P lover going J

[darwin-bass]

It hurts to say it, but I am planning to convert one of my P basses to a J.

I have preferred the P sound for decades. Had Js and always liked the neck PU soloed. Also likes the bridge PU soloed but never liked the scooped mid sound of both pickups together. I hate hum so always ran split coil hum cancellers.

Lately I have noticed the best sounding basses at church are single coil Js and the players run both pickups. My P and stingray basses are better instruments but through the church PA they don’t sound better.

So I will very likely be disassembling my fav P bass, routing J pickup cavities and making a new pickguard. If it doesn’t work out, I can change it to PJ.

 

[BigBigGuy44]

Personally, I’d buy a loaded jazz body or build one out before modifying a favorite bass. If you don’t like the end result, you can likely sell the loaded body for close to what you have in it whereas your P may never be the same.

 

[cosmic]

It hurts to say it, but I am planning to convert one of my P basses to a J.

I have preferred the P sound for decades. Had Js and always liked the neck PU soloed. Also likes the bridge PU soloed but never liked the scooped mid sound of both pickups together. I hate hum so always ran split coil hum cancellers.

Lately I have noticed the best sounding basses at church are single coil Js and the players run both pickups. My P and stingray basses are better instruments but through the church PA they don’t sound better.

So I will very likely be disassembling my fav P bass, routing J pickup cavities and making a new pickguard. If it doesn’t work out, I can change it to PJ.

A J bass with both pickups on sounds wonderful. But of course the scooped mids can be a challenge in the mix. What I do to solve this is determine what mid frequencies are lacking in the mix and boost them a bit on my amp (currently a Subway WD-800 where I can sweep the EQ). Then you get that nice scooped J-bass sound that does get lost as easily in dense mix.

 

[Vanheusen77]

If that the sound you think works the best then I would sell a P bass and just get a J instead. Heavily modified basses are often not a good investment.

 

[Jefenator]

+1 on the body swap option. I've done it many times. (It all started when I wanted to get rid of an extra J rout on my '78 P.)

The big danger there is you might get another neck for the extra body, then wind up with more bass guitars than intended. (DAMHIK) But there are worse fates.

I personally love a good single coil neck J pickup solo'd. It's a little deeper than the P - more understated - but still present. I use the "both" setting a lot, too.

In a "keep only one" scenario, for me it would 100% be a good J with singles.

 

[JRA]

i think that having a good, reliable J is a great idea, but i'd be more than a little reluctant to modify a favorite instrument just to "try" a different configuration...but: you have a follow-through plan (plan B) that trumps a P or a J, IMO, so....

i voted "all steam ahead!" and good luck!

 

[michael_t]

Lately I have noticed the best sounding basses at church are single coil Js and the players run both pickups. My P and stingray basses are better instruments but through the church PA they don’t sound better.

I've always liked the way my J sounds in a mix at church better than my P. And I do play my J with both pickups full on. My two Yamaha 5-string basses (PJ & HH) have been the main players for church for the last few years, but now that I've acquired a second J back in Nov, I have a feeling I'll be playing my two J's (one with rounds and one with flats) more often going forward.

 

[Minimalist]

Lately I have noticed the best sounding basses at church are single coil Js and the players run both pickups. My P and stingray basses are better instruments but through the church PA they don’t sound better.

Define "best sounding". If they only sound better through the PA, I would think it's an issue with whoever dials in the PA. With a decent P or MM yiu can get a decent sound for any music. Everything else is a matter of taste.

 

[HardNHeavy]

keep the P if it sounds good, just buy a J or parts build something to your taste. ya gotta have both...imo

 

[MattZilla]

None of that OP makes a lick of sense.

At all.

Please just read it all out loud a few times.

 

[Slade N]

Get a J, dont mess with your P

 

[jastraw]

None of that OP makes a lick of sense.

At all.

Please just read it all out loud a few times.

+1

 

[red_rhino]

So I will very likely be disassembling my fav P bass, routing J pickup cavities and making a new pickguard. If it doesn’t work out, I can change it to PJ.

None of that OP makes a lick of sense.

I have to agree. Why would you carve up a bass you love, especially for something that may or may not turn out to be what you want? It makes way more sense to buy exactly what you want (and perhaps ultimately sell it when you tire of it), so that you still have your favorite P bass.

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

*SMP seeking SFJ. Must be into body swapping, neck positions, and PJs *

Happy New Year, buy a Jazz Bass

 

[micguy]

Ask the other bassists at your church what they're running in their pedalboards. The secret to their tone could very well be elsewhere in their rig - if someone is running a J, but soloing the neck pickup, and it sounds better than your P, then the "secret" definitely isn't the pickup configuration. You might just need to put some eq in your signal to "un-P" it a bit. It could also be that (looks both ways) they practice more than you. If that's the secret, then a new or reconfigured bass isn't the answer. The message is - figure out the cause of your issue, don't jump to a solution until you've thought of what else might be causing your unease with your sound.

 

[Wasnex]

So I will very likely be disassembling my fav P bass, routing J pickup cavities and making a new pickguard. If it doesn’t work out, I can change it to PJ.

I can't imagine why would you do this to your favorite P, if you have other choices.

 

[waver]

I’m also a long-time P-bass lover who recently started digging the J-bass sound. Here’s my solution. (Emphasis on “my”. You do whatever turns you on!)

This P-type is my current #1. I recently picked up my first J bass ever. I love playing it, and love having both!

 

[Wasnex]

Had Js and always liked the neck PU soloed. Also likes the bridge PU soloed but never liked the scooped mid sound of both pickups together.

I set up my basses so the pickups have equal output when they are both full on, or the blend is set to the center. That's not how I run them, as I don't care for the resulting mid scoop either.

When playing I usually adjust the controls to slightly favor one pickup or the other. The effective range of blend is pretty small...a fraction of a turn. If you adjust beyond this, it's pretty much the same as running only one pickup.

With most basses I like the bridge pickup to be dominant. But with my #1, it prefer the neck pickup to be dominant. Usually don't like the bridge pickup soloed on this bass. Neck pickup soloed gets pretty close to a P-bass sound, which is not really my thing.

 

[Grinderman]

I don't like telling people what to do so I'll just say that's not what I'd tell you to do... if I did.

 

[Malak the Mad]

I may be a big-time Jazz lover, but it sounds like you'd be better off leaving your other favorites alone before you make any changes you can't reverse. If nothing else, you could get a Jazz body here on the TalkBass Classifieds, load it up the way you prefer, then put a Precision neck on it, assuming such things even matter to you.

Later, if the situation has changed somehow, you can decide if you still want to keep the Jazz around AND you'll still have your Precision and Stingray in their intact states.