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Do you lose anything with a PJ?

#24
I have a PJ set up in my P-Bass Special and to answer your question: No.

Is there technically and statistically a difference? Yes, sure. Tonally? No. Not to my ears. When I solo the neck P pickup and start jammin out some old Iron Maiden tunes it sure sounds a whole lot like Steve's sound to me.

I love my PJ set up.
 
#25
We have popcorn, but we need...

istock_can-of-worms.jpg
 
#27
Raymeous said:
I have a PJ set up in my P-Bass Special and to answer your question: No.

Is there technically and statistically a difference? Yes, sure. Tonally? No. Not to my ears. When I solo the neck P pickup and start jammin out some old Iron Maiden tunes it sure sounds a whole lot like Steve's sound to me.

I love my PJ set up.
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Heretic! Blasphemer!

(I'm a big PJ fan myself, but I'm *so* going to hell anyway!)
 
#28
AuntieBeeb said:
Well, you can, but they're called superconductors and are the subject of a great deal of research!
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Come on, now. Don't be silly. I didn't mean ZERO. I meant, "same resistance as a piece of wire of the same length".

So, nobody makes a blend pot where dimed has a path with the same resistance as a piece of wire of approximately the same length?

I don't see people claiming that the wiring from the Vol pot needs to be a certain exact length, so I assume that adding a pot that does the same thing (when dimed) as a bit of extra wire wouldn't change the tone.
 
#29
ps. FWIW, my '66 P had a J pickup in it when I bought it (wired with a 3-way switch, in fact). I have now paid money to have that pickup removed and the route filled. Why? Because when I compared the solo P to P/J and solo J, I felt like the solo P sounded better than either of the other settings - to the point where I would never use anything but the solo P anyway.
 
#31
KingRazor said:
Depends on the bass and the pickups.

My church's Ibanez SR400 PJ with the P pickup solo'd sounds nothing like my SX P bass.
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I assumed we were talking about equivalent basses. For example, two, passive MIM Fenders....1 a P only, the other a P/J with the P pickup soloed. The differences between the two would likely minimal and could possibly be attibuted to other factors besides the Jazz pickup and the extra volume pot. Even identical makes and models have some tonal variances between them, so two completely different models should not be expected to sound the same regardless of the pickup configuration. A Spector NS2 with the P pickup soloed sounds absolutely nothing like any Fender I've ever heard because it is a completely different bass (active, neck-thru, etc.), not because it is a P/J. You have to compare apples to apples.
 
#33
-=DanAtkinson=- said:
The only problem with a P/J is that if you use the typical volume/volume wiring, you won't get a true P tone when you solo the neck pickup. I'll quote line6man since I'm lazy:
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Meh. Is the difference audible? I thought not...

Yes, it's different. No, the difference is not perceptible by ear. I've got a V-V-T P-J and a switched (Jazz Special) P-J. I can see the difference on a scope, but not by ear, in swept response measurements (not simulations) of the tone stack. And I can remove the difference easily with amp EQ.

I guess that would mean all the passive Js are messed up too.

If Leo had sweated stuff like this in the beginning, there'd be no Fenders. :D
 
#35
Double Agent said:
I assumed we were talking about equivalent basses. For example, two, passive MIM Fenders....1 a P only, the other a P/J with the P pickup soloed. The differences between the two would likely minimal and could possibly be attibuted to other factors besides the Jazz pickup and the extra volume pot. Even identical makes and models have some tonal variances between them, so two completely different models should not be expected to sound the same regardless of the pickup configuration. A Spector NS2 with the P pickup soloed sounds absolutely nothing like any Fender I've ever heard because it is a completely different bass (active, neck-thru, etc.), not because it is a P/J. You have to compare apples to apples.
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Probably, but the only Fender P/J I've tried didn't sound like a P or a J, with either pickup solo'd.

Didn't sound good period, though. I think I just have bad luck with P/Js.
 
#36
KingRazor said:
Probably, but the only Fender P/J I've tried didn't sound like a P or a J, with either pickup solo'd.

Didn't sound good period, though. I think I just have bad luck with P/Js.
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Was it the active one that Fender sells? The MIM Deluxe Active P-bass, I think it's called? If so, its not the best example of a P/J. The preamp on those is definitely sub-par and I don't like the Vintage Noiseless Jazz pickup either. I prefer really good passive pickups and no preamp in a P/J, but thats just me.
 
#38
Double Agent said:
Was it the active one that Fender sells? The MIM Deluxe Active P-bass, I think it's called? If so, its not the best example of a P/J. The preamp on those is definitely sub-par and I don't like the Vintage Noiseless Jazz pickup either. I prefer really good passive pickups and no preamp in a P/J, but thats just me.
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It's odd, it had a Jazz body and it had an active/passive switch. I tried it both active and passive, but I just could not get it to sound good.

I really want to try a Lakland P/J, it's the only one I've heard so far that I think sounds very good.

Although I think one of those SX P/Js that Chunger modified also sounded pretty good. It had Nordstrands.
 

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