DiMarzio Area '61

Noisesless stack type pickup. Passive. 6.46 Kohm.

Custom built alder/quilt maple strat type guitar. Pickup in the neck position. Virtual Vintage Solo in mid, Dimarzio Air Norton S in the bridge. (I build guitars and sell them on eBay, but kept this guitar as a personal axe ... mostly because the pickups sound so fantastic. I am blown away by these DiMarzio Area and Virtual Vintage pups.

Output level compares with other pickups on the guitar, and with normal single coil pickups. The tone is just amazing. Full, rich single coil sound, lot's of chime and sparkle without sounding thin or tinny, very rich musical sound, better than any other single coil pickup, noiseless or not.

I will continue to use Area '61's where applicable with my builds, it gives a wonderful single coil tone, zero noise, fantastic harmonics, overdrives very nicely and has killer clean tone. If you want a great single coil tone, this pickup compares with the best out there ... Fralin, Lollar, Kinman ... you can't find a better pickup for your strat at any price, in my opinion.

Noiseless single coil. Very, very, silent which is a lot of the reason why I bought them.

I installed this pickup in my standard american strat.
I have one in the neck and one in the middle.
Replaced factory pickups.
Have a Dimarzio Solo Pro in the bridge. Goes well with a lot of different genres of music.
I believe Lincoln Brewster is using this pickup but not 100% sure.
Didn't care for the sound of factory pup's. Plus I started playing on a POD at church so needed noiseless pup's to keep noise down when not playing.

The output is greater then that of a vintage pup but not a ton. The pups that I replaced were actually hotter than these.
Playing on a POD at church and an AC-15 when I'm at home by myself so I can get some true tube od.
The tone is very good. They are very well balanced. They don't really have that vintage strat single coil tone but what noiseless single coil does? This is probably the best noiseless single coil in this price range that your going to find. Smooth highs and good tight bass. If you like a touch more treble in the neck pos. of your strat I would suggest the Area '58. The middle position aren't quite as strat like as I would prefer but since I don't play in the 2-4 pos. that often it's not that big of a deal to me.
Play mainly contemporary praise types stuff. Some jazz and blues here and there. Very good match for almost all styles of music IMO. Of course shred guys most likely wouldn't care for it that much. You chickin pickers would probably like this pup a lot in the bridge.

I would replace these pups with the same one's if stolen.
Been playing about 6 years now. I own a Martin acoustic and a Gibson SG.
My favorite part about these pups is they are noiseless and sound very single coil like at a decent price.
Compared them to Fender Vintage Noiseless pup's and they pretty well blew them away. The vintage noiseless has a tendency to be a bit muddy on the bass end of things and they also don't come anywhere near sounding like a single coil IMO.
Possibly a choice between pole piece staggers would be nice for flatter radius fretboards.

Impedance or other specs?
6.46 k impedance
142 output (millivolts?)
Single coil or humbucking?
Humcancelling single coil sized strat pickup... fits straight into standard pickguard slot

What model guitar or bass did you install this in?
Installed into '96 USA Lonestar strat with maple fretboard.
What position is it in?
Neck and Mid
What pickup are you replacing?
Texas Specials
Other pickups installed on the instrument?
Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge
Any artists using this pickup? Yes, check the Dimarzio website.
Reason for changing the pickup? Well I gotta come straight out and say I really love the texas specials tone, they sound fantastic in this guitar and were great bar one factor: NOISE
For(11) years I had tiptoed around this irritating issue, but since getting a new amp with lots more gain opportunites (Line6 VettaII) and the writing was on the wall.
Research into humcancelling replacements and the Area '61 seemed the most suitable on spec and having read reviews.

What's the output level like?
Standard for a single coil, maybe a touch less than the Texas specials but close.
What amps and effects are you using it with?
Line 6 Vetta II... this is a pretty complex modelling amp with lots of different amp sounds and lots of effects... I am a tone freak
Tone - Well balanced. They have a great stratty tone... authentic sounding. Less bass warmth that the texas specials, but plenty of sparkle and they carry your feel nicely responding well to picking dynamics etc. I would recommend playing thicker (10+) string guages with this pickup.
What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?
I play with my band at church. Our style is guitar driven... pop rock I guess. My tone tastes are vintage, but I like to push the gain hense the problem with the texas specials.
For which positions is this pickup (un)suitable?
I personally don't like single coil sounds in the bridge... I have had the Area '61s only a little while, but compared to the texas specials they rank close enough to be on par really. I think I preferred the Texas Special Neck pickup's tone overall, but its very close. The A'61 sounds a lot better in the middle position.
Look it all comes down to the noise cancelling! Now I can crank up loud and play with no noise from my strat in any position! I have a lot of freedom to explore new tones rather than hide from ugly 50Hz hum! (New Zealand runs 250V 50Hz)

