Jackson Soloist Pro Active Pickups

[jjacksonboogie]

Hi there,

 

I own a Japanese Soloist Pro (at least I presume it is as it does not have the USA mark on the headstock) and have never fully understood the active pickup arrangement.

 

The guitar has a a humbucker in the bridge position and two single coils. The pickups have three control pots the nearest volume, the middle the active boost (I think) and the last and furthest away tone.

 

The problem I have is that unless the middle pot is fully clockwise the sound becomes very muddy, a bit Hendrixy but for most things it is pretty un-usable.

 

The pot that I presume is the tone fully clockwise produces a full but still clear sound and fully anti-clockwise gets thinner sounding and I used to think this was the boost circuit however the 9V battery inside never ever ran out (I have had the guitar 8 years and it is still full!!!!)

 

So from this my question is is the middle pot the boost?, if it is, is it how it is to supposed to sound?, and finnaly would I be better upgrading the bridge pickup to a EMG active or similar?

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated.