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PJ replacement

ctbass

ctbass

Jun 21, 2005
503
128
Colorado
#1
Like many a foolish men of my age..(not talking about younger women) - many years ago I replaced the pickups in my '78 P bass with a Bartolini TCT system with PJ.

Would like de-ACTIVE-ate this bass with a passive PJ p/u. I know there are a variety of options - but how do you decide without actually hearing them in your bass?????

Would really appreciate your thoughts.
Brands-tones, etc.

Thank you very much in advance.
 
#3
There are properties of pickups that can be described in relation to others, and some good descriptions of the expected tones you can get from them. If you described the kind of tone you seek, you'll get suggestions that point in that direction. It's a subjective subject, of course. For example if you asked about which pickups sounded extra bright, you would get some reasonable opinions. There are tons of sound clips on Tb that can give a general idea of pickup sound. ...For example... if you wanted a traditional Fender sound from SD pups, you would be better off with SPB1, and SJB1, than you would with SPB3 and STKJ2. Sound clips, and opinions have some merit, and can get you in the ballpark of what you seek, I've found some good info on TB, but, wound up with an unpopular pickup choice that I'm delighted with on my P/J. I did get some good info here, before I made choices. Go to UTube and listen to a bunch, you'll have some idea, but, even with detailed descriptions of what your after, it's subjective, and not decisive
 
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#4
Well said GM; and thank you. I am absolutely looking to get back to that "original" passive Pbass tone (understanding the subjectivity of that statement.) I wish that the J p/u were not there, but since it is I would like to blend in some growl/bite....but not a BRIGHT tone per se; I have active basses for that.

Thanks again
 
#5
I'll go out on a limb, in saying I have experience with Duncan pups, and, to my ears SPB1, and SJB1 have a traditional Fender flavor, and I will get criticized for saying so, Fender also makes pups that sound traditional. My other thought is since the J pup is a secondary thought, do you want something quiet, tradional J pups aren't, however, most humbucking J's don't quite capture Fenders original sound, though some sound "good" to me. There are a mind boggling number of p, and j pups from different manufacturers that are made with the intention of getting a "Fender" sound, I expect some will say, "how can you dare to make that suggestion", my "subjective" reply is to listen to some on utube, you would get some idea.
 
#8
I'm glad you put up sound clips of the Geezers Jimmy, The video of Geezer playing them gives little indication of what they do alone. I've never played them, or even heard them live, but they sure sound good in your clips. I would not have thought they would have a vintage kinda vibe, but they do.
 
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#10
ctbass said:
Well said GM; and thank you. I am absolutely looking to get back to that "original" passive Pbass tone (understanding the subjectivity of that statement.) I wish that the J p/u were not there, but since it is I would like to blend in some growl/bite....but not a BRIGHT tone per se; I have active basses for that.

Thanks again
Click to expand...

Hello. My understanding is that original P pickup in your 1978 Precision Bass was machine wound (automated, no-one guiding the machine for scatter winding). Just in case that is true, to most closely replicate its sound, you would seek either 1. a vintage Fender pickup made around 1978, or 2. a current production pickup whose maker claimed to mimic the sound of later 1970s Fender bass pickups (by any means, WRT materials and technique).

Recently I acquired a 1976 Fender Precision pickup. I revived its wiring and tried it in a bass I got for testing pickups. Sadly that bass wasn't up to the job, so I'm trying to get a better one. Two, in fact; two PJ basses. I have in hand one PJ pickup set by Klein Pickups, and a custom PJ set on order from OC Duff Pickups. Once I have a new PJ test bass, I will post reviews of those pickup sets in this forum.

As others said here, you have to hear the pickups to know. Buy used when you can, but boutique pickups rarely come up for sale used. Anyway, after you try enough varieties to get a better sense of what exactly you do and don't want, then you can sell them all and order a custom set from an independent maker; a set that, if the maker correctly interprets your description, could be better for you than any stock set you can buy.

Any custom product order risks the maker not getting it right, of course, so instead of selling all the ones you tried first, keep the set you like best, order the custom set, then compare the two sets. If the custom set is better for you, keep it and sell the others; if not, either try again or just keep the known good set.

Whew...

Good luck with your search. :)
 
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