Amazing video. 10/10. You covered everything and did so in a completely comprehensive way, and with nice playing too. Thanks! Particularly loved the many tiny variations of the mid frequency sweep while the mids were boosted. Exactly what I was after.
When I got this pre, I thought it was to boomy, and I contacted John East. Apparently, the preamp bass control is boost only, despite it having a center detent. That really clarified it for me.
YUP! I've been rocking the J Retro standard on my old daily jazz for over a decade and only found that out after making this series hahaha. I have an upcoming pickup comparison featuring that bass and the j retro, and I made sure to have the bass 'all the way down' when testing so EQ is center.
So far everything about this preamp is practical and very usable. Lots of considerations went into making this preamp. Lots of features for every situation. I've never used them before but I like what I 👂. Another good review.
I have this preamp in my Carvin SB5000 with Nordstrand 70's single coils fitted by the previous owner. I haven’t put it down since I got it Great video thanks for covering this great preamp. I’m just about to fit the J East MM pre to my tiered old US stingray born in 91 you also covered.
I'm well versed in John's preamps. I love them. The passive tone is a must. I have a Uni Pre in my rear cavity Jazz. It is absolutely brilliant. John is a lovely man too :)
I have encountered and installed the preamps you are profiling and evaluating in this excellent series. Aside from the fact that all of these preamps works quite well, I must mention that the Audere preamps are physically constructed extremely well. Each component, the layout and the considerations of the ease of installation Award, in my opinion, goes to Audere. Personally, for my own use, I chose the JZ3 , 3 band unit with the output jack premounted on the plate. This is a 15 minute installation job. Try not to let the popular name brands influence your purchase. 200 to 300 bucks for a simple preamp is not needed. Not if you are basing your choice on a name brand. Especially if you are a beginner. Top grade production. In this case, rely on the name. LowEndLobster. Thanks for all of the time you've invested in this. Nice bass chops!
I added the John East Pre to my Music Man..(running at 18v) and holy cats is it good. So I was likely to go with John anyhow -- You may have just sold me on this Pre-
I have used John East preamps on a couple of bases. I live in the UK and it's great dealing with John himself. He is very happy to change designs etc to suit your bass. Great sounding and very high quality. Don't think the "flat" sound was very good (too boomy) but if your spending money on a preamp like this then the pint is not to leave it flat...
Thanks Craig! Turns out the bass control is boost only! I had no idea (and I'd been rocking a J Retro standard on my daily driver jazz for like 8 years. Parted it out before I started the channel, but I have most of the parts!). Mistake on my part, bringing the bass down towards 'center' (really all the way down) definitely helped.
I had one of the original j-retro's in the early '00s too. I sold it off when I sold the bass, and moved to a new '04 envy green EBMM Stingray. Still have that one.
Hey lobster i saw someone putting strong little magnets to hold the controlplate instead of screws which must be handy when you have the batterie in the control cavity.
Greetings from South Korea, Mr. Lobster. I watched this video with a great impression cause I'm deeply interested modifying my Sire V5 bass. I wonder if it's possible to install John East J-Retro Deluxe in my V5. I don't have the original John East knobs/control plate....All I can get is the preamp circuit(We don't have a John East dealer in Korea, so I had to find a second-handed one from a shop). The shop owner said he has a 5-hole jazz bass control plate and can send it together with the preamp. I'm sorry that I only gave you the explanation in written words. Should I have to pay extra money to make a jack pot route? Or Is the circuit enough to cram everything in the hollow inside the control plate? Thank you for all of your useful bass videos.
Great video. Have just bought an American deluxe Jazz bass 1999 model. Am seriously thinking of installing a John East Deluxe pre Amp.. The current setup on the installed pre amp has no passive mode
Shielding and the DiMarzio pups would make this preamp about perfect in my opinion. I like my jazz basses passive but this series has given me something to think about.
Actually sounded great with the pre amp off. I liked the output comparison on vs off. Pretty balanced. How’s the single coil hum when pickups aren’t 50/50? I noticed when you took your hands off the bass, there was that noise…
Hey Lobster, I know you wanted to compare preamps using side jack's but don't you think the John East J-Tone preamp would've been a more "apples to apples" comparison to the Sadowsky and (simpler) Audere preamps?
hi @LowEndLobster, first at all the videos in this channel are awesome and very useful. I recently replaced the original Sire preamp (broken) by J-Retro and sounds great. I have a question and I will appreciate your comments. I am using GEB-7 EQ and a rumble 500 with its EQ. As I am using J-Retro too, which should be the procedure to EQ correctly the bass? everything flat and starting with J-REtro, geb-7 and finally the EQ of amplifier or in the other way around? Thanks!
