Opened the case this morning... and it has sprouted 2 new knobs!
Anybody know how to cure this condition?!
In all seriousness though, this has been something I've thought about for some time. The filter electronics are very delicate and complicated, so things can always go wrong, plus a battery change mid-session could be a hassle, so my solution: add an alternate, passive circuit! It's a push/pull volume pot and normal tone control. With the push/pull in the down position, the active filter preamp is being used. When you pull the knob up though, it grabs the signal from the neck pickup and sends it through the passive harness. Aside from a quick fix for any time-consuming filter incidents, this also allows me to quickly tap into the classic, passive single-neck-pickup Starfire bass tones that this bass offered when I first got it 4 years ago. It just keeps getting more and more versatile. Looking forward to the day that it can toast a bagel and brew coffee for me!