Vivian Campbell

Campbell brings out a ’78 Gibson Les Paul Custom with a silver sparkle finish that he bought in a Nashville pawn shop for $400. A luggage cart in Germany smashed the body but the neck was salvaged and attached to a Jimmy Page-style body by Bolin Guitars.

In an interview on Soundadvice from 1992, Vivian Campbell discusses using a Tom Anderson Guitarworks Classic during his early 90s performances with Def Leppard.

We see Vivian use this guitar when he plays live at the Spectrum in 1984 with Dio.

The Nightswan was a signature model for Vivian Campbell, the current guitarist in Def Leppard, who also played for Ronnie James Dio, Riverdogs, Whitesnake, and a few other bands here and there in the 80's.

Vivian uses two Les Paul Standards, according to this Guitar Geek rig diagram.

In this video, Vivian Campbell demos his new signature guitar from Epiphone.

This is his Signature Les Paul Custom, introduced early 2018, that he's been playing live with Def Leppard a fair bit since. Seen in this video as well as numerous Instagram posts with photos from their current tour.

“Casper” is Vivian’s Les Paul Studio. His tech bought it in Japan and then Vivian bought it from him. It has his signature set up meaning Tone Pros hardware, Dunlop frets, and a Super Distortion in the bridge.

This guitar is named Cait after his wife. It has P100s in it. Tone Pros hardware. Dunlop jumbo frets. And Pete Townsend scribbled under the bridge “Pete loves Viv” with a screwdriver.

Vivian’s Goldtop with humbuckers (so not his ‘56.) if you look closely you can see “Classic” on the neck plate.

Vivian uses a couple of ‘58 Burst reissues from the ‘90s. Like most of his guitars, they have Super Distortions in the bridge. He confirmed in an interview with Gibson but it has been taken down since.

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.

A post by official GMP Guitars page, showing a pic of Vivian with the guitar.

Vivian Campbell can be seen playing Aria Pro II RS ROAD WARRIOR in this photo(around 1985).

He is playing a ZZ Custom live in 1984

A photo of Vivian with a red Stratocaster. He used this in the music video for When Love and Hate Collide.

With Gary Moore being a big influence, Vivian bought his own Greeny clone to use in his time with Thin Lizzy. He named it “Gary.”

Also shown in this video https://www.musicradar.com/news/vivian-campbell-shows-his-gary-moore-and-rick-nielsen-signature-les-pauls-for-def-leppard

Vivian Campbell owns a Gibson Custom Rick Nielsen's 1959 Les Paul, which he has named "Ricky." This information is confirmed in the video titled "DEF LEPPARD - This Guitar: Gear Breakdown with Vivian Campbell," available on the DEF LEPPARD YouTube channel.

Vivian Campbell uses a Gibson J-200, which he had refinished in red after the original finish began to crack. He has named the guitar "Lily" after his oldest daughter. This information is confirmed in the video "DEF LEPPARD - This Guitar: Gear Breakdown with Vivian Campbell" by DEF LEPPARD on YouTube.