P/J Pickup MixMatch OK?

[Mas Fuego]

I have an entry level jackson that I learned to play bass on years ago. It plays great and sounds terrible. Absolutely terrible.

Since it has a bad volume pot (slightly lowers volume but does not kill it) that I was going to replace I thought I would swap the pickups. I don't want to spend a fortune on this, I just want to be able to distinguish notes when playing.

Question: Can I buy a set of split coil pickups and a single jazz pickup and throw them in there? Or does the p/j require some sort of matched set?

 

[iiipopes]

To get the optimum out of a P/J, the pickups should be similar. This means similar construction and windings so that they blend well, and that they have the same magnetic and electrical polarity (direction of magnets and direction of the coil windings). They don't have to be exact, and they can even mix-and-match, especially if they are designed to work with Fender OEM.

The problem with your particular bass is that it may or may not have a P pickup in the same magnetic and electrical orientation as Fender OEM, so to simply purchase a Jazz pickup and try to fit it in may or may not coordinate well.

 

[Mas Fuego]

To get the optimum out of a P/J, the pickups should be similar. This means similar construction and windings so that they blend well, and that they have the same magnetic and electrical polarity (direction of magnets and direction of the coil windings). They don't have to be exact, and they can even mix-and-match, especially if they are designed to work with Fender OEM.

The problem with your particular bass is that it may or may not have a P pickup in the same magnetic and electrical orientation as Fender OEM, so to simply purchase a Jazz pickup and try to fit it in may or may not coordinate well.

I plan to replace both the jazz and split p if that makes a difference.

 

[Mas Fuego]

As an addendum, I just looked at the original p pickup, it has one wire going between the two instead of two wires.

 

[line6man]

Question: Can I buy a set of split coil pickups and a single jazz pickup and throw them in there? Or does the p/j require some sort of matched set?

It depends what you want. A balanced PJ set will have an overwound J, but that won't give you a traditional Jazz bass vibe. A regular J pickup will, but the pickup blend will sound different.

 

[jim777]

I am pretty sure DiMarzio sells a P/J set. I have that set in my old Fernandes but would need to look up the model numbers, etc. IMHO they sound great.
EDIT: It's the DP 126 set.

 

[Mas Fuego]

I am pretty sure DiMarzio sells a P/J set. I have that set in my old Fernandes but would need to look up the model numbers, etc. IMHO they sound great.
EDIT: It's the DP 126 set.

Thanks. Wound up ordering a pj set of Dragonfire pickups. I will post when all is done.