I decided shortly after buying this bass that I wanted to do some customization with the electronics. The original electronics sounded great, I just wanted a preamp that had some more options. Since I was changing the preamp I decided to go ahead and change the pickups as well. Here is my take on both products.
John East preamp
- Installation – easy, I didn’t even need to solder anything
- Quality – excellent. The knobs are the best I have seen
- Sound – this preamp sounds amazing. I wanted something that would give me a lot of flexibility and this certainly does. It has a volume, pickup blend, bass, treble, sweepable mids, mid level control, passive tone, and the ability to go completely passive which is a must for me on any bass.
Nordstrand Pickups
- Installation – easy also as they are a replacement made specifically for fender basses
- Quality – excellent,
- Sound – they sound great. They have the classic sound of a jazz bass with a little more clarity and low end.
The combination of the Nordstrand pickups with the John East preamp allows me to have a bass that can get a lot of different sounds.