EMG PJ and PJX clips

Trying to decide which of these two sets of EMG's I want on my 95 P Lyte. Couldn't decide if I wanted PJ's or PJX's, so I got both + a BQC preamp. Blew up the BQC by accidentally touching two boards together, so I got another. So now I've done one gig with the PJ's and I'll do one with the PJX's tomorrow, but in the meantime I recorded samples of both in case anyone else was wondering about the differences.

My P Lyte is strung with dead D'addario Chromes, and I had the tone controls on the BQC centered. I went into my A-Designs REDDI tube DI and into my M-Audio 2496 soundcard at 44.1hz, made 112k mono MP3's with LAME, each are approx 1 meg. in size. Used the exact same level on the REDDI and the exact same pickup heights to give you an idea about their relative outputs. Played three short lines...a walking bass line, "I was Made To Love Her" sort of, and "Make Me Smile". First two fingers, third pick.

Here's the P pickups by themselves:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/27/1885410/PLyte-01-EMGP.mp3
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/27/1885410/PLyte-02-EMGPX.mp3

Here's the J pickups by themselves:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/27/1885410/PLyte-03-EMGJ.mp3
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/27/1885410/PLyte-04-EMGJX.mp3

Here's both pickups together:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/27/1885410/PLyte-05-EMGPJ.mp3
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/4/27/1885410/PLyte-06-EMGPJX.mp3

I'll refrain from commenting because I think they're both what I'm looking for, though one speaks to me a little more in the highs while one speaks to me more in the lows. Probably a moot point with the BQC installed, but I figured you all might have some opinions, and might be interested to hear the differences for yourselves.

 

Hey, good feedback, folks. Thank you.

 

Thanks Lync! I think you can hear the differences on laptop speakers but you do lose a lot in the translation.

So after playing with the BQC for a while, I think I can get the sounds I like out of either set of pickups. I can match EQ's to my 76 Precision with both. That BQC is quite nice, especially having a sweepable mid control. Not as big into the treble of the PJX's as the PJ's but the treble knob brings it back to where I like it, plus it is kind of nice to be able to have it when using flats. That way you can get that flats + pick attack tic-tac sound that works well in a lot of the songs we do. So I'm probably going to keep the X's in the Lyte and put the PJ's in my parts P since I don't have an active preamp for it yet. But if I had a preamp for both, then I don't think it would matter as much to me which ones go where. They're both killer sounding and the preamp will do pretty much anything I need.

 

I'm noticing more extreme low end and treble with the PJX's. I really dig the boost in the lows, but generally don't go in for that much treble. But you can tame it down with the preamp or the passive tone control so it's all good.

 

Oh sorry...I forgot...pics or it didn't happen

 

Kind of, yeah. Never really thought about it being an EMG characteristic...just thought the extra treble was what brought it out. But yeah, come to think of it, it does sound pretty unique to EMG's.

 

Yep, 9v. Tried to go 18v but there's no room in the cavity without smushing something.

Troy, if it makes you feel any better, it was because of your Lyte that I bought one in the first place. But I just couldn't abide by those stock pickups. Thought they sounded really good at home, but then I used them on a gig and it just didn't translate like the EMG's do.

 

Yeah Walter, maybe I can work something out...I'll poke around in there and see...I would like to run 18v. But I have to say I totally disagree with you about regular PJ's being obsolete now. I still like them a lot. I do like the top end of the X's for some stuff, but for the most part, I'm going to dial it back some. And other than an extreme treble and bass boost, which I'd never want anyway, I really don't see where one has a clear advantage over the other when the preamp's installed. Only if I didn't have the preamp would I be having to make the "hard choice."

EDIT: 18v ain't happening. It's such a tight cavity and there's really only one way the boards can be positioned in there without additional routing, which ain't happening, either.