U2 songs and The Edge

The Edge sound is nearly everywhere in modern praise & worship music, so I am a big 'user' of that sound and playing style at church (now that I'm playing electric guitar more often than bass.)

Edge often uses more than one delay, sometimes with modulation (a chorus effect on the repeats.)

Also a nylon pick turned sideways so that you scrape the strings with the bumpy grip part - gives a very harsh attack that is a key to the Edge sound. And of course, at least one Vox AC30 amp, lol.

Honestly, a delay pedal with a tap-tempo input and a dotted-eighth note setting will get you most of the way. If you get only one thing, that's what you need. Line 6 Echo Park pedal is a gem for this. Set whatever amp you're using to just on the edge (pun) of breaking up, bump up the mids and you're good to go.

Boss ME-70 is very good as there are actually two delays (one is on the chorus button) and a Vox-like amp sim. Dotted eighths, tap tempo, modulation too. You can get pretty close.

I just upgraded my ME-70 to a Digi RP1000 for a few reasons (imho, it's better for playing direct through a PA without an amp), but my opinion of the ME-70 is still very favorable. However it may be overkill for this if you're only doing a handful of songs, unless you can use its features for other song styles as well. I'd recommend the Echo Park first.

Thanks Slej, I've been doing some reading and everything you say jives with what I read except on one page it talked about making sure you have the cleanest amp setting as possible.

I did read about the picks and have to try and find some do you use them also to get the sound?

Someday I'd like to discuss why you made the switch from the ME-70. My instructor and his son both use it and they love it. I've been searching for the right tone and got close to what I wanted with a Jekyl and Hyde pedal but it crapped out and for a little more I could buy the ME-70.

Re: cleanest amp - that's possibly true on the input gain side, but I'd say pretty full on the master side. Either way, he also uses OD pedals (Boss OD2, among others) to push his amp into OD so his sound is not always clean. I'm not totally trying to nail his tone, more his style, and I like that on-the-brink of OD sound, so you can get crunch if you dig in but can clean it up if you play softly or roll off the volume knob a little.

The pick-holding technique give a grittiness to the clean tone as well. I actually bought the same picks (Herdims, made by Herco) but they are TOO bumpy for me and snag on the thinner strings. I find the regular Dunlop or Ernie Ball nylons are good enough, with just a little bit of that scratchy sound. I have to remember to turn the picks 'normal' when I need a really clean sound, lol.

Also Edge's "live" sound is a little more aggressive than the studio sound, and also much easier to replicate, especially the earlier stuff. Rent the Live at Red Rocks DVD for a great concert video from the old glory days. His sound is pretty standard there; Strat or Gibby Explorer into moderately overdriven Vox amps with delay. No studio grease. :lol:

I'll send you a PM with my thoughts on the ME70 vs the RP1000. My reasons for switching may not apply to most people.

If it helps, here is a video of Edge doing a soundcheck. Guitar only, so you can hear what he's doing better.
And some shots of his custom switching system, for added guitar porn value!

And here's a short video of him playing the same passage with and without effects. Just for fun.

And more Edge talking about his guitar, and his rig. With a few demonstrations of sounds.