I run an EMG 81 (Bridge) & 60 (Neck) in all my guitars; ESP Eclipse-II FR, Charvel USA Production Model So-Cal, and a Peavey HP Special. For me, those pickups give me such a wonderfully clean and quiet slate to work with. I find they allow me to dial in any kind of sound/tone much quicker, quieter, and faster than passives did. They are pretty straight foward and I like how I don't have to battle the V and pickup for balance like I did with the tons of passives I tried. When I bought the V I swapped pups constantly, trying finding the perfect pickup to compliment the versatility of the amp. Those two did it for me. Although I like the EMG 85, it doesn't work as well for me in the Bridge position as the 81 does; and I hate the 85 in the neck of all my guitars as I find it has nothing on the harmonic overtones of the 60 in the neck or the cleanliness of the 81 in the bridge. The 60 in the neck has such a nice, fat, sustainey, and vintagey openess to it for playing old school rythem or high gain solo, and the 81 can pretty much take care of anything you throw at it though the amp.
Passive Pickups I've Tried With The V:
1) DiMarzio Tone Zone (Bridge) - Muddy and Bodiless; in my opinoin, the worst bridge pickup I have ever tried. The only way I could get it to sound useable with the V was to adjust the bass side low and raise the poll pieces. That got old, especially when there was no payoff.
2) DiMarzio Crunch Lab (Bridge) - Huge sounding! Nice detail and oddly hot and vintage sounding at the same time. Nice bridge position pickup, although I would recommend not facing the bar toward the neck with the V; too bassy imo.
3) DiMarzio LiquiFire (Neck) - Most close to the EMG 60's tone from what I can remember, only it is a passive and. Very warm and nice clean tones. Cool overtones and very fast tracking with leads.
4) DiMarzio Evolution (Neck) - Same opinion as the Tone Zone.
5) Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon (Bridge) - Excellent passive pickup. It is so darn clean that it's hard not to like. Beautiful midrange (hard to describe). It's hot, yet has a vintagey/old school openess. Amazing tone/sound all around.
5) Seymour Duncan Little '59 (Neck) - I love the '59 in the neck position of every guitar I've had them in. I don't like the "mini" version as much although it does split very well/clean! Did not like it so much for quick leads.
For me and my style (Rush, Van-Halen, '80s, Jazz, with tons of cheezey chorus and delay all the time) nothing beats the EMG 81 (Bridge) and 60 (Neck). Some people dislike the "compressed" sound of EMG's; I love it. Also, If you want to meet in the middle, ala Passive and Active, you could always go for an EMG 81 X series or just do an 18volt mod to a regualr EMG. Other option would be Seymour Duncan Blackouts. They are supposed to have a nice "bridge" between the gap so to speak. Just some food for thought.