I have been mistaking the bridge position for the neck position and vice versa.
That being said, is there a particular reason the bridge is "weaker" (which I suppose is normal based on your replies). Do you try and balance them with the internal trimpots?
Big relief that theres nothing wrong with it, though.
Based on your latest post it sounds like everything is functioning normally with your bass, always a good thing!
As far as why the bridge pickup sounds "weaker" to you that is also normal. Even if the gain/output on each pickup is the same the bridge will always sound thinner due to the physics of the way the strings orbit which affects the sound the pickup hears. Think about how you play... when you want a punchier sound that emphasizes the treble frequencies you pluck or pick near or over the bridge pickup. If you want a bassier tone you pluck or pick over the neck pickup or the neck of the bass itself.
On a bass with a single volume control like your Distillate the internal trim pots can be adjusted to get more or less output from the pickups if they are either overloading your preamp or if you feel you want to hit your preamp with a hotter signal. You can set them to the same output or use them to get a better tonal balance when both pickups are selected. On an Alembic with two volume controls you would most likely use the internal trim pots to set overall gain for each pickup then adjust each volume control individually while playing the bass. Naturally the height of each pickup can be adjusted to taste, too.
Some makers (or players) like to put a beefier pickup near the bridge, like in your Ric, to compensate for exactly what you are hearing. I am not sure if it would fit in your bass without routing but Alembic makes a "Fat Boy" pickup that would give you a fatter tone in the bridge position. A number of members here love those pickups, maybe someone who has one can give you some more info about them.
