pickup rehab questions

[robNeedles]

I am rehabbing a older neck thru korean spector (my main squeeze for 17yrs now) who's electronics were finally just abused to the point of failure. It is a p/j setup with V/Bl/Tr/Bs controls. I like the growly emg/spector rex brown tone, but have heard that the emgs are a bit limited to that tone. Any truth to that? I will be playing mostly rock. here come the questions...should I be looking at active pups/active preamp (is the any point in that?), passive pups/active preamp? what about maintaing that control setup that i am comfortable with? ie-the emg p/j set comes wired w/2v/1tone, leaving me with an unused pot hole. is that setup just a lot better than what i'm used to and i need to get over myself and learn something new. what are the pros/cons of a passive/active vs active/active
Here's a few ideas i've had...the emg p/j set (or the pjx...what 's the difference tone wise) w/the emg bts preamp (the knob setup I'm familiar with), the emg's with an aguilar pre (like on my rebop5-emghz soapbars and obp-1.) maybe the emghz p/j set with the aguilar (what's the fav aguilar pre and why?). maybe a different pup set (heard great things bout the bill lawerence wilde set) and an active pre (emg, aguliar, other?) again, these are only a few ideas of mine. i'm am open to/looking for suggestions. my next project is gonna be a 5string fretless, so i'll cover that end of the tonal spectrum with a different bass.

here's a few high points:
1) active
2) 4 knob setup
3) good rock tone
4) $300 or so limit

sorry to be so long winded guys, but this is my first ground up rehab, so i need all the info i can get. especially for the sheckles i'm bout to drop. i'm closer to peavey than boutique. thanks for all your help.