Vivian Campbell, Holy Diver. Just a Marshall, OD and LP?

[Tone Slinger]

Evil Eye's, great guitar solo for sure. I guess I like the vibe of the tunes on 'Holy Diver' ,for the most part, better than 'The Last In Line', THOUGH, I think Viv waxed better solo's on 'The Last In Line'.
Viv sounded better, imo, using the 25 1/2 scale Charvel Strats on 'The Last In Line' , than he did using the 24 3/4 scale Les Paul on 'Holy Diver', though I change my mind on this sometimes. The Charvel Strats just had more dynamic and swing, as compared to the stiffness of the Les Paul.

I hear Ritchie Blackmore in that Evil Eyes solo. The StarGazer solo comes to mind with its one string tremelo picked runs.

[zz666]

I disagree, I think Viv's tone and playing was way better on Holy Diver. He tried to compete with all the other LA guys by using a super strat on Last In Line and I think his playing and tone suffered.
He's even admitted his confidence was pretty shot cos he thought he had to compete with the Lynch's, DeMartini's etc.

Checkout the original version of Evil Eyes on the new Holy Diver Deluxe Edition, it's killer

[Tone Slinger]

I need to check that out. I do agree that Holy Diver is the better record, and Viv did seem a bit more true to himself.

I agree that Viv seemed to be competing a bit on The Last In Line. I think he his solo's on 'Last In Line' are better than those on 'Out Of The Cellar' and 'Tooth And Nail' .

On my Chinese Gibson Les Paul 'clone' I put a 'Deluxe' truss rod cover on (the guitar is black). My two favorite looking Les Pauls are the Kiss Alive! cover (I am not gonna put a middle hb'er in though) and Viv's . Both are Deluxe's.

[Maverick]

LP, tube screamer and jcm800

[fivecoyote]

All the deets I could uncover:

http://www.woodytone.com/2010/05/19/viv ... r-details/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dtdionne]

I think there's some magic in the Holy Diver marshall, I can certainly hear moments of eddie's tone on that album

[Tone Slinger]

Well a 2203 circuit is basically a super lead circuit, except that the first two gain stages are cascaded (2203).

Imo, one of the BIGGEST problems with alot of the jcm 800 era 2203's, specifically, is that they need to be cranked up pretty loud (beyond whats needed on stage) to sound good. And thats not just an issue of gain. In most cases, a hi/lo bandpass filter circuit (Tube Screamer, Super Overdrive, etc) in front of one (2203/4) thins and compresses everything too much.

Viv was probably playing pretty loud in the studio , but alot of his '83-'84 live stuff is that typical 'buzz saw' tone of a Boss OD into the front of a 2203. I really liked the songs and solo's (RIP RJD), and the sound was good enough, especially considering that era (early mid '80's).

But, nowadays, that circuit can be tweaked to near complete perfection (2203/2204). The Mod5 (RIP Mark) is proof of that.

[yngwie308]

Here Viv says what he used:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-k2sn-J ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
yngwie308

[cebix]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kRTcRZ8 ... ure=relmfu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;