Anyone have any experience with DiMarzio Area 61 pups?

[DainBramage]

Now that I've got my humbucker prob solved, I'm thinking about replacing the stock neck and middle pups on my MIJ Strat. I have a Duncan JB Jr in the bridge position I'm going to keep. I use this guitar for classic to hard rock stuff and am looking for something that is noiseless, sounds decent straight into a higher gain amp, but doesn't stray too far away from a strat neck pup sound. The Dimarzio Area 61's caught my eye and they seem to review pretty well. One thing I noticed is that they don't offer separate bridge, middle, or neck models. Have any of you used this pickup? I'd be interested in hearing your opinions. BTW, I have a set of Kinmans in a Warmoth Strat I built, and they're nice, especially clean, but not fabulous enough to spend that much money again. I had to wait 8 1/2 weeks for a set of Bill Lawrence humbuckers, so I don't want to go that route either. Nice people to talk to, but there was a few empty promises made and poor communication. Anyway, I hope to hear from some of you.

[walterw]

the 61's are winners. if you want a hotter, but still stratty neck tone, the virtual heavy blues II will rock, and hang with the jb jr, but the 61s are the ticket for vintage-y strat sounds that don't hum, but aren't weak like typical stacked pickups. plus, they're alnico II, so they don't pull on the strings.

[Bill Brasky]

Dimarzio have the Area '67's out now too. They may be hotter than the '61's.

[walterw]

i think the 67s are designed to be brighter, more like the late 60s hendrix-era singles, but not hotter.