So far for me I liked the Lusithand preamp. A little to much bottom on the East preamp. Looking forward to next preamp swap on your Sire. The verdict is still out!
Thanks John! Turns out the bass control is boost only, totally missed that (especially considering I was rocking one of these preamps for like 8 years lmao).
Cool review and test. I really like this preamp. By the way, I’ve heard that the passive tone knob only works with both pickups full-on or with just the bridge pickup. Is that right? I was wondering if it also worked for the neck one.
Hey John, I think what you might be referring to is the fact that when this preamp is in passive mode, the blend knob no longer works and instead you have a switch that selects either both pick-ups full or the bridge pickup soloed. When I had mine installed I had it wired to the pickups backwards so that when I’m in passive mode I can select either both pick ups full or the neck pickup only. Those are the tones I prefer. Only downside is that the blend knob is reversed when blending pickups in active mode but I’m fine with that.
@@zippermouth29 yes, that's exactly it. I know it's that way on the John East Fender Marcus version preamp, and that was one of the reasons I'd stopped considering it. I really wish they'd change that aspect!
I am not, these are the stock Sire V3 pickups being used. You can absolutely use noiseless pickups with the J retro. I will be doing a vid on this soon actually!
Hm. A lot of options but not a whole lot of dynamic range, the interesting more unique edge tones that differentiate - the most extreme you can push it is to get it borderline clattery. No matter where it was put it always sounded a bit weak andor thin and just didn't drive any of the edges well in a way I wanted. That being said, I've heard other videos literally on this channel where this preamp sounded very very nice and had great tones and timbres, so I'll bring up again that even though the pickups are an okay baseline, they may not always jibe with any given preamp. Since you're matching up components from two different manufacturers, it's less likely that they've worked together at all and it's kind of a dice toss whether you'll get an optimal sound out of whichever configuration ends up being installed together. That's what the experiments are for, but also that's why most people can't just up and run them as a lot of channels do, so thanks for doing the work and publishing it. But in this application it seems like a case of the average multifunction printer...does everything you'd want but doesn't really do any one thing very great and most of what it produces is fairly pedestrian and unexciting.
Thanks for the great and thoughtful comment! I agree, pickups matter a lot and it was definitely a choice to use these single coils off of a $369 bass instead of a nicer set. These definitely didn't jive as well with the J retro as others I've tested, but I do plan on doing a J retro build with better pickups (might revive my old J but with a twist!) Great comment!
@@LowEndLobster I mean, don't manufactures usually recommend a pairing? If they push you to their own pickups maybe then it makes sense to try aftermarket drop ins like if they want you to use a MM style, every major company makes an MM compatible as well as others that make split and quad coil ones that will (attempt) to go in the same routes. But maybe work with someone like Wilkinson who is alive and also who's parts lines cover a broad spectrum of replacements at some of the lowest price points vs quality you can find, they could help you electrically match a pickup to a given preamp. that's an example, maybe Kyle Kim wants to do a series on upgrading his own basses - maybe even do what Charvel would never (for that lovely San Dimas platform): provide a platform that is complete and ready to play without electronics pre-installed at a price point that everyone agrees makes sense. Maybe sell his own basses as piece kits for people (or spawn a "paint it yourself" line) that want to learn to put them together and solder (to start with) and you can select preamp upgrades from the Sire site to come with your kit or have a clear electrical interface presented to you so that you can easily match up different preamps that you want. After the parts get QC'd, put a set of platform parts in a box with a set of pickups and a preamp, and send it out at a (retail - 95% labor cost) price point and still make the 5% float in the "DIY/Enthusiast" transition. It was kind of a consensus that if Charvel would have left out the electronics and cut 200-300 USD off the retail they wouldn't have been able to keep them in stock anywhere. That puts them right against better quality parts companies. I bet if you demonstrated them and they were set right in price, this channel would move a couple thou units alone. ;-) You're a really good ambassador for a lot of stuff...I hope you've figured out what you're going to do when your channel hits the point where you're going to have to give up your day job or limit/cap your channel. It's going to arrive sooner than later.
