I mean, for something less strarry sounding, maybe a proper mini humbucker is the way to go. They won’t sound quite like their full sized bretheren so they’ll split the difference between a singlecoil and humbucker due to their smaller aperture, but you’ll get somethign fatter, thicker, and loads hotter than even hot singlecoils.
The other thing I might try would be the Dimarzio Heavy Blues 2 - I tried a pair of these with an AT1 in the bridge when the Cruisers Timmons used were just too weak for me to balance, and while I ultimately abandoned it for something else, it DID seem to meet your criteria - very hot for a singlecoil, darker and thicker than normal, but still having a good singlecoil like attack to it. I thought they recorded rather well too.
95% sure I still had the Heavy Blues 2 in my Strat for this - this was recorded ages ago though so I’d have to check dates. Cleaner stuff at the start is the same amp settings but just with my volume rolled back a bit, I think, plus working my pick attack a little. I definitely liked how this pickup sounded when you dug in a bit.
EDIT - yeah, I had to go back and check my notes from tracking that, and then dig around a forum I’m a longtime member/admin at for the “new pickup day” thread, but I recorded the lead for this on 10/26/2010, and picked the guitar up from my local shop (this was before I learned how to wire pickups myself) on 10/20, about a week earlier. Definitely the Heavy Blues 2.
the neck pick up especially. Is the song a tribute to EJ?
