Vivian Campbell's Dio tone from 1984 - which pickups

[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

 

[Jacew]

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

^ I needed to look up who this Chris Jericho was. Sounded really good in this, but I was quite disappointed: Remembered to have seen one of Fozzys videos, but nothing of the music...

What is it with modern singers that many are so good with old songs, but when they do their own, it's pop-style smooth wailing, that's just boring and annoying... They should just let it rip Like Dio, Ozzy etc... used to do.

 

[dpaterson]

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

that's just boring and annoying...

That made me laugh!!! LOL!!!

Obviously she doesn't fall into that category mind you!!! LOL!!! Good "normal" voice though. Only on this and in exactly ONE of Arch Enemy's songs (and then only for a brief moment) does she sing "normal" (whatever the right word is).

But you say "let it rip" and I wonder about this. Is this not the same thing as I've kinda banged on about somewhere around here earlier??? I mean: these new bands are FANTASTIC (for me: in particular Arch Enemy) but they are SOOO tight. Maybe TOOO tight is what I'm getting at. And that's live i.e. even tighter in the studio. Compare this to the "looseness" of (early) Dio, Sabbath, Purple, Whitesnake, whatever. Almost as if there was some type of improvisation going on at every performance. Does that make sense??? As it pertains to the vocals which you've mentioned: it's like to vocalists back then sort of "just let go" and "did their thing" and everything sort of "gelled" in the end. Now they're "on cue" to the millisecond. Maybe it's because in the old days we didn't have these infuriating in ear monitors i.e. stage monitors (which you could or could not hear) or nothing!!! LOL!!!

Then again: I see you're in Finland. No stranger to tight bands!!! LOL!!! Spent a good few years on a Tarja/Nightwish trip!!! Absolutely "out of this world" (again: never to be repeated i.e. something "special" about that line-up too).

Regards,

Dale.

 

[Jacew]

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

That made me laugh!!! LOL!!!

Obviously she doesn't fall into that category mind you!!! LOL!!! Good "normal" voice though. Only on this and in exactly ONE of Arch Enemy's songs (and then only for a brief moment) does she sing "normal" (whatever the right word is).

But you say "let it rip" and I wonder about this. Is this not the same thing as I've kinda banged on about somewhere around here earlier??? I mean: these new bands are FANTASTIC (for me: in particular Arch Enemy) but they are SOOO tight. Maybe TOOO tight is what I'm getting at. And that's live i.e. even tighter in the studio. Compare this to the "looseness" of (early) Dio, Sabbath, Purple, Whitesnake, whatever. Almost as if there was some type of improvisation going on at every performance. Does that make sense??? As it pertains to the vocals which you've mentioned: it's like to vocalists back then sort of "just let go" and "did their thing" and everything sort of "gelled" in the end. Now they're "on cue" to the millisecond. Maybe it's because in the old days we didn't have these infuriating in ear monitors i.e. stage monitors (which you could or could not hear) or nothing!!! LOL!!!

Then again: I see you're in Finland. No stranger to tight bands!!! LOL!!! Spent a good few years on a Tarja/Nightwish trip!!! Absolutely "out of this world" (again: never to be repeated i.e. something "special" about that line-up too).

Regards,

Dale.

Huh?

Arch Enemy is great. Where did you picked that up?

I was just talking about Chris Jericho in Fozzy. Who sings in that video as well.

BTW: All singers do great job there, which was kind of the point. There only handful of notable rock singers these days who really nail that classic metal singing in their own work, was what I meant.

 

[dpaterson]

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

Huh?

Arch Enemy is great. Where did you picked that up?

I was just talking about Chris Jericho in Fozzy. Who sings in that video as well.

BTW: All singers do great job there, which was kind of the point. There only handful of notable rock singers these days who really nail that classic metal singing in their own work, was what I meant.

Huh???

I'm confused myself!!! LOL!!! Arch Enemy is FANTASTIC. Agreed. (Just got some stuff of theirs on Blu-ray and it is AWESOME).

Agreeing with you on the rest too (sorry if my post was confusing).

Regards,

Dale.

 

[Mincer]

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

Yeah, I was talking about the Rock and Roll Chidren VIDEO. Watching it again, it is even more comical than I remember. Then again, at the time, I liked the 'Stars' video and song, and both don't hold up to me. I agree about the first 3 Dio albums. There are those, and then the rest. I liked Intermission hen it came out. In my eyes (and ears), Dio with Sabbath can do no wrong.
I think after the first 3 Dio albums, he was trying to chase what changing metal tastes were. He had such a range (again, the Elf albums really how how well he can sing different styles). I think he knew 'metal' at the time, was where the money was, but I wish he would have put out an album that had everything he liked and could do without a thought of what his metal fans would like.

 

[LLL]

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

 

[dpaterson]

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

Hello.

Real nice post. Thanks.

"Stars". Believe it or not I only discovered that by accident about a month ago. Pretty shameful huh. Of course Dio and Vivian stand out (for me) but I find it real interesting to listen to it (and to not watch it i.e. just the audio) i.e. a nice little challenge to identify the individual '80's band members after all these years. Some, if not all, are pretty distinctive to my ears and I remember them all well even after not listening to their stuff for many many years (pretty odd given that most time I can barely remember what happened this morning!!! LOL!!!).

"Intermission"!!! Yes!!! It's probably the least mentioned Dio album (I don't even bother mentioning it myself because very few people that I know have even heard of it) but for me it's "right up there" if not "higher" because it's live (all except one song with Craig Goldy I think). "King Of Rock And Roll" is "right up there" with "Stand Up and Shout" and "We Rock" for me. I love it. Had that on LP when it came out!!! LOL!!! And speaking of which: those first few notes of "Rock And Roll Children" on Intermission??? AGAIN: there's my "gnarly, woody, .................." live tone!!! LOL!!!

