Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael Recchione on January 10, 2020 at 7:54am

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.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 10, 2020 at 9:25am

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.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 10, 2020 at 9:26am

You could just use 2 volumes to jack if you don't want to use the tone.

Permalink Reply by Adam Jellison on January 10, 2020 at 10:09am

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?

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 10, 2020 at 11:02am

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.

Permalink Reply by Adam Jellison on February 26, 2020 at 11:51am

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?

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 28, 2020 at 10:41am

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.

Permalink Reply by Tim Pannabecker on January 13, 2020 at 2:43am

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.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 16, 2020 at 8:17am

That"ll work too. ;)