I think it's unfair to compare brands when you're talking about 2 different types of pickups. Maybe if you swapped the VHII for a Duncan with A5 magnet wound to 9.2k, but otherwise it's not a fair comparison and thus this thread is pretty pointless. "I'm leaving Alnico V 9k humbuckers behind" may have been a better thread title.
Ah, but it wasn't a comparison of brands, it was just a statement that he's leaving his BKP behind :P
But the title suggests that he is leaving the whole brand behind rather than just this one pickup.
This thread has been a bit pointless as Bainzy said.
The comparisons between two of the top brand are a bit like comparing BMWs with a TVR.
Whilst we will agree that the handmade TVR will have a bit of an individual character and "soul" - few/none of us would claim that a nice BMW is cr@p
I'm sure if James got Tim to wind a pickup to a similar spec to the SD one but handwind it with a scatterwind and a slight offset between the two coils, it would push the Splawn amp just perfectly and have that "soul" to it as well, but in the meantime the SD that h already had seems to be doing a good job.
Neither is a "bad" pickup - just different to each other.