Squier PJ - as good as a P bass?

[fuzzbro]

I've got my eye on the Vintage Modified Squier PJ and almost pulled the trigger, because I love the P bass tone, and there's a bridge pickup added, just in case things get too muddy when downtuning to B. Sounds like a good deal, right?

The reason I'm hesitating is a post somewhere on TB claiming that due to different pickup output levels (P being the higher output pup) they both need to be balanced - either the J boosted or the P turned down. I'd like to know which method was used for the new Squier Vintage Modified PJ.

Now, I understand there's a good reason for providing a balance between the two pickups, I simply don't want the P pup to be subdued in any way, because if it is, I may as well just get a standard P bass.

tl;dr - I'd like to know if the output/tone of the P pickup on a Squier PJ bass is the same as it is on a standard P bass without the J pup.

 

[Wallace320]

Vintage Modified p/j has an agathis body (somewhat of an indonesian - where Vintage Modified series is made - pinewood) whether Affinity p/j bears a way more traditional, and Fender wise - not on par with quality and resonance tho' - alder body. That's because Affinity series is crafted in China (just like top of the line Classic Vibe Squiers and Fender Modern Player too) and there they have alder, pine and also basswood. In Indonesia they mostly have (soft) maple, basswood and agathis.

If you're a beginner and play mostly effected, agathis can sound a bit brighter and, thanx to a correct fx choice, can dig its niche in the mix
Yet alder brings that good 'ole midrange punch and - to your question - is more faithful to the traditional P style way of keepin' the lowend.

I'd tell buy an Affinity p/j and put some DiMarzio Area p/j pickups and you'll be good to go

Cheers,
Wallace

PS: this way, when soloed, splitcoil is quite close to the real thing
It's not only on this
I once had Fender Reggie Hamilton jazz bass, and as it had active electronics (just to allow bridge noiseless pickup to get boosted if need be) with on/off switch, whenever in passive mode, AlNiCo splitcoil, placed in the sweetspot, sounded exactly like a Precision bass
So did Fender Frank Bello Jazz, with factory Seymour Duncan quarter pounder
So did Fender Modern Player Jaguar and does Fender Modern Player shortscale Jazz
So didn't Fender BlackTop Jazz, for its front splitcoil, on a dual splitcoil configuration, wasn't in the proverbial sweetspot

 

[Olde Axeman]

At one time I had in my possession a Squier PJ and a Squier P bass as well as a Fender MIA JP-90 (PJ) and a Fender MIA P-bass.

I spent a lot of time playing those 4 basses trying to discover any tonal differences. I even put the same strings on all 4 basses (D'addario XL nickels, .045" - .105").

My official subjective non-professional conclusion is that the MIA basses in general sounded better than the Squiers (no surprise), but not by a huge margin. More specifically, I reached the following 7 conclusions. These are correct on my planet; maybe not on other people's planets:

- The Squier PJ with the P-pup soloed sounded pretty much identical to the Squier P-bass.
- The Fender JP-90 with the P-pup soloed sounded pretty much identical to the Fender P-bass.
- There was a bigger difference from Squier to Fender than there was Squier to Squier or Fender to Fender.
- On both of my PJ basses the J-pup was weaker than the P-pup.
- On both of my PJ basses the J-pup could be effectively "strengthened" by raising it and/or lowering the P-pup.
- Overall, the best use of the J-pup was to "color" rather than supplant the P-bass tone.
- There appears to be no reason whatsoever to eschew a PJ, be it Squier or Fender, as the J-pup allows a greater variety of tonal options without sacrificing P-bass tone.

I've had more issues with tone because of room acoustics, regardless of whether I was using Squier or Fender, than I've ever had with trying to get a P-bass tone from a soled P-pup on a PJ bass. Just my 2 cents worth.

I also agree with Wallace that hand-selecting an Affinity PJ with a good neck and adding quality aftermarket pickups will make a better player than a stock VM. It just won't look as purty. Your money, your choices.

 

[Bassamatic]

I'd say that Olde Axeman pretty much nailed it. AND - I will say that in actual use, playing with a band, no one can hear the difference between a PJ using the P pup and a P.

The Squier / P sound difference is surely due to different quality pickups - the hardware is largely where the price difference comes from.