big plus.

The other pre I was looking at as a Glockenklang - I think these are stock on some Jabba's but not heard much about them so thoughts welcome .

Assume there's always a volume dip between active / passive? And maybe be your pops / hiss get sorted with some TLC.. ?

Don't know huge amount about alternatives but always worked on basis J East was the best onboard pre. 

Interesting Phil Mann demo showing the range and how he uses it live.. 

 

 

 

[jonnybass]

My fender custom classic had the same pre amp as the fender deluxe basses, had it changed for a John east (just bass and treble, passive/active with passive tone). The sound is incredible both in active and passive mode. 

[chris_b]

I know someone using an East Uni-Pre with Barts hum-cancelling Jazz pickups and his sound is amazing at all frequencies. Fat, full, warm, punchy, clean. . .   think of a positive word to describe sound and it's there.

[Rikki_Sixx]

On 04/05/2015 at 10:07, BigRedX said:

I used to have one fitted to a Squire VMF Jazz. It's OK I supposed but it didn't really do anything that I couldn't already do with the tone controls on my BassPod. Also fitting it required routing out another couple of mm from the depth of the control cavity and then having to re-shield everything.

I'm glad I saw this, I'd been considering one for a while and I have a VM Jazz myself. Considering the extra routing and the cost, I think I'll definitely go for something on the pedalboard instead!