During the early years of Living Colour, Reid used a multi-colored ESP Mirage with EMG pickups, and he was an endorser of the A/DA MP-1 preamp. In later years, Reid has used custom Hamer guitars, and started a relationship with Parker Guitars, who built the "DF824VR" Vernon Reid signature model based on their "Dragonfly" design. it has EMG-X pickups in a HSS layout with 5-way switching system, a Floyd Rose vibrato (a first for Parker), and a Roland GK divided pickup.