There are two major differences between a great vintage Strat pickup
and an average one: treble response and dynamics. A great pickup is
clear and bright, but not thin-sounding. A great one makes the sound
jump out of the amp when you pick hard and drop way down when you play
softly, and the tone varies when the string is picked at different
spots. The best pickup we’ve ever heard like this was from 1958, and
that’s what inspired the Area 58, with two major differences. Our
pickup has way less magnet pull, and virtually no hum.
The Area 58
has obvious similarities to the Virtual Vintage 2.1 it replaces, but
there are several non-visible performance factors that have changed.
Dynamic range and string definition are greatly increased, leading to
improvements in both clean chord-playing and overdriven soloing.
The
Area 58 is very sensitive to small height adjustment differences:
close to the strings produces a fatter, slightly compressed blues tone
and further away yields crystal clean sounds. The final improvement is
in noise reduction. All of the Virtual Vintage pickups have better hum
cancellation than full-size humbuckers. Area 58 and Area 61 are even
quieter.
Recommended For: Neck and middle, can also be used in bridge.
Quick Connect: No
Wiring: 4 Conductor
Magnet: Alnico 2
Resistance: 6.15 Kohm
Year of Introduction: 2006
Color: White
