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J PU Position in a PJ setup

byacey

byacey

May 16, 2008
5,224
7,644
St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
#1
I originally posted this in the pickups forum, but perhaps it better belongs here:

My old bass has EMG Active PJ pickups. I never found much of a useable tone off the bridge J pickup as it was all twang, lacking in mids and bottom end.

I'm building a new bass and was toying with the idea of using a Wilde PJ set, but moving the J pickup closer to the P PU, away from the bridge to get a more useful tone, ie. richer low mids with a bit of bite compared to the P.

Any opinions on this?
 
#2
I don't ever use the J pickup alone on my PJ because of the reasons you mentioned. However, it nicely complements the P sound when in conjunction with the P pickup. Sometimes I turn down the J just a bit to get more punch.

I haven't tried the particular PJ configuration you mention, but if you want to use J pickup solo it may work for you, though I worry you may get the worst of both worlds...
 
#3
Quoting completly the Flippy opinions I'll add that it all depends about how do you select your pickups ratios. Do you use a dual volume setup? A Balance control? a 3 way switch P/P+J/J?

One way to give you a more solid Jazzy sound from the bridge pickup could be eventually a sort of Dan Luts setup. This way you'll be able to select only the coil you'll like keeping handy all the major standard combos, P only/P+J/neck side J only/MM like only. Add to that all the a/p eqs + series/parallel cofingurations and you'll have a hugely versatile instrument.

If you look this video you'll see how it does use all the possible configurations available with this setup.



upload_2017-7-11_17-9-49.png


With this positioning you'll have all the bases covered.
Just don't take in consideration no matter which MM pickups of some sort. You'll really need a splittable dual coil-like or even better a quad-coil.

Hope it will help you.

Ivan
 
#4
The last active EMG bass I played with P and J, it was actually not a great difference between the pickups in volume, likely due to design? The last P/J I played with EMG Selects, that's another story. They aren't active (as in, no 9V battery power) and it performs as you described in the OP. Are you sure the bass you're talking about is not EMG Selects?

Another thought here is that if you want to try something different, try swapping out the J pickup with a split coil humbucker, or stacked coil humbucker in a J shape. That should help it balance better with the P humbucker, but still retain a largely J tone...
 
#5
No, I built this bass back in 1989. I don't think EMG had the passive selects available at that time; these are indeed active.

I'm not so concerned about matching volume, more so about getting a useable tone: hence my idea for moving the J pickup away from the bridge and in closer behind the P location.
 
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#6
I agree with Beej and Toban.Ivan that hugging a bucker close to the P-pu is the ticket - especially a split-coil bucker that you can select each coil independently or both together. Way more versatile than a sole J in any bridge position.
 
#7
byacey, I'm just now finishing a build with the P-46 and J-45 and have done exactly what you've suggested. I also kept the bass-side P half in the usual position but moved the treble-side one to the forward position. (I also angled the J pickup forward for better balance.) I haven't wired it up yet but can report back when I do.
 
#9
byacey said:
No, I built this bass back in 1989. I don't think EMG had the passive selects available at that time; these are indeed active.

I'm not so concerned about matching volume, more so about getting a useable tone: hence my idea for moving the J pickup away from the bridge and in closer behind the P location.
Click to expand...

That is the important thing however, the only real problem is that if you'll move the J too close to the P you'll miss many things.
You'll lose the Mids scooped PJ setup (sort of J+J), you'll lose the Jaco thing completely, etc..
Besides, having 2 pickups so close will mean less variations regarding the Tone. Basically the Vol of the J will act sort of Mids EQ boost only. Almost forcing you to a Vol/Vol setup.
If this is exactly (and only) what you're looking for that's fine, otherwise don't negate yourself so much more possibilities.

I'll take once again the Nordstrand Dan Lutz setup as an example but you'll can tweak this idea to your taste.
With a Bal control and a mini-switch (coils selection) for the bridge humbucker you'll easily have all these configurations without being creative with the Balance:
- P only, pure and simple. You're 90% of times perfect sound;
- P+J (bridge coil of the humbucker only), push it harder for a Marcus Miller kind of vibe;
- Middle J only (sort of Rickenbacker bridge pickup only), where's the pick?;
- Dual J or full humbucker in parallel (sort of MM depending on the choosen pickup+preamp combo);
- Bridge J only, the Jaco thing..

Soo much more possibilities..
 
#13
I think what I'll do is a mockup plywood body routed so I can move the pickup around to find what works best for me. Once I determine the best placement, I'll route the pickup cavity in the finished body and swap the neck over.

I'm not really after so many variations of tone; typically I find that one generally only uses a few favorite variations in practice.
 
#14
@byacey , rather than doing a mockup body, you can position the pickup(s) above the strings and move them around. Although not a bass, that is what I did on my 1st build. By making a simple holder, you can get the pickup close enough to the strings (rather than just holding it by hand) to hear what it will really sound like.

pickup placement

pickup placement

 
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#16
rwkeating said:
@byacey , rather than doing a mockup body, you can position the pickup(s) above the strings and move them around. Although not a bass, that is what I did on my 1st build. By making a simple holder, you can get the pickup close enough to the strings (rather than just holding it by hand) to hear what it will really sound like.

pickup placement

pickup placement

Click to expand...

Yup, just what Leo used to do, and I'm sure many others have don't the same. I have not, but I definitely would if I felt the need.
 

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