I don't know how I missed that! I just reviewed the manual and you're right! I didn't realize as my Uni and MMSR are boost and cut. I'll add this to the description
@@LowEndLobster i also think it is the best feature of this preamp. I had alot of active preamps, but never used a cut a the bas. So boost only is perfect and the centre detent i perfect for a little boost, after that it goes insane. I think alot of People use this bas control the wrong way.
Hot preamps are hot, fact. You can really shape the sound to your liking thanks to those mid frequencies. Very nice, very nice! 🦞 This series is gonna be even better than expected.
This series of vids is going to be great. Feel like I'm going to earn my PHD...(pre-amp hardware doctorate) from Lobster University.
Clean. Mid control pretty versatile.
I shouldn't be spend Sunday afternoon here but....
Amazing video. 10/10. You covered everything and did so in a completely comprehensive way, and with nice playing too. Thanks! Particularly loved the many tiny variations of the mid frequency sweep while the mids were boosted. Exactly what I was after.
When I got this pre, I thought it was to boomy, and I contacted John East. Apparently, the preamp bass control is boost only, despite it having a center detent. That really clarified it for me.
YUP! I've been rocking the J Retro standard on my old daily jazz for over a decade and only found that out after making this series hahaha. I have an upcoming pickup comparison featuring that bass and the j retro, and I made sure to have the bass 'all the way down' when testing so EQ is center.
So far everything about this preamp is practical and very usable. Lots of considerations went into making this preamp. Lots of features for every situation. I've never used them before but I like what I 👂. Another good review.
Out every preamp I have tried this is still my favorite
I have this preamp in my Carvin SB5000 with Nordstrand 70's single coils fitted by the previous owner.
I haven’t put it down since I got it
Great video thanks for covering this great preamp.
I’m just about to fit the J East MM pre to my tiered old US stingray born in 91 you also covered.
I'm well versed in John's preamps. I love them. The passive tone is a must. I have a Uni Pre in my rear cavity Jazz. It is absolutely brilliant. John is a lovely man too :)
I have encountered and installed the preamps you are profiling and evaluating in this excellent series. Aside from the fact that all of these preamps works quite well, I must mention that the Audere preamps are physically constructed extremely well. Each component, the layout and the considerations of the ease of installation Award, in my opinion, goes to Audere. Personally, for my own use, I chose the JZ3 , 3 band unit with the output jack premounted on the plate. This is a 15 minute installation job. Try not to let the popular name brands influence your purchase. 200 to 300 bucks for a simple preamp is not needed. Not if you are basing your choice on a name brand. Especially if you are a beginner.
Top grade production. In this case, rely on the name. LowEndLobster. Thanks for all of the time you've invested in this. Nice bass chops!
I added the John East Pre to my Music Man..(running at 18v)
and holy cats is it good. So I was likely to go with John anyhow -- You may have just sold me on this Pre-
I have this one, i use to a squier vintage modified jazz bass with dimarzio pickups. I use to this “combo” for 12 years and i really love it!
Very good sounding preamp. The tones sound very clean and natural.
I have used John East preamps on a couple of bases. I live in the UK and it's great dealing with John himself. He is very happy to change designs etc to suit your bass. Great sounding and very high quality. Don't think the "flat" sound was very good (too boomy) but if your spending money on a preamp like this then the pint is not to leave it flat...
Thanks Craig! Turns out the bass control is boost only! I had no idea (and I'd been rocking a J Retro standard on my daily driver jazz for like 8 years. Parted it out before I started the channel, but I have most of the parts!). Mistake on my part, bringing the bass down towards 'center' (really all the way down) definitely helped.
I had one of the original j-retro's in the early '00s too. I sold it off when I sold the bass, and moved to a new '04 envy green EBMM Stingray. Still have that one.
Hey lobster i saw someone putting strong little magnets to hold the controlplate instead of screws which must be handy when you have the batterie in the control cavity.
huge tone right out of the gate! I likey
Greetings from South Korea, Mr. Lobster. I watched this video with a great impression cause I'm deeply interested modifying my Sire V5 bass. I wonder if it's possible to install John East J-Retro Deluxe in my V5. I don't have the original John East knobs/control plate....All I can get is the preamp circuit(We don't have a John East dealer in Korea, so I had to find a second-handed one from a shop). The shop owner said he has a 5-hole jazz bass control plate and can send it together with the preamp. I'm sorry that I only gave you the explanation in written words. Should I have to pay extra money to make a jack pot route? Or Is the circuit enough to cram everything in the hollow inside the control plate? Thank you for all of your useful bass videos.
