GreeneKing Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 (edited) My Spector NS5 had been modded with a John East U-Retro. It came with an 18V HazLab cut and boost treble/bass circuit and the addition of sweepable mids had significantly enhanced what was already an awesome bass. The two switches are tucked away in the control cavity and the unit is used in active only. My backup white Euro 5 LX has the 9V HazLab unit that is so highly thought of across the pond. I'm missing the onboard mids and was left with the decision of how to progress with upgrading it. Thanks to John he's sourced a pot to combine the separate volume and blend on the 5 Knob U-Retro Deluxe to accommodate the Euro's 4 holes. So that will be vol/blend, treble cut and boost/bass boost (with bright pull), sweepable mid frequency/mid cut and boost, passive tone (with pull for passive) and no switches. How lucky we are to have someone like John who offers such excellent products that he's prepared to modify for his customers. I'll do some sort of install/review thread. Peter Edited November 10, 2009 by GreeneKing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niceguyhomer Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Sounds good Pedro - you're right about John, it's great to have him around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 [quote name='GreeneKing' post='650896' date='Nov 10 2009, 06:07 PM']So that will be vol/blend, treble cut and boost/bass boost (with bright pull), sweepable mid frequency/mid cut and boost, passive tone (with pull for passive) and no switches.[/quote] Peter, will the push/pull "de-active" the pickups too? I tried running my EMGs in the NS5 with the U-Retro off and it sounded really thin and horrible. John East is fab - he did a modded U-Retro for my Spector Euro 5 and I'm absolutely over the moon with it. If anyone is thinking of putting a U-Retro in a 4-Knob Spector, you can do it with a standard 3-stack U-Retro. You just tuck the toggle switches away in the cavity and use a spare pot with an extra East knob (ordered seperately) in the spare hole; it means you have a functionless redundant knob (yes, I know there's miles of material in that statement ) but it will look good and you can do the upgrade to your Spector using a second hand U-Retro (£100 ish). I've done this exact thing to my Euro 4 and its great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreeneKing Posted November 11, 2009 Author Share Posted November 11, 2009 [quote name='Sean' post='651288' date='Nov 11 2009, 08:07 AM']Peter, will the push/pull "de-active" the pickups too? I tried running my EMGs in the NS5 with the U-Retro off and it sounded really thin and horrible.[/quote] No Sean the knob will only deactivate the pre-amp. The pickups will remain active. I reason that if you switch to passive to cope with the onset of a low battery then the pickups will drain a lot less and be less effected by a reduced voltage. I'm wondering if I can squeeze 2 x 9v batteries in the cavity, I suspect not and maybe a battery compartment will come along further down the line? Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 [quote name='GreeneKing' post='651290' date='Nov 11 2009, 08:13 AM']I reason that if you switch to passive to cope with the onset of a low battery then the pickups will drain a lot less and be less effected by a reduced voltage.[/quote] Cunning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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