Dio – Dio At Donington '83 (Live)

This was Vivian’s first Les Paul. It started life as a wine red Deluxe and housed a pair of X2Ns in the ’80s, the hottest pickup DiMarzio made. It now contains a matched set of Seymour Duncan ’59s.

Says Campbell, “I was using DiMarzio X2Ns back then because I was playing through a JCM800 Marshall and there just wasn’t enough distortion in that amp, so I front-loaded it with really hot pickups and Boss overdrive pedals. With modern amps you don’t need to do that – there’s so much more saturation available.”

It has been since remade as an Epiphone Signature Model.

When asked about the pickups in his Les Paul Deluxe he says, >“I was using DiMarzio X2Ns back then because I was playing through a JCM800 Marshall and there just wasn’t enough distortion in that amp, so I front-loaded it with really hot pickups and Boss overdrive pedals.”

Also in the music video for When Love And Hate Collide, Vivian can be seen playing in front of a JCM800.