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From Precision to PJ- was it better or fiound you used it little??

chiplexic

chiplexic

Apr 21, 2004
1,316
83
Massachusetts
#1
I tend to lean more toward to traditional camp in mind set anyway.
"If the legends made a simple split coil Precision work then so can't I."
But the benefit of a bridge pickup for cutting through a busy mix makes sense.
Has anyone gone from a split P to a PJ and found they don't use it as much as they expected to? Or, did you find it very useful and dial it in quite often?
 
#7
koobie said:
Good point. But for playing on your own, do you find adding some of the J bridge in can be satisfying? No horse in this race, just asking.
Click to expand...


I've played P bass for as long as I've been playing (over 27 years) Any bass I've ever had with a bridge p/u... couldn't turn the thing off fast enough.

The day that I say to myself "self, you know I could really use some bridge p/u type tone right here" is the day I'll buy a P/J. All these years, and that hasn't happend yet. Don't forsee it ever happening either. FOR ME the bridge p/u is useless, I'd I'd just assume that it wasn't even there. No P/J's or even two p/u basses for this guy. ;) Nope. Not any more.
 
#8
I rarely use the J pup on my P/J basses, but when you do need it it's nice to have it.
Back when I first added the J pup to my '75 Precision it was the only bass I owned and I needed maximum tonal flexibility. I rarely had P.A. support and had to compete in high volume rock bands.

Modern amps and P.A. systems have made it much easier to be present in the mix than it was "back in the day", and most venues we play do not require (and won't tolerate) high volume levels.
 
#9
I think it all depends on your needs, and my own needs sometimes vary. On my Frankenbass, which is my main bass, I found that I couldn't get certain harmonics that I play on ONE song in ONE band to ring out clearly when I removed the bridge, or J, pickup. So, I put the J pup back in. On most songs I tend to use the P pickup with maybe a little bit of J rolled in as well. Since I mainly use just the one bass, it's nice to have more than one sonic option.
 
#12
i've never owned a PJ but have used one for recording and another for a live gig.

recording - at first i found that i got the richest sounds by rolling the volume on both to about half, oddly. i think it may have been a quirk of the bass! (it was an old Ibanez - beaten up to hell, not a great player, but some good tones to be had)

live - P p/up only. this was a newish Yamaha, and made a much nicer sound than the bass mentioned above. the bridge pickup took away some of the character of the P.


...having got a jazz to play alongside my P, i DEFINITELY prefer the P on its own, and the jazz for its growly bridge p/up. each is the character of their respective bass.
 
#15
Before I had one I thought a PJ would be the bomb - P thump with J growl. IMO the J pickup seemed to just thin out the sound - yes more ping in the attack and it cut through in the upper mids a bit better. The tone wasn't quite there though. I ended up favoring the P pickup heavily and have since gone back to regular P and J basses.
 
#16
Every time I've ever played a PJ I find myself running both pups full on. Every time I play my precision I find myself wishing I had a jazz pickup to dial in a little bit of bite. Besides adding bite, what the additional pickup really allows, IMO, more than anything, is the ability to thin the tone a bit, as compared to a traditional precision tone. For me at least, when I want to play melodically, a typical precision tone can be too thick and undefined.
 
#19
Seems like you guys are referring to passive PJ's, but I wanted to chime in about my Sadowsky PJ5. I generally run both pickups on full and vary my right hand placement to good effect. However, I like having the option of dialing in the P pickup for HUGE sub bass or of favoring the J pup with a little more bass added from the pre. I agree that most j pups on passive PJ setups sound thin in comparison, but when you add in a bass boost, it gives me a fat bridge J tone that just KILLS for solos/latin.
 
#20
I use my P/J with blend at 50/50 a lot of the time. The instrument sounds great with either pickup soloed, but the even blend has what I want a lot of the time--I love it dearly. The instrument with 50/50 is basically a P-bass sound, but with something more.

I do sometimes play with a pick over the J pickup and have done fingerstyle over that pickup with the blend rolled to about 30% P, 70% J---gives a nice Jaco-esque horn honk.

In any case, do what you like! My bass has a very warm tone for an NYC Sadowsky due to the Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard and chambered Alder body. I have Sadowsky HC pickups, and always use a tube preamp---I have "warm and thick" whenever and however much I want.

Moral of the Story: With P/J, it ain't just about the P or the J--for me. :bassist:
 

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