That depends on the day. I'm glad I am fortunate enough to have guitars of different styles (low end as they may be; my sole bragging right remains my Gibson L6). Because of them I have come to know there are at least two vibes I am after: Blues & Rock and each guitar has (to me) a proclivity to each genre. But yet sometimes country, too! (Hence my tele-partscaster heheh).

I am finding with my limited pick-up experience that it seems more driven by amplifier than anything else. I can get pretty much any "tone" I want dialing in either my amp or my modeling pedal. In the case of my Squier upgrade, all that did was [u]enhance[/u] the effect. [Edit: Contradicting myself. They definitely DID enhance the tone. I can't say it and deny it in the same sentence =P]

So far, I'm of the mind that the amplification and effects drive the bulk of tone within a realm of pick up (SC vs. HB). Ultimately, as so many have said, it's the player, not the hardware. :) But I'm learning, and who knows what I'll learn next?!?

[Edit: To paraphrase: I don't think I'll get the tone I am after until I'm running thru a Marshall cranked to 10. :) ]