[darkbluemurder]

Hi,

Since I have not seen a thread on the Areas in this section I will start one. I have/had them in two strat style guitars (one ash body, one piece maple neck, the other alder body, maple neck w/ rosewood board, both vintage style vibratos). The first set I had was Area 61 bridge and Area 58 for the other two positions. I then acquired another set: 61 bridge and two 67s for the other two positions. I ended up in both guitars with 61-58-67 and later VV54-58-67 (going from bridge to neck) and the two 61s paired with a Kinman AVn-48b in a Telecaster.

Area 67: this is easily the brightest of the three. When used in the neck position it delivers the glassy clear shimmery strat tone - think Hendrix, Motown etc. When used with the right amp and pedals it can do Blackmore tones as well. I recommend a 250k pot with it - 500k makes it too bright IMHO. My preferred position for this pickup is at the neck. You can put it in the middle as well but I preferred the 58 there.

Area 58: this surprised me at first. In the neck position I did not really like it. I thought it was too thin, yet it was not clear enough. Some kind of neither fish nor meat situation. Surprisingly I liked it much better in the middle spot - both individually and in combination with the neck or the bridge pickup. Especially with the 61 in the bridge it offers a smoky quack that is very nice. The 61+67 combination was too thin and hollow for my ears.

Area 61: this is the highest output pickup of the three which makes it a natural candidate for the bridge position when combined with the other two but as I found out later it also works very well in the middle and neck spots together with a stronger pickup (e.g. a Tele bridge, P90 or a low output PAF-type humbucker). Even though I have not tried the 61 in the neck spot of the same guitar as I had the 58 it appears to me that the 61 is cleaner than the 58. 

Hope that helps,
Stephan

[Steve K]

Didn't know you had this thread,Everything about these pups are nicely explained here in a short paragraph,Thanks.

[bluediamond]

Hi, How's the 2 & 4 position quack of the 61/58/67, compared to 61/67/67?

[Steve K]

The quack I get from the 67 in the Neck and the 58 in the middle is not as Bright as I want it to be,It is a little dark and if I set the amp bass and treble to adjust accordingly to get perfect quack from the Neck/middle setting, then the neck or middle by itself is too bright.But this is 2 noiseless pups combined which might be the reason.

[RayBarbeeMusic]

I've found that pickup height makes a big difference. 

With Areas you tend to put them close to the strings because unlike regular singles, you can without causing intonation or warbling issues.  BUT, you lose quack with the middle pup up close. Backing off the bass side on both middle and neck helps as well. 

Oddly, I've found that two injector necks in neck/middle with 500k pot gets AMAZING quack.  With an AT-1 in the bridge set to go into parallel mode when in position 2 combined with the middle injector neck, the quack/tone is fantastic and authentic as can be.

[slugworth]

There is surprisingly little about these pickups here. I just wanted to add a couple or three things:

Dimarzio Area (and Virtual Vintage) strat pickups can be mounted inside soapbar P90 covers! It's not much trouble at all if you have a Dremel or similar tool. Remove the two baseplate screws from the Area pickup. They hold the coils together, but also line up well with P90 mounting screw holes. The poles don't line up quite so perfectly, so on the P90 cover you'll have to Dremel out the outer edge of the 1st and 6th pole holes a tiny bit, and the 2nd and 5th holes an even tinier bit. For me this is a much better solution to strat tone in a P90 form factor than, say, this.

The other thing I wanted to add was, for me, the Area 67 completely nails "that sound in my head" of what a strat neck pickup should sound like, mainly inspired by Mr. Hendrix.

And to respond to the quack discussion, to me the VV 54 Pro is the perfect middle pickup complement to the 67 in the neck, both in terms of output and notch (quack) tone. I've tried all the Area, VV, and Injector strat pickups, and if you're looking to match the 67 in the neck, then the 54 is the one.

[Amplifuzz]

Uh, interesting! How does it work after the dremeling? Foam under the whole assembly and the two mounting screws keep the whole thing together? Seems a bit fragile or squeal-prone ...

[slugworth]

It works great. Just use foam or springs underneath. I was planning to use a couple of drops of CA glue in between the coils to hold them together, but once I put it all together, there didn't seem to be any need.

Sorry, in my post I made it sound like I grinded down the pickup poles. NO (obviously). You grind out the inside of the pole holes on the P90 cover. I'll edit that to clarify.

[darkbluemurder]

Dimarzio Area (and Virtual Vintage) strat pickups can be mounted inside soapbar P90 covers! It's not much trouble at all if you have a Dremel or similar tool. Remove the two baseplate screws from the Area pickup. They hold the coils together, but also line up well with P90 mounting screw holes. The poles don't line up quite so perfectly, so on the P90 cover you'll have to Dremel out the outer edge of the 1st and 6th pole holes a tiny bit, and the 2nd and 5th holes an even tinier bit. For me this is a much better solution to strat tone in a P90 form factor than, say, this.

That's a very cool idea. I may try that with one guitar I have a P90 in the neck position at the moment.

The other thing I wanted to add was, for me, the Area 67 completely nails "that sound in my head" of what a strat neck pickup should sound like, mainly inspired by Mr. Hendrix.

Fully agree to that one. I had it in a few guitars and have yet to find one in which it does not sound good.

And to respond to the quack discussion, to me the VV 54 Pro is the perfect middle pickup complement to the 67 in the neck, both in terms of output and notch (quack) tone. I've tried all the Area, VV, and Injector strat pickups, and if you're looking to match the 67 in the neck, then the 54 is the one.

Since I now have two spare VV 54 Pros I may try that instead of the 58 I have in the middle.

Cheers Stephan

[Amplifuzz]

Sorry, in my post I made it sound like I grinded down the pickup poles. NO (obviously). You grind out the inside of the pole holes on the P90 cover. I'll edit that to clarify.

It was clear enough you were referring to the plastic cover

[slugworth]

Since I now have two spare VV 54 Pros I may try that instead of the 58 I have in the middle.

Yeah, go for it when you have a chance, and let us know what you think. The Area 58 is fine in the middle with the 67 in the neck, but to me it's just a little bland compared to the 54 in the middle.

It was clear enough you were referring to the plastic cover

Oh good. Your skepticism made me scrutinize what I had written.   

[darkbluemurder]

I really like this clip of the Area 61 in the neck

http://www.dimarzioforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,8161.0.html

Cheers Stephan

[darkbluemurder]

I guess I mentioned before but I strongly prefer a 250k volume pot or lower for 67, 58 and 61 (and Virtual Vintage 54 Pro), regardless of the position. Same goes for any of the higher output models (Injectors, Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 and Virtual Solo) in the bridge position. For the Injector neck in the neck position, I prefer a 500k volume pot.

What I did not mention previously is that all of the Area models are sensitive to the tone control loading. If you have a 250k tone pot and want more brightness, try a 500k. Want still more? Try a 1meg or a no-load pot.

Cheers Stephan

[gregr]

It largely depends on the guitar and application but raising the Q by reducing the load can sound sharp. You might want to try this instead…

[darkbluemurder]

Yep - but when you get to the point where it's too sharp, simply go one step back.

And I agree it is guitar dependent.

Cheers Stephan