J Retro in a Sire V7

[Lee-Man]

Hey has any one done the above mod? I could do with some guidence in regard to the wiring from the jack . 

[prowla]

I've not, but I have a J-Retro in this Jazz and it is really good.

[Lee-Man]

 

1 hour ago, prowla said:

I've not, but I have a J-Retro in this Jazz and it is really good.

Agreed, they are awesome. 

Got it sorted, was a dry joint on the sire jack. 

Edited September 18, 2020 by Lee-Man

[BassApprentice]

Since you seem to be tinkering with your Sire - are the pickups epoxied in or can you remove the covers? Formulating a plan if I get one. 

[Lee-Man]

43 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

Since you seem to be tinkering with your Sire - are the pickups epoxied in or can you remove the covers? Formulating a plan if I get one. 

Hey, not sure as I've not removed them. It looks like the covers are removable. 

Edited September 30, 2020 by Lee-Man

[Dan Dare]

J Retro is well made and versatile. However, I tried one in my J bass and removed it in the end. Although it gave a wider tonal palette, I felt it robbed the instrument of something. I couldn't get that classic J sound - the one where you run one pickup wide open and back the other off a tad - using it.

[Phil Starr]

On 01/10/2020 at 09:07, Dan Dare said:

J Retro is well made and versatile. However, I tried one in my J bass and removed it in the end. Although it gave a wider tonal palette, I felt it robbed the instrument of something. I couldn't get that classic J sound - the one where you run one pickup wide open and back the other off a tad - using it.

That's interesting, I've found I'm leaving my J behind most of the time as I'm getting frustrated getting a good live sound with the J-Retro, which sounds great at home.

Any thoughts as to why?

[Beedster]

8 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

That's interesting, I've found I'm leaving my J behind most of the time as I'm getting frustrated getting a good live sound with the J-Retro, which sounds great at home.

Any thoughts as to why?

i had that for a long time Phil, the problem for me was that I can use the J-Retro make the bass sound so bloody perfect and hifi in the living room - in my case I was going for tones that allowed lines by people like Flea to sound good soloed, zingy top and thumpy bottom - that I kinda fell in love with certain settings that simply didn't work in the band. I needed far more mids in the mix than I was using, and my lines were disappearing. A useful exercise for me was listening to some of the recorded bass parts I was playing soloed, and realising for example that a lot of the bottom end I thought I was hearing on the bass part was kick drum, and a lot of the zingy top was coming from places other than the bass - cymbals and guitar I guess. In short the J-Retro was allowing me to get close to a recorded bass tone that didn't exist (does that make sense) 

There is certainly no problem at all with the J-Retro, it makes it far easier to get good live sound than either a passive circuit or most active circuits (the mid sweep is very powerful), but it also seduces you with lovely solo tones that do not land live.  

[Dan Dare]

On 04/10/2020 at 15:28, Phil Starr said:

That's interesting, I've found I'm leaving my J behind most of the time as I'm getting frustrated getting a good live sound with the J-Retro, which sounds great at home.

Any thoughts as to why?

I think Beedster has it right. The classic J bass sound I refer to is probably not hi-fi, especially with the wiring routing one pickup via the other's pot  However, it just sounds so right, to my ears anyway. The J Retro turns the instrument into more of a competent Jack of All Trades, at the expense of that one sound that we love a J bass for.

Edited October 5, 2020 by Dan Dare