DiMarzio is an American company that specializes in producing a wide range of guitar pickups. The different series exposed here are factory-installed on several Ibanez models. More DiMarzio pickups are available on the aftermarket.
Warm, open-sounding pickup. The tone is deep and warm, but not muddy. It’s hot, but not distorted. It’s even got cool harmonics, which are really unusual for a neck humbucker. The patented Air Norton™ magnetic structure reduces string-pull, so sustain is improved; and pick attack and dynamics are tremendously controllable and expressive.[1]
This pickup is relatively common on Ibanez Prestige and J Custom models; usually installed in the neck position combined with Tone Zone in bridge position.
In the neck position, the sound is warm and well-defined — equally useful with clean or overdriven amps. In the bridge position, the sound is very solid and harmonically rich. In overdrive mode, it has a very distinctive voice that has both vintage and modern qualities.[2]
Ibanez generally uses this pickup in the neck position, paired with a Tone Zone 7 in the bridge position.
DiMarzio has been working on serious vintage single-coil design with no hum for twelve years. Their goal has always been to capture the best qualities of pickups from the 1950s and early 60s. They’ve played several pickups from the early 60s that had a unique tonality: they were steely, yet woody-sounding. They wanted to nail this sound, and to do it with no hum and less magnet-pull. The Area 61 does it. It’s good in all three positions. It’s the perfect bridge pickup with a pair of Area 58 pickups if you want to go all the way from Nashville to Texas in one guitar.
DiMarzio set out to mimic the Texas blues sound. This sound is centered on single-coils from the early 1960s, but it’s also based on heavy strings and strong hands. We can’t change your strings or your hands, but the Area 61 captures the tonal bedrock this sound is based on. Like the Area 58, the Area 61 really responds to different pick attacks: played hard, it sounds louder and tougher than you’d expect from a vintage pickup, but it cleans up immediately by picking softer or rolling down the volume control. And like the Area 58, its ability to cancel hum is superior to full-size humbuckers.[3]
Strat pickups in the late 1960s used full-strength Alnico 5 magnets. The patented magnetic field of the Area models is more efficient and focused than it is on “true” single-coils, which allows the use of Alnico 2 magnets instead. There's much less magnet pull, but no loss of output. This is a major advantage in the neck and middle positions, where sustain and intonation can both suffer if the strings are exposed to strong magnetic fields. In the bridge position, the patented technology of the Area 67 produces a sound that's very bright but not brittle.
The Monterey Pop Festival of 1967 was a watershed event in American music. When it was over, the world had heard and felt the sound of a Strat in the hands of a master. Single-coils in 1967 were bright and very clean. And, of course, they hummed. DiMarzio has captured the classic bright and clean sound but totally eliminated the hum with their patented Area technology. They've also reduced magnet pull by 40% for improved sustain and clarity. The Area 67 has the chime of 60s pickups, and the 2 and 4 positions are light, bright and quack-happy.[4]
The outstanding characteristics of the AT-1 are balance, warmth, and clarity. It achieves this blend with the same patented technology as the PAF 36th Anniversary, but the sound is hotter and the focus is rock.
Originally introduced for the Universe series, this 7-string neck pickup was introduced in 1990. A slightly different model, called "DiMarzio Blaze II" is found on Steve Vai's UV7.
Single coil, 7-string pickup designed to match the Blaze humbuckers in split mode. Introduced in 1990. A slightly different model, called "DiMarzio Blaze II" is found on Steve Vai's UV7.
Inspired by the DiMarzio Steve's Special humbucker, this 7-string version was introduced in 1990. A slightly different model, called "DiMarzio Blaze II" is found on Steve Vai's UV7.
