P Bass Pickups - Worth the cost?

[shoulderpet]

On 11/06/2022 at 15:47, chris_b said:

Many years ago, I replaced my original Fender Precision pickup with Bartolini. My sound went from average and anaemic to a glorious dynamic, punchy and warm sound.

 

The Barts that came on my early Lakland 55-94 produced an equally fantastic sound.

Always been curious about Bart's, one day I will get some

[Guest]

Entwistle forxa nice bit of bite, Warman for some real growl.

[shoulderpet]

7 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

Entwistle forxa nice bit of bite, Warman for some real growl.

Warman is another one I've been curious about, seeing how cheap they are I will have to get some and see how I like them

[Paolo85]

Well, in the end I have bought a Squier P with Wilkinson pickup already on here in the classifieds instead of upgrading my PJ. I am extremely happy with it, it plays the part exactly as I wanted and GAS has now subdued.

At this point I will probably keep the ceramic P pickup in the PJ for differentiation (on top of flats vs rounds) and replace only the J bridge pickup which is dreadful.

[shoulderpet]

3 minutes ago, Paolo85 said:

Well, in the end I have bought a Squier P with Wilkinson pickup already on here in the classifieds instead of upgrading my PJ. I am extremely happy with it, it plays the part exactly as I wanted and GAS has now subdued.

At this point I will probably keep the ceramic P pickup in the PJ for differentiation (on top of flats vs rounds) and replace only the J bridge pickup which is dreadful.

If it is the Alnico Wilkinson that is a really good pickup that way exceeds what you would expect from such an inexpensive pickup. 

 

Good call on replacing the J pickup, if it is anything like most stock j pickups on PJ basses then it is probably only wound to 4 or 5k which usually means the tone really thins out when the j pickup is on.

[Paolo85]

14 minutes ago, shoulderpet said:

If it is the Alnico Wilkinson that is a really good pickup that way exceeds what you would expect from such an inexpensive pickup. 

Based on my admittedly limited experience of alnico vs ceramic I believe this should be the alnico!

 

15 minutes ago, shoulderpet said:

Good call on replacing the J pickup, if it is anything like most stock j pickups on PJ basses then it is probably only wound to 4 or 5k which usually means the tone really thins out when the j pickup is on.

 

Thanks! Yes thin is definitely the right word

[shoulderpet]

1 hour ago, Paolo85 said:

Based on my admittedly limited experience of alnico vs ceramic I believe this should be the alnico!

The alnico Wilkinson is a great pickup, imo easily as good as the more expensive vintage voiced pickups out there,I use a Duncan SPB-2 nowadays because I like the midrange bark it gives but the Wilkinson is very good also

 

1 hour ago, Paolo85 said:

Thanks! Yes thin is definitely the right word

 

Yeah I had a lightbulb moment regarding PJ basses, a lot of the more inexpensive ones have J pickups in the 4-5k range which means that as soon as you add in the J pickup your tone really thins out, your tone will get thinner anyway with the j pickup added in due to phase cancellation so if the bridge pickup is underpowered then it will be they noticeably thinner sounding. 

 

 

 

[LITTLEWING]

Toneriders all day long. Back them off a little to 3mm bass side as they’re wound very slightly hotter. Awesome for the money.