Dimarzio Air Zone is Really, Really Good

[jarodathomas]

I joined this forum just to ask one specific question. Anybody know where I can order some of the plastic spacers? I don't want to order another airbucker pickup just to take the spacers out of it.

 

[Masta' C]

I joined this forum just to ask one specific question. Anybody know where I can order some of the plastic spacers? I don't want to order another airbucker pickup just to take the spacers out of it.

There's no place to order them, but the ones I took out of a newer AT-1 pickup look like cut pieces of 1/4" (6mm) plastic tubing

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Yeah, AFAIK, they just use surgical tubing instead of an actual spacer.

This is from an official DiMarzio video.

 

[jarodathomas]

I remember taking apart an air zone a long time ago and the four little rings felt more solid to me. It felt more like plastic, not like tubing. But that is just what I remember from like 10 years ago. I want to air a least the screw coil of a Tone Zone because I'm putting it in a different guitar than I bought it for and I want to add more dynamics and take away some of the woofiness.

 

[Masta' C]

It's not surgical/rubber tubing, it's white plastic tubing.

 

[Beatnikolas86]

Finally got an air zone in my guitar and it’s very nice. It has the warmth and depth I was looking for and expected. I followed the recommendation from the Dimarzio web site about using the air zone as a neck pickup to jazz up a more solid-body guitar. Since mine is semi-hollow it seems to be a good fit. It actually does have more treble than I thought it would. Now I’m curious to try an air Norton in the neck and zone in the bridge. My guitar was very bright and also thin sounding on the high strings. I really felt like I needed a lot more bass response per string and something to darken things up. So far the air zone fits the bill.

 

[jeremy]

glad youre happy with the result thus far!

 

[marcello252]

am I only me or anybody else feels the Air pickups have a strange attack to the pick, like there was a little delay? they feel strange under my fingers

 

[Chistopher]

Sometimes I play pickups with less bass response that feel less "immediate", maybe that's what you mean?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I've had the Air Norton, AT-1, and 36th Anni, but I didn't experience exactly that. The AT-1 wasn't far off from the feel of a good old JB (granted you account for the lower output) which is already kinda smooth, and I especially like the Air Norton and 36th Anni because they're pretty smooth compared to most Duncans in the neck. I can think of a other non-aired pickups that also feel smooth in a similar kinda way, though.

My thinking is, though, they probably do "feel" different from a standard pickup much the same a degaussed magnet of the same kind or going down to A2, for example, feel different. "Delayed", I don't know if I'd call it that, but if it feels like that to you, I wouldn't say you're wrong either.

 

[EmiAba]

A couple of years ago, I disassembled a few Warmoth strats with the intention of swapping necks and bodies but never got back around to it. One of them had an Air Zone that I had put away in the closet. Yesterday, I found the Air Zone and installed it into a strat and wanted to kick myself for forgetting I had that pickup. It's a seriously, seriously good pickup that's like a FRED and Air Norton put together. The harmonics are so rich, the low end is clear and smooth, but it's full of mids, a little aggressive, and has enough power so it's also good for death metal. I've never played a more expressive pickup than the Dimarzio FRED, but the Air Zone equals it. I also feel like I can get a similar level of expression with the Duncan Custom Custom and Custom/59 so I would suggest those if you want a Duncan with a really beautiful array of harmonic overtones but with more output than vintage pickups. The Air Zone, however, has all that but also a little bigger sound. It's still kind of aggressive so I think "smooth" is not really a good description, more like "refined" perhaps.

According to Dimarzio's website, the Air Zone is a moderate output pickup.with a big bottom end, and the EQ is as follows:
Bass 9.5
Low Mid 8
High Mids 7.5
Treble 4.5

However, it's definitely not an overpowering low end or mids as the chart suggests. In fact, mids are more prominent than the low end but not in a way that sounds a bit much, and if I were to rate the treble, it would be more like 5. Those little pieces of plastic they put may be extremely simple but it's genius. Perhaps the EQ might be accurate but what their "air" technology does is impart some evenness and space across the spectrum so that it's thick but not bassy or nasaly, and not as compressed as a Norton or Tone Zone.

Even though it's categorized as moderate output, it reminds me more of the Tone Zone output, and that has something to do with it's FRED touch. The difference in output is offset by certain sensitivity and feel. As a moderate output pickup, it gets away with a lot because it can drive an amp almost as good as much as a Tone Zone but stay pretty clean with amps like the Friedman Dirty Shirley.

I'm surprised the Air Zone isn't one of the more popular pickups on the market. It's so good that I'm kicking myself for forgetting all about it. Lesson learned! The Air Zone will never, ever come out of this guitar.

Nice to hear that. I have an air zone coming in few days