what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

Sune

New member
Which pickups were used on "Holy Diver" by Dio?

I know Viv Campbell played on the record, and someone told me yesterday that he has used JB in the bridge and Full shred in the middle and some other pickups.. Did he use the JB on this record?
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

It's not unlikely. The JB was a VERY common pickup in that time period.
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

He used his Les Paul..and I've heard about 30 diffeent stories as to what pup he used...

General concensus is it's a Duncan Custom or Invader...but I remember seeing Dio at the time, and I didn't notice any gigantic pole pieces on Vivs Paula...so either Invader is a no-go, or he switched later. Plus it just doesn't SOUND like an INvader. It sounds just like a Custom

He also used Custom's in his strats on the second album, and possibly a JB as well (again, conflicting reports)

The Full shred was not brought out until a few years afterwards (that pup was designed for him)
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

I heard that it was a Dimarzio for Holy Diver then he switched to a Custom for Last in Line, so there are a lot of different stories or opinions. I definitely think a custom would be the way to go if you looking for something to cop that tone.
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

No, no.. I'm getting a JB for now. Maybe for future plans, or for my other axe, who knows?
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

Best pic I could find...unfortunately can't see/tell

I'd heard he used SuperD's too in his original Paul...

I sure do miss this guy...He was influenced alot by the same guys I was...

fcampbe.jpg
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

Old school :)

Well, it is probably unusual for a guy like me to like all this old school rock/heavy metal, but..I think that it has much more to give the listeners in different aspects of the music. It's not like any of the new crappy SOAD or whatever normal "kids" listen to. I remember I won a SOAD cd, I know I wouldn't like them but give it a spin anyway..Damn, I never should have done that, I now have serious problems with hearing, because when I was listening to that pure **** called "music", my ears decided to blow up their eardrums to save my mind from hearing more of it.

Where has all the quality gone?? I put that album for sale 5 minutes after I gave it a spin. So actually I accomplished to make money off of selling a turd. Not many people can brag about that. :)
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

Sune said:
Old school :)

Well, it is probably unusual for a guy like me to like all this old school rock/heavy metal, but..I think that it has much more to give the listeners in different aspects of the music. It's not like any of the new crappy SOAD or whatever normal "kids" listen to. I remember I won a SOAD cd, I know I wouldn't like them but give it a spin anyway..Damn, I never should have done that, I now have serious problems with hearing, because when I was listening to that pure **** called "music", my ears decided to blow up their eardrums to save my mind from hearing more of it.

Where has all the quality gone?? I put that album for sale 5 minutes after I gave it a spin. So actually I accomplished to make money off of selling a turd. Not many people can brag about that. :)

You Go BRO! You keep on likin whatcha like. I was like that a younger age. Growing up playing, the players I really like barring a few were unheard of in the states for the most part. When I stumbled onto the internet 10 years ago, and figured out how to use a search engine, I was amazed at how many people actually liked what I did. I would talk about X player in a music shop , all the people would say "who"? If it wasn't eddie or randy, or nugent, page/clapton/hendrix they didn't know..and didn't care.
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

Some crappy modern "nu metal" band.. Well, I'm ashamed to even associate them with metal, because it sure hasn't got the glory of the old heavy metal, but unfortunaly those days seem to be over, and I'm sorry I wasn't alive at that time, where heavy metal was in it's prime (imo).. Kinda makes me ashamed of being from this generation, because most people my age and younger has no idea about real rock/heavy metal.. They think that ****ty marylin manson or something like that is "heavy metal".
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

JeffB said:
You Go BRO! You keep on likin whatcha like. I was like that a younger age. Growing up playing, the players I really like barring a few were unheard of in the states for the most part. When I stumbled onto the internet 10 years ago, and figured out how to use a search engine, I was amazed at how many people actually liked what I did. I would talk about X player in a music shop , all the people would say "who"? If it wasn't eddie or randy, or nugent, page/clapton/hendrix they didn't know..and didn't care.

Well, I never talk to people about what I like either, because either they don't understand my passion about that kind of music, or they simply don't have a clue who I'm talking about, since it can't be watched on mtv or whatever.
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

Hey, good heavy metal isn't gone, it's just getting ready to take over.....again. :D
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

i know that viv used a CUSTOM on last in line and the full shred was designed for him and he had them in his black les paul in the riverdogs era . and the full shred / jb combo was in his kramer nightswan whitesnake era . other than that it's a mystery !! hey jeffb i did see a picture on the net of viv with an invader in his white w/graphics charvel , but i have also seen it with a regular humbucker (JB/CUSTOM) just so ya know his blues album came out on 27sep05 "two sides of if" i have heard clips but not the whole album . later scott
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

viv had charvels loaded with invaders(one single invader and knob ala vanhalen)
if he played the black les paul it was a full shred prototype in the bridge and a dimarzio X2N in the neck
 
Re: what pickups used on Dio's "holy Diver" ?

See what I mean? everyone has a different story. :laugh2:

I base my info off an old GP interview when he was doing TLIL tour, and one he did when he joined Whitesnake....where he talks specifically about his gear.

I had one of the old Hot Licks instructional vids of his, and he was playing a BLue Charvel with with Blue Duncans through Randalls (this was just prior to Whitesnake, and after Dio..i.e. Trinity). Those old Randalls really were a great sounding SS amp.

After Whitesnake, I've got no clue what he used.
 
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