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Does anyone else here dislike PJ basses?
- Thread starter Sean775
- Start date
I love PJ basses with a jazz body. Like this
Hate PJ basses the P bodies. Like this
I just can't get past the fish hook looking pick guard of the P body. Also any PJ has to have the pearloid block inlays on the fretboard.
Hate PJ basses the P bodies. Like this
I just can't get past the fish hook looking pick guard of the P body. Also any PJ has to have the pearloid block inlays on the fretboard.
Love them. I prefer p bass tones but occasionally i want some j bass tone so i like to blend it in. I also prefer the body style of a P bass so it works great for me.
I have one also and just had another volume control added for the J pickup, was way too loud (for me) when the switch was in the middle, I usually only use the J pickup to augment the P pickup, don't want it to drastically change the sound.
At one point, my (now long gone) Jazz Bass had a P PUP mounted between the J PUPs. I could select either the J set (and use them as normal) or switch to the P. Never ran a J and a P though.
My "ultimate" bass build (someday) will have this idea again, an also a piezo in the bridge position (with appropriate matching preamp, etc...).
The only P/J combo I've really liked was on a Spector. Would love one of those late 80's/early 90's models...
My "ultimate" bass build (someday) will have this idea again, an also a piezo in the bridge position (with appropriate matching preamp, etc...).
The only P/J combo I've really liked was on a Spector. Would love one of those late 80's/early 90's models...
Jazz body rules. I have a Sadowsky satin Verdine White and it’s unreal. What really makes it look clean is it has no pickguard. I don’t have the pearl inlays, but the dots on it are high quality.
I had a Yamaha BB1600 for about 25 years that was a funk machine. I should never have sold it.
Its sound was very much an equal blend of the pickups, like a Jazz bass is.
Now I have a mid '80s St. Blues Strings & Things P/J. It's a totally different animal. It's like a Fender P/J where the P pickup is the star of the show and the J pickup blends a little quieter than the P to give the bass some edge and overtones but not to radically change the tone. I think when you buy a set of pickups designed to work together in a P/J setup, they are often matched in this way.
Its sound was very much an equal blend of the pickups, like a Jazz bass is.
Now I have a mid '80s St. Blues Strings & Things P/J. It's a totally different animal. It's like a Fender P/J where the P pickup is the star of the show and the J pickup blends a little quieter than the P to give the bass some edge and overtones but not to radically change the tone. I think when you buy a set of pickups designed to work together in a P/J setup, they are often matched in this way.
I love PJ basses so much, I took a router to my American Standard Jazz and made it a PJ.
Same here, keep it simple. Got an 80's Japan Yamaha BB450 for $75, butchered and painted pink. Stripped the pink, and original black paint and scrapped the pots. Wired both P/U's straight to the jack and, "VOILA", I like it. Have since added a single volume pot and still like it.
I own two, a FenderStein and a Sire P7 and I love both. IMO, you get more versatility than a P-Bass and I like the P-Bass pickup better than the Jazz neck pickup. It is like the best of both worlds to me.
didn't read all 5 pages - so this may have already been suggested...
If you have a 3 way switch rather than a blend or v-v-t .. the way to adjust the sound with both pickups on is by raising/lowering the bridge pickup until it blends with the neck pickup in a way you find pleasing.
If you have a 3 way switch rather than a blend or v-v-t .. the way to adjust the sound with both pickups on is by raising/lowering the bridge pickup until it blends with the neck pickup in a way you find pleasing.
I really want one of the new Yamaha BB basses, but the ones that I've tried sound harsher on the D and G strings. It's most likely due to pickup position and the difference between the P and J pickups depending on which string you're on.
I've heard that the Reggie Hamilton basses are really nice because the P pickup is actually positioned a little differently. I've always been a Jazz Bass guy personally, but have really wanted to buy a PJ bass. I just haven't played on many that I thought sounded balanced. Either string to string balance was off, the P was way hotter than the J due to pickup construction, or it sounded thin in the P to better balance the J pickup.
Most of my basses now have a bunch of after market things in them, but I'd love to find a stock PJ that has most of what I like. I just think these have to be better thought out than many stock instruments are. I don't really believe you can just throw an instrument together without making sure all the parts work together well.
I've heard that the Reggie Hamilton basses are really nice because the P pickup is actually positioned a little differently. I've always been a Jazz Bass guy personally, but have really wanted to buy a PJ bass. I just haven't played on many that I thought sounded balanced. Either string to string balance was off, the P was way hotter than the J due to pickup construction, or it sounded thin in the P to better balance the J pickup.
Most of my basses now have a bunch of after market things in them, but I'd love to find a stock PJ that has most of what I like. I just think these have to be better thought out than many stock instruments are. I don't really believe you can just throw an instrument together without making sure all the parts work together well.
I wouldn't ever own a one-pickup bass. I have one bass with a split P style pickup but it also has a J bridge pickup. My favorite sound on that bass is P at 100% volume, J rolled off just enough to change the sound. But if the J is rolled all the way off, the sound is less sharp and well-rounded.
When I play my PJ I usually pretend the J isn't even there. That said, dialing in the J gives it more of a scooped sound that sounds great with a pick......but I just don't play with a pick very much so it's kind of useless for me.
I like clank, or nang, and I don't play bridge J solo on anything.
I was in middle school in the mid-80's so all the cool guy basses were PJs.
I suppose there are guys that love their Eko semi hollow bc of some Beatles clone for the same reasons.
I was in middle school in the mid-80's so all the cool guy basses were PJs.
I suppose there are guys that love their Eko semi hollow bc of some Beatles clone for the same reasons.
I like pj's, best of both traditional sounds in my opinion. I've never had an issue getting the blend I want.
I have an issue with PJ basses in that most are P basses with an afterthought J pickup.
However, the best one I did play was a squier VM precision that had a dimarzio model j in the bridge, and that bass was awesome.
Basically, the only PJ basses I like are the ones that have a very strong J pickup. Why? Because it's easy to make it cut through P's character if needed, and if you don't want that, you just dial it back. If you want J to have little effect, you dial it back even more.
On most PJ basses if you want to get the character of the J pickup you have to dial the P really far back at which point the output suffers, so IMO the best PJs for me are those with an overwound jazz pickup.
Oh, and preferably hum-free.
However, the best one I did play was a squier VM precision that had a dimarzio model j in the bridge, and that bass was awesome.
Basically, the only PJ basses I like are the ones that have a very strong J pickup. Why? Because it's easy to make it cut through P's character if needed, and if you don't want that, you just dial it back. If you want J to have little effect, you dial it back even more.
On most PJ basses if you want to get the character of the J pickup you have to dial the P really far back at which point the output suffers, so IMO the best PJs for me are those with an overwound jazz pickup.
Oh, and preferably hum-free.
