P/J 5 string

[millsbass5]

A PJ 5er had trouble for a number of reasons. One of the first was that Fender just never figured out how to build a decent B string until quite recently. Fender 5ers from last few years (P or J) all have great B strings now.

And another reason was the fact that bridge J pickup doesn't balance the P-bass neck pickup. So if you turn both knobs up full they don't balance right. The P is overpowering. Therefore, Fender (and many other builders) underwound the P-bass pickup so the P and J volumes would match. Well, Duh, then that changed the tone of the P-bass pickup. And the rumor started circulating around that a PJ when set with ONLY the P-pickup on, didn't sound like "real" P-bass!

And then Squire enters with their "special 5" PJ bass. Only to get around the problem they use TWO Jazz pickups. Well SURE they balance, and yes, the neck, body shape and all the rest was pure P-bass, but cripes, they didn't even put in 5 string pickups, so the strings weren't covered properly. Hardly a P-bass though. Worst bass on the planet!

But I bought a used one anyway. And I ripped out the Squier nasty pickups and installed a Dimarzio ultra J in the bridge and a NOS actual Fender P-bass 5 string P-bass pickup in the neck position (actually the p-bass position).

Guess what? With just the P-bass pickup, yes it really now sounds like a P-bass and with both you can bring up the Jazz bass tone with a great sounding mix. And you can go all the way to pure Jazz bass bridge-only sound. I love it!

But what about the balance "problem"? Well obviously it's still there. You DO have to remember to pull the level on the P-pickup down a bit if you want to mix both pickups right. But to my way of thinking, it's a minor hassle compared to not having a true p-bass tone.

This is what I learned about Fender and the PJ. They still don't make a PJ 5er, but if they would I'll bet with the new improved Fender B strings, they would kill. Especially if they quit worrying about the balance "problem". Probably the "answer" is just to build a hotter Jazz pickup for the bridge "J".

I think Sadowskys are active, yes? That would make balancing a LOT easier to deal with.

AH-HA!!!! See? The EXACT year/model P-Bass that your're referring to, is THE SAME exact one that my "behind-the-times" ass is referring to (As far as bein' a crappy-ass bass).

Hmmm....... Well then, I guess I need to give the new P-Bass 5'ers another chance then,don't I?

But, I still love that J-Bass tone,compared to a P-Bass. Hell, when it comes down to it, I may not even know what I like better. After all, I haven't even picked up & played a P-Bass since '84..........

 

[donnybrook]

I'm late on this, lurking around. I own a BB-415 and the American Standard P5, and can honestly say that the Yamaha is a real Swiss army knife; I love both PUs, either together or separate and while I feel like the P is sometimes the wrong choice, I always get the right tone with the Yamaha. It's depressing, actually, now that I think about it.

To the argument that the P-bucker is too muddy for a b-string, I think there's merit to that argument, but you can bring out a fair amount of clarity moving your pick/fingers toward the bridge.