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PJ Club

#781
Shardik said:
I have a problem with PJs. I own/have owned four. On every one of them, I love the P, and the J sounds good, too, but it's almost always significantly weaker (meaning less perceived volume), than the P pickup.

Is this all in the design? Does the combination of a higher output of the P pickup combined with its position where the string vibrates more make it close to impossible to make the J pickuo compete?

I love the flexibility of having two pickups, but would love it even more if they were a better match.
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I'm not really sure if the P are always actually and significantly louder (I don't see much difference on my input VU, for example) or if it is, as you suggest, more to do with position and having an inherently fuller tone makes them seem so against the J, but I find in a VVT arrangement is really doesn't matter that much - you can just use the volume controls to balance in the blend, knowing that you have a bit in the tank if you need it. It can get a bit fiddly but perhaps fiddly is the price of flexibility? With a pickup selector and single volume control as I used to have the matching is critical and, if wrong, a real PITA, hence changing to VVT.
 
#782
Shardik said:
I usually like the stock P pickup. If possible, the P pickup should sound like a traditional Precision, IMHO. How is that Fralin set in that respect?
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I believe the fralin set is a stock P and a 10-15% over wind of the J. I think the right pot values get you the rest of the way there. Remember a P has just a volume and tone, if you just add another volume without compensating the pot resistance the P will sound different then normal.

Plenty of threads that talk about different ways of doing it and the math behind each to get the desired result.

I've had 3 different basses two were mods of a P bass that I did different configs on. My favorite of the two was a 58 reissue with fralins wired blend tone, I changed the pots 3 times before settling there. There is a thread about it. My current bass is a Valenti with nordstrand and a sadowsky pre
 
#784
A-Step-Towards said:
Here are my 2 1986 Fender Jazz Specials, one CAR in very clean/stock shape and one beat to hell and modded/saved from wall art black model.


View attachment 714844 View attachment 714845 View attachment 714846
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Interesting…the CAR's pickups look a lot like the "Hotrod" pups on my dearly departed "All-Black" JB62. Growly lil' bastiches! :thumbsup:

Shardik said:
I have a problem with PJs. I own/have owned four. On every one of them, I love the P, and the J sounds good, too, but it's almost always significantly weaker (meaning less perceived volume), than the P pickup.

Is this all in the design? Does the combination of a higher output of the P pickup combined with its position where the string vibrates more make it close to impossible to make the J pickup compete?

I love the flexibility of having two pickups, but would love it even more if they were a better match.
Click to expand...

I stumbled into a decent balance with an MIJ Precision pickup and a Fender Super 55 split-coil Jazz. The lack of 60-cycle hum is a nice, little bonus too. ;)

A little ways back, I was discussing Jazz pickups with a guy from Seymour Duncan via email. I was asking him if an SJB-2b "Hot" in the bridge spot would go well with an SJB-3n "Quarter Pounder". He said yes, it would work well in "…the less-hot bridge position". So, ever since then, I've tried to make sure my bridge pickup was a bit "hotter" than the norm.
 
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#785
peterpalmieri said:
I believe the fralin set is a stock P and a 10-15% over wind of the J. I think the right pot values get you the rest of the way there. Remember a P has just a volume and tone, if you just add another volume without compensating the pot resistance the P will sound different then normal.

Plenty of threads that talk about different ways of doing it and the math behind each to get the desired result.

I've had 3 different basses two were mods of a P bass that I did different configs on. My favorite of the two was a 58 reissue with fralins wired blend tone, I changed the pots 3 times before settling there. There is a thread about it. My current bass is a Valenti with nordstrand and a sadowsky pre
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I know. I have another PJ where i replaced one pot with one with a push-pull switch which lets me decouple the J-pickup and volume pot from the circuit. But given that difference, a "traditional" P pickup still provides a good P sound, so the challenge is still to match those P and J pickups without compromising too much on the P sound.
 
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#786
A-Step-Towards said:
... Recently though Fender issued a Hot Rod 60s P bass that had 60s Fender logo, Modern tuners, Fender highmass bridge non string through and a 1.625 Inch nut width I believe, It was P neck unsure on the width it may of been 1 3/4 but it wasnt a J neck.
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Yes, the neck on the American Vintage Hot Rod '60s P-bass has 1.625" nut width.

