Pickup opinion wanted please

[uk_lefty]

Having completed my Bitsa I'm very keen to replace the cheap pickups. The body and neck feel great, it will be a perfect backup bass and it's fun to noodle around with, so now I want more! I'm looking at the following matched PJ sets and would welcome experience of these in the £150 and below bracket:

Fender Yosemite

EMG GZR 

DiMarzio DP126

Kent Armstrong PJ 

Tonerider (cheap wildcard option) 

I've discounted some other sets like Aguilar due to cost and the EMG PJHZ is tempting but it has a weird 5 wire connection thing that I don't understand or want. 

What tone am I aiming for.... I've not got a fixed idea. I've got a Kiogon loom that takes me from traditional passive PJ to then engaging the series/ parallel to transform it in to the ideal Stingray backup. I'm happy with vintage or modern as long as its quality, sophisticated tone. Pups at present are Alan Entwistle. I'm happy ish with the J pup but not the P, I think it may have a small defect on one of the halves. I'm just remembering the sheer quality of sound I got from an old MIM jazz when I put Bartolini pups in so I want quality of tone again, just not at Barts price! 

Edited May 19, 2021 by uk_lefty
Added info

[Reggaebass]

I’ve never had the J pickup but I’ve got the tonerider in one of my precision’s and it’s great, I would say it’s more bass and mid focused than highs 🙂

[TheGreek]

I would definitely contact Martin Herrick (Herrick Pickups) and discuss what you want. He will custom build you whatever you want and suggest ways to get the tones you want.

I have his phone number - PM me if you want it.

[bloke_zero]

I've got the EMG GZR p pickup and tried it a few places - it's got a tight defined sound - it feels quite 70's to me, not a huge amount of bottom end but a very useable sound partly becasue of that.

[NancyJohnson]

I put a PJ set of EMG Geezer Butlers in one of my Hamers a couple of months back.

Initially I'll say that tone is subjective, we're all different.  The (35 year old) stock DiMarzios in the Hamer were a bit shrill/toppy for my liking, I'd read decent things about the GZR sets, so felt it was worth a punt.  I tend to play with everything open, so the aim was to set things up for this.

Took a bit of tweaking to balance things out though; on initial install the P-pick did everything you'd want - literally just installed it and we were off an running.  The J/Bridge unit was a bit less straightforward - it just added a tiny bit of ponk and it was noticeable how much output it drew from the circuit when both volumes were on full and the tone was open; I did start thinking that I'd wired things up incorrectly (nope). 

It was more a case of just finding a decent height so that the J-unit complemented the P...a bit of trial and error, but success.  I like how they sound compared to the old DiMarzios - wider tonally, hotter, a bit of scooped minds.  Recommended.

[Supernaut]

EMG GZR but only if you change the pots for decent ones.

Toneriders punch well above their price. 

[Lozz196]

Toneriders, def worth the money, very similar to the Fender Custom Shop 62 (well the Precision ones are, not sure re the Jazz).

[Lfalex v1.1]

(This is a generic thought regarding all 2 pickup instruments with a mid or neck humbucker/split coil and a single coil bridge pickup)

I've always felt that the J is swamped by the P unless the volume controls are adjusted such that the J comes into play. Often, that lowers the overall output of the instrument somewhat. It can't be compensated for if it's a 3-way selector switch. 

The string deflection as witnessed by the P is inevitably much greater than that the J experiences, leading to greater output levels. 

If I were in your position, I might be looking into stacked humbucking Js, Split coil Humbucking Js or at the very least a hot or overwound J for the bridge position to give it a chance. 

Just a thought.  YMMV, naturally.

[uk_lefty]

2 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

I've always felt that the J is swamped by the P unless the volume controls are adjusted such that the J comes into play. Often, that lowers the overall output of the instrument somewhat. It can't be compensated for if it's a 3-way selector switch. 

I've got a pickup blend pot rather than separate volumes so hopefully this negates the problem. Know what you mean though. 

[uk_lefty]

Looks like the Geezers are in front. I've had my eye on those for a while and I love Sabbath. If the GZR users could point to a couple of Sabbath tracks they think this pup set nails the tone of that could sway me! 

[NancyJohnson]

4 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

(This is a generic thought regarding all 2 pickup instruments with a mid or neck humbucker/split coil and a single coil bridge pickup)

I've always felt that the J is swamped by the P unless the volume controls are adjusted such that the J comes into play. Often, that lowers the overall output of the instrument somewhat. It can't be compensated for if it's a 3-way selector switch. 

