Di Marzio Area T 615

[rokdog49]

It's being installed this week. This is the newest addition to the line.
They say:
Besides the classic Tele® tone, the most obvious quality of the Area T™ 615 is its extended dynamic range. This model responds instantly to changes in pick attack, in terms of both volume and tone. It doesn’t lose bass response when the strings are picked hard, and it has excellent definition with clean and overdriven sounds.

....we'll see

[Parma_TeleMon]

Cool! I have an Area T neck on my Thinline. Anxious to know how you like it.

[rokdog49]

Parma TeleMon I'll let you know next week for sure.

[Parma_TeleMon]

Cool!

[PrimeA71]

I was curious about this one myself. Never heard a word about it till one day while skimming around on the dimarzio site, there it was. There isn't very much info on the web either it seems. Definately let us know how things turn out.

[rokdog49]

PrimeA71

Yes I will. It's supposed to be the "Twang King" with just a tad more mids and bass. Uses A2 magnets so I know it will be a bit smoother. According to DiMarzio's Tech via telephone, it is the "modern Nashville Country tone.
I will say this, I have a Twang King in the neck of this guitar and I love it.
I will probably post the results next week.

[Jethro]

Hmm, looking forward to hearing your impression

[spider62]

I put Area T's in my 60th Anniversary Tele and couldn't be happier. Lots of twang and nice balanced/sweet tone in the bridge. The neck has plenty of warm open tone and is well matched in output.

[rokdog49]

Got the pickup in and posted the results but for some reason the post didn't show up.
Anyway, basically this pup twangs like any under-wound, but has slightly more mids. The biggest difference I noticed is when you used with natural or stomp box overdrive it reacts better than my Duncan 54 and I would assume the same could be said for a Twang King Bridge. The claim is that it models more of todays "modern country sound". I would have to agree, but if your looking for Brad Paisley Tones, your amp and stomp box will be a factor as well. I'm running a DRRI with a Weber 12 150 F which doesn't break up as quickly as the stock Jensen. For some this pup may still be too "thin", but with a little compression to thicken it up a bit, it sounds very good. One last thing, the guitar it's in is very bright to start with, so I'm actually pleased with the way it helps tone that down.
In a darker guitar and a warmer amp I would think this thing would really sing.
Oh by the way, it does have more output.

[harphunt]

Any idea how it would compare to an American Standard bridge PU? Thanks for the info.

peace

[rokdog49]

More twang in the 615 and probably still close in output. A friend of mine has an Am Std Tele. Great sounding guitar. As far as that pup in another guitar goes, I have no experience. I would be pleased to own one but not my cup of tea for my personal tone preference.

[Jethro]

Rokdog....not to go too far off topic here, but I too have a DRRI with the stock Jensen and I'm considering swapping in the weber. I understand they have a bit more warmth and clean headroom....Would you agree with this. I have the Area T Hot in my tele and am finding that I like the jensen at lower clean volumes, but when driven or paired with a stompbox it can get a bit (for lack of a better word) squealy

[rokdog49]

Jethro
Weber has more clean headroom for sure. Less efficient so it takes more to overdrive it. Tighter bass response, less mids, works very well with pedals. In a side by side comparison at my local music store, everyone who heard the two agreed the Weber was head and shoulders a better sounding speaker. Needs to be broken in with some playing time. I had Weber do that for me free of charge before they shipped it. It just keeps sounding better and better.
Reminiscent of the tone from a mid sixties Vintage DR

[Parma_TeleMon]

Thanks for the excellent review, Rokdog49! I'm toying with replacing my ToneZone T now that I have 2 humbucker-equipped guitars. Sounds like this might be just what the doctor ordered! Are you using 500k pots?

[rokdog49]

PT
250K pots. One last thing. The 615 is not a huge change from their "Twang King". Going from a humbucker is going to be a big change for you.The 615 has a similar tone as the Twang King and as I said it does TWANG but...
IMHO the slight the bump in the mids and bass and slightly higher output were done to compete with some of the boutique wound stuff out there. The thing is, their "Twang King" is already a "smoother" version of the vintage under-wounds with lower output and the dreaded ice-pick characteristic. Pickup height will also play a factor here as this thing reacts to changes in height. I found the "sweet spot" for my guitar and the tone I wanted fairly quickly. My guess is Di Marzio probably spent a lot of time arguing whether they should even wind this pup because it might cannibalize the sales of other single-coils in their offering Remember, it is hum-cancelling as well. Anyway I bought mine through one of their prefered vendors at a reduced price. I like it a lot!

[Webfoot]

There were two pickups I had a lot if difficulty with when I tried them. One was the twang kings and the other was a seymour duncan jerry donahue bridge. I think they are both alnico 2 which I like (love the areas t's) but for some reason just instantly seemed wrong. I even think the donahue bridge could have had a problem. I understand how rig dependent this stuff is (using a DRRI also) so who knows. Or maybe my ears are just tuned into alnico 5s. All of the comments are in regards to cleans tones.

What makes this weirder is the pickups need to sound good playing clean first, even though most of my playing is with dirt pedals. And some pickups that I don't care for when playing clean, sound great playing with dirt.

[rokdog49]

Webfoot
I am sure the amp and the particular guitar have a ton to do with it. I was searching for a pup that was treble-twangy for country clean and crunch. Everything else I tried just didn't seem to get me there. The 615 seems to do it.
My other Tele has a Rumpelstiltskin "Black Rope" in the bridge and I absolutely love the tone for rock and other types of music. It's still my favorite of the two and I feel lucky because that pup in that guitar is tone heaven for me.

[Parma_TeleMon]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

PT
250K pots. One last thing. The 615 is not a huge change from their "Twang King". Going from a humbucker is going to be a big change for you.The 615 has a similar tone as the Twang King and as I said it does TWANG but...
IMHO the slight the bump in the mids and bass and slightly higher output were done to compete with some of the boutique wound stuff out there. The thing is, their "Twang King" is already a "smoother" version of the vintage under-wounds with lower output and the dreaded ice-pick characteristic. Pickup height will also play a factor here as this thing reacts to changes in height. I found the "sweet spot" for my guitar and the tone I wanted fairly quickly. My guess is Di Marzio probably spent a lot of time arguing whether they should even wind this pup because it might cannibalize the sales of other single-coils in their offering Remember, it is hum-cancelling as well. Anyway I bought mine through one of their prefered vendors at a reduced price. I like it a lot!

250s. Hmmmm...I liked 250k pots for the Area T neck, but the ToneZone T was just too dark, so I went with 1M pots to open things up. Might try a 615 with 500k pots just for fun. .022 cap?

[harphunt]

I wonder how it compares to the Area T™ Bridge DP418? Was looking at it, too.

peace

[rokdog49]

Guys,
Rest assured this is a bright sounding pick up. Based on the specs alone,I think the DP418 is going to be a slightly "darker/warmer" tone. The 418 has a lower output as well. Remember we're talking very minor differences here. At the risk of being redundant, the 615 "TWANGS" ...clean or distorted.