Premier Guitar | 1 decade ago
Article and photos: http://bit.ly/DefLepRR
Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen took a break from their current arena-filling tour to discuss the rigs they are using on their current tour with Kiss. Campbell filled in the history of his life-long love of Les Pauls while Collen took us through his collection of Jacksons and one Strat with serious sentimental value. Guitar techs Scott Appleton, Roger Veage, and Dave “Wolfie” Wolff fill in the details on the rest of the gear.
PHIL COLLEN'S GEAR
Phil Collen travels with several vaults of spectacular guitars; way too many to cover here, so let’s just go with a few of his favorites. Collen’s Jackson X-Stroyer is based on his old Ibanez Destroyer, but the contours of the body have been inverted. It has DiMarzio Super 3 pickups and a Jackson Sustainer, however the center pickup is just a dummy. It did have an additional volume knob when it was first built, but it was in the way of Phil’s picking technique, so the volume pot was removed. The X-Stroyer features a Floyd Rose trem upgraded with FU-Tone titanium saddles and block.
Next is “Felix,” a late ’70s Japanese Strat that was a gift from Collen’s mother. It was notably used on almost the entire Hysteria album. It has sported various trems over the years, but recently Mike Kotzen at Jackson refitted the guitar with a Floyd Rose trem and a new set of DiMarzio Tone Zone S pickups.
The Jackson PC-1 “London 57” is a stock Jackson PC-1 made for Collen’s 50th birthday. The custom graphics include the year Phil was born and the Collen family crest. It has been equipped with FU-Tone titanium saddles and block.
To finish reading (with photos) the gear behind DL's setup, visit: http://bit.ly/DefLepRR
