Def Leppard – Hysteria
The music gear and equipment used by the artists, producers, engineers, and more involved in the making of the 1987 album Hysteria.
Music from Hysteria
Gear Used On Hysteria
Explore the instruments, equipment, software, and production tools used in the making of Def Leppard – Hysteria (1987). Click more on each item to see exactly how it was used.
Phil Collen
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Guitars used by Phil Collen on Hysteria
Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar
Avg price: $622.79
This was the main guitar on the Hysteria album. A Japanese made strat that I got for my 21st birthday from my mum (I know my parents were great to me.) This guitar has been around the block and it always delivered. Perfect intonation, even after being lost in China for a week or so. It was still in tune. It had a quite a bit done to it. It had a Kahler trem and an Ibanez humbucker from my original destroyer in it. That went in after meeting Eddie Van Halen and him saying “you know, you’re not going to be happy 'til you put a humbucker in that guitar”, or something like that. And he was right. This was my main guitar through the Girl days right up until I started using Jacksons. Unfortunately it all went pear shaped when I had a Floyd put in it, weakening the wood and making the bridge a little fragile. So at the moment I’m scared to mess with it.
This is on more records I’ve done than any other guitar I own. It's all over Hysteria, most of the solos, on Animal, the Girl albums etc. Right now I’ve retired it and it’s taking a well-earned rest.
Amplifiers used by Phil Collen on Hysteria
Marshall JMP-1 Tube MIDI Guitar Preamp
Avg price: $598.13
You can see at 33:18 the gold Marshall preamp in the rig.
Used for Hysteria, as stated by recording engineer Nigel Green in this 2017 interview.
When Mutt finally arrived on the Hysteria album he didn’t want to go through that again so we decided to go for processed guitar sounds using something called a Rock Box. Other times we would us a Rockman, made by Tom Scholz. The Rock Box had similar settings to the Rockman: a clean sound and a distorted sound. The difference was you could turn off the chorus and effects on the Rock Box allowing you to use your own effects.
So the plan was we were pretty much going to use either the Rockman, or Rock Box for everything guitar wise. If the sound was not right after we added EQ or some outboard gear then we’d maybe change to a different guitar or add some kind of effects pedal. Sometimes I would blend a Roland studio flanger in to beef some of the power chord sounds. We pretty much would try anything to make it work, but in the end if it wasn’t cutting it Mutt and the band would change the guitar part altogether.
In this interview previously published about the Rockman x100 being used on Hysteria, Phil Collen mentions a small Gallien-Krueger amp that was also used in “Animal” and “Hysteria.” The amp is none other than the Gallien-Krueger 250ML that was manufactured throughout the 80s. It produces sounds that very closely mimic the Rockman, but with much more power at 100 watts!
Studio Equipment used by Phil Collen on Hysteria
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Fractal Axe-Fx II Guitar Effects Processor
Avg price: $700.00
A 33:18 you can see the Axe FX in the rack.
Steve Clark
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Guitars used by Steve Clark on Hysteria
Gibson Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar
Avg price: $5,483.90
For Def Leppard's "Hysteria" tour, Steve Clark played a white LP Custom with a Khaler tremolo and three pickups. He can be seen playing it in the "Pour Some Sugar On Me" video. The guitar can first be seen at :11s.
Effects Pedals used by Steve Clark on Hysteria
Avg price: $161.87
Clark used a CE-2 on songs off the album "Hysteria", such as the title track, and "Love Bites"