Interested in a PJ Bass Sparked

[Bassdirty]

Interesting read.

Well, I do enjoy (from time to time) my squier p/j (indo) that I got for $90.

As far as the P bass tone..meh, friggin close enuff in my book. ..let alone in a band setting.

Singling out the bridge pickup..ew. thats just gross sounding on any j bass. my opinion of course.

So when I use it its either: just p pickup soloed, or P on full/J about 50-80%


Still plenty o love in my book for the ol girl.. except theres only 4 strings, so I'd never play it live, more like a toy to play around with.. but a fun toy that sounds good enough.

 

[electracoyote]

All I know is, I've played a bunch of high-end basses with a P-J pickup configuration (Pedulla Buzz, Fodera Monarch, my Kawai KRB, Tune Bass Maniac, etc.) and they've all sounded pretty badass to me

Any of those have active electronics?

 

[LanEvo]

Any of those have active electronics?

All of the ones I mentioned were active. I could have also mentioned the Warwick Streamer on all the early Jamiroquai albums and the army of players rocking Spectors.

Then again, the Yammy BB2000 is a passive P-J and it sounds awesome. And the Washburn Bakithi Kumalo played in the Graceland days was a passive P-J. Does anyone think that sounded bad?

I guess I just don't buy the argument that P-J = tonal abortion

 

[electracoyote]

All of the ones I mentioned were active. I could have also mentioned the Warwick Streamer on all the early Jamiroquai albums and the army of players rocking Spectors.

Then again, the Yammy BB2000 is a passive P-J and it sounds awesome. And the Washburn Bakithi Kumalo played in the Graceland days was a passive P-J. Does anyone think that sounded bad?

I guess I just don't buy the argument that P-J = tonal abortion

P/J active is a totally different story. I really dig my MIM P Bass Special Deluxe with P J pickups and active electronics. But it's nothing like the passive version. Not even close.

No, I don't think passive PJ's sound bad, but that's usually when they are leaning on the split P pickup and sound like a P Bass. I don't hear the rail, and when I do, it doesn't add anything to my ears. If I hear too much passive single coil at the bridge, like someone else on this thread said, that does not sound good to me.

 

[SplinteredSkull]

don't you ever get tired of posting massive walls of texts trying to convince people to not like something they already like? you waste so much energy on so many threads. it just seems odd to me. if you don't like PJs then don't play them.

It is a little detracting from my actual original question of what are some good PJ's to check out haha

 

[SplinteredSkull]

And I feel it necessary to mention that the Fender Deluxe PJ I tried DID have Passive Pickups and sounded Great. I attributed part of the sound to the passives and if I got a bass as such I would like to have passives in it. The break from active pickups was refreshing.

 

[electracoyote]

And I feel it necessary to mention that the Fender Deluxe PJ I tried DID have Passive Pickups and sounded Great. I attributed part of the sound to the passives and if I got a bass as such I would like to have passives in it. The break from active pickups was refreshing.

I agree. I can only take active electronics for so long, then I vacillate back to passives.

The active version of this bass is VERY aggressive.

 

[SplinteredSkull]

I agree. I can only take active electronics for so long, then I vacillate back to passives.

The active version of this bass is VERY aggressive.

Yea tone was just softer and warmer. It was a very smooth, grooving sound, which is exactly what I want if I was to get another bass. I'd use it to play more mellow stuff. The punchy actives in my ESP are what I use for the fast and heavy things (rock, punk, metal, etc.)

 

[GK Growl]

The easiest answer for that is just a P with flats

Purist!! Purist!! P bass w/flats purist alert!

 

[Charley Umbria]

It is a little detracting from my actual original question of what are some good PJ's to check out haha

Wait...there was an original question?!?!

If you're not stuck on Fender: ESP Vintage 4. Hands-down the best new passive P/J I've played lately. They're starting to show up on the used market now, too.

 

[Stranger Danger]

Wait...there was an original question?!?!

If you're not stuck on Fender: ESP Vintage 4. Hands-down the best new passive P/J I've played lately. They're starting to show up on the used market now, too.

Those are the $1500 ones? Where are those made?

 

[Snakeman1066]

Those are the $1500 ones? Where are those made?

i think he may be talking about these...

they run between $400.00 and $500.00 new and even less used...($200.00 to $250.00)

I own one and think they are awesome for the money...they are constructed and assembled better than any squier i have played...and the stock pups are great

the more expensive ones are manufactured in Korea...

I also own one of these which runs about $1,000.00 but i got a great deal on the used market for around $500.00 the active EMG's are fantastic!!

 

[Stranger Danger]

i think he may be talking about these...

they run between $400.00 and $500.00 new and even less used...($200.00 to $250.00)

I own one and think they are awesome for the money...they are constructed and assembled better than any squire i have played...and the stock pups are great

the more expensive ones are manufactured in Korea...

I also own one of these which runs about $1,000.00 but i got a great deal on the used market for around $500.00 the active EMG's are fantastic!!

