DiMarzio Air Zone DP192 Review: The Perfect “Fat PAF+” Alternative to Tone Zone?
- Baris Sahin
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
This was one of the pickups I’ve been most curious about in the DiMarzio catalog. Since I have a love–hate relationship with the DiMarzio Tone Zone—appreciating both its strongest and weakest traits—the idea of an “Air”-treated version of it immediately caught my attention. I’ve always had a particular interest in pickups that occupy a similar tonal territory as the Tone Zone. Even if not structurally, this tonal lineage arguably begins with the DiMarzio Al DiMeola Bridge and extends all the way to the Tone Zone. In between, you’ll find models like the DiMarzio AT-1, DiMarzio Breed, and of course the DiMarzio Air Zone. Together, they form a rich palette of options, especially for taming, enriching, and fattening up the bridge position of bright-sounding superstrats. While these pickups differ in output, response, aggression, clarity, and nuance, they all share a common goal: delivering a relatively dark, thick, and meaty bridge tone. In that sense, they often act as a спасer for overly bright and thin superstrat bridge tones.
Long-time readers of Tone Journey will know about my fascination with ~10K overwound PAF-style pickups. I see this particular lineup as a further step beyond that curiosity. To put it simply, 9–10K overwound PAFs tend to live in the “warm yet clear” zone. The DiMarzio lineup I mentioned, however, spans a broader spectrum—starting from “warm yet clear” (with the Al Di Meola Bridge) and stretching toward a much less articulate, almost saturated territory (with the Tone Zone). Now let’s see what the Air Zone brings to the table—from my technical measurements to real-world guitar tests…
Test Guitar
Dimarzio Air Zone i have stood on my hand-made superstrat, Goldie, that has a Turkish alder body, a Q-sawn one-piece maple neck in a chunky Endur-Neck profile, Gotoh 510T-FE1 tremolo, 25.5” scale, steel frets, Bourns 500K volume and Alpha 500K tone pots, and 009-046 D'Addario NYXL0946 strings in E-standard tuning. The guitar has a The Humbucker from Hell and custom wound middle (true single with coil tapping 5.5K/6.5K windings, now on 6.5K side is on) pickups. Its primary (unplugged) tone ranges from balanced to medium-bright.
Evaluation
Official desciption is almost the same since 97 catalog but the last part i’ve underlined. It has been added much later.
“Air Zone
Artist: Page Hamilton
The best way to describe the Air Zone is a vintage version of The Tone Zone. It’s got the same low string-pull as our other Airbuckers for more sustain, plus it’s got the big bass response and cool harmonics of The Tone Zone, with more sensitivity and control. It’s a great match for very hot amps, allowing the player to take full advantage of the amp’s massive gain without turning the sound to mud or fuzzy noise. It’s also a great neck pickup for jazz players who need to get the hollow-body arch top sound from a solid body, and it offers exceptionally good split and series-parallel capability.
Ultra-fat PAF sound with more output. The dynamic range from soft to hard picking is very wide, and the combination of dual-resonance coils with the Airbucker magnetic field allows sustained notes to hang on to harmonic overtones longer, instead of becoming muddy as they fade. Will also work as a very warm, full neck pickup for jazz sound, and combine with The Tone Zone, Super Distortion and Super 3 in bridge position.
Users (2000 Catalog): Greg Howe, Andy Martin, John Norum, Dave Whiston, Neil Zaza, Paul Gilbert
U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,185 & 5,399,802”
Want to see the measurements, right here!
Dimarzio Air Zone DP192 Review
Magnet – Alnico 5
Advertised DCR: 17.49 K Ohm (Series)
Measured DCR: 17.1754 K Ohm (Series)
Measured DCR: 8.309 K Ohm (Screw Coil)
Measured DCR: 9.021 K Ohm (Slug Coil)
Inductance @100Hz: 8.550 H (Series), Q:0.3125
Inductance @100Hz: 3.7214 H (Screw Coil)
Inductance @100Hz: 3.7304 H (Slug Coil/steel spacer coil)
Measured C@100KHz: 92pF
Calculated Self Resonance Peak: 5.6747KHz
Output: 323 Milivolts (advertised)
EQ (B/M/T) – 9/8/6 (97 catalog), 8.5/8.5/5 (2000 catalog) – 9.5/8/7.5/4.5 (official website)
Gauss: 300G screws, 240G slug (measured at top center of D&G pole pieces)
Patents: Airbucker and Dual Resonance
Ambient Measurement Temperature: 21C
When we examine the Air Zone from the outside in, the first thing we notice—much like with the DiMarzio Tone Zone—is a fairly typical humbucker construction. The screws are short, as we’ve come to expect from many DiMarzio models. However, the more distinctive aspects reveal themselves inside the pickup. I’m including a few detailed photos here. What you’re seeing is DiMarzio’s Airbucker technology. But the difference here isn’t just the removal of a steel spacer. The metal spacer on the screw side is still in place. Instead, the slugs on the opposite side are not uniform along the entire coil length—they taper down to a smaller diameter beneath the coil. This creates a controlled distance between the magnet and the pole pieces, effectively reducing the amount of magnetic flux being pulled upward. Inside the pickup, we also observe a long, polished Alnico 5 magnet paired with a short wooden spacer.
