From the manufacturer:
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. We've captured the classic bright and clean sound but totally eliminated the hum with our patented Area™ technology. We'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.
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 us to use Alnico 2 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.
Recommended for all positions, but best as a neck or middle.
Ethan's picks for best videos/sound-clips:
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.”
The first half of this clip features a run-through of the DiMarzio Area 67 and 61 pickups (positioned in the neck and middle, respectively). Clean tones begin at 0:07, beginning with the Area 67 in the neck. This pup has such a natural clean sound that only a true single coil could produce. It is bright and transparent (even in the neck position), giving you incredible chime and quack for that classic strat sound. Skip to 0:51 to hear this pup distorted. You get this smooth saturation with a lot of expression, and very little noise (thanks to the noiseless Area design). For a responsive pickup with an undeniably vintage vibe, check out the Area 67.
The player is Drew Peterson and he is using a Fender Strat into a Mesa Roadster amp through a V30-loaded 4x12.
This video brings you through some of the best vintage tones you can get with the Area 67 pickups in the neck and middle positions. Skip to 0:23 to hear the neck pickup on a clean tone. It has a very clear sound with a sparkly top end and just enough warmth to mellow out the tone. Position 2 can be heard at 0:42, when you’ll hear a little quack sneak in from the middle pup. The tone remains crystal clean with plenty of snap and chime. The middle pup (1:03) has a nice vintage midrange sound that makes it perfect for old timey rock riffs with a bit of punch and twang. Overdriven tones kick in around 2:00, starting with the neck. You instantly get tones similar to Hendrix in the neck, Stevie Ray Vaughn in position 2 (2:35), or Chuck Berry in the middle (2:43). The player kicks in a little fuzz at 4:20 and uses the neck pickup to get that sweet vintage blues sound -- similar to Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love.” He then proceeds to kick on a little wah around 5:25 to emulate the tone you hear on Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child.” Listen on to hear just how amazing these pups sound with a bit of modulation.
The player is Jack Zucker and he is using a Fender Strat with a variety of pedals including: Geek-Screamer, Hartman GE Fuzz, Area 51 wah, Lovepedal and Effectrode Tube-Vibe.
You can hear the DiMarzio Area 67 pickup on clean, medium gain, and high gain settings beginning at 3:07 in this video. The neck pickup has a very clean and transparent sound with minimal noise. It is a relatively hot single coil pickup and that naturally loves to break up, even on a clean setting. Skip to 4:14 to hear the same pup on a medium gain setting. You get a nice vintage saturation sound and the tone is smooth, almost bell-like in timbre – giving you the perfect combo of warmth and chime. Add even more gain (5:17) and you get screaming lead tones with plenty of sustain and output for killer solos. One thing the player notes is that the Area pups are a bit hotter than traditional Fender pickups; therefore, you may want to back off the gain a bit to yield a cleaner sound. He also mentions that the Area pickups sound their best when they are a little closer to the strings, considering they have less magnetic pull than stock Fender pups.
The player is Drew Peterson and he is using a Fender Strat into a Mesa Roadster amp through a V30-loaded 4x12.
Here we have an extensive comparison of various single coil pickups, including the DiMarzio Area 67 in the neck. Clean tones can be heard at 1:42 and distorted tones at 2:39. It’s fair to say that these DiMarzio pups sound strikingly similar to your traditional Fender single coil pickups. They are incredibly bright (but never brittle), and have just the right amount of bounce and snap that every single coil pup needs. The greatest feature of all may be their noiseless design; you get to have all the responsiveness, quack, and snarl of a typical single coil without worrying about the annoying 60-cycle hum. The Area 67 has plenty of output to keep up with a humbucker as well, and the tone translates in a very smooth and musical way when you dial in a little gain. You seriously can’t go wrong with any DiMarzio Area series pickup.
The player is Drew Peterson and he is using a Fender Strat into a Mesa Roadster amp through a V30-loaded 4x12.