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What is the best P J combo pickups?

Do any of you think that a joe barden pickup will eliminate the phase canceling issues? I love my stock p pickup. I get this great low mid sound that's great for Latin music but I can't stand the noise I get from the pickup in my fender p lyte...

What phase cancelation issue are you referring to?

Are you talking about a Barden P or J? If you mean fort the J, the Barden won't hum like a single coil.
 
I'm thinking of upgrading my Squire P Bass Special to some Dimarzio DP126 (seems to be the best bang for the buck on TB). Do I need to change the pots, capacitor, etc or is the stock stuff okay? I'm kinda clueless on this.

Also, What is the tonal difference between a PBass Special and a Jazz Bass deluxe like Duff's? The pickups are the same and both passive so is there much of a difference??
 
SGD Lutherie said:
What phase cancelation issue are you referring to?

Are you talking about a Barden P or J? If you mean fort the J, the Barden won't hum like a single coil.

Walter w mentioned something about 2 strings... Sound out of phase, which I'm assuming the j barden's will eliminate but the" blend"sound these guys are discussing. The joe bardens I'm assuming have a flat frequency. Will adding a flat frequency not blend well with the p pu I currently use? Should I be looking for a j pu that favors highs or lows or is this a hunting issue on my part? I don't want get rid of my current p pu. I like the low mids the p pu give me.
 
Walter w mentioned something about 2 strings... Sound out of phase, which I'm assuming the j barden's will eliminate but the" blend"sound these guys are discussing. The joe bardens I'm assuming have a flat frequency. Will adding a flat frequency not blend well with the p pu I currently use? Should I be looking for a j pu that favors highs or lows or is this a hunting issue on my part? I don't want get rid of my current p pu. I like the low mids the p pu give me.

That was with the Suhr pickup. The Barden will work with a regular P pickup. The Barden is not a split coil.

All pickups have a resonant peak. The more you wind them, the more pronounced it is. So the Barden is probably as flat as any other pickup, but the resonant peak might be different.

The one thing is that the Bardens are fairly under wound to keep them bright. The Jazz pickups are 4.66k - 4.79k, so the P might overpower them more than usual.
 
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I'm thinking of upgrading my Squire P Bass Special to some Dimarzio DP126 (seems to be the best bang for the buck on TB). Do I need to change the pots, capacitor, etc or is the stock stuff okay? I'm kinda clueless on this.

Also, What is the tonal difference between a PBass Special and a Jazz Bass deluxe like Duff's? The pickups are the same and both passive so is there much of a difference??

anyone? I'm hoping to pull the trigger today, just want to make sure I'm getting everything figured up front.
 
anyone? I'm hoping to pull the trigger today, just want to make sure I'm getting everything figured up front.

I'm going through a similar situation here, except that I've bought everything piece by piece and am trying to get the last things together now. All I can suggest is that you can read opinions and reviews from people with experience and knowledge, and put effort into seeking out samples on YouTube or elsewhere too. But beyond that, there's a point where the deciding factor will be when you play the bass and either do or don't like the sound. People can try and make suggestions based on your taste and style for playing, tone, music etc. But it's still going to come down to what you think.

That was with the Suhr pickup. The Barden will work with a regular P pickup. The Barden is not a split coil.

P.S. I PM'ed you on this issue! No pressure but I would love to hear your opinion. Thanks.
 
I stumbled on this thread looking for reviews and maybe a sound bite on aero pickups. I want one but I don't think the pole pieces will line up. the current pickups i have are not exposed so I would like a j pu that looks similar unless the sound is exceptional.
 
I stumbled on this thread looking for reviews and maybe a sound bite on aero pickups. I want one but I don't think the pole pieces will line up. the current pickups i have are not exposed so I would like a j pu that looks similar unless the sound is exceptional.

With the way that magnets work, strings usually don't have to be directly over the pole pieces to get a decent output and sound. I'm no expert but I'm sure you would have a little leeway. If you wanted to be anal about it, you could try measuring to guess at where the strings are in relation to the covers and check out diagrams of the replacements if the manufacturer provides them. I did some of that when I installed a new bridge, but it turned out only being a few millimeters difference. We'll see when I switch from the stock Ibanez covered to exposed poles.
 
walterw said:
a fender 62 "original" or duncan spb-1 "vintage" with a dimarzio ultra jazz or area J is a really good combo, and for well under $200.

they blend well, each pickup sounds like the classic it's modeled after, they look "stock", and there's no hum.

"balance" is an overrated concept here, i think; P-J sets are all about the P pickup, with the J just being there to modify the tone of the P by scooping out mids and adding treble as it's brought into the equation.

+1 but I think the j adds voice to the bass.
 
I have several P-Js, and went through more than a few pickup sets until I found my flavor.

1) Fralin - 10% overwound J
2) Sadowsky - standard P-J set
3) Lollar - 10% overwound J (Note: this is on my BEAD strung bass)

The Sadowsky set is the only set I've heard that sound balanced to my ears without the benefit of the 10% overwind on the J - which thickens the sound just enough to balance sonically with the P pup. (IMHO, of course)
 
I've got a PJ bastard child I made by routing out a J bass and getting a pick guard from Warmoth. Now I have a p neck on it. Jazzy P? P'zzy J? IMHO the P pickups just don't interact with the J bridge pup as well as the J neck pup does. I had the model PJ set in it and it sounded like a razor! A ton of cut. Got compliments. I swapped them out for an old original EMG set I have and just wasn't happy. Too sterile sounding. They sounded better with the fretless neck I had on the bass. I'm putting the model PJ's back. I'll try with an original fender P and and NJ4SE too. I've got split coil jazz pickups in another jazz bass and it is nothing compared to my true single coil jazz basses, but that's another thread....
 
I've got a PJ bastard child I made by routing out a J bass and getting a pick guard from Warmoth. Now I have a p neck on it. Jazzy P? P'zzy J? IMHO the P pickups just don't interact with the J bridge pup as well as the J neck pup does. I had the model PJ set in it and it sounded like a razor! A ton of cut. Got compliments. I swapped them out for an old original EMG set I have and just wasn't happy. Too sterile sounding. They sounded better with the fretless neck I had on the bass. I'm putting the model PJ's back. I'll try with an original fender P and and NJ4SE too. I've got split coil jazz pickups in another jazz bass and it is nothing compared to my true single coil jazz basses, but that's another thread....
I have a pair of NP5f and NJ5fs on my Fender Squier VM5. The P tends to be a tad bit more powerful than the J, and the sound is not as bright as I thought it would be with the addition of the J pup.
Do you think that a J single coil would be a better suit than a split coil ? Apart from the noise cancellation what else is the difference between the single coil and split coil Jazz pups?
 
Single coils sound more like single coils, but I don’t think it will add more brightness. My opinion of the PJ is it fills in frequencies that are missing from the P whi give it that character sound. The result is less P character which is not necessarily better. I never have tried the pickup combinations suggested on here that people say work best. P's inherently have more output than J's so the J is overwhelmed. My next experiment will be wiring with two separate output Jacks an biamping
 
IMHO the Jazz pup complements the P pup by giving it a more "sweet"/wellrounded sound, good for finger plucking. You get a step closer to Jazz but with a darker sound I think.
I'm by far one of the least qualified people to talk about electrics on a bass, but maybe by adding an active preamp you can balance out the output of both pups completely.