The Sims Super Quad pickups sort of reminded me of this video:
This Lakland video has always stuck in my mind because I thought it was a brave move for the brand to break away from their longstanding relationship with Bartolini to develop their own pickups and preamp. However, whilst I could see the utility in having one bass that can mimic the sound of a few classics, it doesn't do any of the sounds as well as the basses it seems to emulate (with the exception of the P bass, but really that's neither here nor there, I don't much care for the sound of a Precision anyway).
When I heard the Sims pickups I didn't think they sounded like anything particularly special or great. I would tend to agree with the speculation that most players will tend to find a couple of sounds they like from a bass and settle with them. Certainly for a live situation, I can't imagine many soundmen wanting a bass tone and EQ that is constantly changing at the player-side, as they'll probably just try to squash out the changes at the board if they're at all paying attention. When Mark at Talking Bass moved to his Enfield with the Super Quads in it I was struck at how much more I preferred the sound of the Ibanez SR he used to use. I tend to be a player that wants a bass to do one or two sounds really well and I use each instrument in specific situations where it'll perform well.
In my own semi-related experience, I used to have an ACG with the absolutely amazing ACG EQ-01 preamp in it. The tones it could produce were just astounding but I was forever fiddling with it. A lot of the time I should have been practicing was just spent noodling and faffing around with the tone controls! These days I value something I can just plug in and get a great sound from immediately.