Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

[Mincer]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

A side note: I hated Craig Goldy when he joined Dio- the music wasn't nearly as inspired, the solos weren't as good, and the riffs didn't really rock to me. I saw him live last year with Vinny Appice and he sounded really good, much better than on the Dio albums he played on.

[NegativeEase]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

A side note: I hated Craig Goldy when he joined Dio- the music wasn't nearly as inspired, the solos weren't as good, and the riffs didn't really rock to me. I saw him live last year with Vinny Appice and he sounded really good, much better than on the Dio albums he played on.

Some say that sometimes Dio's on stage and in studio dramatic jazz hand moves inadvertently affect the riff quality of his guitarists.

Like a dark hypnotist.

[dpaterson]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

A side note: I hated Craig Goldy when he joined Dio- the music wasn't nearly as inspired, the solos weren't as good, and the riffs didn't really rock to me. I saw him live last year with Vinny Appice and he sounded really good, much better than on the Dio albums he played on.

Agreed. My least favorite line-up. There was something special and raw about the Dio/Campbell/Appice/Bain line-up to me. And not just because of the songs or the era. Same way there was something special about Nightwish with Tarja Turunen (let us not go there!!! LOL!!!). Doug Aldrich not too bad with Dio but very different from Vivian but very good with Whitesnake.

Then again: never found anything “Dio with [insert line-up here]” that doesn’t sound absolutely fantastic (including but not limited to Sabbath and even a song or two with Purple). The Dio/Sabbath reincarnation Heaven and Hell does it for me too (nearly did my hearing in the other night again, permanently, listening to “Bible Black”, AGAIN, on repeat). Oddly enough: no problem getting Toni Iommi’s tone!!! Go figure.

Regards,

Dale.

[LLL]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Well sure. Just use a "hot-rodded" Marshall (what exactly does that mean?).

annnnd... BOOM! Instant Viv Campbell DIO album tone.

[Securb]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Funny the best Whitesnake 80's tone was Steve Vai not Vivian Campbell

[Mincer]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

I was just listening to Elf's 3 albums today...great stuff on there. I don't know what happened to Dio after Viv left. I love his Sabbath stuff, mind you, but his solo output just tanked- like he became a caricature of himself. He always sang well, but the songs..eh.

[Jacew]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

I was just listening to Elf's 3 albums today...great stuff on there. I don't know what happened to Dio after Viv left. I love his Sabbath stuff, mind you, but his solo output just tanked- like he became a caricature of himself. He always sang well, but the songs..eh.

Dio is interesting band in a way that, to me, their albums are filled half with "filler songs" that I don't much care about. Then when they hit it, it's close to perfection. Rainbow in the Dark, Invisible, Sacred Heart, Shoot shoot etc... are some the best metal songs of the era.

[devastone]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Funny the best Whitesnake 80's tone was Steve Vai not Vivian Campbell

Viv never recorded with Whitesnake, he was just part of the "touring" band after Coverdale fired Sykes.

FWIW, I really like the Sykes and the Vai albums.

[LLL]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

First reply to OP: "Vivian’s tone, to my ears is a pretty standard hot rodded Marshall tone. I wouldn’t think it would be all that difficult to replicate."

And where's the "add post eq" part?

Remember, you stated:

Reading all the thread is really funny that in the first page everyone said "that tone is just a boosted 800 with some post eq"

Like I said, Kamanda was the very first and one of only 2-3 who suggested "boosted 800 with some post eq".

Also, can anyone define "hot rodded Marshall tone"? What exactly does that mean? How would I "hot rod" my Marshall? What would I need to do
to get that exact "hot rodded Marshall" tone?

[LLL]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Mr. Bean really helped Ronnie out in the early days...

https://vimeo.com/23875527

[dpaterson]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Hey folks.

Trying to catch up here. Thanks for the posts. Really nice stuff.

I think you’re best bet is to try to dial in a tone that you like with the gear you have.

I play in a cover band. What I do is set my amp to get the tone that I like. I don’t try to cop other peoples specific tones.
I might try to get the effects fairly close but even then...I ballpark it.