Thats cool but $1500 for an Asian Fender knock off not called Lakland is a tough sell.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EVINTAGE4BLK/

 

[Stranger Danger]

Here's one for $200
http://www.amazon.com/ESP-JB-VINTAGE-214-KIT-1-Electric-GoDpsMusic-Polish/dp/B00B8X7H72

 

[Snakeman1066]

Thats cool but $1500 for an Asian Fender knock off not called Lakland is a tough sell.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EVINTAGE4BLK/

Tough sell for you maybe...

the one you have posted a pic of is a Japanese made bass....and having played and owned both Fender and ESP/LTD bass guitars...i would take and ESP over the Fender any day of the week

to each his own..

eh...let's put it this way i own three ESP/LTD basses and sold off my Fenders...

to me they feel, sound, and play better hands down

Plus the Neck Profile of the ESP is much more comfortable IMHO plus its 21 frets instead of 20

 

[Stranger Danger]

Tough sell for you maybe...

the one you have posted a pic of is a Japanese made bass....and having played and owned both Fender and ESP/LTD bass guitars...i would take and ESP over the Fender any day of the week

to each his own..

Plus the Neck Profile of the ESP is much more comfortable IMHO plus its 21 frets instead of 20

That's why I asked. MIJ not MIK makes a difference. Still don't see them selling a lot of these when you could get an American Deluxe for the same money.

 

[Snakeman1066]

Here's one for $200
http://www.amazon.com/ESP-JB-VINTAGE.../dp/B00B8X7H72

Hell of a buy...will blow any squier in the same price range out of the water

 

[Snakeman1066]

That's why I asked. MIJ not MIK makes a difference. Still don't see them selling a lot of these when you could get an American Deluxe for the same money.

You realize that the Lakland Skyline series is manufactured in the same factory in Korea as the LTD's right?

 

[khutch]

That's the intent, but it simply doesn't work that way in practice -- at least not consistently.

The problem is GLARING on a lot of passive P+Js, so much so that it doesn't take any more qualifications than having a bit of hearing left to see there's a big problem somewhere in the concept -- the volume controls don't work properly together, there are all these weird-sounding peaks and cancellations when you try to mix the pickups, etc., etc.

...

My real question is why you haven't noticed the problem in the first place.

I don't believe the intent of VVT was to provide resistive padding when blending pickups. I believe the intent was simply to allow you to control the blend. The resistive padding is just there as an unintended consequence.

I have two passive VVT Jazz basses and two BV+3B EQ active basses and one of those is my P/J. There is absolutely no difference between an active and passive VVT, assuming there are any active VVT basses on the market but there could be a difference between BVT and VVT. In a blend pot bass one pickup is effectively "switched" on while the other is padded down with the blend pot. The difference in pickup locations means that some harmonics will have phase differences between the two pickups and that alone will produce peaks and nulls for certain harmonics. If at some harmonic the two pickup signals are 180 degrees out of phase and you adjust the two amplitudes to be equal with the volume or blend controls then you will get a cancellation of those harmonics. If the electrical parameters between the pickups are dissimilar as they are in a P/J this will modify which harmonics are and are not canceled but given the wide variety of pickups which are used, even by Fender, we cannot say that the P/J would be "worse" than a J/J or P/P, just different.

As far as I can tell this is the train wreck you speak of. If that is the case then we all hear it but most of us do not hate it. It is just the characteristic P/J sound and the same thing goes on in a pure Jazz so it is part of the Jazz sound too even if the two do differ somewhat. Switched pickups are less likely to cancel harmonics because the pickup signals have to be opposite in phase and equal in amplitude in order to cancel. In a blended pickup combination if the phases are opposite some setting of the blend control will equalize the amplitudes and produce cancellation. Evidently you hate these cancellations while many of us are neutral to appreciative of them.

Your observation that guitars are usually switched while bass guitars are usually blended is an interesting one. There clearly are switched basses, I don't happen to know if there are any blended guitars. Some multiple pickup basses, the Bass VI family, are expected to be switched. I don't know why there would be a difference in approaches between guitars and bass guitars. It isn't because Leo Fender couldn't make enough Strat switches to cover the Jazz bass production too! I don't feel that the pot blended approach has any problems, serious or minor, but I am not sure the pots bring much to the party either. There is a clear difference between one, the other, and both in a two pickup bass. The difference between the blended settings are much more subtle. Technically since they are infinite in number the difference between two adjacent ones is zero but even when you consider substantial differences in the blend settings the extra utility you get from them compared to one, the other, and both is small.

So I am not hearing any issues with VVT but I don't think that switches are a bad way to go or that they are much less versatile. A whole lot of VVT and BVT owners will confess to using one, the other, or both most or all of the time. I rarely finesse the blend settings myself.

 

[deathsdj]

Interesting discussion that I can relate to a bit. I have always, until recently, been a P/J bass fan. Big Time. But when I decided to get back into playing I needed a bass so I bought an Ibanez (my main brand) with a single P pickup and all I can say is wow! It really sounded great. Then I scored a used '86 P/J Ibanez that was just like my first bass ever, which I loved, and the tone was totally disappointing when compared with my other bass. I then remembered that I put active pickups in my original '86, which was probably why I liked it so much.

So really I have discovered that, for me, a single P gives me everything I want in a bass, and if I ever plan to seriously use my '86 I will put some active DiMarzio's in it. So while I never noticed the difference before when i was just learning to play, now that I have some skills and a better ear I get it.

Not hating on any type of bass, just sharing what worked for me. Now I just have to figure out what I want for pickups if I ever get a 5 string...

Cheers!

MJW