If you want to 'compress' your sound, Alnico II magnets are the

natural way to go. The output will be quite low, but very flat and

smooth, and sustain longer. Players either love or hate this sound,

 depending on how much they like the 'spank', 'pop' or 'dynamic range'

 of single coil pickups to begin with.

You will find the compression effect so strong that they don't get much

louder, no matter how hard you play, even if you really sock them

strings.

While I've designed and built Alnico II pickups in the past, I think

it's more of an 'Anti-Fender' tone, and I've used them mostly on

active, pre-amped guitars where there are several electronic benefits

from the compressed, lower-output tone. They were used by Fender for

these reasons on their 'active' Strats and Teles during the 80's, but

keep in mind the active electronics in these guitars restored the dynamic range.

If you want to retain the single-coil dynamics, but expand the overall

response and output, you could consider taking a look at my 'Vintage

Plus' pickups.