From the manufacturer:
DiMarzio® has been working on serious vintage single-coil design with no hum for twelve years. Our goal has always been to capture the best qualities of pickups we heard from the 1950s and early 60s. We’ve played several pickups from the early 60s that had a unique tonality: they were steely, yet woody-sounding. Naturally, we wanted to nail this sound, and we wanted 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.
Over the last 10 years we’ve gotten literally hundreds of requests from guitarists asking for 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.
Ethan's picks for best videos/sound-clips:
Paul Riario takes a look at the DiMarzio Area 58 and 61 strat pickups in this clip. Clean tones can be heard at the following timecodes: neck – 2:25, neck/middle – 2:45, middle – 3:13, middle/bridge – 3:30, bridge – 3:42. The Area 58 in the neck is a very quiet pickup with a warm, bell-like quality to it. When you combine it with the Area 58 middle pup, you introduce a little more sparkle for a shimmery strat tone. The middle pickup by itself has a very thick clean sound with a solid midrange bite. Combine it with the Area 61 bridge and you get a little more snap and grit. The Area 61 by itself has a lot of twang, as well as increased output for a full, rich single coil tone. Dirty tones can be heard at the following timecodes: neck – 4:03, neck/middle – 4:12, middle – 4:20, middle/bridge - 4:27, bridge – 4:35. Adding a bit of gain brings these pups to life; you get a screaming Texas blues tone in the neck, a killer crunch in the bridge, and everything in between. The best part is how quiet these pickups are, given their noiseless design. With the Area 58 and 61 pickups, you get to retain all the single coil character of classic vintage pickups without the annoying 60-cycle hum.
The player is Paul Riario from Guitar World and he is using a Fender Strat.
This video demos a strat loaded with two DiMarzio Area 58s in the neck and middle positions and a DiMarzio Area 61 in the bridge. The action kicks in at 2:25, highlighting the Area 58 in the neck position with a little overdrive played over a bluesy backing track. It makes for a nice lead blues tone that has a smooth, almost bell-like quality to it. The player goes on to demonstrate each individual pickup on a clean setting, beginning with the neck at 5:04. The Area 58 has an incredible clean sound in this position; it is quiet, warm, and incredibly rich sounding with a nice glassy timbre. The Area 58 middle pickup (5:25) has great amount of treble for a nice crystalline sound with sheer single coil brilliance. The Area 61 bridge pickup has a little more output comparatively, and adds a lot of that snap, twang, and gritty bite strats are known for (listen at 5:40). This is a great pickup combination for players longing for a true vintage single coil sound without all the noise.
The player is Darrell Braun and he is using a 2014 American Strat through a Mesa Dual Rectifier Blue Angel.
Get killer rock tones with an Area 58 in the neck and an Area 61 in the middle position. Listen from 0:00 – 0:48 to hear the 58 and from 0:49 – 1:07 to hear the 61. The 58 does a great job handling that lead rock tone, sounding smooth and rich over the backing track. The 61 has a lot of punch to it and a natural bite that adds a little edge to the tone, making it perfect for leads and octaves (as heard in this clip). It also has an increased output for a hotter single coil sound. Both of these pickups are noiseless and great choices for a traditional strat sound.
The player is Jason Wilford and he is using a YJM Fury guitar through a Fender Red Knob Twin.
Check out this killer demo of the DiMarzio Area 61 and Area 67 pickups. Skip to 1:53 to hear the Area 61 pickup in the bridge position with full distortion. You get a very clean and clear lead tone with plenty of single coil twang and brightness to cut through any mix. You can hear the Area 67 in the neck position at 2:20 for some smooth bell-like lead tones. It has a very responsive quality that relies on your playing technique to shape the tone. Jump to 2:55 to hear a clean tone with the pickups split between the 61 and 67 (bridge/middle). The player is using a slight chorus effect that makes for a very crystalline clean tone with a lot of depth and sparkle. Listen to the Area 67 pickups split on the middle/neck position at 3:30. The tone is clear with a warm low end and really articulate highs. From 4:20 onwards you get a look at the tracking process for one of the player’s songs, highlighting the sweet tones and pristine detail these pups capture in a full mix.
The player is Ethan Meixsell and he is using a Fender Strat into Digital Performer using UAD plugins. The song featured is an original entitled, “Walled In.”
Here is a pretty intricate demo of the Area 61 pickup in the neck position. It features bluesy soloing over an accompanying backing track. The Area 61 does a great job eliminating noise while still staying true to a vintage single coil sound. Never does this pup sound dull or sterile, but rather responsive and expressive (and without hum). It also has a pretty robust output that could compare to a humbucker and yields a smooth, thick tone that is impressive for a single coil. The low end adds an element of fat warmth while the highs sing with pure brilliance. The tone manages to stay relatively balanced and even, and never sounds too muddy or tinny. In fact, these are probably one of the clearest, most articulate neck pickups you could stick in your strat!
The player is Drew Peterson and he is using a Fender Strat through a Mesa Rectifier Roadster.
Check out this DiMarzio Area 61 in the middle position played in a Texas-style blues context. You can really crank a lot of gain out of this pup and easily get that dirty Stevie Ray Vaughn strat tone. In this position you get a lot of punch from the low and midrange and plenty of chime from the top end as well. Even with a bit of saturation this pup manages to stay really clear and noiseless, but there is no doubt that it sounds like a traditional single coil. With a 61 in the middle you get this rough, edgy tone that is simply unbeatable – especially if you’re looking to playing some gritty blues!
The player is Drew Peterson and he is using a Fender Strat through a Mesa Rectifier Roadster.