Name: DP155 The Tone Zone
Brand: DiMarzio
SKU: 156255
Rating: 4.4 (39 reviews)

RiceEatin2010GT

Solid pickup for shred

Published on 10/12/12 at 23:54

The ToneZone is one of DiMarzio’s more popular pickups. In fact, I think this was one of their first batch of pickups that really seemed to catch on in the pickup swapping world. This was a pickup extremely prevalent in the 80s. It is a standard four conductor humbucker that can be wired various different ways, depending on how the user wants to run this. Personally, I like to just run pickups in series, but these hotter pickups also enjoy being run in split coil mode. The pickup itself is extremely powerful and has some strong low end, along with some very strong midrange. You’ll want to experiment with the pickup height when you get this. A lot of people seem to run it too close...…

The ToneZone is one of DiMarzio’s more popular pickups. In fact, I think this was one of their first batch of pickups that really seemed to catch on in the pickup swapping world. This was a pickup extremely prevalent in the 80s. It is a standard four conductor humbucker that can be wired various different ways, depending on how the user wants to run this. Personally, I like to just run pickups in series, but these hotter pickups also enjoy being run in split coil mode. The pickup itself is extremely powerful and has some strong low end, along with some very strong midrange. You’ll want to experiment with the pickup height when you get this. A lot of people seem to run it too close to the strings, and it causes the sound to be a bit too extreme at times. Those who are into the rock and metal genre will love this pickup, and it seems to really get along with alder bodied guitars. It works nicely in basswood, but you have to really be careful of the midrange that’s going on. Those who are into blues and jazz will probably not care for this too much as it’s a bit too compressed and powerful for those genres. I’ve heard that Paul Gilbert used to run this in parallel for a different tone, but I never bothered trying it that way. I did try splitting this with a five way switch. I used the Suhr style wiring with the inner coil split along with the neck pickup, and it gave me some of the best cleans I’ve ever heard. To do this, you’ll want to have one of those multi-pole five way switches or megaswitches. You can find diagrams online on how to wire it up like this. Give it a go if you’re looking for something with more low end and grinding midrange.

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tonmazz

Tone Zone is a good choice

Published on 08/06/12 at 14:04

Wasn't sure what to expect with this one. I usually gravitate towards boutique pick-ups like Suhr and Motor City but this was on sale at Guitar Center so I figured it was worth a try. I put it in a Charvel So Cal and was pleasantly surprised. I have to say the mids are near perfect with this pick up. You get a great mid-range grind like your favorite 80s hair metal song. Great response and articulation of the notes. Harmonics fly off of the fret board, almost the perfect pick up if you like 80s hair metal and even harder stuff. Lead tones are great and it really cuts through in a live mix. Some pick-ups get lost in the rhythm section but not the Tone Zone. Definitely has a bit of a...…

Wasn't sure what to expect with this one. I usually gravitate towards boutique pick-ups like Suhr and Motor City but this was on sale at Guitar Center so I figured it was worth a try. I put it in a Charvel So Cal and was pleasantly surprised. I have to say the mids are near perfect with this pick up. You get a great mid-range grind like your favorite 80s hair metal song. Great response and articulation of the notes. Harmonics fly off of the fret board, almost the perfect pick up if you like 80s hair metal and even harder stuff. Lead tones are great and it really cuts through in a live mix. Some pick-ups get lost in the rhythm section but not the Tone Zone. Definitely has a bit of a pissed off characteristic to it which I find the most appealing feature. Whatever the mid frequency range is, I wish I could merge that with the bass of something like the suhr Aldrich bridge pick up. The only issue I can see is the bottom is a bit flubby to me. Definitely has the chunk but it is a loose sound. If that could be tightened up somehow, this would be a perfect pick up. That being said it runs pretty good with my Mototrcity Detroiter and Suhr Aldrich to the point where I have not taken it out. I have played this before in a buddy’s Les Paul and I recall feeling the same way, that something on the bottom wasn’t quite working perfectly. Bottom line is that for the price this is a damn good pick up, not perfect but very good and for the price almost can't be beat. I would say as far as stock pickups go, this and the JB do the job pretty well. This seems to be a bit hotter than the JB which I like. Go get one, you won’t be disappointed overall for the price.