The stock pickups (Pure Vintage '63 P and '64 J) in the AVHR P-bass have a nice vintage sound, but I wanted a little more brash, less-vintage sound from mine. I've always liked the DiMarzio Model P for hard rock and punky stuff, so I dropped in a DiMarzio DP126 (Model P and Model J) set in my AVHR. It seemed to me that the Model J wasn't quite up to the hot P output, so I changed that out for a DiMarzio DP148 Ultra Jazz pickup. So far, I'm really happy with this configuration.

I think the PJ sound is really distinctive — in a way, more than the mere sum of its parts — not just a discrete P sound and a discrete J sound combined.

I put a switch in my AVHR, so I can isolate the P and J pickups to get the discrete sound of either pickup when I want it, and I use the passive (original AVHR) VVT circuit to adjust the pickup blend and tone to get a particular PJ sound that I want, to suit the mood and the music.

AVHR P-bass with Ultra Jazz pickup

AVHR P-bass with Ultra Jazz pickup

 
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#788
So.....series parallel is.....interesting. It seems to add a lot of mids. Like, a lot. Not sure how happy I am with the sound with the tone up, but it's great with the tone down. I think that's all I'll probably ever use it for. He wired push/pull on the volume. He said the switch complicated things, but it worked out so that P and PJ positions are the same in series, and the J position is a kill switch.
 
#789
Oh, and I put a Hipshot type A on the bass which, if I'm being honest, doesn't seem to make one bit of difference. Looks cool though.
image.jpeg
 
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#790
I just ordered the Delano J. This one won't do. It just doesn't do its part. The PJ tone is almost identical to the P tone. Maybe once the J is in, series mode will be as beastly as I had hoped for rather than just kinda nasal.
 
#791
Gorn said:
I just ordered the Delano J. This one won't do. It just doesn't do its part. The PJ tone is almost identical to the P tone. Maybe once the J is in, series mode will be as beastly as I had hoped for rather than just kinda nasal.
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It sounds like you have run into the classic PJ problem of unbalanced pickups. IME, even the same 'range' from the same manufacturer is no guarantee of a nice blend. Even if there are only half as many 'nice blends' as there are 'blenders', the manufacturers' take on 'balanced' will always be a compromise. The only solution is VVT or BVT wiring. Abandoning the selector was the best thing I ever did - I just wish I had done it 25 years ago. It's also a lot cheaper than a bunch of new pups.
 
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#792
SteveCS said:
It sounds like you have run into the classic PJ problem of unbalanced pickups. IME, even the same 'range' from the same manufacturer is no guarantee of a nice blend. Even if there are only half as many 'nice blends' as there are 'blenders', the manufacturers' take on 'balanced' will always be a compromise. The only solution is VVT or BVT wiring. Abandoning the selector was the best thing I ever did - I just wish I had done it 25 years ago. It's also a lot cheaper than a bunch of new pups.
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I love the switch. I'm sure the Delano J will at least make some difference, hopefully. No blending for me.
 
#794
Some anecdotes, I had a late 90s Fender special (The transorange PJ) it had a great PJ sound but not a fabulous Solo'd P or J sound. I had a matched set of Fralins with the 10% overwound J, the P and J on there own were great as a PJ it was decent. Both of those were passive. I now have Nordstrands with a Sadowsky pre all combinations sound fabulous in both active and passive mode. The P is the diagonal pole piece version and the J is a single coil, the only downside is it hums in PJ and J mode, not an issue live but worth mentioning.
 
#796
Gorn said:
I Delano'd my Tony Franklin.
View attachment 713775
I've been fascinated by this pickup ever since I saw this:


It's the best bass tone I've ever heard. I don't have this guy's chops, but the pickup sounds fantastic. I think I'll probably end up getting the jazz Delano as well.
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Thanks for this vid. I freakin' love that tone. My p/j sounds almost like that in p only mode. Did I mention I love his tone? Does anybody know what brand of bass that is?
FF
 

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