Spector Legend Standard: Passive pickups with active circuit. What does that mean?

[Sean775]

I’ve primarily only played passive Fenders, so I’m not too familiar with other brands, especially basses that aren’t fully passive.

So does this Spector need a 9v battery? And if the pickups were going to be replaced, would I have to buy passive pickups or active pickups?

 

[deff]

It has an active preamp attached to the passive pickups. So your EQ section is active. One of the pots might be a push pull to disengage the active cut/boost on the EQ section. It depends on the preamp you have. You probably can replace with a passive wiring harness, but I'm not sure about how it would sound. A full active set up may require a whole new electronics set.

 

[Sean775]

It has an active preamp attached to the passive pickups. So your EQ section is active. One of the pots might be a push pull to disengage the active cut/boost on the EQ section. It depends on the preamp you have. You probably can replace with a passive wiring harness, but I'm not sure about how it would sound. A full active set up may require a whole new electronics set.

So there is a way to make it fully active?

 

[Keen Amateur]

I had similar questions before buying my one. It has the Tone Pump Jr. electronics that sounds very impressive for rock and heavy. After 2 weeks the battery needed to be replaced for that you must remove the back cover with 6 screws. Because of this and to play among acoustic instruments I disconnected the volumes from the electronic directly to the output jack. The sound is still good enough on the Ibanez P300H that has tone controls. Tested the active circuit separately I understood why is it called Tone Pump.
A good replacement seems to be the Michalik BP-4 but I don't really need it either.