Great video. Have just bought an American deluxe Jazz bass 1999 model. Am seriously thinking of installing a John East Deluxe pre Amp.. The current setup on the installed pre amp has no passive mode
OMG! Lobster you deserves much more likes!!!!
Shielding and the DiMarzio pups would make this preamp about perfect in my opinion. I like my jazz basses passive but this series has given me something to think about.
Thanks Lobster 🦞 much appreciated 👍
Great job, as always!!!!!!
Thank you Juan!
this with a split-parallel-split switch would be perfect for a Sandberg style MJ bass
Indeed!
This preamp sounds better than the first one.
My favorite. I own one too. 👍
It's gonna be real good! :)
Actually sounded great with the pre amp off. I liked the output comparison on vs off. Pretty balanced. How’s the single coil hum when pickups aren’t 50/50? I noticed when you took your hands off the bass, there was that noise…
Nice clean sound
1. In passive mode how do you control volume?
2. In passive mode how do you select bridge pickup/both pickups/neck pickup?
Hey Lobster,
I know you wanted to compare preamps using side jack's but don't you think the John East J-Tone preamp would've been a more "apples to apples" comparison to the Sadowsky and (simpler) Audere preamps?
LEL, you're cutting a thick slice in the bass world. Really raising the quality of being Bottom.
...losing sleep over the Lusithand
My ASMR for the day ;)
Great demo. Thank you.
hi @LowEndLobster, first at all the videos in this channel are awesome and very useful. I recently replaced the original Sire preamp (broken) by J-Retro and sounds great.
I have a question and I will appreciate your comments. I am using GEB-7 EQ and a rumble 500 with its EQ. As I am using J-Retro too, which should be the procedure to EQ correctly the bass? everything flat and starting with J-REtro, geb-7 and finally the EQ of amplifier or in the other way around? Thanks!
Great review indeed! Anyway, there is no way to solo the neck pickup in passive mode, am I right? That’s my only concern with this preamp
Great review! Could you please let me know if this is the “ pre shaped version “ or the “ flat “ version of the preamp?
I forget. I think it was the shaped setting. This was a while ago lol
This is the first vid i'v seen that actually delivered on the promised cat. Haha
then you're not paying attention lol
Nice sounds here !
So far for me I liked the Lusithand preamp. A little to much bottom on the East preamp. Looking forward to next preamp swap on your Sire. The verdict is still out!
Thanks John! Turns out the bass control is boost only, totally missed that (especially considering I was rocking one of these preamps for like 8 years lmao).
Cool review and test. I really like this preamp. By the way, I’ve heard that the passive tone knob only works with both pickups full-on or with just the bridge pickup. Is that right? I was wondering if it also worked for the neck one.
Hey John! Thank you. The tone knob works with both pickups individually or together, in both passive and active too. Hope that helps!
Hey John, I think what you might be referring to is the fact that when this preamp is in passive mode, the blend knob no longer works and instead you have a switch that selects either both pick-ups full or the bridge pickup soloed. When I had mine installed I had it wired to the pickups backwards so that when I’m in passive mode I can select either both pick ups full or the neck pickup only. Those are the tones I prefer. Only downside is that the blend knob is reversed when blending pickups in active mode but I’m fine with that.
@@zippermouth29 yes, that's exactly it. I know it's that way on the John East Fender Marcus version preamp, and that was one of the reasons I'd stopped considering it. I really wish they'd change that aspect!
What would you suggest for active jazz pickups?
Wally STILL in the most honored position on the wall 😂 framed nicely just to your left. Your favorite bass perchance?
Hehehe, Wally is hardly my #1 favorite but definitely top 10 from my personal collection.
Do you think the John East J Retro Deluxe preamp will work in a sadowsky metro express 4 string?
Yes
Thanks for your quick response, and all your videos are great. Keep doing them, you're helping guys like me.
I find myself really torn. Because, while I really liked the “Lusithand NFP” a lot. I really like this one, as well.
Does that preamp come standard in the Marcus Miller Japan bass?
Are you using Noiseless Pickups? do you know if you can use noiseless pickups with the JRetro?
I am not, these are the stock Sire V3 pickups being used. You can absolutely use noiseless pickups with the J retro. I will be doing a vid on this soon actually!
@@LowEndLobster awesome can’t wait to watch it!!! Love your videos, very informative and fun!
Please anyone can tell what are the main differences between RETRO and UNI John East preamp?
(in terms of sound)
thanks!
Try Tone Monster Preamps.
