[headcrash]

I‘d like a louder noiseless neck single coil in a HSS guitar ( Music Man Axis Sport).
The full-size bridge humbucker is a DiMarzio Custom EvH, which makes it very similar to Tone Zone, Air Zone or AT-1.
For the neck I imagine a rather fat sound in terms of fat single coil, or thin underwound PAF, hence the three candidates.
I am used to double humbucker guitars, so a very single coilish sound just doesn’t sound quite right for me.
At the moment I have an Injector neck there, which is a little too quiet there and maybe also too single coilish. I‘d rather put it in the middle position.

[gregr]

I’d consider The Chopper or warmer/rounder Pro Track in the neck, and perhaps a Virtual Solo in the middle. Satch Track is another option in the neck if you want to go a little weaker, though I prefer the Seymour Duncan single-sized humbuckers over the Satch Track which I found to be disappointing.

I have an HSS with a Fast Track 1 in the neck, an HSH with a Fast Track 1 in the middle and an SSS with a Fast Track 1 in the bridge. It’s a great pickup for straddling the line between single coil and humbucker. It has the dynamics to keep up with vintage up to weaker medium output pickups but it isn’t particularly fat sounding in the latter context. It completely lacks top end chime, as does anything else hotter than the Virtual Vintage 54 Pro (though some chime can be coaxed out of the Injector Neck). This can be a good thing with distortion dialed for humbuckers where top-end chime can get brittle and harsh. However, I’m not recommending Fast Track 1 for the fear that it won’t keep up with the Custom EVH as you described it, combined with your preference for humbuckers in the neck that will likely also preclude the Injector Bridge and Virtual Solo, which sound even more like single coils than the Fast Track 1.

[darkbluemurder]

I would be cautious about the Virtual Solo in the neck position as it has Alnico 5 magnets which have more string pull than the other models mentioned. Anything else fine - Chopper and Satch Track would be the closest to the humbucker camp.

Cheers Stephan

[headcrash]

Thanks guys for your reply!

I should‘ve added, that I already had a Pro Track (too loud , too fat) and a Satch Track (still quite a bit too loud and too fat) in that guitar on the neck spot.
Good advice concerning string pull with the Virtual Solo, Stephan!

I wouldn’t necessarily want that pickup to sound like a PAF. That’s what I have my double humbucker guitars.
Also I think with the Satch Track I already ruled out the weakest of the dual blade PAF variants.
TBH, most of the attributes, gregr is pointing out with the Fast Track 1 make me want to try one, despite of the possibility it sounding not humbuckery enough, and being (too) quiet.
Maybe I should have an eye on the used market for a FT1…

[gregr]

My concern about pairing a Fast Track 1 with a fat bridge humbucker is about it lacking body, not so much about it lacking output. The limiting factor of it not sounding “humbuckery enough” has more to do with the aperture than the wind and this issue still exists with the hotter rail pickups, IME. In my SSS with an Area 61 in the middle and Injector Neck in the neck, the Fast Track 1 sounds very much like a humbucker, though I’m shaving off a bit of top end and am using a larger tone cap dedicated to position 1 in order to give it the appearance of sounding fatter. Likewise, in my HSS I’m sculpting the Fast Track 1 in the neck position to have more of a single coil tonality in position 4 and more of a humhucker tonality in position 5 (positions 4 and 5 are both neck-only). Context is everything. So with all that out of the way I say go ahead and give it a shot.

To push back a bit on the Satch Track sounding “too fat,” it’s actually pretty tight, the problem is that it’s dull. It’s great with a lot of distortion where the distortion is filling out the top end. Cleans are perhaps better suited for jazz, though it still lacks too much articulation for my taste. Perhaps I’d be more ok with it in a 24-fret guitar that is naturally bright.