beefing up J bridge pickup, how much is possible?

[shoulderpet]

Hi all

I have played mostly PJ basses for as long as I can remember, im more of a p bass guy than J bass and there seems to be a tonne of PJ basses.  One thing I have always found is that regardless of what PJ pickups are on PJ basses the bridge J pickup on every PJ bass I have tried is always kind of (relatively) thin sounding with very little bass response, I have fairly hot pickups but I still find this to be the case.  Was wondering how much of this is down to pickup location and how much is down to the bridge pickup being a J rather than for example a humbucker, would the bridge pickup still sound thin if it was for example a musicman type humbucker? Another option would be too have a J pcikup wound super hot like mudbucker hot but then you would obviously lose the treble response and upper mids , thoughts?

[Lozz196]

I found the same on my old Aerodyne Jazz, did a bit of research and chose the Seymour Duncan Hot Stack, sounds just like a Jazz bass pickup so doesn’t affect the tone, but just gives you a lot more of it, say an extra 15 - 20%.

[CameronJ]

One of the only PJs I’ve played with a J pup which holds its own against the P is my old Yamaha BB1025x. It’s no joke. But yeah, it’s difficult to get a pup in that position to have as much authority as the pup closer to the neck.

There’s a reason the likes of Sandberg and Lakland produce so many basses with a big MM style humbucker in the bridge position coupled with their neck pickup. 

[rasher80]

I don't know if he'd sell them direct, but the "stock" Maruszczyk JJ pickup is a monster!

[Skybone]

Do you have both pickups on at the same time?

Does each pickup have it's own volume knob?

How are the volume knobs set?

If you do have both pickups on, and each pickup has it's own volume knob, then maybe roll off a touch of the P pickup, and have the J pickup at a higher level. This should give you a nice rounded sound, but with the bite of the J.

Just a suggestion.