Footswitchable piezo array

[lalexb]

I'm playing a Stingray 4 on a T39/OT12 rig, and while I really like the brightness provided by the tweeters, it's not always appropriate as it sometimes exacerbate some of the fret noise when digging hard (blame the player). The Stingrays, specially the mapplenecked ones seem to quite prone to that excess of zing, and in a way it's part of its sound, it just has to be tamed a bit. It's also a bass that accepts enthusiast digging nicely. If I cut the treble on the bass, then I think I lose more than just this fret noise.

Recently I've switched the piezos off, while keeping some treble on the bass, and I think it sounds better in a band context, at least on the parts with a bit of energy/or enthusiasm.
On the other hand, I also kind of like having the piezos sometimes when the MetalZone is on and it gives a good teethgrinding musicality to it

So I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that I need to be able to switch the piezos on and off, sometimes in the middle of a song. Hence the idea of a footswitch.

Maybe I could also isolate the frequency spot that bothers me and EQ it out. Not sure my EQs would allow fine notching like that though...


Here's my question:
Can I "hotswitch" the piezos without damage to the amp (Solid State from the 80s) and to the piezos?. When I turn them off, I usually turn the master down to 0 during the operation. That's probably not needed though.

What's the best way to do it if someone already has experience with that?
Thanks!

[Mark Coward]

What's the best way to do it if someone already has experience with that?
Thanks!

A friend had a Behringer cab that came stock with a footswitchable tweeter, seemed to work ok. You need to make sure that you use speaker cable for the footswitch, not a typical pre-wired amp switch. You will need to install a switch also, or a switching jack, if you want the ability to use the tweeters without the foot switch. A switch with a jack would be best, then just run a 1/4" speaker cable from the switch to the cab.

[kynetx]

The hacker in me thinks this is awesome. The practical old man sees this as another fail point. It might be less dangerous to use an EQ pedal like the Boss BEQ or whatever you like. They're pretty plentiful used.