There are two major differences between a good vintage Strat® pickup and an average pickup: treble response and dynamics. A good mic is clear and bright, but not thin. A great one makes the sound jump out of the amp when you press hard and down when you play softly, and the tone varies as the string is pulled in different places. The best pickup we've ever heard like this was from 1958, and it's what inspired the Area 58™, with two major differences. Our mic has much less magnetic attraction and virtually no hum.
The Area 58™ has obvious similarities to the Virtual Vintage® 2.1 it replaces, but there are several unseen performance factors that have changed. Dynamic range and string definition are significantly increased, leading to improvements in both clean chord playing and overdriven soloing. The Area 58™ is very sensitive to small differences in pitch adjustment: close to the strings produces a fatter, slightly compressed blues sound, and further away, clear, crystalline sounds. The final improvement concerns noise reduction. All Virtual Vintage® pickups have better hum cancellation than full-size humbuckers. Zone 58™ and Zone 61™ are even quieter.
Recommended for: neck and middle, can also be used in bridge.
Quick connection: No
Wiring: 4 conductors
Magnet: Alnico 2
Resistance: 6.15 Kohm
Year of introduction: 2006