Does anyone else here dislike PJ basses?

[mindwell]

I felt the same way until my Yamaha 2025X. The blended tone is tremendous.

 

[Timmy-Watts]

Mine is my main bass .
I usually run mine full on P going passive.
If there's any rock or slap I'll mix in some bridge (on my bass it is a Nordstrand Big Split).
Sometimes when the tune calls for it I'm full on bridge.

Interesting thing, when I am panned down the middle it is actually more smooth and scooped than elsewhere. OP, harshness in the middle is uncommon.

 

[Karlson541]

I like P/J's with both pickups full on.

 

[jamro217]

My Power Jazz Bass Special is one of my favorite basses it’s got a reverse p in it which sounds awesome soloed or with both pickups on. I had a modern player Jaguar for a while and I didn’t really care for it all that much. Mostly just left the jazz pickup off. The reverse p pick gives it a little extra something that really makes it work well. View attachment 3094155

That Ric!!! drool

 

[Goatee220]

I love my Precision Plus, as do sound guys and recording engineers. The Lace Sensors give it a nice smooth sound. It's been my #1 since 1992.

 

[Altitude]

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.

I agree with your thesis; but the "J pickup as an enhancement to the P" doesn't bother me. Sometimes a P sounds too tubby and I like a little edge on it; that's what that design does.

I did have a Yamaha BB1600 where the outputs were about equal across the pickups. It had a very different sound.

 

[TolerancEJ]

No. I specifically requested my FBass VF6-PJ Fretless. It looks and sounds splendid!

 

[fritzk9]

I’m starting to learn that I generally like basses with relatively simple controls and classic pickup settings. (ie: my Fender Jazz and Fender Precision).
I owned a PJ bass for awhile, but I was always just setting it to the isolated P pup, and using it as just a secondary P Bass. It sounded way to harsh with both pickups on.

Regarding the "harsh" sound, it reminds me of an Aerodyne (PJ) I came across that had one of the pickups wired out-of-phase. This produced a nasal type sound, not very useful. It sounded fine if the P or J pickup was soloed. I think the wiring was most likely accidental, and would only require the Jazz (or P) pup to be unsoldered and the leads swapped.

 

[leonard]

I don't like PJ's. They are not what Leo intended.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

I think that the P/J bass concept should be rename to full P/half J and that would be more accurate.

 

[FunkySpoo]

I like pj's, best of both traditional sounds in my opinion. I've never had an issue getting the blend I want. View attachment 3094472

You seriously need to resurface your ceiling.

 

[LoTone]

My Yamaha BB 1024X has a very muscular bridge pickup that can stand on its own. The bridge pickup also blends very well with the neck split-coil pickup. Not all PJs are the same.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I’m starting to learn that I generally like basses with relatively simple controls and classic pickup settings. (ie: my Fender Jazz and Fender Precision).
I owned a PJ bass for awhile, but I was always just setting it to the isolated P pup, and using it as just a secondary P Bass. It sounded way to harsh with both pickups on.

That's funny. Mine mellows out with both pickups even. The P has too much mids, and the J is too thin, but together it's a perfect mellow bump bite.


Oh, I adjust my pickup height to my perfect blend with the knob in the center. That way, I'm never off unless I want to move it.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

in one of your posts you said that you had never played out anywhere

Not sure how this is relevant to my disliking a noisy bridge pickup.
I've posted many times that I don't "play out", but that doesn't mean I never have taken a bass out to play with others.

 

[InternetAlias]

I agree with your thesis; but the "J pickup as an enhancement to the P" doesn't bother me. Sometimes a P sounds too tubby and I like a little edge on it; that's what that design does.

I did have a Yamaha BB1600 where the outputs were about equal across the pickups. It had a very different sound.

Sure, yeah, the target audience of PJs are people who want a deluxe P, essentially, but I'm obviously in the jazz camp

Also, most Yamaha PJs I've seen/played are lovely (even the RBX stuff isn't bad, but higher BBs are just awesome).

 

[nostatic]

PJ is pretty much the only config that I find useful (other than Rob Allen which is an entirely different type of bass altogether). YMMV.

I'm on the P probably 80% of the time, J 15%, 50/50 5%. That changes depending on the band/gig though. But sometimes for what I play a P pickup alone isn't ideal.

 

[lz4005]

I’m starting to learn that I generally like basses with relatively simple controls and classic pickup settings. (ie: my Fender Jazz and Fender Precision).
I owned a PJ bass for awhile, but I was always just setting it to the isolated P pup, and using it as just a secondary P Bass. It sounded way to harsh with both pickups on.

Yep. By far my least favorite pickup configuration.

 

[ofajen]

Not when they're done right!
View attachment 3094365

Yeah, this is about what I have in mind, but just starting with a switch on the volume to select either pickup alone. It looks a bit odd, due to the shape of the P pick guard, which doesn’t seem to expect to find a pickup at that spot.

Otto

 

[Altitude]

PJ is pretty much the only config that I find useful (other than Rob Allen which is an entirely different type of bass altogether). YMMV.

I'm on the P probably 80% of the time, J 15%, 50/50 5%. That changes depending on the band/gig though. But sometimes for what I play a P pickup alone isn't ideal.

View attachment 3094521

Nice rig, are those Hathors or Changelings?

 

[Altitude]

Also, most Yamaha PJs I've seen/played are lovely (even the RBX stuff isn't bad, but higher BBs are just awesome).

I bought mine new in about 1988; it was my only electric bass in college. I still had it two years ago.