The sound of The Chopper is a cross between a single-coil and a full-size humbucker, with more body than the single and more clarity than the humbucker. Excellent choice to fatten tone and increase power of Strat bridge position. More power is concentrated in the mids and low end for a bigger sound with more crunch. It features side-by-side coils and twin-blade construction, so there are no misaligned poles or string-pull problems.[6]
If you’re a serious traditional Strat player, you probably won’t want to know about pickups with side-by-side coils. But if you’re the player who’s up for something more modern with no 60-cycle hum, string drop-outs or sustain-killing magnet pull, DiMarzio designed The Cruiser for you. Harmonic overtones are right where you expect them to be from a “true” single-coil, and the mid-range is open and vocal-sounding. It’s hotter than the traditional single-coil, and the bass strings have a bit more chunk; this is an excellent pickup to combine with medium-output humbuckers, and it maintains its tonal identity with high-gain amps and multiple effects.
The obvious question about The Cruiser is “How does it compare to a single-coil sound?” DiMarzio's feeling is that the unwound strings (“E”, “B”, and “G”) are very close, and the wound strings (“D”, “A”, and low “E”) are a little fatter-sounding than a true single-coil. This is really effective for getting open-sounding chords, because high and low strings sound more spread out from each other. Having a total magnet pull that's about 40% less than standard single-coils also means The Cruiser can be adjusted much closer to the strings for more power than stock pickups can achieve.[7]
Specially designed for Steve Vai's Ibanez JEM models, introduced in 1993. Dual-resonance configuration to reproduce more harmonic overtones than conventional humbucking pickups.
Specially designed for Steve Vai's Ibanez JEM models, introduced in 1993. Dual-resonance configuration to reproduce more harmonic overtones than conventional humbucking pickups.
Introduced in 2004, specially designed for Steve Vai. Comparable to the Evolution Bridge with similar tone but with less output. Used for the 2010 JEM77 FP2.
In pursuit of the perfect Iron Label pickup, Ibanez collaborated with DiMarzio® to develop Fusion Edge, a series of pickups dedicated to the fullest expression of Iron Label’s sonic character. Six, seven and eight stringed instruments each have their own requirements and each Fusion Edge pickup model is built to excel in that instrument’s range.
The Fusion Edge pickup series was designed to produce a modern, progressive metal sound, with clarity, power and velocity. The neck and bridge pickups are calibrated in terms of both output and tone quality to work together as well as produce distinctive individual voices. Although all of the pickups were designed for the same purpose, they are not modifications of one design. Six, seven and eight string guitars have different performance characteristics, and the pickups for these guitars were designed individually for best performance in the individual instruments.[8]
Designed for Steve Vai. The flavor of The Gravity Storm Neck model is sweet and warm, but the texture has an edge to it. It has the depth of a humbucker with some of the bite of a single-coil.
It has a throaty quality that sounds like a cross between a humbucker and a single-coil.[9]
Designed for Steve Vai. Steve described the sound he wanted from his new Gravity Storm Bridge Model pickup as “a thundering cloud of ice cream”.
The Gravity Storm tone is about depth and warm highs and mids. It's very much a plug and play pickup — it doesn't require a lot of tweaking to get a great sound. Because the highs are very fat, it's possible to increase treble response on your amp without losing tone and sustain on the high frets.[10]
The Injector is a signature pickup produced by DiMarzio for Paul Gilbert.
The Injector neck model has a modern rather than a vintage sound. It’s warmer and louder (160mV output) than a typical vintage single-coil and — of course — it’s hum-canceling. It’s also faster. The Injector neck model tracks high-speed solos at high gain without becoming either thin or muddy, and has a very full, well-balanced, clean sound. It has about 40% less magnet-pull than standard single-coils, and this is essential for the superior speed and dynamic range with which this pickup responds to pick attack.[11]
The Injector is a signature pickup produced by DiMarzio for Paul Gilbert.
