Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster - Stock pickups vs Dimarzio Area T

Got a used Squier CV telecaster, made in 2017 in China. Really surprised by the quality. The fit and finish is great, the hardware is decent and the pickups sound pretty good. The overall quality is much better than the 2022 Fender Mexican Player Series telecaster I tried in the store (almost went with that). For a third of the price, I decided to try out this used Squier CV and I was really impressed by it.
The stock pickups are pretty decent. Here's an AB comparison with a set of Dimarzio Area Ts which I had laying around. I prefer the stock neck pickup and the Area T bridge pickup.
I'm recording via USB through my Pod Go. Clean setting is a Deluxe Reverb, drive is a Marshall Plexi, and the high gain is a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier.

[@mikemph7779]

Great demo, tones and playing too. Thank you so much for making this!! It has been hard to find anyone playing the neck pickup by itself.

[@Beermaker2000]

Great vid, thanks for posting. Dimarzio did a great job making the Area Ts sound like single coils.

[@gerardoromano3436]

Very good comparison , you did a great job, Di Marzio makes every pickup sound the best without breaking the bank, this set is almost 50% the cost of Fender noisless pickups. And they´re very good, sound´s almost like a single coil, just a tad darker, but the difference is small and you don´t have to listen to 60 hz hum all day long.

[@Thirdgen83]

The Dimarzios sound best.

[@kamronjohnson8523]

Great comparison. The stock bridge pickup was aweful

[@user-di9te7rg4t]

thanks for this. my apartment has really bad hum. i am going to get the area t neck pick up i think with 500k pots and an EQ pedal it will work for my purposes

[@smutsharry]

Sound very, very similar clean. Overdriven the Area T’s seem to generate more overdrive and be a bit sludgier given the same drive and eq settings.

[@smutsharry]

Also: very good comparison video!

[@gerardoromano3436]

Hi remember he´s using a modest modeller, not real analog Distortion or overdirve. Just listen to high gain demo, It sounds bad with stock and noisless pickups.

[@Repah]

Great comparison thank you

[@SeraphimSound]

Excellent, excellent video. Thank you for this!

[@gerardoromano3436]

Hi, If you install noisless pickups in any single coil guitar you should change the pots from 250k (stock) to 500k, don´t forget nosless pickups are stacked humbackers that looks like a regular single coil, the magic happens when you get close to single coil sound with noisless pickup, there is the advantage IMHO (don´t underestimate the effect of the pots at least the volume pot must be 500k for noisless or humbackers in this case the Di Marzio´s

[@simpleone1989]

Thanks for the tip! Will try 500k in the future!

[@SergeiVlassov]

Dimarzio recommends 250k with Areas, and those who tried 500k reported it was too much, too ice-peaky, so Dimarzio voiced these to be used with 250k.

[@gerardoromano3436]

@@SergeiVlassov My expirience with 250k pots and Di Marzio´s AREA T pickups is that they sound darker than a true single coil (like in this video) l, both neck and bridge, when I switched to 500K Dimarzio pickups came to life, they sound like a vintage Tele pickup without the hum, I recorded both and the difference is just as I´ve just described. BTW Dimarzios user/installation guide is inclomplete and generic. I prefer testing and hearing than reading forums. a 10 buck change made a world off difference, If you look at the specs off any noisless pickup they recommend 500k at least the volume control (for single coil) Remember noisless pickups are stacked humbackers , so as such it peforms the best wirh 500k pots. Again this pickups Area T DP317 and DP418 are the best noisless pickup I´ve heard/used. The same are Dimarzio area 58, 67 and 61 for strat, I have a set but haven´t installed yet. Oh they´re inexpensive because people doesn´t want noisless pickups, the same people that write in forums, they don´t try, don´t listen just use their imagination. We are in 2024, whe don´t need to deal with 60 ro 50 hz hum to have a real single coil sound.

[@SergeiVlassov]

Hm... I actually preferred stock in all examples

[@3cardmonty602]

Frankly, I don’t hear much of a difference. I have Alnico III’s in my blonde Squier Classic Vibe Tele and they’re absolutely luscious.

[@simpleone1989]

Yes I was rather disappointed that the dimarzios didn't make a huge difference. Maybe the stock pick-ups were good enough to start with.

[@jbognap]

@@simpleone1989 Well at least the are noise canceling.

[@vitorisaia]

@@jbognap surely that's the point of using them!

[@pascaandrei7164]

You could try LOLLAR. Dimarzio is small chicken in addition to what LOLLAR can offer.

[@jimmy5634]

@ 3 Card Monty I’m considering a Lollar Alnico 3 in mine. Does it twang?

[@TheRye07]

to my ears, in clean diamrzio sounds better, on gain stock wins

[@matouscervenka7248]

Stock better. Area doesnt have a telecaster vibe, too muddy.

[@odom2142]

Yeah that’s the rub with noiseless “single-coils.” At the end of the day, they are still humbuckers and will never sound just like a real single.

[@matouscervenka7248]

​@odom2142 yes. I always prefer noise gate pedal with true single coil pickups over noiseless ones.