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Quick PJ Series/Parallel Switch Question
- Thread starter Stoom
- Start date
If you have a P/J wired in parallel, and the volumes are wired so the pickup connects to the center of each volume pot, each control will affect only its own pickup. So turning the J pup down to zero will get you a P-bass - not perfect, because the J is still electrically in the circuit, but it'll be almost inaudible.
If you have a P/J in series using the most common wiring, each volume pot will affect the entire bass, so you won't be able to turn down just one of the pickups down a notch.
If you want to have a P/J with a series/parallel switch, but with the ability to still tone down each pickup individually, Invalid Link Removed. Worked like a charm.
If you have a P/J in series using the most common wiring, each volume pot will affect the entire bass, so you won't be able to turn down just one of the pickups down a notch.
If you want to have a P/J with a series/parallel switch, but with the ability to still tone down each pickup individually, Invalid Link Removed. Worked like a charm.
Yes and no, depending on whose opinion you believe.
There are hundreds of threads debating the significance of this. Some say a PJ with the J removed from the circuit is a P bass, while others insist it is never quite the same.
It depends on the bass and the pickups and the circuit.
To have a bass sound like a P with the J turned off it's necessary for the P-bass pickup to actually be a real p-bass pickup and the loading it sees be identical to what a p-bass sees.
So, what this amounts to, is that typically P-bass pickups are hotter than J-pickups so sometimes on PJ basses the P pickup is underwound so that when both volumes are up full you get a decent balance. That changes the P tone slightly. The other thing is that a PJ bass has two volume controls that are basically in parallel when only the P-pickup is used. So if the P bass used a 250k single volume control, a PJ bass would need two 500k volumes to have the same loading when the J is turned down.
My self-modded PJ uses a real Fender P-pickup with two 500k volume pots and it does sound just like a P with the J turned off. However, with both pickups turned up full it doesn't quite balance right (P-pickup is hotter than the J) so I typically need the P at about 80% to get the tone I want out of a P-J balance.
But I wasn't trying to be anal about the tone anyway, because the thing that I like best about my PJ is that nice wide P-style neck while still having the added tonal range that the PJ lets you choose.
Note also that just for drill I put a series-parallel push-pull switch for the two halves of the P pickup on the P pickup volume control. Now if you select the P pickup in parallel it DOES balance the J pickup! But the tone is rather thin and I found this mod to not be worth much.