The Injector bridge model is one of DiMarzio's hottest hum-canceling models (185mV output) with six individual Alnico magnets. The sound is not like a vintage single-coil: highs are bright but not glassy, and lows are solid and defined. It was designed to work equally well with rapid single-note arpeggios and power chords without becoming muddy or compressed. It has about 40% less magnet-pull than standard single-coils, and this is essential for the superior speed and dynamic range with which this pickup responds to pick attack.[12]
The sound of a Norton® is right between FRED® and The Tone Zone®. It’s got some FRED®-like harmonic overtones that can only be described as nasty, with more of the power and mid-range of the heavyweight Tone Zone®. The same patented dual-resonance design used in FRED® and The Tone Zone® delivers a sound that’s hotter and “bigger” than any vintage model, but not as loud as a distortion-class humbucker. Norton® might be our most versatile bridge pickup.[13]
The last few years have seen Joe develop a new signature tube amp and start using heavier-gauge strings more often. Both developments emphasized the importance of the Mo’ Joe™ having a high degree of string separation without sounding sterile or processed. We got this by slightly increasing the distance between the center frequencies that the coils are tuned to, without increasing DC resistance. The result is a pickup that’s both hotter and more articulate.[14]
This pickup offers a soft magnetic field, sweet tone, perfect balance between warmth and clarity and the ability to go from clean to distorted by pick attack alone.
The PAF 36th Anniversary was designed to mimic the tone of an original 1959 Gibson Les Paul. The result is a pickup that is smooth but not muddy. It performs equally well in the neck or bridge, just as the best humbuckers from the 50s did.[15]
This pickup offers a soft magnetic field, sweet tone, perfect balance between warmth and clarity and the ability to go from clean to distorted by pick attack alone.
The PAF 36th Anniversary was designed to mimic the tone of an original 1959 Gibson Les Paul. The result is a pickup that is smooth but not muddy. It performs equally well in the neck or bridge, just as the best humbuckers from the 50s did.
The PAF 36th Anniversary Bridge is hotter than the Neck. It is not only for set neck 24¾” scale guitars, but it’s also an excellent bridge pickup for trem-equipped bolt-ons.
The PAF 36th Anniversary Bridge model has the best qualities of the Virtual PAF bridge and Virtual Hot PAF pickups and then some. It’s as loud as the Virtual Hot PAF, but has as much low-end and midrange definition as the Virtual PAF Bridge Model. The highs are actually bigger and smoother than either model. The 4-conductor version also splits very well. Single-coil mode is bright, but not at all sterile-sounding.[16]
Eight-string version of the classic PAF pickups, introduced in 2012.
The extended frequency response of 8-string guitars works very well with a pickup that is neither very bright nor very bassy. The EQ of the PAF 8 was specifically tuned to match this response. It has a sparkling clean sound, and maintains clarity and picking dynamics with a heavy, overdriven sound as well.[17]
The PAF Joe is a pickup DiMarzio developed for Joe Satriani. Satriani wanted a neck position humbucker that combined the best qualities of the PAF Pro with those of a late 50s Gibson humbucker. He describes this tone as being “tubular”.
What does “tubular” mean? In this case, it means making low notes “speak” more clearly while giving high notes a rounder voicing. This accomplishes two goals: chords have better definition, and single notes at higher fret positions remain warm-sounding rather than getting thinner. The PAF Joe has slightly less power than the PAF Pro.
Through the use of Virtual Vintage technology, clear-sounding low frequencies are blended with warm-sounding mids and high frequencies, which makes the PAF Joe equally good for chords and single notes. Satriani first used the PAF Joe throughout the 2003 G3 tour.[18]
The PAF Master Neck has a great balance of full, richness with a throaty tone but it’s not too fat and notes still come through nice and clear, with beautiful smooth and creamy highs. It has just the right amount of windings to allow the pickup to sing, sustain and still be articulate.[19]
The PAF Master Bridge is a pickup that is quiet, bright, and very dynamic. It reacts to playing, and sounds good when playing more than one note at the same time. Picked hard, it has a beautiful, snarly, thick, rockin’ tone. While it's not a loud pickup, it feels hot because of its fast and aggressive response to pick attack.[20]
The Satch Track™ Neck bridges the gap between classic humbucker and single-coil performance. It tracks pick attack and string vibration quickly and accurately like a single-coil, but the voicing is wider and stronger, like a humbucker. The highs are very warm, and clarity is created by keeping the mids and lows tight and focused.[21]
This pickup is punchy and fat sounding, yet can handle multiple layers of effects without getting muddy. It has a balanced blend of highs, mids, and lows, and also works well for smooth, overdriven solos.
