All user reviews for the DiMarzio DP192 Air Zone

I use it for 3 years on my bridge Lag Roxanne 200TM all mahogany replacement EMG HZ original. From the outset I was so confused my guitar had changed. The height adjustment is of prime importance (2 - 2,5 mm for approximately string) in equilibrium with the neck pickup (air norton: strong bass).
On a tube amp (class5 marshall) I have a very incisive teeth, never garish, responsive and perfectly clear distortion way Guns & Roses. Used simply with the push / pull, it enhances the treble, while the air norton serious and boosts the mids and hollow. The general impression is warm, never the sound is dry except perhaps in simple clear that anyway, I do not use this guitar. Even in this case, two microphones "air" from Di Marzio has revolutionized my guitar.
If you want to change, do not hesitate, it's just fantastic.

My gear is: Boss CS-3, Boss DS-2 or Boss OD-2, Boss GE-7, SansAmp Classic and
Hartke Piggyback 60w.

DiMarzio Air Zone pickup. It's a mid-gain humbucker with huge bass response and lots of mid range, which brings a 'nasal' character to the sound. The treble level is very, very low.
I have installed the Air Zone in the bridge position of a 2006 Fender MIM Strat.

Clean: it works if you want a clean sound with some 'nasal' character. The pickup is very clean and the notes sound 'organized'.

Distortion: it works if you want to play metal or hard rock. The distortion gets very tight and the notes sound distinctive from each other, that is, not muddy.

Overdrive: it SUCKS with an overdrive sound. The Air Zone doesn't sound vintage at all and it doesn't sound 'rootsy' nor does it sound 'natural'. It sounds TOO polished for that.

With both the DS-2 and the OD-2, I get a very faithful response to the pedals sound.

The sound of the Air Zone doesn't get altered so much, no matter how I change the configuration of my pedals. Not even the SansAmp alters the Air Zone sound very much, not to mention the CS-3 and the GE-7... none of which brought serious differences. The Air Zone works better if the guitar is run directly in the amp.

Good for metal, hard rock and very, very clean stuff such as jazz. It is just a DISASTER for classic rock and for a vintage sound. I'll give it FOUR because it isn't versatile, it works well with metal and jazz, but sucks anywhere in between.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Air Zone is just like its name says. It is a mix between the Air Norton and the Tonezone. It combines the Air Nortons sensitivity with the Tone Zones fatness. The Tonezone was one of Dimarzios most popular pickups for the longest time. It has like a super hotrodded PAF pickup. It has lots of mids and lots of low end with crazy compression and harmonics. The EQ on the tonezone is so crazy it kind of sounds like you have a wah on at times. The Air Norton is one of Dimarzios newer popular pickups. It is one of the preferred pickups of John Petrucci. With that pickup you got a more sensitive pickup that responded well to dynamics but was smooth enough for lead playing. With these combined pickups you get a pickup that seems to be designed for a very specific role. This pickup is very very fat. This pickup will thicken up just about any guitar that needs thickening. This is also its downside because it is so fat that it can become muddy and boomy if placed in the wrong guitar. This pickup is made for thickening up the bridge position of a thinner sounding guitar. If you wanted your Strat or Tele or even Ibanez to sound big and fat like an Explorer or Les Paul this is the kind of pickup you want. They make bridge and neck specific models and I do not recommend interchanging the two. Unlike the Tonezone if you put the bridge Air Zone in the neck of your guitar it would probably yield an unusable sound with way too much low end in the tone. If you have a guitar that made with some poorer tonewoods that has a thin sound a pickup like this will do its best to fatten up your tone.

Established since today in my Les Paul gothic, it clearly improves the rendering of the violin over the original pickups and is also better suited (in my opinion) that the EMG 85/81 pair I had before. I also put an air norton in serious to complete.
Quite clear, output level roughly equivalent to the original pickups (and quite close to the EMG), but lighter, more airy, very hot with treble and midrange super accurate, and that's the difference of mics of origin. Live in marshall (TSL100 4 x12), sound is very precise and singing, with sufficient level to saturate the correct drive two channels.
Good Q / P (Germany), and this choice I would do without worry. A great value.

APRs have long had this mic in the bridge position, here now in the neck position (I install a tone zone in bridge).
J'tais quite skeptical before trying but my Reserved fell in a few minutes of various tests.
As thundering as it may stepfather, clean sounds s'avrent trs versatile with great prdisposition for jazz. Crunches trs out well and the same saturation trs sound really shoots, both in rhythm or solo. This gives an easily ct "fuzz" thundering use because it keeps the CONTRL thanks the precision of the microphone. The fact of playing with the attack on the strings (position and force) or with the volume and tonality of the guitar changes the whole grain at all and we obtain several DIFFERENT tones without changing anything on the amp, very practical to shade his game lower price, while in the hands.
Sound much better than a test of text here.
Hardware used: Ibanez RG570, only the air zone, an amp simulator (GNX4).
Rglages: the same receiver simultaneously with a Fender Bassman legalization so it disables the raw sound produced by the microphone on the guitar. Only the gain of the channel is changed from light crunch sounds, distortion-type Boss DS1 (legalization neutral gain in three quarters) is used (without noise gate) for large saturations.
Example 1: clear sound, fingers to the rhythm, mdiator for the little guitar solo with the Tone down (less acute), prs hand position of the handle.
http://yve.olivier.free.fr/sounds/sonclair1.wma
Example 2: the same clear sound, mdiator, arpges hand at the central microphone.
http://yve.olivier.free.fr/sounds/sonclair2.wma
Example 3: the same but its clear agreements.
http://yve.olivier.free.fr/sounds/sonclair3.wma
Example 4: crunch, fingers, the hand dplace between neck and bridge, attack stronger over the air the end zone.
http://yve.olivier.free.fr/sounds/soncrch1.wma
Example 5: the same crunch, the mdiator, chords and riffs, and two notes funny the end.
http://yve.olivier.free.fr/sounds/soncrch2.wma
Example 6: the same sound with distortion DS1, power chords, a plan that I am the only one in the world go MDR!
http://yve.olivier.free.fr/sounds/sonsat1.wma
Example 7: Previous sound the same but arpge.
http://yve.olivier.free.fr/sounds/sonsat2.wma
Example 8: two small shuffled from everything, with legalization, some effects and indulgence from you, pardon all the real musicians ....
http://yve.olivier.free.fr/sounds/demo2.wma
http://yve.olivier.free.fr/sounds/mix.wma