In terms of gauss strength, it’s fair to say that the whole Airbucker “mumbo jumbo” actually works. In my DiMarzio Tone Zone review, I measured values around 340/375G, whereas here we’re seeing readings in the ~250G range—essentially in typical Alnico 2 territory. By the way, there’s another interesting detail worth mentioning. I measured a higher gauss strength on the screw coil, which was later confirmed when I examined the inside of the pickup. The steel spacer on the screw coil is still in place, which naturally creates a certain degree of magnetic flux asymmetry.
On top of that, there’s already an inherent asymmetry between the coils due to the “dual resonance” approach used in models like the DiMarzio Tone Zone and DiMarzio Air Zone. It’s also worth noting that in these pickups, the slug coil is wound with thinner wire (probably 44 AWG), while the screw coil uses slightly thicker wire (probably 43 AWG).
Anyway can DiMarzio truly replicate the exact character of Alnico 2 just by using the Airbucker approach? I think it gets close. However, from a metallurgical standpoint, the higher iron (Fe) content in Alnico 2 may introduce a slight—if not major, at least minor—difference in inductance.
Also, even if how the strings are induced in the magnetic flux is similar, the absence of a steel spacer would likely reduce eddy current losses. This, in turn, could lead to a slight increase in the Q factor and relatively a sharper resonance peak, thus more focused tone. In other words, imagine a standard humbucker with an Alnico 5 magnet: if you convert it into an Airbucker by removing the steel spacer, the resulting behavior would not be identical to simply swapping the Alnico 5 magnet for an Alnico 2. With a direct Alnico 2 swap, the metal spacer remains, and the relatively higher iron content of Alnico 2 also becomes part of the system. This would likely result in a bit higher inductance, a somewhat lower Q factor, and consequently a resonance frequency that shifts a bit more toward the midrange in the graph.
On the other hand, in an Airbucker-style configuration, I would expect the resonance peak to shift slightly to the right on the frequency graph (i.e., toward higher frequencies). Of course, since the core components of the pickup—coils, windings, wire, tension, insulation etc.—remain unchanged, what we’re really talking about here are relatively subtle tonal differences. So rather than a dramatic transformation, I’d expect nuanced variations in the overall character.
By the way, based on what I’ve experienced and observed, DiMarzio seems to take different approaches when implementing their Airbucker concept on humbuckers. For example, in their PAF-style pickups—such as the DiMarzio PAF 36th Anniversary, the Air Norton and DiMarzio PAF Master—there’s no spacer. That’s we can call “Full Air Mod”. However, in the DiMarzio Air Zone, contrary to what I initially expected, a spacer is present, leading to a more asymmetric magnetic flux distribution which can be called “Half Air Mod”. That said, I’m not making a blanket claim like “all PAF-style DiMarzios are like this” or “all high-output models follow this approach.” This is purely based on my own observations. Depending on the design, there may very well be models where this isn’t the case. After all, I haven’t opened up every DiMarzio pickup out there—and I don’t own them all either… at least not yet :)
There are a few ways to describe the Air Zone tonally. The simplest one—if you can picture it—is to imagine the DiMarzio Tone Zone with an Alnico 2 magnet (a rough approximation, of course—I haven’t forgotten the nuances discussed earlier). For starters, it’s nowhere near as “in-your-face” as the Tone Zone. What did Frank Falbo once say about the Tone Zone? “It’s too much; too thick.” The Air Zone definitely doesn’t fall into that category.
Think back to the pickups I mentioned earlier in that same tonal family: it’s somewhat like the DiMarzio AT-1, but not as focused as it nor the Seymour Duncan JB. It’s not as mid-heavy and tight as the DiMarzio Breed, nor is it as low output, airy and dynamic as the DiMarzio Al DiMeola Bridge, not as spongy as the Custom Custom. So where does that leave it? If what you need is a full, thick, and punchy bridge tone—but you find the Tone Zone to be “a bit too much” (for example, in an HSS guitar)—and you lean more toward relatively vintage-voiced sounds, then the Air Zone fits right into that sweet spot. If a “Fat PAF” isn’t quite enough and you’re after something one step beyond—a true “Fat Fat PAF” bridge tone—then the DiMarzio Air Zone is ready for the job.
The lows are very thick and strong, while they have a slightly spongy character. Not as much as a typical A2 hot PAF level. But can’t be considered as really tight. The low-mids are pronounced, mid-mids are present, not harsher. Fluety, you know. Then, Is Air Zone nasal pickup? Yes, it is honky. You may notice its cocked wah sound easily. The highs are sweet and mellower, which makes playing melodic passages particularly enjoyable.