It was created for Jake Bowen who says, “When I switch to leads, I go to the neck pickup which gives me more rounded notes and more attack. I also go to the neck pickup for cleans, depending on what my needs are”.[22]
This pickup is bright where it needs to be — on the low end. The highs are warmer, and it has a distinctive voice that doesn’t get lost, even in a dense, three-guitar mix.
It was created for Jake Bowen who wanted a tight bridge pickup that also has good dynamics for right-hand playing yet still keeps the aggressiveness and mid-range that Bowen’s music calls for. The Titan is at home with both standard and dropped tunings. Additionally, Jake shares that “it’s a very tight, aggressive palm-muted sound when I do palm-muting strokes but — when I play open chords — everything rings out very nicely”.[23]
A seven-string version of the original Titan. The Titan 7 neck has a balanced blend of highs, mids, and lows designed to reproduce all three equally effectively. It’s also highly responsive to changes in pick attack and volume control settings, for an extremely expressive sound.
It was developed with Jake Bowen and is used in his signature seven-string.[22]
A seven-string version of the original Titan. The Titan 7 Bridge is dynamic, fast and very tight. It is bright and tight on the low end, so the seventh string never sounds muddy. The highs are rounded and articulate, and it has a distinctive voice that doesn’t get lost, even in a dense, three-guitar mix.
It was developed with Jake Bowen and is used in his signature seven-string.[23]
The Tone Zone is hot enough to qualify as a high-output pickup, but it has a wider dynamic range — hard picking will produce a lot of power, and softer picking will be much cleaner and quieter. It’s got tremendous bass and low-mid response to reinforce the bottom end and make the overall sound bigger.[24]
The Tone Zone is a common pickup for Ibanez Prestige and J Custom models. It is generally used in the bridge position combined with DiMarzio Air Norton in the neck position.
The Tone Zone 7 is not merely an adaptation of the original Tone Zone, but a new design from the ground up for 7-string guitars. It incorporates lower magnet-pull and coils specifically calibrated to reproduce the full impact of the low “B” string without any loss of tone quality or fidelity.[25]
Ibanez generally pairs the Tone Zone 7 with an Air Norton 7 in the neck position.
If you’ve heard the cliché that Alnico 2 means warm, soft sound, prepare to be surprised. This is not a polite pickup, and the closer it’s adjusted to the strings, the more raw it gets. In particular, the Alnico 2 magnetic field opens up all of the attack and definition of the low strings. It’s a hot pickup with a strong attack in the bridge position, and its Alnico 2 magnets allow it to work very well in the neck position as well, for players who want a very warm, round sound. If you want an in-your-face-and-proud-of-it sound, the Virtual Vintage® Heavy Blues 2 is the top pick.[26]
Sources
↑Air Norton (product description), DiMarzio Pickups, archived October 2016.
↑Air Norton 7 (product description), DiMarzio Pickups, archived October 2016.
↑Area 61 (product page), DiMarzio, Inc., archived June 2016.
↑Area 67 (product page), DiMarzio, Inc., archived June 2016.
↑AT-1 (product page), DiMarzio, Inc., archived June 2016.
↑The Chopper (product page), DiMarzio, Inc., archived April 2016.
↑The Cruiser Neck (product page), DiMarzio, Inc., archived June 2016.
↑ 22.022.1Titan Neck (product description), DiMarzio Pickups, archived April 2016. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "TitanNeck" defined multiple times with different content
↑ 23.023.1Titan Bridge (product description), DiMarzio Pickups, archived April 2016. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "TitanBridge" defined multiple times with different content
↑The Tone Zone (product description), DiMarzio Pickups, archived October 2016.
↑The Tone Zone 7 (product description), DiMarzio Pickups, archived October 2016.
