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Hatsubai « Tone Zone with an air gap »
Published on 03/25/11 at 12:27The DiMarzio Air Zone is basically a Tone Zone with an air gap. DiMarzio puts a gap between the magnet and pole pieces. This creates these real neat overtones that while knocking down the output a bit. It features slugs on one coil, adjustable pole pieces on the other coil, four conductor wiring and an Alnico 5 magnet.
This pickup is really only a bridge pickup, in my opinion. DiMarzio says that it can be used in the neck, but it’ll be very powerful. You’d need a super hot pickup in the bridge to help even everything out. It’ll also be ridiculously bass heavy in the neck, too. This pickup features a very strong bass and midrange. It’s a reincarnation of the Tone Zone, after all.
If the Tone Zone was too compressed for you, and you wanted a bit more touch sensitivity, this is the pickup for you. DiMarzio claims that this is great for hot amps. While it can work with hot amps, this is still a pretty powerful pickup. If you’re looking for a completely clean pickup, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.
For those that have never used the Tone Zone, it’s got tons of bass and mids. The bass is fat on the wound strings, and it never thins out on the treble strings. The midrange on this is very heavy, almost to the point of having a cocked wah sound. Treble is pushed back a good bit on this pickup, as well. If you have a fat sounding guitar, I don’t recommend this pickup at all. If your guitar is neutral to bright sounding, this’ll most likely fatten things up enough. I find the Tone Zone to be a bit cooler sounding, but if you want a slightly classic take on the Tone Zone, this is the pickup you’re looking for.
This pickup is really only a bridge pickup, in my opinion. DiMarzio says that it can be used in the neck, but it’ll be very powerful. You’d need a super hot pickup in the bridge to help even everything out. It’ll also be ridiculously bass heavy in the neck, too. This pickup features a very strong bass and midrange. It’s a reincarnation of the Tone Zone, after all.
If the Tone Zone was too compressed for you, and you wanted a bit more touch sensitivity, this is the pickup for you. DiMarzio claims that this is great for hot amps. While it can work with hot amps, this is still a pretty powerful pickup. If you’re looking for a completely clean pickup, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.
For those that have never used the Tone Zone, it’s got tons of bass and mids. The bass is fat on the wound strings, and it never thins out on the treble strings. The midrange on this is very heavy, almost to the point of having a cocked wah sound. Treble is pushed back a good bit on this pickup, as well. If you have a fat sounding guitar, I don’t recommend this pickup at all. If your guitar is neutral to bright sounding, this’ll most likely fatten things up enough. I find the Tone Zone to be a bit cooler sounding, but if you want a slightly classic take on the Tone Zone, this is the pickup you’re looking for.