The only stuff I want to play/cover is Dio/Campbell, Whitesnake, Motorhead, and one or two Dio/Heaven And Hell songs. Odd thing is that with Whitesnake and Motorhead and Heaven And Hell: "close" in tone is alright with me. But there's something about the Dio/Campbell stuff and tone that I just cannot let go of. Dunno. Yeh. I'm weird. I know.

Funny the best Whitesnake 80's tone was Steve Vai not Vivian Campbell

As somebody else mentioned: Whitesnake never recorded with Vivian and I've only been able to find snippets on YouTube. Although you can easily hear it's Vivian (even without looking): some serious "mojo" lost there and not exactly inspiring.

I was just listening to Elf's 3 albums today...great stuff on there. I don't know what happened to Dio after Viv left. I love his Sabbath stuff, mind you, but his solo output just tanked- like he became a caricature of himself. He always sang well, but the songs..eh.

Sometimes I've thought to myself that maybe it all worked out just great in the end. Those first Dio/Campbell albums were milestones I think. Maybe had the little spat not happened it could have gotten "tired". Kinda like "quit while you're ahead" or "quit while you're at the top of your game" type of thing (both with reference to Vivian that is).

Dio is interesting band in a way that, to me, their albums are filled half with "filler songs" that I don't much care about. Then when they hit it, it's close to perfection. Rainbow in the Dark, Invisible, Sacred Heart, Shoot shoot etc... are some the best metal songs of the era.

Ain't this all the truth for sure. But I personally cannot say that about the Dio/Campbell albums. Will not say that ALL of the songs do it for me but they're all good. And there's one or two albums post-Vivian that come to mind i.e. albums that are "balls to the wall" pretty much throughout e.g. Dio/Sabbath's "Dehumanizer" (extremely well mixed and mastered album that by the way). But there's just too much good Dio stuff to even mention here (unless you want this thread to get REALLY REALLY long!!! LOL!!!).

And how's those solos of Vivians in "Invisible" and "Like The Beat Of A Heart"???



Matter of fact I did this (below) earlier for this post. Oddly enough you can also very clearly hear that "woody, gnarly, grainy, midrangy, twangy, boxy, rawy" (run out of adjectives!!! LOL!!!) tone that I've pretty much banged on about throughout the thread. But this in the studio. LISTEN CAREFULLY!!! It's a VERY specific tone (and pretty much the same tone in the video that I posted in my first post on the thread and basically started all of this off). And I tell ya: you can just hear and feel how he digs in here (just makes you wanna play really). It's magnificent in its simplicity in my opinion. And I don't think you can even EQ this in (please don't anybody "start" with me on this) i.e. I honestly believe that at least some of this tone comes from the "wood":

Viv never recorded with Whitesnake, he was just part of the "touring" band after Coverdale fired Sykes.

FWIW, I really like the Sykes and the Vai albums.

As remarked on above.

Must say Doug Aldrich does it for me with Whitesnake. Also Micky Moody with Whitesnake. Anybody remember that??? LOL!!! "Fool For Your Lovin'" and "Lie Down (I Think I Love Ya)"!!! LOL!!!

I have a few DVD concerts with Dio/Aldrich. They're not consistent though. "Holy Diver Live (in HD)" is "nice". But then I have another one "Evil Or Divine" and Doug kicks some serious "you-know-what" on this DVD (this DVD is "raw-er" (if that makes any sense). Dunno if it's the years that pass between these things or the improvement in sound quality and gear as the years go by or what (my ears obviously favor the poorer quality audio which alters "tone" and the older gear!!! LOL!!!).

Mr. Bean really helped Ronnie out in the early days...

Yeh. Listen. If there is ONE thing that could have been improved upon it was the Dio music videos let's face it. The word "cheesy" doesn't even begin to describe them!!! LOL!!! "Rock And Roll Children"??? I ask you with tears in my eyes!!! LOL!!! But hey: they "worked" in those days I guess.



Regards,

Dale.

[Mincer]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Oh man, Rock & Roll Children was terrible! That video had to make him cringe years later.

