I use a pearly gates in the bridge and a carvin m22 in the neck of my squier fat strat- the guitar was dying and these pickups really saved it. I put a series/split/parallel switch in the pearly gates, but I don't use it that much, I might take it out. Also, I put a coil selector switch (3 way) on the m22 because it only had 3 conductors and there was a diagram that came with the pickups that showed how to do it.-Anyway, both of these pickups were awesome before and after I put the switches in, and I was only using a volume knob- no tone controls. I get a lot of cool sounds out of this guitar now. The m22 is really smooth (great for jazz), and the pearly gates is really punchy- it seems like the emphasis of that pickup is on the attack of the note (which is a really cool thing to have for the bridge). Also, I bought a guitar from www.mandalaymusic.com (an axl strat copy) and it came with emg single coils. I think they are similar to the emg select series- anyway, those pickups are really nice, too. the axl strat only costs about $180 with shipping, and it sounds just as good as any fender- you can even get it with a maple neck.
Hope I helped,
-Funkmaster Nate