The dilemma with the questions you're asking is this......different pickups are mostly "different", and may , or may not be better or worse than what's in the bass, that all comes down to taste, and opinion. Same with strings, though there are poorly made cheap strings, if we compare sets that are made well, it comes down to opinion, one set isn't better, only different. When you can describe what it is that you do not like about the Ibanez pickups, if it's something that EQ, and setup wont fix, someone might chime in with a change they made, that changes the things you don't like. Are the Barts better than EMG's or the Ibanez pickups?.....well, they are different, some may like the sound better, some won't like it at all, if you change what's in there now. Are expensive pickups always better?....there's a question I can answer....no. I changed the pickups in one of my Fender basses from the perfectly good Fender pickups to a specific set of EMG's, after playing a bass with them, the bass was quite good from the factory, for me, it's even better now. My band's lead player's reaction..."What did you do?, I loved that bass, would you sell me the Fender pickups that were in it?, I'll put them in my bass" (he's a really good long time bass player, and while I respect his opinion, he can't have the Fender pickups, (I'm keeping them)...but the EMG's stay unless I sell the bass.
