Narzugon
Power User
I've never really felt a huge difference with new pickups, rather I feel the placebo effect in combination of fresh strings after the pickup switch.
I think I have tried the most common pickups out there and I don't by any means think that all pickups are bad, quite the opposite, I feel like most pickups are really good these days and you're maybe not getting much bang for buck spending hundreds of dollars on pickups (especially boutique premium pickups). I'm intentionally not naming any brands as I don't mean to single companies out.
If your speaking broadly on the subject one could draw the same comparison with IR's. Compare Brand X's 25 watt pre Rola shot with a 57 off axis with Brand Y's. Both brands being known for quality IR's. Probably about as much of a difference as the comparison you made here.
"Where I'm coming from" is pretty clear so there's no reason hiding it. Luckily most people understand the value of IR's and I can make a living out of it but there's one guy out of ten who thinks IR's are too expensive. Really? After getting a $2.5k/$1.5k unit, two $500 monitors, a $2k guitar with $200 pickups... the most effective part of your signal chain is still IR's am I right?
I started buying IR packs back in the Ultra days. Then there was a period around Ultra Res where the technique of shooting IR's was advancing and with each new wave there was a noticeable difference. And for $29 to $100+ a pack, it was worth the upgrade to buy the same speaker/cab/mic combo. Now I have a library full of my favorite cab/mic/speaker combos from different authors from different time periods. When I listen to a new pack that features my favorite combo I look at the price and think I'm not getting much bang for my buck. Not because the new Brand X has a crappy product but because it's not much different than what I already have. At that point price is the determining factor if I buy or not.