Mbox2 preamp & Shure SM57

[briaboy]

Do you mean replace the ones on my beloved 60s Strat Darryl??!!

[briaboy]

I know I have followed your generous and valuable advice on many matters in the past on this very forum, but this......

[Darryl Ramm]

Well if somebody actually did that on a genuine 60s strat and damaged it I would cut their fingers off. But if you have a hum problem on a non-vintage strat and want a good sounding classic strat pickup those are probably the ones to go for. I have been unimpressed by the Fender N1 pickups by comparison. I have no problems with folks carefully replacing an entire pickguard assembly on a vintage strat if they keep the original safe and do this carefully. That is one of the great things about ol' Leo's brilliant easy to manufacture design.

[briaboy]

It is a 60s model unfortunately, but I do have a 2006 Mexican model which I think I should replace the pickups on, yes. So, you'd recommend the DiMarzio Areas?

[briaboy]

I notice there are 58, 61 and 67 versions. Any thoughts on which one, or a combination maybe?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by briaboy

It is a 60s model unfortunately, but I do have a 2006 Mexican model which I think I should replace the pickups on, yes. So, you'd recommend the DiMarzio Areas?

Strongly. We replaced the standard pickups on a ~20 year old Mexican Strat with a set of those Area pickups, my son's main guitar now. That guitar used to hum like crazy. Now it is the best sounding Strat here amongst regular American single coil or N1 pickups, and not just for lack of hum.

[briaboy]

Nice one.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by briaboy

I notice there are 58, 61 and 67 versions. Any thoughts on which one, or a combination maybe?

OK I had to go check and find the old boxes, and actually we installed..

Area 61 - Neck
Area 61 - Middle
Virtual Vintage '54 - Bridge (it's noiseless as well based on the same Area design) (And looks like DiMarzio has now replaced that model with a Virtual Vintage Pro '54)

I have no hands on experience with any of the other Area or other DiMarzio noiseless pickups, I was following the advice of local folks. You might want to read the description on DiMarzio's web site for those different pickups.

I would happily replace the N1 pickup set on my Strat Deluxe with those DiMarzio, that and get rid of all the unnecessary S1 switching silliness. In fact replacing that whole pickguard set is a project I plan to do, one of the pots is acting up.... and I just do not like the whole thing. But there is an SG with more need of surgery in line in front of that one...

[briaboy]

Great, that's very helpful.

best,
Brian

[amagras]

Or try the SSC system by Suhr