All user reviews for the DiMarzio DP155 The Tone Zone

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.

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

The DiMarzio ToneZone is one of the most famous pickups to ever come out of the DiMarzio line. It’s an iconic pickup used by the likes of Paul Gilbert, Ron Thal, Vinnie Moore, Michael Romeo and a plethora of others. This is the pickup featured in most of the top of the line Ibanez J-Custom guitars, as well. It features four conductor wiring, slugs on one coil, adjustable screws on the other and an Alnico 5 magnet to help make everything sound huge without sounding sterile.

The ToneZone is the solution for those that want a fat sounding high output pickup with tons of mids but still need some dynamics going on. The ToneZone responds nicely to both hard and soft picking, as demonstrated by the ultimate alternate picking guitarist Paul Gilbert on many of his albums and instructional videos. It sounds nice split, and it cleans up when you roll the volume knob down.

This pickup is definitely a love/hate pickup. Those that love it really adore its strong low end and pushed midrange. The dynamics are also a welcome addition when so many other high output pickups can’t clean up to save their lives. Those that hate it think it is too hot and has too many mids. I have mixed feelings about this pickup, and I think it comes down to the wood. You need to match this with just the right guitar, or else it’ll sound too hyped in a certain frequency. I find that neutral to brighter woods tend to work better than those that are a bit darker in tone. This helps prevent any unnecessary amplification of the pickup’s already strong bass. If you have a brighter guitar, it would be a pickup worth testing out. Even if you dislike it, it’s a pretty easy pickup to sell on the used market, especially to Ibanez guys.

I used this mic on an art that I paid 120 passive.Le microphone has a presence and a very strong personality, he is clearly a big fat smooth but a little fuzz there is more rhythm oriented very serious and specific medium a tight side (pressure compressed what ^ ^) in this spectrum, lacks a bit of thrash saturation (at high) Palm Mute does not come out very well because of his hump in the low medium and low are already there (hard to explain). With my guitar it was a big grunt versatile but not perfect for the grunge punk fuzzz blues. used in preference to a wooden sounding treble (ash lite ash) for more versatility in addition to splits. Mudhoney to play the Sunn in any case it will not tear your ears with too much treble here is fun

I've been using the Tone Zone for about ten years on a Lag Rockline Metal Master with Floyd Rose tremolo. I won't repeat the qualities of this pickup in bridge position: it already has a very good reputation. But I want to talk about an experience I had with this pickup. Although it seems I'm not the only one who did.

I changed the Tone Zone with a Seymour Duncan '59 that was originally mounted in neck position. It's amazing! I was not impressed by the '59 because I already knew it sounded great in bridge position. But the Tone Zone in nack position is awesome (especially if you are a shredder). The response has too many lows for rhythm parts but it is excellent for solo parts. I added a capacitor to the volume pot to filter the lows. When decreasing the volume, the sound clarity increases while the presence of the pickup is kept. For clean sounds, I get a great jazzy tone. To get a smoother sound I just split the pickup. The sound is warm and present. For more twang, I decrease the volume to emphasize the highs. The sound reminds me of a Start's single coil. It's surely not versatile, but I wanted a guitar with a lot of punch. The distortion is stunning. Warm, precise, exquisite!

I was looking for a powerful and warm neck pickup with not too many highs but a lot of presence. And I found it! The only disadvantage is the overemphasized lows that limit its versatility. Now, I'm looking for a bridge pickup to compete with it and add a bit of versatility.

Originally written by halmyar on Audiofanzine FR.

This is a Dimarzio humbucking pickup. It is a seriously particular sounding pickup. It is fantastic for people who like heavy amounts of distortion, primarily metal soloists. I would only use it in an appropriate guitar like a Jackson JS or an ESP. These have no place in Les Pauls or Teles, obviously.
I must say that I don't like most pickups that aren't versatile. These pickups are very singular in their design. I should get it out of the way that if you need a thick, singing clean metal tone for solos, this may very well be the exact pickup you are looking for. It sounds pretty great for this purpose in both the neck and bridge positions. I once had these pickups in a B.C. Rich guitar, and they certainly made that guitar more capable of fat, fantastic solo tones for my metal band. However, the rhythm tones weren't nearly as nice. In fact, they were far too thick to be heard. Granted, I didn't care as much about rhythm playing in those days, but that's still a problem for people looking for versatility.
Forget about clean tones, or even light overdrive tones. There aren't any to be found. Playing this guitar clean is painful, as it absolutely sucks the soul clean out of the guitar. Light overdrive sounds still provide a ton of sustain and they distort the tone, giving you no pop, no noise (which is good, I guess), and no bite. They smooth out the tones far too much for me.
Ultimately, these are a one-trick pony, and frankly, that trick has been done to death. Don't get this if you want a pickup capable of some stylistic diversity. They're certainly cheap, and they sound it, too.