Anyone played with Dimarzio Area T Hot pups?

[paulsoud]

I'm looking into getting a pair, and I'd like to hear your informed opinions.

[Chrismo]

I had a Virtual Vintage Hot T bridge before and it was great. Did the twang thing but it also had a bigger sound, so rock and blues were easy to tackle with that pickup as well.

I still think those Area Tele pickups are some of the best Tele pickups I've ever used. I'm starting to branch out into true single-coils again after I got my noise situation under control, but I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for a great set of pickups.

[Webfoot]

I have been using them and also think they are very good. So much of this stuff is mix and match. Even with great pickups, if they incorrectly adjusted, old strings, wrong amp, wrong guitar etc any pickup set can sound bad.

I have the area hot t bridge and area t neck. I play a lot of hard rock, gig and solo quite a bit. With the bridge pu and a mid range amp (more EL84 sound then a fender 6V6 or 6L6) you can get some pretty amazing rock tones. But if playing clean, the bridge pu is not that exciting. But the neck pickup is exciting for clean stuff and works great for chordal melody, jazz, blues and rock stuff. I also added the Kinman-like treble bleed circuit and that also helps maintain treble at all volume levels. So in general... I use the bridge for the dirt/rock stuff and the neck for the clean rhythm stuff and it seems to work. People always talk about 'it sounds like a blanket is over my amp'. These (any that are humbucker types) will always have a hint of that... but the tradeoff is they also reduce hum/noise a lot and thats a big deal if you are playing with a fair amount of gain/distortion.

[jefrs]

I considered the DiMarzio, then... The Barden T-Style works with any amp and does not sound like there's a blanket over it, plus it is completely noiseless. Clean, it is very clean but it can over-drive any amp with ease. It is very sensitive to height adjustment and definitely wants a 250k vol pot or it will loosen your fillings. Other than that it is suitable for any style you can play.

[Stylemaster]

Just replaced the Area Hot T bridge with the older model Virtual Vintage Hot T bridge which I like better. I think the Area Hot T pushes a sort of unnatural high end forward in the effort to sound more Tele-like and it just has this shrill sound to it. I like the older Virtual Vintage Hot T, which doesn't seem to try to do the Tele approximation but sits more in the P-90 range which is much more to my liking.

[TG]

I've used the DP412 Virtual Vintage Tele regular output (the pickup the AreaT replaced), the AreaT, the AreaT Hot and the Area Hot T.
As mentioned, there are differences between them all, but overall they are in the same ballpark.
And it's a very good ballpark.

The DP412 is my overall telecaster pickup of choice of any sort...and I've tried a few dozen. A close second is the Area Hot T.


Dimarzio noiseless pickups are incredible. I usually dislike noiseless single coils (I once upset Chis Kinman online by posting a negative review of his pickups...) but the Dimarzio ones sound and 'feel' right.
IMO, of course.

[Chrismo]

Hey TG - what's the difference between the Area T Hot and the Area Hot T? I didn't know anything existed other than the Area Hot T and the Virtual Vintage Hot T.

[TG]

Originally Posted by Chrismo

Hey TG - what's the difference between the Area T Hot and the Area Hot T? I didn't know anything existed other than the Area Hot T and the Virtual Vintage Hot T.

I'm a bit confused by all their changes, but I think they originally had the Virtual Vintage regular and hot tele pickups. Then they changed the regular one (the DP412) to the AreaT and made some changes, like the polepiece levels. Then, I think, the VV hot became the AreaT Hot. Now they have the AreaT and Area Hot T.

I can't remember it all in a clinical detailed fashion since it was a few years ago, but I recall that the 'hot' versions were a bit too midrange oriented and wooly IMO, but the recent Area Hot T version wasn't. It was just a slightly richer version of the AreaT, I thought.

I've only the one telecaster now and it has the old DP412 in it...and it's staying.

Here's a YouTube clip I found...

[paulsoud]

The ones in the clip sound great... Now I just have to save up the money.

[Stylemaster]

Originally Posted by Chrismo

Hey TG - what's the difference between the Area T Hot and the Area Hot T? I didn't know anything existed other than the Area Hot T and the Virtual Vintage Hot T.

I think that was a typo. I think he meant Area Hot T and the Virtual Vintage Hot T. The video clip above does "sell" these pickups. I have used the Area Hot T and it hasn't sounded like that (not as good, not as "spicy"). I'm wondering what amp and settings he's using. Now I'm curious about the Area T neck. Read a lot of good posts but held back because I thought the output would be very overwhelmed by the Area Hot T bridge, but it doesn't sound that way in this clip.

[Chrismo]

Apparently the Area T and Area Hot T match quite well - I've seen it done with great results.

[middy]

I have an Area T bridge and it cops a very good tele tone. It sounds a tad artificial, like it's going through an eq, it doesn't really "breathe" like a true single coil, but it's nothing you'd notice in a band situation, and they are truly silent, better than most humbuckers.

[Chrismo]

Originally Posted by middy

I have an Area T bridge and it cops a very good tele tone. It sounds a tad artificial, like it's going through an eq, it doesn't really "breathe" like a true single coil, but it's nothing you'd notice in a band situation, and they are truly silent, better than most humbuckers.

Yeah - they do handle gain better than humbuckers. I haven't noticed anything too "fake" about them and I think they sound very natural for what they are.

[Stylemaster]

Originally Posted by middy

I have an Area T bridge and it.......sounds a tad artificial, like it's going through an eq, it doesn't really "breathe" like a true single coil.....

That's my problem with these pickups. As you said they sound good live (cranked and through pedals) but the clean sound at home is lame compared to good true single coils.

[middy]

Originally Posted by Stylemaster

That's my problem with these pickups. As you said they sound good live (cranked and through pedals) but the clean sound at home is lame compared to good true single coils.

It's a trade off, just not as much as it used to be. I can live with the slight difference, I'm not picky about perfect vintage tone, but if it bugs you use a Dimarzio Area rig for gigs and a single coil rig for home/recording.

Hey, it's just a good reason to have more telecasters.

[Stylemaster]

Originally Posted by middy

It's a trade off, just not as much as it used to be. I can live with the slight difference, I'm not picky about perfect vintage tone, but if it bugs you use a Dimarzio Area rig for gigs and a single coil rig for home/recording.

Hey, it's just a good reason to have more telecasters.

Hey, I already have that.....

[paulsoud]

Originally Posted by middy

Hey, it's just a good reason to have more telecasters.

Hahaha as if we have to come up with one.
Yeah I'm not too worried about my home sound, I don't really get much of a chance to turn my amp up to its higher performance ranges so I'm gonna be limited anyway.