U2 – The Edge – Guitar Tone Guide
I’ve always been a fan of U2’s music and got into them quite heavily when I was at school. I admire the Edge as a guitarist and musician. His use of delay has definitely influenced my playing and I love his tone. I recently purchased a Korg DL8000R which is a largely unknown rackmount delay made in the 90’s. It’s finding a sort of cult status now as people are discovering it has a great sound and is quite similar in character to the sought after TC2290 (used by the Edge). In actual fact, it’s a lot more powerful in many ways than the 2290.
After integrating it into my rack I discovered I was able to get quite close to the Edge’s tone from the 80’s…..think Joshua Tree, Unforgettable Fire, Rattle and Hum.
So I decided to put up a video showing how I created the tone from the ground up and pointing out the things which are (in my opinion) key to nailing that classic tone.
EQ and compression
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Hard to specify exact settings as all compressors are slightly different. Use your ear here. Basically you want to increase presence and push the high end a bit more than normal. You really want the notes to hang in and really ‘pop’. It’s quite a harsh and ‘glassy’ sound.
Pickups
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As mentioned in the video postion 2 on a strat is key. This contributes to the glassy, sharp attack.
The way the Edge picks is also quite a big factor. He strikes the strings hard and seems to scrape more than actually pick. This contributes to the sharp attack on the notes.
Delay
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I’m running the Korg in parallel and ‘kill dry’. Just a couple of repeats mixed at same level as dry signal. In the video the delay time is set to 450ms which produces ‘dotted 8th’ delay repeats in relation to 100bpm.
The key thing is the modulation. It’s set to 4.2 on the Korg which might be 4.2Hz? I’m not sure. The modulation is the key feature of the tone in my opinion.
#Edge #Guitar #Tone #Guide
Originally posted by UCXylBtwgapwOeRMsYkR1YTw at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTG2qIaCJuo
gonna use this to work on a U2 cover (it'll be on youtube!) thank you my friend. couldn't quite figure it out myself. especially that modulation on the delay! that's really where the magic happens
thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Beautiful!
This is really good
Sounds better than the original.
What are the pickup ? CS Fat 50?
So magical, so deep and intertwining.
Super????
The edge does NOT set his first repeat at the same volume as the dry single. Anyone with working ears can hear that.
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Belíssima Linha de Baixo !!!
Apesar de ser bem Simples !!!
Esse Baixo é Sintetizado ??? ????????????
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very good. Love your riffing too.
Sounds so beautiful. Can you please provide the delay time and feedback time. Thank you!
love you man, great explanation, great sound
Thanks for the video , amazing guitar tone!
The closest prototype to Edge's sound is Brian May, when he would experiment with delay. But Edge started using delay as a perfect rhytmical device.
Good job — but for the amateurs out there, learn to play the guitar first.
I can’t hear a raw tube amp like Edge’s Vox. Sounds too polite and fake
Reverb goes before or after delay?
It seems you totally forgot about the Herdim picks
3:00 I Love This Bass Line
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Great Guitar's Coach!!!!! Bravo
Does anyone know where to find the backing track the guy is using ? That was fabulous btw !
PERFECT????????????????????
I love it..!!!!!
Killed it man
One of life’s long running unsolved mysteries cracked right there ????????????????