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Pj pickup advice

Joshuadriller

Joshuadriller

Guest
Apr 30, 2011
201
9
33
Kansas City
#1
I'm building a PJ and I'm looking for some pickups for it.
I'm searching for passive pups that would work well for all types of music (especially alt. rock, and rock playing).
I play fingerstyle and with a pick (palm muting). So my question to you guys is what should I go after..?
 
#5
Joshuadriller said:
I'm building a PJ and I'm looking for some pickups for it.
I'm searching for passive pups that would work well for all types of music (especially alt. rock, and rock playing).
I play fingerstyle and with a pick (palm muting). So my question to you guys is what should I go after..?
Click to expand...

I personally listen to what an instrument sounds like acoustically before selecting a pickup.
 
#10
JellinWellen said:
I Dont see how that would work since he is doing a build in the first place. Plus pickup dont work acoustically.
Click to expand...

You can get a lot of info about the tone of a solid body bass or guitar by playing it unplugged. Some bodies "ring" nicer than others, some sustain longer, some sound brighter, others darker. Pretty much if a solid body doesn't ring nicely acoustically it isn't going to sound good electrically.

Every time I check out an instrument in a music store I try it out un-plugged first.
 
#11
Chainsaw Willie said:
You can get a lot of info about the tone of a solid body bass or guitar by playing it unplugged. Some bodies "ring" nicer than others, some sustain longer, some sound brighter, others darker. Pretty much if a solid body doesn't ring nicely acoustically it isn't going to sound good electrically.

Every time I check out an instrument in a music store I try it out un-plugged first.
Click to expand...

I guess I can see what you mean, I hate the sound of my bass unplugged. But plugged in it sounds great.
 
#14
Joshuadriller said:
I'm building a PJ and I'm looking for some pickups for it.
I'm searching for passive pups that would work well for all types of music (especially alt. rock, and rock playing).
I play fingerstyle and with a pick (palm muting). So my question to you guys is what should I go after..?
Click to expand...

You might want to talk to Pat Wilkins. In addition to some of the best paint and finish work anywhere, he also makes his own basses and winds his own pickups. I have a set in an active PJ5 w/flats, and another in a passive P5 w/nickels and they are both delicious sounding. I use them for a variety of styles, with and without a pick and I love 'em.
 
#16
fwiw... I got a set of peavey foundation s active pickups off ebay a few months ago, and put them in a fender zone pj, and they completely blew away the stock pups and the emg pj set I was using. tons of tone. finding a set, however... another story...
 
#17
Hey you might contact Joe at Gamma he built some pups for me and I love em as much as my EMG passive p/j. I play rock and fast rock punk rock used EMG for over 20yrs and I will not use anything but the pups from Joe at Gamma. He seems to get as close as poss to what a customer asks for...
 
#20
JellinWellen said:
The Dimarzio model p and j are probably best for you. Pretty cheap but they sound good.
Click to expand...

When I was putting together my P/J 5er I went with Dimarzio J and Fender P. A terrific sounding combo. And the P soloed really sounds like a "P". But be aware that they don't quite balance. The P is about 15%-20% hotter than the J. Some people overwind the J to compensate but I prefer to keep it all stock and just roll back the P volume a tad to get balance.

This is always the problem with P/J configurations. Getting a nice balance when both volumes are up full. The alternative is to get over or underwound pickups and then everyone complains that with pickups soloed they don't sound like a "real" P-bass.
 

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