Pickup mods to a bitsa Jaguar. Advice please.

[philw]

Morning all,

 

Some old-handers here may remember my bitsa-Jaguar. Known, by me, as the Surf-Jag. It's an old Squire Tele-bass neck with a custom made Jaguar-ish body, fully passive with Entwistle PJ pickups.

 

It's great bass, now with multiple battle scars (it survived a fall off the stage at Brighton Pride a couple of years ago - just the bass, not me also), that I gig with regularly, but the new project I'm involved in, a New Wave covers band (everything from Joe Jackson via Prefab Sprout and XTC to Gary Numan, and everything late 70s early 80s in between), really needs a wider variety of tones from the bass than it can offer. I also sometimes struggle with hum on stage from the single-coil pickups.

 

So I'm wondering about swapping out the passive PJs and going active (the bass has battery box already fitted for this eventuality). But what pickups and preamp should I go with? I'd even consider re-routing the body to fit some humbuckery at either or perhaps both locations.

 

Anyway, suggestions, ideas and thoughts would be much appreciated (I'd also need somebody local(ish) to Brighton to do the work 'cause I think it'll be somewhat beyond my pay grade).

 

Thanks in advance

Phil