EMG P/J issue, options?

[LarryR]

I have an early 80's Fender P that currently has old school EMG P/J's (wired as VVT) that I bought off Ebay. My luthier did the install (as well as a fret job and other things). I got the bass back and the J is so low in volume, all it adds is a smoother P sound, certainly no mwahh. Solo'd it's hardly workable - not enough vol. I guess I could just balance out my vol controls to compensate for the J , but, I wonder if the J p/u is bad, or if (say) a new pot could help - know, I'm an electronics idiot, so forgive me if that's a dumb question.

I don't mind the EMG sound, so, conservative advice (least for now) would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance guys.

[Double Agent]

Sounds like a bad p/u to me. I've had two different sets of EMG P/J pickups, 1 that I put in a Fender, and 1 that caem in a Spector. In neither case would I describe the J pickup output as weak. It should have almost as much, if not the same, output as the P p/u IME. Might be wired wrong, or just a bad pickup.

If you want an alternative, I have a set of Basslines Lightnin' Rods pickups in my Fender P/J at the moment and they are sound very much like good passive pickups, even though they are active like EMGs. The J pickup is just as strong in output as the P, so soloing either pickup or having both on, the output is the same. Very versatile and responsive to your playing. Might be worth a shot.

[LarryR]

D.A.,
Thanks for the info. I'll bring the bass back to my guy and go from there.
'ppreciate the Duncan recommendation.

[JTE]

I managed a guitar store from 1977-1988 so I had quite a bit of experience with EMG P/J PUPs. We sold a lot of Guild Pilots, and the J PUP should be pretty easy to balance with the P PUPs. On my Pilot (it's been a while since I had it out of the case so I don't know exactly) the J PUP is just a little bit closer to the strings than the P coils. I had more trouble balancing the two P coils to each other than balancing them to the J PUP.

I suspect the PUP.

jte