High pickups and low string height overdriving the signal?

[Stealth]

Since I've recently switched back to my J&D P-J 4-string in order not to haul the Yamaha around recently, I've noticed a really peculiar sound coming out of the bass.

Apparently, for some reason the bass started delivering a really punchy and twangy (driven, maybe?) sound with a really, really aggressive edge - which is really odd considering I don't ever recall it having such a sound. I remember a friend of mine fiddling with the pickup height a bit when we swapped basses (as I asked him to fix my setup a bit), and I remember him lowering the P-pup a bit. Inspecting the bass a few days back I noticed he also raised the J-pup to within 1/4" (at least, if I did my conversion right...) - could it be that the raised J is actually too close to the strings, giving it the great driving sound it now has? I'm not actually complaining here, right now it sounds almost as if it's a Ric...

I'll try to post soundclips after I get a hold of a DI box - right now, this is the best way I can describe it?

[Vincent P]

I believe and those with more experience can verify or debunk it but, it sounds as though the pickup is running hot; this is the terminology one tech said to me in regards to pickup hieght. You may want to do some research and find out what the proper pickup hieght is, and the spacing from them to the stings should be, and adjust accordingly.

[PSPookie]

Field strength is a function of the inverse of the square of the distance from the source.