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PJ Club

A while ago I posted a question about who the great PJ bassists are. And since this is the PJ club and there are a lot of members in it, I figured this would be the best place to get a bunch of suggestions.
Surprisingly there was not even one!
Aren't there any really good PJ bassists who might have inspired you guys to get a bass like that yourselves?
For me on Jazz Bass: Marcus Miller, Jaco, John Pena, Alex Al.
P Bass : Paul Jackson, Jamerson, Pino, Willie Weeks
PJ: Victor, Doug Johns, Kai Eckhard Karpeh... but I can't think of any others...
can you guys help me out here?

I never really thought of it in those terms. I've always thought of it as tool that covers both P and J tones. Certainly Vic Wooten, Tony Franklin and Reggie Hamilton come to mind.
 
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For me the appeal of the PJ config has more to do with the great basses that have featured this spectacular combo.

The Spector NS-2, Guild Pilot, Pedulla MVP, Warwick Streamer, Fender Jazz Bass Special, Alembic Persuader, Fodera Yin Yang... to name a few.

Some of the players I associate with those basses: Doug Wimbish, Sting, Jerry Peek, Jason Newstead, Stuart Zender, TM Stevens, Victor Wooten and of course, my mentor, Doug Johns.

These guys are great players that chose these awesome basses as their creative tool.
 
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Aren't there any really good PJ bassists who might have inspired you guys to get a bass like that yourselves?

Well, no, and yes. Really good bassists don't have any time to talk to the likes of me and merely seeing pictures of a great bassist playing a specific model doesn't really inspire me to go out and purchase one. So I rely on the people who do talk to me about their basses and what they like about them, the folks here on TB. Many of them are in fact really good PJ bassists and their comments about about why they love the breed are what inspired me to start looking at PJs. Once I did that I noticed a sleeper in the MIM Fender lineup, the Reggie Hamilton Standard Jazz. Sadly it is now discontinued along with virtually all the somewhat unique models that Fender offered a few years ago. It was only after I bought one that I began to investigate Reggie Hamilton's body of work and discovered that not only is he a really good PJ bassist, he does make time to talk to the likes of me once in a while!
 
Doug+Wimbish+Life+Beautiful+Festival+Day+2+YM1Oz4wo1Hrl.jpg
 
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Two pairs of glasses on his head.... looks pretty goofy. I did that same thing too tor a while .Mark needs to get himself some transition/progressive glasses. :)
Mark has never been on my radar as a guy who's playing I liked. But these two guys sure are. Not crazy about the high fuzz tone stuff but with a clear sound that Spector with the reverse P pickup sounds really good. More like Stanley's bass.I suppose it's not possible to get that sound with a regular PJ setup?
 
Well you asked for P/J players that influenced me, so I gave ya two...Doug Johns, Kai, and Victor are not players that have ever been on my radar or influenced me, but Wimbish and Egan are amazing and have influenced me. I don't really care if Mark Egan wears a catcher's mask on his face...he is a bad mo-fo
 
Just played a few P/Js today and it was an interesting experience! I couldn't get a pure P or J tone, but some strange hybrid that really excited me. Boy, if I had $300 I would have bought it. This beautifully made Squier P/J.
 
Do y'all generally feel that the presence of the J pickup has an effect on the P pick-up solo'd? It may just be anecdotal, but the solo'd P on my PJ seems to lack a little *something* that my last few Ps. It's not a bad thing really, just different.
 
Also, what are some of the production models that feature a PJ config on a jazz body? I'm thinking of getting a loaded body that I can add a Warmoth neck to. So far, I can think of...

- Reggie Hamilton Jazz Bass
- '75 MIJ Jazz Bass
- American Vintage Hot Rod Jazz Bass

*I didn't list the aerodyne or special because I prefer the classic jazz look with pickguard.
 
Do y'all generally feel that the presence of the J pickup has an effect on the P pick-up solo'd? It may just be anecdotal, but the solo'd P on my PJ seems to lack a little *something* that my last few Ps. It's not a bad thing really, just different.

The load can be different on passive basses. Since a P normally has 2 x 250k pots, when you add a J pickup most commonly add a 3rd pot and change the resistance and the tone of the P solo'd. There are a number of threads in pickups and electronics discussing this. But to your point neither good or bad but different
 
I've got EMG X pickups with a EMG X blend pot. I don't know what the values are but it seems to work perfectly. P and J bass Pickups soloed sound exactly like they should. The P pickckup is of course a lot louder. so I have it about 1/4" away from the strings and the J pickup is really close, like 1/16". That gives me a pretty nice sound at center click. At EMG they told me that it's OK to put the P pickup further away because the sound of their pickups is not affected by the distance to the strings. Only the output level.
 
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Do y'all generally feel that the presence of the J pickup has an effect on the P pick-up solo'd? It may just be anecdotal, but the solo'd P on my PJ seems to lack a little *something* that my last few Ps. It's not a bad thing really, just different.
It's not just a feeling. I actually installed a switch on my short scale PJ that disconnects the J pickup and the J volume control. The P definitely gets more punch that way.
 
Do y'all generally feel that the presence of the J pickup has an effect on the P pick-up solo'd? It may just be anecdotal, but the solo'd P on my PJ seems to lack a little *something* that my last few Ps. It's not a bad thing really, just different.
Yes, I do think so. I tried soloing the P and it didn't sound like my P bass. That J pickup changes things. The hybrid sound is good, I like it a lot. But not being able to get pure P isn't so good.