I'm in the process of getting a custom jobbie built for me but haven't decided on the pickups yet. Just wondering what difference the placement makes. What difference in tone is there between having a HH set up to a single H set up like on a Flea bass?

I'm after a big punchy tone if that helps.

Any opinions would be welcome.

I think i'm right in saying that all the really punchy tone lives near the bridge, and the smoother tones live nearer the neck.

So if the only tone your after is big and punchy then maybe you don't need a neck or middle p'up, but if you occaisionally like a smoother rounder sound then maybe you'd benefit from having something nearer the neck aswell. If it was my choice i'd definately want the option of a slightly mellower sound.

IMHO, a Pbass is MUCH "bigger" and "punchier" than a Jbass . . . YMMV

Why not do it like the $$? A MM at the Pbass (mid) position and another MM at the "usual" MM (bridge) position. That's what I do on ALL of my fretted basses (the fretless ones have the bridge MM only).

BTW, I use the bridge pup "parallel" and the mid pup "series" - usually with both pups at max volume - for the "best of both worlds".

YMMV

Thanks for ya advise, that explains a lot. I need to do a search on series and parallel now so I can understand that theory properly.

Cheers