This is a really interesting discussion. I like the sound of my '75 P-bass and never considered changing out the pickups. I did a mod to the controls on my G&L bass to get more different coil and cap combinations, but the pups themselves are stock. When one died, the options were get a new OEM pickup or get the busted one rewound...
Then I got a cheap Chinese bass to experiment on (an SX Jazz clone). Stock pickups were not horrible, bit also not great. So I swapped them for DiMarzio J's. The J's are a side-by-side humbucker that I thought would be somewhere between a P and a J pickup. That is indeed how it sounded....and also it's problem. Not quite the headroom and sass of a Jazz. Not quite the fullness of a P. If you want a sound between p and j they're great. But they also remind me of Columbus Ohio. Colombus is a nice enough place but it's nobody's favorite town.
I decided I really wanted this bass to sound like a P bass, so bought a new pickguard and control plate, did a little routing and installed EMG GZR-PJ's. These are alnico V passive pickups that come with a wiring harness. I picked them up for $135. I defy anyone to find a better vintage sounding p-bass pickup at a better price. The j-pickup also sounds good and gives it a nice crunch when added. These sound great, easy to install. The electronics are quiet and smooth. Even the box they came I was a thing of beauty. Can't say enough about them.
I swapped out the PBG humbuckers that came with my ES4-B kit out of necessity. The strings didn't line up perfectly with them, and I needed something that would fit the rout (did not want to re-rout an archtop) while sitting properly under the strings. I settled on lipstick tubes with an alnico core. Jury is still out on them. They look cool, and have a fairly unique sound. Great for Beatles-ish sound. But not sure they are all that versitile.
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