I think one of those pickups with a huge moat around them plus that weird oversized chrome bevel is bad enough as it is. But two of those is just plain silly.(sorry guys, couldn't resist)
Two pickups of similar character makes more sense than trying to marry two wildly different pickups
John Hall's kid has pretty much taken over from what I can tell. I'm glad to see them trying new things for a change. The new 4002S is really cool, though I'm not crazy about maple fingerboards on Rics. They did one in British racing green that would have looked even more beautiful if they had used the Caribbean rosewood they started using a couple years ago.
While this may be true for Gibson EB3, the two Ric 4001/3 high-gain pickups AFAIK are similar if not identical, only the surround is different. The huge surround/handrest unit replaced the horseshoe pickup that had to be this large because of its two outer magnets. I assume RIC wanted to keep the striking trademark appearance.
That makes sense. Keeping the pickup surrounds only for looks doesn't.