FWIW (Jag setup content)

[solfege]

[ETA: See post 3 below. This was basically not as good as I thought it was when I made the OP.]

So I've been having much annoyance with the PV65 pickups in my Jag, just not able to get a sound and balance from them that I like. Been treating them a lot like strat pickups, as that what most advice seems to suggest. Well today we had the breakthrough. It has two parts.

1. They need to be pretty close to the strings, else they get really thin and whimpy and meh sounding.
2. They need to be, when the string is depressed at the last fret, at pretty much the same height bridge and neck. My issue is that I have been setting the neck a bit lower (as you would tend to do both a JM and a Strat), and that fucks it all up. Same height, all good.

[kurski]

I have a set of PV65s and the neck is way lower than the bridge to match the volume. All the characteristics of the sound are flawless with pickups not being even close to the strings

[solfege]

FWIW, the setup here really didn't last. I ended up backing things off more -- and it took some doing to get just the right degree of more (there is a narrow sweet spot); but yeah, bridge much higher than neck.

So yeah, I was wrong.