Anyone else not get on with PJ basses?

[Bassfinger]

I love PJ's. Turn down the superflous bridge pickup and they make excellent basses.

[uk_lefty]

7 hours ago, TheGhostofJaco said:

I have a Sadowsky P/j and it sounds glorious. No phasing with both pickups engaged. In fact that attack is pointier, more pronounced. 

 

Also like that the bridge pickup stands on it's own, volume and tonewise. Sadowsky explained how he did it, but I can't remember. I think the key is have an active bass that lets you put a little more bass into the back pickup. 

 

I have also owned some P/Js that didn't really have this magic and the back pickup was useless on it's own. With the Sadowsky I have a legit 3 tone bass, so I am very happy with it. Owned mine 4 years now.

Which of the Sadowsky range? Made in USA, Japan, or the new lower cost ones, which appear tempting for putting a PJ config in a j body.

[TheGhostofJaco]

8 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Which of the Sadowsky range? Made in USA, Japan, or the new lower cost ones, which appear tempting for putting a PJ config in a j body.

 

I have a Sadowsky NYC model. It is very light (J Body), so similar to what you are looking at - just the high end version. I wanted something Roger made in his shop before he retires.

[RSbassman]

I once owned a passive Mike Lull P/J 4 string it sounded great the bridge pickup was a humbucker and even that pickup on its own sounded great it was full sounding 

I regret selling it 

[Vanheusen77]

I made this video a while ago. I’ve gotten more positive feedback for the BB than the jazz. So it seems a lot of people like it!

 

Edited February 24, 2022 by Vanheusen77

[afterimage]

Hi have a  Fender deluxe PJ  and Jazz PJ. Hot  rod like them. Both 

[Rich]

I don't have a P-J bass, but I do have a P-MM. Those pickups sound awesome together.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I have a couple of inexpensive PJ basses with upgraded electronics. One has the Fender Yosemite set with greasebucket circuit and the other has EMG-X PJs & BTC system. Both basses sound great and have a good range of tones available.

[Badscrew]

The only stock PJ basses that I liked were Yamahas. Other than that - the J felt  underpowered in most other basses...

[LITTLEWING]

Yep. I can’t get my ears to like that blended sound no matter how high or low I set the pups let alone the horrid bridge on it’s own.

Recently loaded up with a Tonerider P bass pup, disco’d the bridge pup and wound it right down out of the way and wired her up the generic P bass way and it sounds fab. It’s probably all in the mind, who knows.

Love my Jazz bass sound either configuration though. Strange but the sound sits well in my ears. A PJ just should never have been born.

[dclaassen]

I have a bb614 at the school I work at…was playing with the blend. It’s okay, but not near as rich as the pj Barts on my MPV. Oddly enough, I’ve never played a pj Fender. 

[FDC484950]

Maybe this is why brands like Lakland and Sandberg put a humbucker at the bridge. I’ve had a couple of PJ Fenders over the years and didn’t like either. I have a Dingwall Super PJ coming soon so will see how successful it is. They also use a preset pickup selector rather than VVT or pan, which seems to avoid the same sort of issues people experience with passive pickup blending.

[molan]

I’ve had PJs that didn’t really work for me and others that I liked a lot. 
 

The best example I can think of is the ‘classic’ Fodera setup that you see on a Monarch 4 with EMG PJ pickups and a Pope pre. 
 

I have no idea, from a technical perspective, why this combination works but it’s definitely my favourite PJ setup. 

[Sparky Mark]

I like all my PJ basses but similar to my J basses, I dial either one of the pups back slightly to avoid the cancellation type effect others have mentioned. 

[Quatschmacher]

I’ve had a few PJs. Sold my last one today but have one on order in a MIDIbass build. I don’t really like the sound of both pickups together, but like the individual pickups played solo. The problem I’ve found (and the reason for selling my last one) is that the types of strings I like to use on each pickup type differ greatly; on the P I prefer heavy flatwounds but these mean that it’s not possible to get a nice snap out of the bridge pickup which requires light flats or some kind of rounds. I’ve come to the conclusion that one of each bass is a better option for me.  (The MIDIbass will be an exception as I wanted to have something that could cover as many options as possible.)

Edited March 3, 2022 by Quatschmacher

[jd56hawk]

The new Squier Precision and Jazz basses are getting good reviews.

I have to imagine these will, too.

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by jd56hawk

[Jeffb28451]

Tried 3 Fender  PJ of various levels. Nope. Seems like it’d be a solution, but not quite on the money. 
Maybe one day, but I’ve gone to Sadowsky j ( wide range, but not “really” a Jazz (but I’m a Fralin fanboy)

and a USA ‘62 reissue for P, when I need it.