The string deflection as witnessed by the P is inevitably much greater than that the J experiences, leading to greater output levels. 

If I were in your position, I might be looking into stacked humbucking Js, Split coil Humbucking Js or at the very least a hot or overwound J for the bridge position to give it a chance. 

Just a thought.  YMMV, naturally.

I think you only have to watch a couple of the Trogly videos to see how output resistance for individual pickups are in many cases double that of the combined.  Certainly with the Geezer Butlers the P-unit does sound lovely through my kit (*subjective); the J-unit, now it's at it's sweet spot height, just gives it a little more mid-lower high ponk.  I'd never use the bridge unit in isolation.

I'm unsure what @Supernaut means by the pots being off.  Certainly no issue here with them; they're linear, crackle free and the tone does what it's supposed to do.

[Supernaut]

16 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

I'm unsure what @Supernaut means by the pots being off.  Certainly no issue here with them; they're linear, crackle free and the tone does what it's supposed to do.

The pups are great but EMG used not so great pots - definitely not CTS standard. Swap them out and you'll see what I mean. 

[Hellzero]

Another vote for the ToneRider set, amazing pickups, as good as Fender Custom Shop or any PJ boutique pickups. It's not because they are cheap that they are crap, in fact it's the opposite, other conventional pickups, and PJ's are the epitome of conventional pickups, are just way too expensive.

[Sibob]

If you can find a set, I’d go for the Bartolini B-Axis P/J set.
If not, I’d go Dimarzio Model P & J

Si

[Aidan63]

is one of the P pickups fitted the wrong way around ? Just going by the logos on the covers, or was it made the wrong polarity hence you fitted it thus..

[PaulThePlug]

^ Good Spot... for a lefty would both halves logo be upside down?... unless there is a LH pickup - would the length of joining wire to the two haves be long enough, are the halves different? EA, DG? ( trying to imagine LH rather than a reverse P) Maybe ya can take the covers off and turn them round?

Edited May 20, 2021 by PaulThePlug

[uk_lefty]

1 hour ago, Aidan63 said:

is one of the P pickups fitted the wrong way around ? Just going by the logos on the covers, or was it made the wrong polarity hence you fitted it thus..

I think it is. I got it fitted by a luthier because there were other jobs required and a final set up so got him to do it. The jazz cover slips off nicely and did many a time, so who knows if it's upside down or not?! Whereas the P covers are held on with kryptonite. I've already had to correct some wiring mistakes too, luckily the kiogon set up makes it a 2 second job. 

The issue I have on the P pickup is that when in humbucker mode I lose all tone on the E and A, but when normal its fine. So would turning the pups upside down but in their current routs be sufficient or would it be a swap of which bed they're in AND turning them upside down? 

Either way, still after some better quality pups as the bass is a joy. The body is very light and the MIM P neck is very skinny compared to the MIJ 70s reissue P I had, so I'm having fun exploring it. 

[Hellzero]

Sounds like one half of your P pickup is out of phase with the other. Try reversing the two wires of the bass side half.

[lownote]

On 19/05/2021 at 12:56, Lozz196 said:

Toneriders, def worth the money, very similar to the Fender Custom Shop 62 (well the Precision ones are, not sure re the Jazz).

Toneriders +1

[rasher80]

That looks great!! 👌

[Aidan63]

On 20/05/2021 at 11:28, uk_lefty said:

I so who knows if it's upside down or not?! Whereas the P covers are held on with kryptonite. I've already had to correct some wiring mistakes too, luckily the kiogon set up makes it a 2 second job. 

The issue I have on the P pickup is that when in humbucker mode I lose all tone on the E and A, but when normal its fine. So would turning the pups upside down but in their current routs be sufficient or would it be a swap of which bed they're in AND turning them upside down? 

 

normally I think the EA pickup is the one with long white wire and the DG has the long black and the logos are on the bottom side of each pickup on the bridge side, logo on J pickup should be the same and wires on the bottom of the coil; I may be wrong though - I do find it a little odd that the two halves aren't clearly marked on P pickups

Edited May 22, 2021 by Aidan63
added detail

[la bam]

I've just installed some geezer emgs today.

Simple to do once you've worked he instructions out. (the instructions are for all kinds of basses).

The sound is really good. Pretty much awesome. Very punchy and clear.

No soldering needed. Even the existing earth wire from your bridge can be left in situ and just clamped to the emg one.

Only niggles - no foam for under the pickups, and my existing vol and tone knobs no longer fit. But an easy fix on both points.

Realistically itll take around an hour to two hours to do, but it is easy.

Highly recommended.