Who has a P, J AND a P/J?

[NOLA Bass]

I don't think it is overkill because it has its own unique sound. I have a "parts" P that cops the vintage tone, plus both a PJ (Sadowsky) and 2P (G&L). They all have their own unique sound.

 

[Mike N]

I've got three J's, five P's and two PJ's.

99% of my playing is on a P.

 

[NOLA Bass]

Plus, what is this overkill the original poster speaks of?

 

[FishDub]

Here are mine, I use the PJ as a P only most of the time, I don't like very much the sound of a PJ, but the bass was like that when I bought it, it's a '65 P. The J is a Squier VM body with a Mighty Mite neck and the P is a MJT body with a Dr Parts neck wich I put for a little fun, now she's got a nice All Parts fretted neck.

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Nice PJ..after-market installed J, almost "T-Bone" like

 

[C Stone]

Still have 'em, @B-Mac. But neither of them is a P/J configuration. Here ya go:
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Best lookin Glarry's to date! Bought a couple for the hell of it, ($56 at the time) glad I did and 'I slap the tar outta of em' also can leave one at the jam spot for others. Trimmed a couple Musiclily guards? Think I saw an earlier post of yours.

 

[Beat Bass]

Nice PJ..after-market installed J, almost "T-Bone" like

Thanks! Yes, very close to the P pickup, nice sound. I add a little of the J pickup if I need more definition sometimes, but I prefer the P pickup soloed most of the time.
The pickups are a CS 62 P and a CS 60 J.

 

[mickebas]

I'm basically a jazzbass person but lately I've been playing more and more P-bass... I guess it's an age thing
So now I also have a couple of PJs and, as been stated, it can never sound like a jazz both pickups full but it's a nice thing to have the J-pickup there to add some extra definition in the higher mids. As far as the J-pickup having any impact on the P-pickup I think that's not an issue at all. If anyone hears any difference from the P-pickup on a PJ compared to a regular standard P I think they're just trying to hear a difference. This has been debated over and over and myself I just think it's a non issue. P-basses individually sound very different from one ex to another anyway so that would be a much bigger reason for the varied sound.
A PJ is nice to have but it's not like a J-bass, it's a P-bass with an extra option.
What maybe would bother me on the other hand would be the esthetics. A P-bass looks very cool in its simplicity but other than that...

 

[Jefenator]

I enjoy the simplicity of a one-pickup P and the slight extra depth and versatility of a traditional J. A big part of the latter for me is the single coils - a good set should sound great with either one soloed and with both blended.
P/J has always been more awkward for me. Maybe it has to do with trying to blend two rather different pickup types; maybe I just haven't tried the right set, yet. (Rather than mess around with all that with my hacked '78 P, I swapped out the body to get back to just one pickup rout.)

 

[HolmeBass]

I have a P and a J and two P/Js. So... I never really thought about that until this thread.

Both P/Js are active, neck-through. The P and J are older Fenders and are passive. To me that's the bigger difference.

 

[C Stone]

I have varieties of P/J/PJ but this week I'm down for driving my Aerodyne PJ since we're pulling five straight this week and I'm doing what I can to stay light and lean in all this heat. #4 tonight in Port O'Connor TX, Hurricane Junction

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Great lookin bass, enjoy the show.

 

[Spirit of Ox]

I have all three plus two of my Jazz basses are 70s style. I like the P and J about the same but prefer the J with pickups full on more than PJ with pickups full on. Too much spikey highs on the D and G strings with PJ IMO.

 

[Ronzo]

Best lookin Glarry's to date! Bought a couple for the hell of it, ($56 at the time) glad I did and 'I slap the tar outta of em' also can leave one at the jam spot for others. Trimmed a couple Musiclily guards? Think I saw an earlier post of yours.

Thanks, @C Stone. Yup! Both have Musiclily tort pickguards. I had to trim and rotate the P to fit Glarry's control route; the J needed nothing done. I detailed what was done to them in the huge Glarry/Burning Fire thread.

