Help me find a friend for an Area J in a P/J Bass!

[Davebassics]

I have a Reggie Hamilton P/J which came a DiMarzio Model P pickup and a Fender Noiseless J. Didn't really dig either and I was getting some scooped upper mids when blending them together. I swapped the Noiseless for a Model J so have a matching set which solved that problem. Only thing is, I'm just not happy with the Model P/J pups. I'll try and keep the adjectives simple: They sound dull, muffled and fat. With a plectrum they sound sharp and they cut really nicely (The plectrum reintroduces some attack in the top end). I used to have a Jazz with Area Js in and I loved them. Bright, open, crisp. Could really dig in with my fingerstyle playing.

So I am going to get an Area J Bridge pickup. That's a no brainer for me. What I am having problems with is a P to go with it. DiMarzio fo a Area P (DP250) and a Area P/J set (DP251) but nowhere on this side of the pond seems to stock them. I could look at importing but I'd like to look down different avenues first. Ideally, I'd like to stick with a matched pair of pickups to try and avoid any phasing issues.

A few points of discussion:

• Has anyone been in this situation before, what did you do?
• Given the tonal characteristics of the Area Js, can any one recommend an equivalent PJ set from a different manufacturer? Ideally in the same price range

 

As a side note, I'm also going to have the P pickup route moved 2cm towards the bridge. This is the P bass sweet spot on a Jazz body. Got a pickguard from warmoth so just need some routing done on the body.