Help with amp sims

The pickups definitly seem to make a difference when using DI. I have one guitar with Duncan Designed (Passive) pickups and one guitar with EMG-81s (Active) and the EMG's definitly have a much better sound.
 
The background noise from the amp sim is loud as hell and you
can probably reduce it a little :

- Less pre amp and power amp gain on amp sim
- Less treble and presence on amp sim
- Try cutting everything above 10K before going into amp sim.