Are high output pickups outdated?

[NotDemanic]

I suppose that it's all a matter of taste. Low gain pickups can do metal. I think that back twenty years ago, Mark Morton was using a set of 59's in early Lamb of God stuff. And I would say that even now, Petrucci's pickups would be classified as medium gain.
But there is something about an Alternative 8, JB, Distortion, X2N etc that just hits different.

 

[marcello252]

I feel them different, I'd say more compressed in lack of a better definition, but I end up thinking it must be something about the thinner wire, not the output

 

[Securb]

IMO, a Dimebucker with the volume rolled of does not make a PAF any more than a PAF with a bunch of pedals make a Dimebucker.

I don't think anyone playing a high-gain pickup expects it or even wants it to sound like a PAF. However, a high-gain pickup with the VOL rolled back can definitely cover that PAF sonic territory, especially the Black Winter, which responds to the VOL knob and splits incredibly well.