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tjon901

You should try it in the neck position

Published on 05/18/11 at 23:20

Im am in a small group of guitar players that use the Dimarzio Tone Zone pickup in the neck position of a guitar but it is also good in the bridge position, as it should be because that was where it was designed to go.. The Tone Zone came out in 1991 and immediately was known for its vowel like open wah sound. There is a story going around that EVH helped design the pickup and I tend to believe this. When you play with it in the bridge you cant help but think of those 80s metal tones with the loads of chorus on them. In the bridge position of a guitar with a brighter wood it would be really good for 80s metal or even modern metal when used with the right amp and rig. I use an X2N in the...…

Im am in a small group of guitar players that use the Dimarzio Tone Zone pickup in the neck position of a guitar but it is also good in the bridge position, as it should be because that was where it was designed to go.. The Tone Zone came out in 1991 and immediately was known for its vowel like open wah sound. There is a story going around that EVH helped design the pickup and I tend to believe this. When you play with it in the bridge you cant help but think of those 80s metal tones with the loads of chorus on them. In the bridge position of a guitar with a brighter wood it would be really good for 80s metal or even modern metal when used with the right amp and rig. I use an X2N in the bridge so I had to find a pickup that would have similar volume and output so I wouldn’t have a big drop in volume switching from the bridge to the neck. I found that some players have matched the Tone Zone to the X2N so I decided to try it. In the neck the Tone Zone produces a laser like sound. It does not get overly muddy and is perfectly smooth but not so smooth that it gets lost in the mix. The pickup is voiced with a lot of low end so in guitars of certain woods it may begin to sound muddy. With all the mids the Tone Zone had it sometimes sounds as if you are playing with a wah on during your lead playing. This is why the Tone Zone gets a split opinion among guitar players. Some players like this tonal quirk and other players do not. So if you are looking for a neck pickup that matches well with a super hot bridge pickup the Tone Zone may be the way to go.

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wwhhhaatt

Good but not what I expected

Published on 05/18/11 at 11:36

Installed in the bridge position of a Carvin dc127 with and Alder and maple body matched with a maple neck and ebony board. Typically running into a Framus Cobra head and sometimes A Peavey 5150 or Hughes and Kettner triamp.

This pickup was recommended to me by a couple guitar playing friends of mine when I was looking to get out of the EMG active sound. I always check how a pickup sounds clean first to get a general idea of the EQ. I was really impressed with the clean tone of this especially considering I always hate the sound of bridge pickups clean. The pickup is warm and full and sounded kind of similar to my neck pickup which was a stock carvin at the time. I played around with...…

Installed in the bridge position of a Carvin dc127 with and Alder and maple body matched with a maple neck and ebony board. Typically running into a Framus Cobra head and sometimes A Peavey 5150 or Hughes and Kettner triamp.

This pickup was recommended to me by a couple guitar playing friends of mine when I was looking to get out of the EMG active sound. I always check how a pickup sounds clean first to get a general idea of the EQ. I was really impressed with the clean tone of this especially considering I always hate the sound of bridge pickups clean. The pickup is warm and full and sounded kind of similar to my neck pickup which was a stock carvin at the time. I played around with the height for a bit and found I liked it best close to the strings to get a little more bite out of it.

Switching over to distortion and I quickly realized it wasn't going to work for what I do with this guitar. Low gain sounds were great and the pickup cleaned up nicely with the volume knob. The problem for me was with higher gain settings and faster chord riffing. Leads were still great sounding with high gain but riffs in the lower register were too muddy and lacked attack. The pickup just has too much fullness (sounds crazy I know) almost like the amp was getting too much signal even though it's not that hot of a pickup. Slow chugging riffs were very fat but any type of typical metal playing just didn't have the cut I need.I played around with the EQ settings for quite a while and got the pickup closer to what I need but after extensive tweaking I just felt it was not a good match. Once you start cutting bass and adding high mids with an EQ pedal the pickup starts to lose it's core sound and sound a little over processed.

If you're looking for a pickup versatile in the clean to mid gain styles I'd say give it a shot because it has a great character it just didn't do metal for me

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DiMarzio DP155 The Tone Zone

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Solid pickup for shred

Tone Zone is a good choice

You should try it in the neck position

Good but not what I expected

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