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Don't like PJ's?
- Thread starter JimmyM
- Start date
My Ibanez RS924. The Super-P & Super-J pickups in this sound amazing. I believe they are made by DiMarzio. The active circuit is fantastic too. Proper versatile bass. Bit on the heavy side though..
The famously awesome Ibanez P4/J4 pickups were Gotoh copies of the Dimarzio model P and J. Same with Peavey in the 80s: they copied the Dimarzios, but used Schaller to make them. TBH, both the Gotohs and Schallers sound pretty much identical to the Dimarzios. Great pickups!
They did an amazing job on those pickups. So characterful. The J pickup does a great Larry Graham impersonation.. And considering its age (41 years), the active circuit still holds it own.
No question that the engineers and marketers at Ibanez were out to destroy the competition!
I’ve had a few PJs over the years. All decent, none keepers.
I just got an SB2. The pickups sound great together- aggressive, growly, punchy, uniquely awesome. It’s giving my #1 P bass a real run for the money, and just might take the crown!
I just got an SB2. The pickups sound great together- aggressive, growly, punchy, uniquely awesome. It’s giving my #1 P bass a real run for the money, and just might take the crown!
The PJ helps the P become everything it should.
I’d guess then that the SB2 helps the SB1 be everything it could be, eh?
Totally agree, 100%. The magical thinking about a P pickup only bass somehow sounding different to a PJ with the Jazz pickup switched off is especially daft.
I’d guess then that the SB2 helps the SB1 be everything it could be, eh?
100% agreement on all accounts above!
This is my only PJ at the moment. I’m not normally a huge fan of PJ basses. This one plays really well (love the neck!), sounds great and has a very low amount of 60 cycle hum. I may put a hot stack or stacked J in it eventually. However it does what I need and is a joy to play. I still prefer a straight up precision but will always take each bass on its own merits. This one gets gigged.
I have a couple of PJ's. I think they're fantastic. The player who first inspired me to be a bass player was a PJ player.
And here are mine:
And here are mine:
The thing I've found with single pickup instruments is they have a bark instruments with multiple pickups don't. At least at first blush. There is a magnetism thing going on, and you lose something when you add a pickup. I experienced this directly when adding a neck pickup to an electric guitar. The bridge pickup sounded much fuller before adding the neck pickup.
You can get that full sound back. All you need is volume and tone controls for each pickup. It exists somewhere around neck 30%/bridge 70%. Once you've got that figured out, the instrument has a much wider tonal spectrum. Whether you want or need that tonal spectrum is something else.
You can get that full sound back. All you need is volume and tone controls for each pickup. It exists somewhere around neck 30%/bridge 70%. Once you've got that figured out, the instrument has a much wider tonal spectrum. Whether you want or need that tonal spectrum is something else.
so now I officially have a P/J.
somebunny wired the output jack backwards, fubared some simple adjustments, but otherwise not a lot of major issues.
somebunny wired the output jack backwards, fubared some simple adjustments, but otherwise not a lot of major issues.
OK PJ experts…
stock pickups read 13. something for the P and 8. something for the J. Is that normal for a PJ?
not positive if the pots were stock or not now, (I think they may be) but they were 500k. The jack was for sure a replacement, it’s a switchcraft.
I rewired it tonight with all 250k vol/blend/tone and a .022uf cap.
Damn she sounds beautiful now!
Under $135 invested.
No, I don't like PJs. Not at all! So what? -My likes are mostly one V and one T control for one passive PUP that's either a split coil or a humbucker. That gives good enough, often even great, sound for me... Why complicate my life with extra controls (plus extra weight and wiring, plus uglier, unbalanced looks) on a bass? If I should need more tone variety (which I usually don't), isn't that what the EQ controls on my very good amp are for???
Nice!
Resistance for a typical, vintage-y split P is often in the 10-12.5K zone, a single coil J in the 6.5-8K range.
This is just resistance of the coil, which is not directly tied to output, which includes inductance and magnet strength to the equation. A lower wind coil (lower resistance) with strong magnets can have more output than a hot wound coil with weak magnets.
I find many inexpensive import instruments that have a humbucker to use 500K pots all around. It's probably to keep it simple for production and offset the loading from having multiple pots. 250K is Fender standard and the P and Js. I like to use a 500K tone pot with 250K volumes, it just gives a touch more range to dial in the 'air' to the tone. Once turned back to around 7-8, it sounds just like a 250K tone pot on 10. My P/J has a 500K tone and volume and a 250K M/N blend.
EQ controls on an amp cannot replicate the complex, phase induced comb filtering from having two pickups (let alone two different styles of pickups) interacting on different harmonic zones of the string.
Perhaps a very detailed and deep EQ session on a DAW might get a P to sound sort-of like a P/J with both pickups blended.
