Why buy a boutique pickup and put it in an Epiphone that you play through a 15 watt vox? Why not upgrade your guitar or your amp. I don't want to be a spoil sport, I love pickups too, but your amp really produces 80-90% of your tone, so if you're looking to improve your tone, it would only make sense to improve the main factor in said tone. Maybe you could get an amp that's a little nicer and then get a BKP. Just my 2 cents.
An interesting, and of course popular perspective is to upgrade the amp first ; however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that more of my intrinsic tone - was with the guitar,
if the pickups were
wholly fit for purpose / good. I say this, not to propogate B.K.P sales , or to negate your comments - but to say that my favourite B.K.P. pickups sound good through a 'Micro Cube' - but in stark contrast , the pickups they replaced would have hidden the qualities of even my very best rig. Add to that - the number of players who have 'milked' the juice out of 15 watt combos for some benchmark recordings ( Larry Carlton and Jimmy Page spring to mind ) .
I like a tooled up guitar as my own 'Keystone' component ; confidently knowing that if I borrow an amp, or go D.I. e.t.c. - the tone I practice with / carry with me - is going to be as representative of what I do as possible .
For example, some of my own my favourite tone moments have been through generic ( i.e. not amp or effect modelled ) recording software via a cheap interface.
I play a sub £300 'Vintage' archtop with Manhattans - sometimes through a Micro-Cube, AAD Cub 100 or Henriksen. Even with the cheapest amp and this emminently 'affordable' guitar, I have been able to acheive sounds that seem to 'keep people happy' ( and I'm no Wizard ! :lol:).
:)