BassAgent

Being an owner of 66 J, 70 J and 71 P and currently in the middle of selling a 73 J for an acquaintance (I always forget how to spell that): totally agree. 🥰

That sounds like the feel my '71 has. It's getting some love and care by my favourite vintage Fender repair guy her in Amsterdam, can't wait to have it back again. I think, because of the pickguard, my bass might have started its life like yours.

That looks góóórgeous. Lovely grain, beautiful wear and a very nice burst, which isn't always the case with 70's Fenders.

Exactly this.

Ah bummer that is a big downer. I might have taken the sloppy binding for granted if the bass was brilliant otherwise and the shop would give me a big discount on the rest of the bass, but I can also see how you expect better from QC from both Cort and Guitar Guitar. They do look amazing...

Lovely! Enjoy that. You won't regret it.

Got a response from mr East himself:

A few months ago, I bought a USA Lakland JO5 which was fitted with a preamp. A DJ-Retro from John East, according to the seller. Hm, strange, because the control plate of a DJ is slightly curved, and on the JO it's symmetrical. The knobs however indicate a DJ-Retro (black-chrome vs chrome-chrome on the regular J-Retro). I took the preamp out because I wanted to restore the bass to passive, and wanted to fit it to my Sadowsky MetroExpress. It doesn't fit; the PCB is too far forward to squeeze in the control cavity. Point is: I can't seem to find which preamp it is. It's a symmetrical control plate (so you'd think J-Retro), the knobs are black-chrome (DJ-Retro)... Someone put some black tape which looks like kinesiology tape on it, and when I took it off it took a bit of the serial number sticker with it. It is barely readable, but what it certainly doesn't say is "East-UK [serial]", which it should say. So now I'm doubting it being something from John East at all. Can anyone ID this mystery preamp for me?

Well, to be honest, I don't think it'll fit one because it's a straight control plate😁 But anyway, I re-installed the original preamp on the Sadowsky, plugged it in and thought: why would I want another preamp? It sounds brilliant already.

Recently, I bought a Lakland USA JO5 which had a DJ Retro preamp on it. I wanted to make it passive again. So I bought a control plate from @KiOgon and just installed it. Much, much, much better.

You'd think, right? It's so weird that the knobs indicate the DJ-retro, but the control plate itself is straight. Transferring to a new control plate isn't as easy as you'd expect: you'd need to drill 2 extra holes for the switches (and drilling into chromed metal isn't my speciality).

Cool photos too! Are there flats on that bass? The fretboard looks killer as well.

That's what I thought, but the DJ control plate is slightly curved. Mine is straight. It was fitted to my USA Joe Osborn when I bought it.

I was referring to the preamp being older and nah if I'd do that there would also be extra holes in the body for the control plate. I've reinstalled the original.

I think mine is an older one, they might have changed the design. Big bummer because I was really looking forward to this preamp in this bass.

The PCB is too big for the cavity. I can't move the control plate forward enough. So now I'm reinstalling the original preamp but I can't remember how the ground wires were connected😅

Well, I took the J-Retro out of my Lakland to squeeze into my Sadowsky. It doesn't fit.

Anything Living Colour?

Because it's fun to see how my taste has developed over the years. Furthermore, there are some basses I'd like to own again someday (if anyone has seen my former trans white Lakland Skyline 55-60 hit me up) and keeping track of serial numbers helps.

I've been keeping a list on Google Drive for about 15 years now where I keep track of all basses I've owned so far. Name, year and serial number. Last week, I created a folder with pics of all those basses. I miss just one, a fretless Yamaha I had when I was 12. If anyone wants a peek, let me know🙃 Do you people do the same? How do you keep track of everything you've owned?

How do you decide which amp to take to your gig?

I heard he once got the chance to meet Chuck Norris and that Chuck Norris was impressed.

Veeeery nice! And veeeeery annoying. I just canceled my olympic white order of the Ray24 because it took too long. Now I'm doubting that decision. Enjoy your lovely new bass!