bubinga5 Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 (edited) Haven't seen this preamp before, and not sure when he introduced it probably years and I just haven't seen it. Does anyone have one of these.? Is it just a less comprehensive J Retro.? https://www.east-uk.com/index.php/bass/j-retro/j-tone101.html Edited March 30, 2019 by bubinga5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Looks impressive - passive and active option. I don't need one currently thankfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 I put a J Retro in my J bass and went back to passive after a few months. The East was impressive and made the instrument more versatile, but I just couldn't get that classic Jazz bass tone from it. It was close, but not quite there. This may be different, of course. You pays yer money and takes yer choice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiliwailer Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 I had one and loved it for minor EQ tweaks, to me it sounded natural and my basses tone wasn’t overall coloured, if coloured at all. The internal trims were super helpful to matching the EQ settings to what I felt the bass needed IMO. But I had to move it on because it wouldn’t work with my (then) new set of Fralin split coils, it kept overloading the preamp and clipping. I sent to back to John to get it checked out, but he found no fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkle Posted January 17, 2021 Share Posted January 17, 2021 (edited) I love the J Tone. The J Retro I had had just a bit too much colour baked in when it was set flat, and I could never quite get that sound out of it (great though it was). I also never really used the mid controls. I swapped in a J Tone into my Jazz instead. Perfect for me. Found the EQ points I liked on the bass and treble trim pots quickly, and that was that. I control mids using pickup selection and hand placement, and having both treble control and passive tone control is really cool. The bass control is powerful and sensitive. It’s clean and pristine sounding, and the bass sounds very natural without the baked in pre-shape. Sounds great with single coils. I’m a huge fan of John’s work, and he is a pleasure to deal with. Edited January 26, 2021 by funkle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.