Thanks Dustin! I've tried them in the past, not a huge fan.
Loved the sound of this preamp but found it a little complicated and tended to fiddle with the knobs too much.
Wait so the Bass control is Boost only!?! Does that mean when it's in the center it's actually at 50%??? I need to understand this
Hm. A lot of options but not a whole lot of dynamic range, the interesting more unique edge tones that differentiate - the most extreme you can push it is to get it borderline clattery.
No matter where it was put it always sounded a bit weak andor thin and just didn't drive any of the edges well in a way I wanted.
That being said, I've heard other videos literally on this channel where this preamp sounded very very nice and had great tones and timbres, so I'll bring up again that even though the pickups are an okay baseline, they may not always jibe with any given preamp. Since you're matching up components from two different manufacturers, it's less likely that they've worked together at all and it's kind of a dice toss whether you'll get an optimal sound out of whichever configuration ends up being installed together.
That's what the experiments are for, but also that's why most people can't just up and run them as a lot of channels do, so thanks for doing the work and publishing it.
But in this application it seems like a case of the average multifunction printer...does everything you'd want but doesn't really do any one thing very great and most of what it produces is fairly pedestrian and unexciting.
Thanks for the great and thoughtful comment! I agree, pickups matter a lot and it was definitely a choice to use these single coils off of a $369 bass instead of a nicer set. These definitely didn't jive as well with the J retro as others I've tested, but I do plan on doing a J retro build with better pickups (might revive my old J but with a twist!) Great comment!
@@LowEndLobster I mean, don't manufactures usually recommend a pairing? If they push you to their own pickups maybe then it makes sense to try aftermarket drop ins like if they want you to use a MM style, every major company makes an MM compatible as well as others that make split and quad coil ones that will (attempt) to go in the same routes.
But maybe work with someone like Wilkinson who is alive and also who's parts lines cover a broad spectrum of replacements at some of the lowest price points vs quality you can find, they could help you electrically match a pickup to a given preamp. that's an example, maybe Kyle Kim wants to do a series on upgrading his own basses - maybe even do what Charvel would never (for that lovely San Dimas platform): provide a platform that is complete and ready to play without electronics pre-installed at a price point that everyone agrees makes sense. Maybe sell his own basses as piece kits for people (or spawn a "paint it yourself" line) that want to learn to put them together and solder (to start with) and you can select preamp upgrades from the Sire site to come with your kit or have a clear electrical interface presented to you so that you can easily match up different preamps that you want.
After the parts get QC'd, put a set of platform parts in a box with a set of pickups and a preamp, and send it out at a (retail - 95% labor cost) price point and still make the 5% float in the "DIY/Enthusiast" transition.
It was kind of a consensus that if Charvel would have left out the electronics and cut 200-300 USD off the retail they wouldn't have been able to keep them in stock anywhere. That puts them right against better quality parts companies.
I bet if you demonstrated them and they were set right in price, this channel would move a couple thou units alone. ;-)
You're a really good ambassador for a lot of stuff...I hope you've figured out what you're going to do when your channel hits the point where you're going to have to give up your day job or limit/cap your channel. It's going to arrive sooner than later.
@UCoAtznRw3yFbGNEkXfD4C8A correct. Sire pickups are pretty hot, and increasing the internal gain caused some clipping.
Would you recommend this preamp with Delano jazz FE2 pups??
Hmmm how would this make my 62 reissue Jazz sound
I'm hearing a lot of good things about the "Jack Cavady" solid body "Upgrader" bass 😂
The Jack Cavity signature ;P
The preamp is not that hot, the bass control is a boost only! So bass has to go to the 0 point then it sounds not that hot.
I don't know how I missed that! I just reviewed the manual and you're right! I didn't realize as my Uni and MMSR are boost and cut. I'll add this to the description
And thank you btw!
@@LowEndLobster i also think it is the best feature of this preamp. I had alot of active preamps, but never used a cut a the bas. So boost only is perfect and the centre detent i perfect for a little boost, after that it goes insane.
I think alot of People use this bas control the wrong way.
@@thijsroeterink I think you're right! I had a J retro in my daily driver jazz for almost a decade and had no clue. Thank you again!
@@LowEndLobster thx keep up the great vids! Enjoy them alot!
What is your favorite bass preamp?
Yesterdays preamp was better to me...
Hot preamps are hot, fact. You can really shape the sound to your liking thanks to those mid frequencies.
Very nice, very nice! 🦞
This series is gonna be even better than expected.