ESP says my guitar has passive pickups with active EQ/VOL the EQ knob kinda stands on the active vol knob they both just get louder it’s like bottom is gain and top is treble.
I’ve given a hardy tug to the top on but it doesn’t seem to be a switch.
So if I want to play at any given time (which for me is EVERY given time) I require 9v batteries?
For example my bass died at about 10 am yesterday and now every time I walk by it I think about drop kicking it
Ebm7: this is unusual, because on an average day I would just play it. Probably all of the day…
Yeah that is pretty normal for an active bass. A battery should at least take a few weeks if not months to run out. Depends on how much you play ofc. The most important thing to remember is that you unplug the cable from your bass when you are done playing or else it will keep draining your battery. I had a few occasions where I forgot to unplug just to find out the battery was drained the next day.
Well part of my answer is why wouldn’t you mod? If you have a bass and it’s not quite what you want, then often you can change it.
Couple examples.
I have two ESP LTD Stream 204s. The body contouring is a little different, the wood on the fretboard is different, but I love the feel of how they play. Just so comfortable to me.
But they are entry level basses in the ESP line, and I’m not in love with the two band EQ, and the pickups were serviceable. They are both used, $300 range, so a refresh was an option when I bought them.
For the black stream, the pot on the EQ is wonky. Another factor is I am trying to purchase a new Stream 1004, which has upgraded hardware, but the date keeps getting pushed out. So she is getting the same pickup and EQ setup that an ESP E-II Stream has. So I will have the same sound as a $2400 bass for $600 total.
Yuki, the other Stream 204, looks like she was played a bit, and has some dings, than sat in a closet a few years. She cleaned up nicely and looks new, but for the corrosion on her electronics. So she got a new set, again she cost about $600 for bass + factory hardshell case + pickups.
My ESP LTD Surveyor 400 is another used bass, and had a EMG MMTW bridge pickup, which completely overpowered the neck pickup it had so much boom. So I changed that to a Delano, which in turn was overpowered by the active neck pickup, so I replaced that with a Delano. Now she is a passive bass, and sounds funky. Also has more tonal options as I added in a series/parallel switch for the neck pickup.
My Stream 1005 comes with EMG X pickups and an EMG EQ from the factory, she won’t get upgraded. She is fine as she is.
As for batteries, buy a 5 pack and put in your bag. If anything fails on a bass, it’s the battery. Have spares.
Life has it’s own schedule. The Stream 1004 that I was told on Friday wouldn’t be here until 2022? Cancelled it Sunday late, and today it’s in stock.
I’ve already got the pickup upgrade for the Stream 204 on order so we’ll roll with what we’ve got. No regrets.
The world is upsidedown and everything is not what it seems.
Awaiting a bass that was supposed to deliver tomorrow per FedEx.
Tried to redirect it and hold it as no one will be home tomorrow and it is signature required but they have paused all that for the holidays (thanks a$$holes).
So I gave up.
Mid-day while at work I got a ‘we tried to deliver this’ text, TODAY, yup, its the bass.
So now I am trying to navigate a 1-hour window between 7pm-8pm where i can pick it up at FedEx when the truck goes back and before they close…otherwise for tomorrow it is rinse and repeat. I spent over 2 hours on phone with FedEx getting nowhere today.
I use a po box at a ups store for deliveries, not that it helps.
I’m tired of this reality, I need to substitute my own
This is a good idea!
Scamazon offers that option, shipping to a pickup point. The only thing is that its always a day more than a Prime delivery to your doorstep. Unfortunately they don’t allow you to send everything to these pickup points. No liquids and some electronics are verboten as well.
Well….it’s a Christmas Miracle! I was getting ready to trek back to the FedEx depot and the doorbell rang. It was the FedEx driver!!!
He said he decided to come back because the package looked important and he noticed it was from Japan and figured I would be worried about it.
This never happens, even more never in New York!
Pictures soon…
we need to make a Hallmark movie from this. That is really freakin good news
Standing out front amid the Christmas lights with him, this actually occured to me 
Wow! Congrats man! That’s amazing! What a guy… I wish more employees were like him…
I just bought an Ibanez SR375E, and I’m looking at swapping out the pickups for something better. For the playing I do, at my skill level, it probably won’t make much difference, but if I swap out the pickups I’ll have an SR375E that no one else has. It’ll be… different. Unique.
shrug
Some people just like to tinker and put their own spin on things, I s’pose. 
Something to be said for making it your own.
What’s interesting about all the modding is that everything comes down to the neck and the body.
Everything else is negotiable/swappable etc with little or less ease, depending on holes and cavities.
Kind of like everything in life, then.
To me, changing pickups and strings is analogous to changing tires and wheels on my Jeep. Something easily changed and changed back.
I hope changing back refers only to tires with sufficient tread depth or to new ones if lack there of/ structural compromise was found… 
Nope, I wheel jeeps, and some tires (and wheels for that matter) are meant for highway use, some for off road, and some for specific terrain.
Getting peak performance means some experimentation. I.e, changing tires