Features: 8
There are two flavours of J3ZD available
1) Volume, Z-Mode switch, Mid/Balance stack, Treble/Bass stack, LED meter, passive style tone or 2) Volume, Z-Mode switch, Volume, Treble/Bass stack, LED meter, passive style tone
I opted for the 3 band EQ model with blend. The 2 x vol, 2 band EQ model is shown below.
Naturally, as this preamp is designed to fit onto the control plate of a Jazz style bass, you are limited to 4 pots and a couple of switches.
John East manages to cram 3 concentric pots onto the J-Retro deluxe, which gives you a mid frequency control on the third pot. However, the Audere has the three way Z-mode impedance control, which gives you extra options. Furthermore, having the pickup blend on the outer ring of the 2nd pot is a little fiddly.
Sound: 9
At home I never use an amp - just my Korg Pandora, a pair of Beyer Dynamic DT150s and a short Monster bass cable. I've used the same setting on the Pandora for years, so plugging my bass in post upgrade was a shock. The flat sound of the preamp is lovely and balanced. The 3 band EQ is subtle. I'm used to the somewhat extreme EQ on the Fender preamp, which is kind of all or nothing - speaker flapping bass, horn frying treble and a very powerful mid that really affects the output level on the bass.
On the Audere, the 3 bands have a much more pronounced effect when boosted in isolation. This makes the EQ much more useable. If I'm honest, I just used the stock preamp on the Fender to beef up the sound because I felt the flat sound was a tad weedy.
Boosting the bass yields a lovely thick tone - not at all boomy, but really meaty and dark Boosting the treble gives you that Marcus Miller slap tone- bright and cutting but not brittle or painful Boosting the mids produces you a nice bark- much like a qualty passive bass, but does't push the output of the bass in the way that the stock preamp did, so you can accentuate that lovely jazz bass bridge pickup honk without suddenly drowning out your bandmates.
The Z-mode impedance selector is very powerful. The effect of Low Z mode is dependant upon the output from the pickups, so there are two controls on the circuit board to allow you to tweak the input gain. The frequency peak in high Z mode is adjusted by fitting different value capacitors to the circuit board. Crucially, different value capacitors can be used for each pickup.
The passive style tone control is a lovely addition and sounds much more balaced and musical than simply cutting the treble EQ.
The blend control is buffered, but there is still a noticeable drop in volume when both pickups are on. This is much more pronounced in low Z-mode.
Construction: 9
The first thing I noticed when unpacking the preamp is how substantial it feels. The components are top quality and the electronics are top notch. Compared to the sloppy wiring of the stock Fender preamp, the J3ZD is a thing of beauty
Fitting the J3ZD was a cinch. The only tools you need are are a phillips screwdriver, a pair of pliers, wire strippers and some matches.
The preamp comes with jack and battery clip pre-wired. They also throw in a couple of crimps and some heat shrink tubing. All that needs connecting are the pickup wires and bridge ground connector. Now here's the good bit. On a Fender deluxe jazz (mexican or US) it's possible to extract the jack,battery clip and preamp in one piece. I simply needed to cut and strip the pickup and bridge ground wires, screw the pickup wires in the preamp board, crimp the bridge connector wires together with pliers, apply tubing and shrink with matches and I was good to go. It took 5 minutes.
The battery indicator is a nice touch. Plug in a cable and you get a sequence of lights that tells you how much juice is left in the battery. Unfortunately, a high pitched noise accompanies the sequence, so have your amp off or on standby when you plug in (which I hope you do any way) and wait until the light goes out before flicking the switch.
Reliability/Durability: 10
I can't comment,but I would assume the unit is very reliable based on construction
Customer Support: 10
I bought the Audere J3ZD as an upgrade to the stock preamp in my 2001 Fender US Deluxe Five String. I paid £104 for the preamp, incudling priority USPS shipping. I had to pay another £30.63 in customs charges and admin. However, £135 isn't a bad price. I ordered on a Friday morning and Parcelforce dropped it off exactly a week later.
Overall Rating: 9
I've only had this preamp in my bass since Friday evening and was a little unsure at first, but within an hour of installing I was sold. Extra credit has to go to Audere for making installing such a breeze.
If I go for a Audere preamp for my other US Deluxe Jazz, I may well go for a 2 vol,2 band EQ model. I'll miss the mid EQ, but I'll appreciate the better control over individual pickup volumes.
Update I've had this preamp a fortnight now and a few tweaks to my bass and the preamp have really helped it bloom. I've raised the pickups and lowered the gain in Low Z mode a little and the bass sounds better then ever. I have no qualms about reccomending this preamp as a worthy upgrade to a passive or active jazz bass using stock electronics.
Update 200208 I've since purchased a 2 vol 2 band EQ model and, having owned two similar basses with these preamps for some time, felt it worth commenting on a few observations. First of all there's no obvious jump in volume when you solo each pickup. For this reason alone, the 2 band model will be of interest to players who switch pickups and don't want to have to adjust master volume. On the flipside, the mid EQ has the most marked effect on the overall sound, so this is the one I miss the most on the 2 band model.
