P/J Pickup Combo

[blues_bassist]

I just bought and Epi Ripper, and I want to upgrade the pickups. It is a P/J combination. I'm looking for recommendations on a good P/J set. I play a lot of Blues, Country-Rock, and some "classic rock" (e.g. The Rolling Stones, The Beatles).

 

[winegamd]

Look into Dimarzio and Lindy Fralin. Bartolini would be another good choice, but I would call them and tell them your tone goals and let them help you pick a good match. I think for your styles a passive traditional sound would be more suited than a modern active pickup type. I would definitely say that EMG's would not fit your tonal needs.

 

[blues_bassist]

Thanks for the advice! Yeah, I definitely want to stay passive for sure. I've tried basses with active pickups before and they sound great, just not for my style.

 

[StraightSix]

I've been researching this too for a PJ bass and my understanding is that the J pickup is often pretty underpowered in this setup.

I'm planning on trying a Dimarzio Area J DP248 or the Ultra Jazz DP148 - an added bonus is they are both designed to hum cancel which can be a problem if you want to solo a regular SC J bridge pickup. http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/bass

I'm still very undecided on the P pickup choice though so I'll be following with interest.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

What everyone needs in this case is an under-wound P pickup. That would blend well with the J.

 

[ShirazBop]

I've got a couple P/J basses:
1. Bill Lawrence P/J combination. Ordered them as a set. No problem on evenness of output
2. A Seymour Duncan combination of Hot for P SPB-2 and a Hot Stack J STK-J2

Fellow TB'er Eric Swaim had recommended the STK-J2 to go with the SPB-2's. He's a big P/J player that has a lot of experience and could be consulted with on your questions. I bought a fantastic Japanese Squire rosewood board Precision neck/tuners from him a while ago and had a Dakota Red/White Pick guarded '72 Warmoth light bodied 4 banger P/J built up with these. Great P thump and J burp when you need it... and it looks pretty cool as well, though its taken me some time getting used to it...


Both are very even in sounding. I have a 3 way blade switch on both of these instruments (like the Fender Tony Franklin artist series model) so have a direct compare on the outputs from setting to setting.

 

["Q"]

What everyone needs in this case is an under-wound P pickup. That would blend well with the J.

+1 Even if you're sold a P-J "set" don't assume that they will work well together. IME these are commonly not thought out very well.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

[QUOTE="Q";12703172]+1 Even if you're sold a P-J "set" don't assume that they will work well together. IME these are commonly not thought out very well.[/QUOTE]

Right. They are not made to work together.

I have a solution in the works though.

 

[anonymous073020132]

SGD, give up that info man. I'm about to do another warmoth build & I wana go P/J on this one with the J pickup in the 70's bridge position. If you have something that will work let me know. I was gona go with the SD Antiquity II jazz bass pickup & SD Antiquity P-bass Twin coil, The two bobbins are reverse wound and reverse polarity to make the pickup humbucking.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

SGD, give up that info man. I'm about to do another warmoth build & I wana go P/J on this one with the J pickup in the 70's bridge position. If you have something that will work let me know.

The trick is to wind a P pickup that will work with the J. So you under-wind it. Then when you want it to sound like a P, you have a tapped coil and switch back the full windings.

It's something I'm working on presently.

 

["Q"]

I hate to say it but, the stock P/U I took out of an Affinity Squier measured 6.6k and is actually a pretty balanced sounding P/U.

The high end is a bit prickly but with some alnico poles it might clean up into a nice P/J candidate.

 

[anonymous073020132]

The trick is to wind a P pickup that will work with the J. So you under-wind it. Then when you want it to sound like a P, you have a tapped coil and switch back the full windings.

It's something I'm working on presently.

This sounds awesome can't wait to hear it in action.

 

[Fit4pain]

I spoke with Mr. Fralin about a Aerodyne I am building and he recommended a split coil J wound 5% over with the standard P. I believe I have that in the right order. If you call him he can tell you exactly what you need.