Difference between P-Style pickups and J-Style Pickups

P pickups are split coil design, and there are 2 distinct boxes. 2 strings are picked up by one coil, and the other 2 strings are picked up by the other coil. The coils are wound and wired up so that they are humbucking. So any hum is cancelled out, and so are a few tones of the signal.

J pickups are single coil, so there is one package, and one coil picks up all four strings. It is not humbucking by itself. It can be wired up with another J pickup that is wound and wired in reverse, and together they become humbucking.

The deal is that they have different sounds because of the different physical designs.

Dimarzio makes a J pickup that is actually split coils. So it's like a P pickup in a J package. That's what I put in my Mexican Jazz. They sound cool.

Is that what you wanted to know?

Chris

 

One sounds like this "Boom Boom Boom"

The other sounds like this "Baw Baw Baw"

Just kidding. You'll have to hear them to tell the difference. I can't put it into words. They both sound good, and pretty similar, but there are slight differences.

Chris

 

Bump. Can anyone explain the real difference? I searched and cannot find any explainatory threads.

 

Pretend I'm deaf, dumb and blind, and have been from birth. Now, in Braile, describe to me the colour orange so that I comprehend it.

...

Kinda hard, huh?

Same goes for this. We could all write 2000 words each describing the sound of a precision bass, but would that really tell you what you want to know? Of course not.

 

J = clank P = clunk

next...

 

Looks like these guys got the essence of P & J, but if you still need more let's just say that they also stand for Peanut Butter & Jam, so a little thicker and chunkier compared to a little lighter in consistency and possibly sweeter in flavor!

I'm gonna go make a sandwich!

 

Do you realize that you are bumping a 6 year old thread?

Look no further then to the Pickups FAQ located at the top of this forum.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111547

There you can find for example these topics:
Summary of different styles of pickups
Precision vs. Jazz

They pretty much sum up what you need to know.

Closed.