If it was destroyed or stolen, would you buy it again or get something else?
If I had to replace my strat, sure. I might explore a different humbucker in the bridge but overall this is a very fine sounding instrument.
How long have you been playing? About 15 years, this is my first electric guitar, and still my only.
What other gear do you own? A Yamaha bass, a Larrivee acoustic.
Are you satisfied with this pickup or still searching for <b>that</b> sound?
Oh, the search is definately over. This guitar is great, not worth messing with! The next step would another electric guitar altogether. I am satisfied with plenty of beautiful strat tones. Yes I recommend these pickups for sure... they suit what i am playing right now.

Single coil pickup, TOTAL NOISE CANCELLATION, but fully retain the sound of vintage single coils. They are just a bit more midrangy and a touch hotter - but that's what I want.

Installed in a 80's Squire body, with a Jap Strat neck = Frankenstrat. I put in the bridge with Area '58's in the middle and neck positions. They are replacing standard noisy Strat pickups. I play through a Hughes & Kettner Switchblade 100 combo amp and the noise from the old Fender pickups was terrible at high (ultra) gain settings, making the guitar unplayable. Now it's an better instrument at all amp settings from clean, crunch, lead and ultra gains with no noise, making this guitar my favorite recording single coil guitar.

The sound quality is very nice, they sing, quack, shimmer and snarl. They sound great at any setting with most typical effects. (I would never believe a claim like this - but it's true. I painstakingly read reviews on this site about all sorts of replacement pickups for this project and I now know that these are the best.)

The tone is "STRATY"- not warm like humbuckers. They have the same tonal charm as my 1984 Stock USA strat, but without the noise. Totally balanced, not harsh like the Seymour Duncan Strat Noiseless, not lifeless like the EMGs, and not dull or muddy like the Fender Vintage Noiseless.

I play all type of styles and these are best at sounding like Eric Clapton to SRV to AudioSlave.

I think they would work great in all positions, but I like a bit more crunch in the bridge that's why i went with the Area '61 for that spot. My dealer says that he sells many sets in this configuration.

I'm an audio engineer, songwriter and record producer. I tried Seymour Duncans, and Fender Noiseless's but there is no comparison.

I own many vintage Fenders, Hamer, Carvin, Fernandez, and PRS guitars. I love the way all my guitars have different sounds and character. These pickups don't take away from the character, they add to it. My band mates heard it and said that it sounded good too.

These are the best sounding Strat pickups i've ever heard. I know some "purists" will say that you can't get "true single coil sound" from a humbucking pickup - NOT ANYMORE. These are the real deal. If destroyed, I might go with something else in the bridge just to be hotter, for that i give this rating a 9.

Single coil pickup look & tone, with absolutely NO HUM. This is a passive pickup with 6.46K ohm impedence in hum-cancelling wiring, and about 5K ohm impedence in tapped mode.

I installed this pickup in the middle position of my Ibanez RG570 guitar. I've already installed a DiMarzio Norton in the Bridge position, and PAF Pro at the Neck. I really like those two humbuckers, so I decided to replace the middle single-coil with a DiMarzio as well. My goal is to achieve Strat-like sounds in positions 2-3-4, to compliment the great humbucker sounds that I get in positions 1 & 5 from the Norton & PAF Pro.

I've tried several pickups in the middle position, including:
Ibanez S1 (stock) - dull on its own, but combines ok in positions 2&4
DiMarzio Chopper - thin sound, doesn't work well in 2&4
DiMarzio Pro Track - decent on its own, doesn't work well in 2&4
DiMarzio V.V. Blues - ok on its own, not enough quack in 2&4
*DiMarzio Area '61* - great on its own, great Strat sounds in 2&4

(Notes: all hum-cancelling pickups tested were properly tapped & combined with inner coil of Bridge/Neck pickups in positions 2&4. I used the following amps for testing: 1972 Fender Princeton Reverb, Epiphone Valve Junior, Peavey Ultra head.)

The Area '61 is the clear champion in the middle position. It can do great vintage Strat clean sounds in positions 2-3-4, and it provides excellent overdrive sounds ala Stevie Ray, Hendrix, etc. With a high gain amp it provides excellent, cutting lead & rhythm sounds. The bridge & middle combination is especially good for progressive metal rhythm.

I would definitely buy this pickup again. The Norton - Area'61 - PAF Pro combination makes my Ibanez RG570 an extremely versatile guitar.

I suppose a DiMarzio Area '58 would also work well. I chose the Area '61 for its warmer and stronger output, to blend better with the Bridge & Neck humbuckers on this guitar. I am very pleased with it.