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Neck feel is an important factor to be honest. You can always upgrade the Pickups later anyway.
If you have any of your budget left, I suggest that you squander some of it on a set of strings. The set from the factory will leave much to be desired - even when brand new.
how would I know if the previous owner had replaced the strings? They may of put new strings on?
You paid one hundred and twenty Pounds for the Squier bass. Anderton's would have paid (or allowed) the previous owner considerably less than that for it. Even at trade price, the cost of new strings would have exceeded Anderton's profit margin. The shop will do nothing to harm that pre-owned bass guitar's chief selling point - its low price. Unless the shop's sales spiel claimed new strings in the description, assume that they did not change them.
If the Squier bass is in extremely good cosmetic condition, this suggest very little use. This is characteristic of an unwanted birthday/Crimbo gift. Many owners would balk at the notion of paying over twenty quid for a set of strings that are getting little or no use. Once again, it is reasonable to assume that the strings have not been changed.
Positioning of the P pickup is important to get the P sound. If you put it in the position that the Jazz neck pickup is normally in, it's too far towards the neck and it doesn't get the P sound at all.
If you put the P pickup in the right place, then you won't get the full Jazz thing. It's not just the different design of pickups, it's the distance between the pickups being significantly smaller.
For me, if you are going PJ configuration, you have to put the P pickup in the correct place. If you turn the volume of the bridge pickup down, then you at least have the proper P sound. You then have some variation by adding in the bridge pickup if you want it.
When I've been recording, I've found a Precision sits in the mix much better than a Jazz. Getting the P sound right is the most important bit.
To be honest, with a 34" scale, I just want a P bass with a Jazz neck.
I have a modified J Bass copy. I carefully measured and marked up the P pickup cavity in the correct place. Then, I bought a blank J pickguard and made the pickup cut out myself. It looks ungainly but it gets THE sound.
The nearest commercial thing to what I did is the Fender Reggie Hamilton Jazz Bass model. The D/G coil is pretty close to the edge.
This is precisely how I use the red Squier VM P Bass with EMG-GZR pickups that used to be my thumbnail pic.
In all of the video demonstrations that I have viewed, even on instruments with both EMG-GZR pickups fitted, Mr. Butler only seems to use the P.
The J type pickup dials in the sort of high frequency detail that might otherwise be summoned up using active EQ.
Sometimes, I think that a better two pickup combination might be one Precision and one MM Stingray type, governed by an either/or selector switch. The other parings that work for me are the Billy Sheehan P + Mudbucker concept and Rickenbacker single coils.