Author Topic: Phil Collen of Def Leppard (Read 8776 times)

indysmith · « **on:** October 19, 2006, 11:49:55 AM »

His Signature guitar has a dimarzio Super 3 - which is a Cermaic bucker with 25.8k DC resistance. Does this sound stupid to anyone else? After listening to High 'N' Dry all morning today i would have expected a much less beastly pickup. Which BKP would you guys reccommend for his sound? I was thinking a VHII, maybe a Holy Diver? But nothing like a Ceramic Warpig (which is what the Super 3 seems to be the equivilent of :? )
Thanks guys

genocidal tendencies · « **Reply #1 on:** October 19, 2006, 12:20:02 PM »

A lot of famous guitarists (coincidentally only those famous enough for endorsement deals...) seem to use one or two pieces of gear that they seem to be fighting against to get the tones they want. High output pickups seem like a common choice, although you do get the odd signature overdrive or speakers or wah or something. I guess the more you spend on artist endorsements the less you need to spend actually making decent products. It is odd for dimarzio to do that, though, they have more appropriate models he could use. Or maybe Collen is one of those people who just likes big numbers (Fender metal head...), I don't know.

Antag · « **Reply #2 on:** October 19, 2006, 12:21:02 PM »

Well, his signature guitar is much newer than High'n'Dry - in those days he was using an Ibanez Destroyer with god know what pickup in it (DiMarzio Super Distortion? IIRC Steve Clark had them in his Les Paul...) so something mid-output is probably closer to the mark.

Later Def Leppard records are so overproduced he probably needs a beast of a pickup to not be totally inaudible :)

Dakine · « **Reply #3 on:** October 19, 2006, 12:47:35 PM »

Phil Colleen did'nt enter the Leppard picture until Pyromania when he replaced original guitarist Pete Willis.

Philly Q · « **Reply #4 on:** October 19, 2006, 01:42:56 PM »

The Super 3 is basically all midrange, not much bass or treble. I don't know what the BKP equivalent would be. At the time they launched the PC signature guitars Def Leppard were using tons of racked outboard gear, wireless systems etc so maybe the pickup worked well with all that gubbins?

In terms of getting the Phil Collen sound, I'm pretty sure I've read that most of the guitar on Hysteria was recorded with a Tom Scholz Rockman! No idea what they've used since.

As Nick has pointed out, Collen didn't join until after High'n'Dry. I think their style would have changed anyway, with or without him, but it's by far my favourite Def Leppard album.

Antag · « **Reply #5 on:** October 19, 2006, 02:14:37 PM »

You are of course correct, I got Pyromania & High'n'Dry mixed up (hey, it's ancient history even to an old'un like me :)) - Collen didn't join Def Leppard until much later.

But even on Pyromania he was using the Destroyer (& IIRC Hysteria has a pic on the inner sleeve of him still using it). His first Jackson sig model (a funny archtop neck-thru thing) wasn't until after Hysteria, & the current strat w/sustainer model was even later...

indysmith · « **Reply #6 on:** October 19, 2006, 03:19:33 PM »

o i see - i should really do my research first huh :P right, so what guitar/amp setup was being used on High'n'Dry? and who was playing on it? what would be a suggested pickup for this album's sound?

Philly Q · « **Reply #7 on:** October 19, 2006, 03:39:24 PM »

The guitarists on High'n'Dry were Steve Clark and Pete Willis, and if they used their stage guitars on record they would've been Les Pauls and Explorers respectively. They got endorsements with Hamer around that time, so they might have also used Clark's Hamer Special and Willis's Hamer Standards (Explorer-types, again). If the Hamers had the stock pickups they were DiMarzio PAFs, but at some stage they switched to Duncan 59s. Lord knows about the amps!

On the later albums Mutt Lange got them to record multiple guitar tracks with Les Pauls (for bass), SGs (mid) and Teles (treble). Allegedly they also sometimes recorded the individual notes of chords then pieced them together, which is ridiculous! I think High'n'Dry was much more straight-ahead though.

Quote from: Antag

But even on Pyromania he was using the Destroyer (& IIRC Hysteria has a pic on the inner sleeve of him still using it). His first Jackson sig model (a funny archtop neck-thru thing) wasn't until after Hysteria, & the current strat w/sustainer model was even later...

Agreed, here are some pics of the archtop model:

http://www.guitarasylum.com/productpages/jackson/instock/instock1000.htm

Phil

gingataff · « **Reply #8 on:** October 19, 2006, 03:49:54 PM »

Yeah I heard that story about recording each note of the chord individually. You'd think a decent producer/engineer wouldn't need to do that to get a clear sound :D
But it was a massive hit and my fist gig was seeing them at the Newport Centre on the Hysteria tour, the ticket cost 6 quid cos theywent on sale before they started having hit singles. I was standing near the front close to Steve Clark.
Tesla were the support, amazing gig!

Dakine · « **Reply #9 on:** October 19, 2006, 03:55:19 PM »

saw em 3 times on that tour. If memory serves, twice with Tesla and once with Flotsam and Jetsam

gingataff · « **Reply #10 on:** October 19, 2006, 04:15:51 PM »

Was that with or without Jason Newsted?

[edit] if it was the Hysteria tour it was without :D
Should have read the post properly 8)

Philly Q · « **Reply #11 on:** October 19, 2006, 04:17:24 PM »

Yep, I saw them on that tour too, with Tesla. And also that year saw Tesla headlining at the Marquee - one of my best gigs ever!

Antag · « **Reply #12 on:** October 19, 2006, 04:29:19 PM »

Quote from: Dakine

...with Flotsam and Jetsam

Really?!? wow, that's a surprisingly heavy band to support Def Leppard. "Doomsday for the Deceiver" was one of my favourite thrash albums :)

sorry for the threadjack :)

Dakine · « **Reply #13 on:** October 19, 2006, 04:29:28 PM »

actually thought was with Jason (but memory is hazy that far back lol)

Ratrod · « **Reply #14 on:** October 20, 2006, 11:01:48 AM »

I think the pickup contenders are: VHII, Holy Diver and Painkiller.

Author Topic: Phil Collen of Def Leppard (Read 8776 times)

genocidal tendencies