To conclude: this gives me full and micro Entire satisfaction in association with the tone zone, I have my disposal all the varieties of sounds I need.

I just get on an Ibanez RGA121-VLF (Saddle Mahogany body table).
It replaces the paf pro I upgraded handle.
It is a micro with its smooth and round. As indicated on the Dimarzio site, we feel that there are bass and treble and little mdiums. In his clear, therefore, perfect for jazz. It will be saturated in blues plutt fat. As a result, compared to the paf pro for example, lack of sharpness for big guitar solos hro.
Except that with the 5-position switch Ibanez can have either with the two coils in SERIES, which is described above, or with the coils parallle.
And it parallle compltement diffrent and (the coup) gnial absolutely, because in this mode the PAF pro became too acute and lost all his bass + mdiums and suddenly a lot volume. In short virtually useless without tampering with the amp Eq. And so the Air area parallle folds it all: small loss of volume, less bass, more treble, the microphone becomes brighter and is still trs balance. There are just over gnaque and cutting edge ... And as much as parallle I felt to be back with half a jazz box with rope mesh dish in hand, how much parallle makes me feel like a Stratocaster in his hands . And therefore more flexibility in my sound.

I Mount Air area yesterday f-spaced on a mahogany guitar / table stocky, round Saddle / key bne (Air Norton in neck).
Dimarzio Air zone said that the Tone Zone is a vintage, there has indeed.
The Difference with Tone zone struck me most is the equalization enough diffrent Air area, the low frequencies are less marked, less Paisses notes that with the Tone Zone, the sound is clearer while having the gain (a little less than the Tone Zone, normal).
The Air enjoyable play area is trs, trs versatile, hassle-free metal, I would say even 80's metal enough, more rock and roll that I think the tone zone.
The gain is less important than the Tone Zone but its gains in precision and can, following the attack mdiator to vary the intensity of sound, more difficult thing to do with the Tone Zone, unless you play on volumes (knob / pedals).
His ct "air" has advantages, but ar grain clarity is lost in "piququot; in the leads, it is less compact, hard dcrire

Overall I find trs well, may be less "personalitquot, the Tone Zone but more" open ".

I replaced the two microphones in my master tharsh lag by 2 dp192. nothing to say in depth and volume is part of the lag is upgraded to an impressive level.
I love this mic because its gain is not invasive and send it to my grave Steavens the acute brick.les its very sweet. I play jazz rock and metal and really does not overwrite the microphone the sound of the guitar or the shade of mucisiens unlike micro-grain élevé.en too jazzy clean sound is good. in saturated it can do everything the sound is clear and it's not puking all over the place. the power amp is a Mesa 20 * 20 and I must say the two go together associated with the mesa tend to have a sharp and nasty little vague (to my taste) it is softened and controlled thanks to the Dp 192.j forget that restores the cabinet mesa serious as some say the missing microphone.
liability is in addition to no longer need to think about his pile.le Type Year 90 is quite to my taste.
the microphone is not all it is consistent with a string of stuff that goes well (very important).
I play with just one reverb holy grill (again the good stuff for the price) and nothing else.
so if you want a micro Pecis without much gain specific hyper able to play metal and jazz (as it is in bridge and neck) that's what you need.

Okay, I say that aforementioned tagline with a disclaimer. The Air Zone is basically a really bassy overwound PAF with a kick in the midrange. What this means in tech terms is that it can make a thin sounding guitar sound like a big Les Paul. A lot of people will laugh at the notion that this is possible. But I promise you it's true.

I've been a dimarzio fan for a while, but I'll admit that in the past I bought into the popular myth that they were only for metal and only for ibanez guitars. This was fine by me because I was playing prog metal and using Ibanez RG's exclusively. But I digress. I'm getting older and it isn't all breakdowns and solos anymore. I actually like to have my classic sounds now and then. Only thing is I still like the feel of RG's a lot. That's where the Air Zone comes in. The problem with putting a PAF in an RG guitar design is its lack of thickness and mids that a les paul brings to the table. The Air Zone is very aggressively voiced to have huge bass and mids. Basically it's a tone zone with a lot less gain and compression. I used to be a big tone zone fan but like a lot of guys, I found it to be "too much" for lack of a better term. Too much gain and too much of a processed sound. The Air Zone sounds much more vintage. Honestly, the TZ is really more of a heavy metal pickup despite what people may tell you. That's not to say the Air Zone is a low output pickup. It's really not. If you are looking for vintage PAF tone, this isn't it. It's overwound PAF tone. More in the Van Halen camp than the Townsend camp if you know what I mean. It will send an amp into overdrive fairly easily. It cleans up quite well though. For me it's the perfect balance of vintage tone and modern output. I swear if I close my eyes this pickup makes a super strat sound like a Les Paul. Take that to the bank.

Obviously the Air Zone isn't for everyone. It can be disaster in certain guitars. It's a very specific application, but for what it's supposed to do it does it extremely well. Amazingly well in fact.

The 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.