Toneport Ux1 Question

So I have a Toneport UX1 but I'm having some difficulty getting a decent sound out of it. The tone is very soft and I usually end up cranking the volume and adding LOTS of distortion. Even after browsing libraries of custom tones, none seem to sound quite right. The only tone that sounds halfway decent is Marcus Lavendells (<3 ) My question is, would replacing the pickups on my guitar help me get a better sound out of the toneport? I've always thought that the pickups really didn't matter when it came to using modeling software so please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks guys