Already in the middle of my build and was going to use a Piezo with a volume knob and jack combo, but just recently got one of Marty Tauber's Wickedbucker, Is there a way to incorporate the wickedbucker into the schematics? Maybe even use a power switch to switch between them? Does anyone happen to have a diagram to help me with this endeavor?
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I've used piezo's with passive pickups before with a switch. The switch will pop when switching to the piezo, which is annoying. In my opinion, using a blend knob or using the Fender J Bass wiring scheme is best. It has 2 volumes and one tone to a jack - no switch.
hey Paul, I couldn’t agree more with your J Bass recommendation. Two volumes and a psycho knob for me. This is way better than a three way, as a 50% X 50% middle spot may not be the sound someone is looking for.
That"ll work too. ;)
Thanks Paul, I will try this one. So trying to understand this, You just turn the volume down on the one your not using then switch?
That's right. Just turn up the one you want and turn down the one you don't want. Blend in both if you want. I'd use 500k pots and try a .047 cap since you'll be using a HB and piezo. You can change caps to get better tone - higher value for more bass/lower value for more treble.
So Paul, looking over the schematic, if I take out the toner knob, where does the capacitor go? on the second pot or maybe the jack?
Most people that don't use a tone pot will not use a cap, but if you want to use one you can put it between the volume and output jack or use a switch for cap/no cap choices.
If you're using a round piezo, you might want to use a cap on that volume to jack side. If you're using a rod piezo, I wouldn't use a cap. The Wicked Bucker won't need a cap unless you want to tame it some.
A cap used this way becomes a filter. High value caps will filter out lows and low value caps will filter out highs.
You could just use 2 volumes to jack if you don't want to use the tone.
Here's a link to a YouTube video where the guy does exactly what you're asking. https://youtu.be/D6lRlZH95MY
IMHO, the "blended” position is dodgy - to get this right, you really need an onboard preamp to match impedances between the piezo and the humbucker. But this guy says you don't. I think he's actually getting only one of the pickups’ output in the blended position, along with some filtering (since the other pickup is shorting some frequencies to ground more than others when the pickups are in parallel). But, if you like this, it does have the advantage of being pretty simple.