Regards,

Dale.

 

[Dave Locher]

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

Since this epic thread is now a general Dio discussion, I feel compelled to add in what I believe to be a true anecdote about Ronnie. A very honest & trustworthy guy I know was in a band that opened for Dio one time. He happened to run into Ronnie before the show. He says "Hey Ronnie, you know in Holy Diver when you sing 'you can see his stripes but you know he's clean, oh don't you know what I mean'?" And Ronnie says "Yeah?" And Will says "I DON'T know what you mean!" Ronnie just smiled and said "Aw, man, it's just lyrics."
Ever since Wil told me that I listen to all Ronnie's lyrics (Rainbow, Sabbath, Dio) very differently. Pretty clear he was more interested in how the words sound than in what they actually meant. And I don't mean that in a bad way, I just listen and don't analyze.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. Carry on.

 

[Gtrjunior]

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

Since this epic thread is now a general Dio discussion, I feel compelled to add in what I believe to be a true anecdote about Ronnie. A very honest & trustworthy guy I know was in a band that opened for Dio one time. He happened to run into Ronnie before the show. He says "Hey Ronnie, you know in Holy Diver when you sing 'you can see his stripes but you know he's clean, oh don't you know what I mean'?" And Ronnie says "Yeah?" And Will says "I DON'T know what you mean!" Ronnie just smiled and said "Aw, man, it's just lyrics."
Ever since Wil told me that I listen to all Ronnie's lyrics (Rainbow, Sabbath, Dio) very differently. Pretty clear he was more interested in how the words sound than in what they actually meant. And I don't mean that in a bad way, I just listen and don't analyze.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. Carry on.

Stone Temple Pilots

“Alls I gots is time, got no meaning just a rhyme”

 

[dpaterson]

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

Hey Dave.

Since this epic thread is now a general Dio discussion, I feel compelled to add in what I believe to be a true anecdote about Ronnie. A very honest & trustworthy guy I know was in a band that opened for Dio one time. He happened to run into Ronnie before the show. He says "Hey Ronnie, you know in Holy Diver when you sing 'you can see his stripes but you know he's clean, oh don't you know what I mean'?" And Ronnie says "Yeah?" And Will says "I DON'T know what you mean!" Ronnie just smiled and said "Aw, man, it's just lyrics."
Ever since Wil told me that I listen to all Ronnie's lyrics (Rainbow, Sabbath, Dio) very differently. Pretty clear he was more interested in how the words sound than in what they actually meant. And I don't mean that in a bad way, I just listen and don't analyze.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. Carry on.

I certainly don't mind the thread taking another (yet pleasant) diversion. I can only hope that the site ops. don't have an issue (but would understand if they did I guess).

Funny you mention Dio's lyrics. I spent the early years of my "Dio career" thinking that "King Of Rock And Roll" was about the Devil!!! LOL!!! In my defense we didn't have the Internet back then!!! LOL!!! Turns out, based on a YouTube interview with Ronnie, that it was "tongue in cheek" (that's the impression I got anyway) about Elvis??? Something like that anyway. Will look it up again at some point. Gotta be careful with stuff like this i.e. incorrect info. gets regurgitated as fact which then becomes mythical!!! LOL!!! My early misunderstandings were not limited to this though. The bass player in my first (abortion of a) band banged on about the occult symbolism in Dio's lyrics and I guess I kinda bought into that until, as I say, some years later when I kinda got the real story from YouTube interviews with Dio. This being said: Dio himself in an interview in the "Extras" of one of my DVDs does hint at "dabbling" in this and warns to stay clear. Make of this what you will. But I do know now, again based on all of the interviews that I've seen on YouTube, that Dio drives home that one should make of the lyrics what suits. None of this has ever phased me though. To me it's just been darn good music. And sometimes I think it suits people to try "pin" stuff on artists particularly people that don't like metal and believe it to be something it's not. I remember somebody pointing out a demonic head on my "Mob Rules" LP cover. I'd never seen it in all the years I had that album cover (until of course it was pointed out to me). Always found stuff like this strange i.e. when I buy an album I buy it to listen to and enjoy not to spend hours and hours analysing the cover artwork and "looking for stuff". Then again: these are the same people that say "I'll bet that guitarist could not play the same thing twice" or "it's a noise". Not until you attempt to play this stuff do you actually realise just how talented these guys are not to mention how difficult it is to play let alone master!!!

My impression of Dio though is that he was somebody who was really serious about his ART (this based on stuff I've NOT seen or NOT read about anyway). I've never read about nor heard of Dio being involved in the type of "antics" usually associated with the likes of Ozzy for example. Don't get me wrong: not dissing Ozzy in any way shape or form (and I've always wondered if Sabbath would ever have made it were it NOT for such "antics"!!! LOL!!!). In every interview I've seen: he's always very serious about the music and the fans. And matter of fact: I've noticed that a lot of those bands from that era (those that are still around and intact that is) have cleaned up their act now. It's pretty refreshing (to me anyway). I always associated metal with drunken partying (and whatever else) and it's one of the reasons why I never accomplished anything of any real value insofar as my music is concerned. And probably a major reason why I'm approaching it a lot differently now and this time around.

One last little "nugget" that many will not be aware of: Dio was actually coming to South Africa but 9/11 put paid to that. I'll never forget driving down a road and seeing "Dio" on a poster on a lamp post. Had to turn around to check if I had "seen things". Sure enough. The date and everything was on the poster (which I no longer have unfortunately i.e. I stole the poster off of the lamp post to keep). Unfortunately that's the closest I was able to come to seeing Dio. By the time I was in a position to do so: it was too late. And something I will regret for the rest of my days I'll tell ya.

Regards,

Dale.