P pickup for rock tone

[shoulderpet]

Hi
I have a Squier Jaguar short scale bass that has p/j pickups, I have a quarter pounder for the bridge pickup and want to swap out the neck pickup. Am after an aggressive rock tone I am considering the following pickups

Dimarzio split P - am interested in this pickup but have found very little info on this one, seems to be quite dark so maybe with the quarter pounder J being pretty bright it will be a good combo

Duncan Quarter pounder P - seems bright and aggressive, might be a bit too much scoop with the quarter pounder J as well

Duncan Spb-2 Hot P - I had this a while ago and ended up swapping it out, I remember it sounded like poopy and had a tonne of mids but I was using flats at the time so I think maybe they were bad match , anyone care to give their perspective on this or their opinion on the pickup in general.
I think with a set of rounds this may be good for a darkish thunderbird-esque tone (think Kings of Leon Charmer)

Thank you

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Get the Split-P, & also install a push/pull volume pot for series/parallel on that pickup.
Split-P has enough output to be useful in parallel, & would brighten it up.

 

[Zoobiedood]

You can also check out the SPB-4, which isn't as extreme as the Quarter Pound. Or an SPB-1 with a signal that is boosted further down the line.

 

[jallenbass]

Duncan Spb-2 Hot P - I had this a while ago and ended up swapping it out, I remember it sounded like poopy and had a tonne of mids but I was using flats at the time so I think maybe they were a bad match, anyone care to give their perspective on this or their opinion on the pickup in general.

The SPB-2 does have a lot of mids and if you really dig in they get very barky. I tend to play with a light right hand so it sounds like a very full Precision bass when I play it.

 

[oldandbold]

I also have a SS Jag, and upgraded mine with SDQP'S. I wasn't getting a good response out of the bridge pup until I raised it up higher. Now my favorite tone is neck and bridge pup full on. To my ears the bridge pup adds high mids that sound less scooped. No matter what you go with I'd make sure to have that bridge pup raised as high as you can without causing other problems.

 

[iiipopes]

If you like the SDQP in the J-bridge position, then get a SDQP for the P-position. It will coordinate and have the same aggressive tone as the SDQP J-bridge, and will be easier to install, as you won't have to worry about polarity (same color code) or pots. If after installation you want a little more high end out of the bass, even with stainless steel strings, at that point you can decide if you want to go to 500 kohm pots that will brighten the bass marginally.

I tried a DiMarzio Split-P, and it had a hard tone that was in your face, but without character.

 

[shoulderpet]

Thanks for the replies, one thing I was wondering, a P/J bass generally will have a mid scoop with both pickups on full, if I put a very middy pickup as the J pickup like for example a Seymour Duncan Sjb-2 Hot would this counter the scoop or would the extra mids also end up being cancelled out with both pickups on full?

 

[Zoobiedood]

I don't think a P & J pickup on together will cancel too many mids, as the construction of both pickups is pretty dissimilar. I do think a more powerful J pickup has more influence over the blend as opposed to a weaker, vintage J.

 

[shoulderpet]

Ok thanks, also do you think the bad tone I got with the SPB-2 was due to using flats? I know it is a very middy pickup with some roll off in the highs and I think maybe as flats have very little top end it was a bad match, ive got an itch to try it again with rounds im guessing it may be a good pickup for some of the darker rock tones (motley crue, kings of leon etc)