Why does a "PJ" configuration sound so refined and elegant?

[SurferJoe46]

A reversed P is more balanced sounding. On a normal P bass, as you play across the strings, the E-A strings sound different from the D-G strings. When you reverse the two coils, the D-G strings are fuller sounding, and the E-A strings are a little higher sounding, so they blend together better.

IMO that's the way fender should have done it. But back then they wanted the treble strings to be brighter, and bass strings to be deeper. They also angled their pickups on Teles and Strats, and as with the P bass, those guitars sound better with the pickup angled the other way.

On a Strat, the treble strings get very thin and screechy on the treble pickup. Part of these reason why Fenders and G&L guitars are so bright is that Leo was hard of hearing. He made the Musicman guitars so bright that no one bought them!

I did that - sorta - on a 'Mirrored-Precision' that I made last Summer:::

It has some of the nicest balance and a great piano-like clarity that just rings pure. There's also a nice 'burp' to it to with the right blend.

All-in-all, I've enjoyed this design a lot.

 

[bassfart]

I have a Sadowsky MPJ 5 string and it is one of my favorite basses to play. The sound is HUGE.

 

[Mykk]

Well, I went for it. A musicman pickup on my P-bass.

It has a really nice bite & growl. I still need to dial it in a bit, the musicman pickup is the dominant pickup but really I don't mind since I am a J-bass kind of guy. I'm still working on it and need to finish up the wiring, for now the P-pups are wired split series and the MM-pup is wired parallel with the combo wired straight to a jack with no pots.... I'm sure pots will help a bit, perhaps even wire the MM humbucker.

 

[slopeshoulder]

I've got a P with a J neck, a Fralin P pickup set and a slightly overwound Fralin split coil J bridge pickup, with a Nordstrand 3 band pre with selectable dual mid frequency passive tone control and bypass mode.

It is a BEAST. It's a great straight ahead P bass, and soloing the bridge and adding some low end is a great J tone. The mid control helps me slap and rawk (cut or boost). Blending in the J with the P gives a world of tone, especially with the EQ boosted in various ways, but it's more expanded P than credible J. The J both-on and neck tones are not really available.

This and a 70's style J with a Sadowsky pre covers a lot of basses, so to speak. Next? A P with flats, a passive 60's style J, and a stingray.

 

[klaus486]

I thought this would be a good place to drop in with this video I found the other day, and have been obsessed with. I am in love with his tone. He has other videos of the same song on different basses, and they're all just missing that special something the PJ has to offer

This is killer playing with bitchin tone!

 

[Hopper]

No doubt about it, it P/J is a fantastic combination. Suitable for at least 80% of situations... at a rough guess

 

[Rutherford_Fan]

No doubt about it, it P/J is a fantastic combination. Suitable for at least 80% of situations... at a rough guess

I agree. It is incredibly versatile and I would wager that is the reason you see the PJ configuration on so many "entry" basses.

It can deliver a real P-tone, the 'burpy' bridge-pickup J-tone, a good 'scooped' tone (with both p-ups and some rolling off of the tone knob [or some EQing if active]), and of course, the PJ-tone itself (which I described in detail in the original post of this thread).

The only things I can think of that it would not be good for would be, possibly, metal (where a single-coil neck p-up would be better), and other styles where you need an insane amount of "bite".

 

[jrcorp]

Cool thread, I'll have to read through some more when I get the time. I had been thinking about the P/J setup recently - between working out what I want for my own Ibanez, posting threads asking for pickup ideas, and noticing many other threads on the P/J config, I thought it was interesting how common the setup is. I was also considering why it may be the common configuration on many entry-level basses. It's good to know that my instrument at least should be versatile!

 

[sotua]

I desperately need a Spector Euro 4LX (reverse P-J).

 

[jrcorp]

I desperately need a Spector Euro 4LX (reverse P-J).

Well there's an interesting idea for a bass. On the surface it seems like it would solve the output balance issue, and I'm sure the P pickup would sound great for rock at the bridge. I wonder how it all compares to a traditional P/J... can bridge J sounds be had?

 

[JimmyM]

The Spector only reverses the P pickup coils, where the coil closest to the neck on the Fender becomes farthest away. It's OK...was not knocked out by it, but I'm sure many like it and Spectors are quite nice basses. The bridge pickup is still a J.

Used to have a couple Precisions in with the Jazz and the PJ's I have, but sold both Precisions and the Jazz and have nothing but PJ's now. I would like another straight up Precision in black/black/maple one day, but in all practicality, PJ's are a better solution for me since you can also get Jazz Bass sounds out of them, although I run straight P most of the time.

 

[grendle]

The Spector only reverses the P pickup coils, where the coil closest to the neck on the Fender becomes farthest away. It's OK...was not knocked out by it, but I'm sure many like it and Spectors are quite nice basses. The bridge pickup is still a J.

Used to have a couple Precisions in with the Jazz and the PJ's I have, but sold both Precisions and the Jazz and have nothing but PJ's now. I would like another straight up Precision in black/black/maple one day, but in all practicality, PJ's are a better solution for me since you can also get Jazz Bass sounds out of them, although I run straight P most of the time.

+1

90% or better of guys run the p and j up full (balance in the middle or just slightly panned). The individual pickup thing isn't really where those basses want to be . The magic is in the bass / treb controls of the pre and slight variations from center on the balance. You can do it, but it wasn't really what it was designed for. It's not really a P with a J, its a p/j combo if that makes sense. Once you figure it out, its cool. Used mine for everything from children's albums to death metal.

 

[JimmyM]

But the P pickup by itself sounds so awesome Having said that, I love the sound you get by turning both on full and backing off the J slightly. Doesn't phase as much, doesn't lose volume, and sounds like a slightly fatter Jazz.

 

[grendle]

Yep, roll it toward the p a little and it sounds like a clean , articulate , raspy P, with a thick bottom. Then you can tweek the low lows and the highs on top of that. It doesn't do the vintage fender muddy p thing though. They stay tight and articulate even with the treb rolled back, but that's the emg's.

That's the one thing they don't do is the vintage tone thing. They can with a pup and pre swap but that's what the Coda is for.

 

[grendle]

I play more toward the bridge and prefer the clean piano type tone. I roll the blend toward the P a little, bass about 80% and treb about 60% boosted.

 

[SurferJoe46]

I tried something different:::

 

[grendle]

The double p is a pretty cool animal. Played a few basses like that and they snarled pretty nicely.

 

[jrcorp]

My bad... I didn't think of reverse P in that sense because I figured it was such a common thing for non-Fender basses. Mine has the coils reversed.

So are there any basses with reversed placement in that way? I figured it might be strange.

 

[kellyrojo]

I love my roadstar P J...man that thing sounds good. Def not a P or J but its own thing....not better or worse than P or J just different...so its got that going for it--which is nice

 

[johnk_10]

i realize that there's alot of love for it (especially in this thread), but the P J setup just doesn't do it at all for me. i love the p pickup by itself, but when you run the j pickup with it (especially with both pickups on full, but even with any amount of blending), the E & A sound so much different than the D & G due to the P's split locations, that the different phasing that takes place makes it sound like two different basses split right down the middle of the neck. IMO, two 'straight-across' pickups (like a jazz bass a ric, or an HH ray) sounds much better. two split P's, or reversed P's, would also work fine, but the standard split p/j bass thing just sounds so thin on the D & G that i find the configuration unusable.