At this point, I would normally make direct comparisons with other pickups you might be familiar with, but I suppose I’ve already covered those comparisons while describing its similarities along the way.
Now let’s move on to dynamic range and compression. Compared to the DiMarzio Tone Zone, the DiMarzio Air Zone is clearly more dynamic—that much is certain. Both in terms of how it responds to the volume pot and how it reacts to varying picking intensities at the amp’s slightly breaking “sweet spot,” it offers a wider dynamic range and lower compression than many of its peers. That said, this doesn’t turn the Air Zone into a clarity-rich, traditional PAF-style bridge pickup. If I had to place it, I’d say it sits somewhere between classic PAF bridge tones and hotter designs like the Seymour Duncan JB, DiMarzio Tone Zone, and DiMarzio Super Distortion.
Cleans? Much better than i could think and sweet. I am the right expert to say solid words about it but i could achieved typical sweet clean tones in the favour of the guys played Les Pauls…
So, what kind of guitars or tonal goals does the DiMarzio Air Zone work best with? First and foremost, I’m confident it pairs beautifully with brighter-sounding, 25.5" scale Strat-style guitars and their derivatives. It adds a slightly nasal character, tames excessive brightness, yet still remains more open, dynamic, and “loose” compared to others in its big brothers.
On the flip side, if clarity is absolutely essential for you, this might not be the best choice. Similarly, if your guitar is already naturally rich in mids and you’re not looking to push that even further, it’s probably wise to stay away. And if your goal is a super tight, modern low-end response from a humbucker, the Dimarzio Air Zone is again not the right tool for the job—in that case, something like the Seymour Duncan Black Winter would be a more suitable direction.
Paul Gilbert is known to use a combo with the DiMarzio Air Zone in the neck and the DiMarzio Tone Zone in the bridge, and DiMarzio also officially states that the Air Zone can be used in the neck position. That said, unless you’re playing Doom Metal or Stoner Rock, I personally wouldn’t recommend putting an 8.5H pickup in the neck. For me, clarity and dynamic richness are far more critical in the neck position than in the bridge. That’s why, as a rough generalization, I tend to favor pickups in the 3.5H to 5H range for neck use. Of course, there are exceptions like the DiMarzio Air Norton. But when it comes to the Air Zone, I have a pretty strong bias that I wouldn’t enjoy it in the neck position. Maybe I’ll try it someday—but that day is not today. In fact, I’m not even sure it’ll happen this year :)
Which neck pickups pair well with the Air Zone? Hmmm… the Air Norton is the first model that comes to mind. I’m also confident that the Bluesbucker would be a fantastic match. Other neck options that occur to me include the Tonerider Rocksong Neck, any of the classic DiMarzio PAF, and perhaps even the PAF Pro. From the Seymour Duncan side, something like the A2P could work beautifully as well.
Conclusion
The DiMarzio Air Zone proves to be far more than just a “tamed” version of the DiMarzio Tone Zone. While it clearly inherits the thick, harmonically rich, and bass-heavy DNA of its bigger sibling, the Airbucker implementation reshapes that character into something more open, more dynamic, and ultimately more usable across a wider range of musical contexts.
From both the technical measurements and real-world playing tests, it’s evident that the Air Zone successfully reduces magnetic pull and compression, bringing it closer to an Alnico 2-like feel—yet without fully replicating it. Instead, it occupies a unique middle ground: warmer and fatter than traditional PAF-style pickups, but less overwhelming, less compressed, and more responsive than high-output designs like the Tone Zone. The result is a pickup that delivers a “fat PAF pushed further” tone—rich lows, pronounced low-mids, slightly nasal character, and smooth highs—combined with a noticeably improved dynamic response.
It’s not a pickup that aims for surgical clarity or ultra-tight modern precision. Rather, it excels at adding body, character, and musicality—especially in brighter guitars that need to be tamed and thickened without completely losing articulation. For players who find the Tone Zone excessive but still want to stay in that tonal family, the Air Zone hits a very satisfying sweet spot.
All things considered, I genuinely like the Air Zone. It has its own voice, its own compromises, and its own strengths—but in the right guitar and context, it can be an incredibly inspiring and fun bridge pickup.
Pros
Thick, full, and harmonically rich “fat PAF+” character
More dynamic and less compressed than DiMarzio Tone Zone
Successfully tames overly bright guitars (especially 25.5" scale instruments)
Smooth, sweet highs and musical clean tones
Wide dynamic response with good sensitivity to picking and volume control
Unique tonal position between vintage PAF and high-output humbuckers
Cons
Not the tightest low-end—can feel slightly loose or spongy
Noticeable nasal / “cocked wah” character may not suit everyone
Lacks the clarity and articulation of true PAF-style pickups
Midrange can be too pronounced for already mid-heavy guitars
Not ideal for modern, ultra-tight or highly percussive styles
Neck position use is questionable unless very specific tonal goals are desired
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