 

[mickebas]

I have all three plus two of my Jazz basses are 70s style. I like the P and J about the same but prefer the J with pickups full on more than PJ with pickups full on. Too much spikey highs on the D and G strings with PJ IMO.

Not many PJs in my experience gives a good 'full' sound when having both pickups turned up. There are some exceptions but mostly you get a much thinner, 'plastic' sound. But there are some PJ configurations that seem to match and give you a useful, very tight and punchy sound.

 

[2F/2F]

Two classic Ps.

Two classic Js (one '60s style and one '70s style).

Three Mustang Basses with a P/J setup (actually, one of them has the Mustang mini-P pickup).

One Jazzmaster Bass with a P/J setup (plus a third pickup by the neck).

One J with pickups that sound more like P pickups (DiMarzio Model Js)

One J with a single J pickup.

The bridge pickup is the most useless feature of any of my basses. Other than the two Js that I like to keep classic and vintage correct, I wish the bridge pickups weren't even there.

 

[2cooltoolz]

That said, a pj the P is often located toward the neck a bit more than a "p"
The J tends to be in closer to bridge.
I've built a few basses recently, and the locations relative to the bridge changed due to scale changes, heel to nut length differences ETC, shifted toward the neck mostly . (Bridge relocated toward the butt of the body)
This "deepens" the bridge pup noticeably.

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I don't believe this is a factor on 34" Fender basses, at least on the P side. No doubt true mixing scales and brands. I threw together this comparo with Fender basses, and am going to add actual measurements in a bit.

P pickups

J pickups

 

[C Stone]

Thanks, @C Stone. Yup! Both have Musiclily tort pickguards. I had to trim and rotate the P to fit Glarry's control route; the J needed nothing done. I detailed what was done to them in the huge Glarry/Burning Fire thread.

It is very cool thread, had to do the same (trim and rotate) with a musiclily pick guard on an Squier 04 p-bass. Your posts got me to pull the trigger on it though. Thanks for that
On my Glarry I just painted flat black with clear coat, was bored one day and yanked the frets, check it out...

 

[bbh]

When I had my pj elite 5 string, I only used the split pickup. I treated it as a precision bass. So I ignored the j pickup on that bass. I had a jazz and a few jazz type basses for a wide variety in tonal choices.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

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I don't believe this is a factor on 34" Fender basses, at least on the P side. No doubt true mixing scales and brands. I threw together this comparo with Fender basses, and am going to add actual measurements in a bit.

Fender being the exception, fender is not exclusive in making ps or js

 

[Clark W]

That's the one. I got mine very soon after they came out - they didn't have logo covers yet! The J being humbucking and wound hot to match the P has a very muscular midrange. Dialing it in behind the P puts some nice additional punch. Of course, I don't know what sound you're looking for. This set (IMO) excels at strong bottom/punchy midrange. Wouldn't be best for zingy, but they do get crisp.

I had a standard EMG set in here for a few years and felt like a change. I'm real happy with these.

That's exactly what I'm looking for. Punch and Crisp I like, I hate "zingy" And as much as I love my EMG GZR split P, I can't see equipping this bass with the GZR P/J set because I already have a GZR P and I really want to add some variety to my line up pup wise.

I'm also looking at using an Emerson pre wired control kit V/V/T because why not? If i'm going to dump the pups out of this thing I might as well dump the control pots and output jack too, that's probably where the problem is anyway. Tone pot doesn't work, and the P completely shuts down the J. But I bought the bass because of the neck and body for $100, and because it's set up for a P/J pup config, not for what's in it. And except for my acoustic bass and one Ibanez with a simple 2 band EQ, I've gotten away from active and back to passive basses more. Between the Aguilar P/J set and the Emerson controls, it should be one hot little bass.

 

[PotsdamBass8]

I've never really jelled with JJ basses, either. The PJ I had was great (it was a Lull, and the balance between the pickups was spot-on), but I found myself using the P pup most of the time with the tone rolled off about half-way! Anytime I did use the J pup it was never soloed and I only added it for a little on-the-fly "flavor" if the room was dead.

I'm curious about the shortie Jazz you mentioned - what brand is it?

Maruszczyk