U2 & Guitar Gear: Q & A

Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:Cool, it's very similar to me. Last time we rehearsed it was our first time with our new bassist, and as we were getting ready to play songs he would notice me tweaking my effects, going through presets etc. and he said to me "You know you're very Edge and Gilmour like in your tone" and I said "yeah I know". And truth be told, I didn't feel any feeling of "wow, I'm ripping off" it was more "Wow! I'm proud to be categorized in the same area as Edge". He was remarking on my nitpicking of my tone rather than the tone itself, which is good. I also tend to use delays a lot, mainly because I've gotten so used to how well they fill out a sound. On more than one occasion when writing with the band though, they've told me to leave the delay out and give it a rest. I use it when I feel it's needed and when I think it creates a cool atmosphere, and when they tell me to give it a rest or I'll sound too much like those other guitarists, I listen.

Originally posted by WojBhoy:[..]
Sounds good to me man have you guys got any of your stuff available to listen to, like Myspace or SoundCloud etc.? Would love to hear some of it.

Originally posted by Sinisterbr:Hi guys,

I´m new around here, and I didn´t really know where to put my question, so sorry if this wasn´t the appropriate place.
Anyway, does anyone know how does The Edge get his crunch tones in the Boy album? I´m not sure if it´s a boosted AC30 (saturated preamp) tone, or an overdrive pedal (SD-1) into a clean AC30. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Originally posted by anstratdubh1979:[..]


GUITARS:

- Gibson Explorer.
- I have seen some early era pictures of The Edge in the studio w/ a tobacco Fender Stratocaster (most likely the same one seen in the "Street Mission" clip.), although, those photos may have been from the U2-3 sessions.

EFFECTS:
Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man (Edge used 2)

AMP:
Vox AC30

There was no Boss SD-1, as that model didn't come out until 1981.

One of the things that Edge did to get overdrive was by using his volume knob. If you set your volume knob below 10 and your amp setting a bit hotter... when you then bring up the guitars volume, you get some warm overdrive.

Another trick is that I have heard that with some settings on the EH Dlx Memory Man, that can drive the amp a bit too.

I am not 100% sure when Edge got the Boss FA-1 Bi-Fet pedal. Might have been during the Boy or October tours... It was there by the War era. Initially it was used to bring up the level of his Stratocaster, as its pickups were lower output.


Long answer short, you should be able to get most - if not all - of the Boy tones with:
Explorer, Stratocaster, an acoustic for some parts (Edge borrowed one during the recordings), (2) Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man delays (using the vibrato setting for Mod-Delay) and a Vox AC30 amp.

Originally posted by EyesWithPrideB3:Just as Larry commonly travels to Germany for shots of bull's blood, I believe Jeff commonly travels to Dublin for DNA strand transplants from The Edge.

Originally posted by Mr_Trek:Okay... I'm thinking of getting a hollow-body/semi-acoustic guitar (whatever you want to call them) and I know that you guys know a lot more than I do about guitars, so I'd very much like your thoughts

I want something not too expensive, but still a nice guitar (Ever heard that one before?) I've been looking a bit at Epiphone Dot and Epiphone Sheraton, so if I could get some thoughts about these and maybe some other suggestions I'd be very happy