Assuming you start with a guitar with decent "known" PU's, I wouldn't make any decisions about replacing them until I had the guitar a while to figure out what I liked/disliked about it. One or both of the stock PU's just might turn out to be perfect (or not). 

And my experience is that whenever you ask a forum about PU's everyone tends to respond with what they like/dislike regardless of what the OP specifically asks, so keep that in mind.

Well, I was looking for a aged Les Paul that they wanted a lot of money for - the screws nicked from using a too-small screwdriver, and other things like that plus the chrome worn-down and anything else like that to make it that way - and charge a lot of money for it. But I found this instead so perhaps you are just thinking wrong about what people will pay money for ?? http://agingguitars.tumblr.com/ Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Age shows character.  :-)

Magnet type in a pickup makes a difference as well.  I like a rounder/ warmer, old school tone from my pickups and I found that I leaned more towards Alnico II magnets.  Gibson pickups are expensive, but I really like the Classic 57 neck and Classic 57 plus pickup pair that I had in an Epi Les Paul.

I agree with Danny that hot pickups are hard to get a nice clean tone out of.  I like less hot pick ups with lots of tone and character, then getting my OD or distortion out of the amp.

Now I want a(nother) Les Paul!!  Waaaaaah!   I sold my 1972 Custom and 1993 Classic a few years ago to pay for my studio gear.

I have the "acid sweat" you refer to Rain, and honestly, I sort of like the "distressed" finish it imparts.  I'm a big fan of NICKEL finishes and stay away from chrome at all cost.

I'm also a huge fan of the JB pickup...in the bridge position.  I guess I fell in love with Robben Ford's tone, and that pickup really helps get it.  There is not another pickup like it.
  For the neck, I really liked the Gibson 57 PAF Classic (not the hot one) in my 93 LP....it was just super sweet.   I have Seymour Duncan 59's in 2 of my current guitars in the neck position, but they are bright and thin compared to the Gibson 57 Classic.

Good luck in your decision!

This weekend, Guitar Center has an Epiphone Les Paul Special I with P 90s for $89.
If it's half as good as my Epi LP, it'll be worth the money.

i am a firm believe in blades.

it is a superior design, IMHO


i like the Bill Lawrence Wilde L-90's, in a paul.

you can pair them at 4.0H in the neck, 6.0H in the bridge, for classic sound, or go hotter for more modern.

Wow, that's plenty of goos info - glad I asked. Thanks a lot guys!

I'm late as usual and I don't know what to add. The Epi pups are chrome plated. In order for the chrome to stick, they have to plate with copper or nickel first. When the chrome flakes off or wears through you get the copper finish.

The plating is only microns thick on the Epi. With a new Gibson you should get all nickel hardware and it ages in a nicer way. The wear and tear should be a badge of honor. No need to hide it.

IMO the best sets of affordable PAF style pickups are Gibson Burstbuckers, Lollor Imperials and Duncan Antiquities. I really prefer the low output humbuckers for classic rock. Of the 3 pups I'd recommend, the Burstbucker is the best value but the Antiquities sound really good at a higher price. The Imperials are the only ones listed that use potting. I like the extra air that comes with un-potted pickups because they seem to transmit more of the guitar's overtones.

I like the Burstbuckers as well.  I had a Gibson rep demo a Burstbucker 3, in the bridge position at the Dallas Guitar Show a few years ago.  He had a quick change system built into a customized LP and could change pickups in a matter of seconds.  All of the models were laying on a table ready to demo.  We walked through them one by one and narrowed my favorites down to a couple.  They were BB 3 in the bridge and BB 2 in the neck. The other choice was the 57 and 57 plus.  

I work trades shows, so I happened to catch him before the show opened when he had a lot of time to kill.  It was quite enlightening.  I believe I still have his business card in my office somewhere.

Burstbuckers are different than the Burstbucker Pro's by the way, different magnets.

I'm sure I'd absolutely love those Gibson pick-ups but I don't know how much sense it'd make for me to put a couple of $130 pick ups in a $400 guitar. 

Not that the guitar isn't absolutely nice, but I'm just not sure how much I want to hot rod it, particularly considering that I intend to buy a real Gibson later. Which is why something like DiMarzio seemed to make sense for the Epi.

But there's a lot of cool info and plenty of things I'll need to evaluate I guess.