[STLMTLHD79]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Oh man, Rock & Roll Children was terrible! That video had to make him cringe years later.

Weird, i really love that song. I think that the first 3 Dio records were hands down his best as mentioned by pretty much everybody here (of course Rainbow and Sabbath stuff as well), But there are some great albums after Viv left. I do like Dream Evil quite a bit. I think the song writing was still there, but Lock up the Wolves was terrible. I dont care if the guitar player was like 17 when he played on it, it was terrible. Then, Strange Highways was a total change. I didnt like it when it came out (I was in high school) but i really love that record now. Massive heavy riffs, slower pace and awesome guitar tone/playing from Tracey G. After Strange Highways, nothing was worth a **** until he re-united with Iommi and crew.

[dpaterson]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

Hello.

Weird, i really love that song. I think that the first 3 Dio records were hands down his best as mentioned by pretty much everybody here (of course Rainbow and Sabbath stuff as well), But there are some great albums after Viv left. I do like Dream Evil quite a bit. I think the song writing was still there, but Lock up the Wolves was terrible. I dont care if the guitar player was like 17 when he played on it, it was terrible. Then, Strange Highways was a total change. I didnt like it when it came out (I was in high school) but i really love that record now. Massive heavy riffs, slower pace and awesome guitar tone/playing from Tracey G. After Strange Highways, nothing was worth a **** until he re-united with Iommi and crew.

Nah. Mincer is saying (agreeing with me I think???) that the VIDEO for the song is "cringeworthy" not the song itself!!! LOL!!! Have you watched it??? Link below for the fun of it (makes me cringe too).

But hey: I think it was just the times. I've got a Malmsteen DVD with songs from the same era and that's just as bad (if not worse).

Agreed about the first three Dio albums. But I think the music changed a bit is all. Still amazing (but as we're all acutely aware by now: I'm biased of course). It's like we had Dio/Campbell and then Dio/And The Rest (if that makes sense to anyone).

Oddly enough: there's a video floating around (two part interview with Ronnie) and I seem to recall him being very proud of "Lock Up The Wolves" (the album) (or was it the other way around??? Will have to look it up and watch it again).

I think that @Jacew summed it up kinda nicely above in the sense that the later albums as a whole may not have been outstanding but there sure are some good songs. I'd go so far as to call some of those later songs themselves Dio classics e.g. "Killing The Dragon", "Push", "Fever Dreams". Then again: just looking at the track listings right now and we're talking only a few out of a LOT of tracks!!! LOL!!! Oddly enough: "Strange Highways" is the one album that I've never been able to "get into". Maybe I should give it a listen again (not played it for ages and ages).

Must also say that Dio/Heaven And Hell (the band) is "doing it" big time for me of late. It's more Dio/Heaven And Hell (the band) than Dio/Sabbath (in my opinion of course).

Anyway. Watch and weep:

Regards,

Dale.

[dpaterson]

Re: Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

By the way (and TOTALLY off topic now of course) has anybody seen the below???

Been dying to post this somewhere.

Oddly enough I cannot stomach listening to "Dio Disciples" or "Last In Line" but this I "live with" (quite often and with great joy actually). Aside from Ms. White-Gluz I don't really know any of the dudes (I do recognize some of the voices though). But the main guitarist??? The drummer??? And the two "Jackson dudes" a part of the solo??? HELL YEAH!!! The drummer is a flipping MACHINE man!!! And I can watch this like twenty times in a sitting!!! LOL!!! Just makes you wanna get up and play (like most Dio songs I guess) (for me).

Love this song. Just cannot get it right.

Regards,

Dale.

P.S.

Never mind. Just saw this on the bottom (in at least a hundred views I never bothered until now!!! LOL!!!):

We Rock line-up:
Vocals: Mark Osegueda, Chris Jericho, Tim "Ripper" Owens, Alissa White-Gluz, Chuck Billy & Steve “Zetro” Souza
Lead & Rhythm Guitars: Alex Skolnick Bass: David Ellefson
Drums: Mike Portnoy
Additional Lead Guitar: Andreas Kisser, Phil Demmel & Gary Holt