Strats, Explorers, Les Pauls, AC30s, and a healthy amount of delay help form some of the most iconic tones ever recorded. Famed tech Dallas Schoo walks us through the ins and outs of The Edge’s expansive setup.
This past June, PG traveled to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to catch U2’s eXPERIENCE & iNNOCENCE Tour. Before the band’s soundcheck, John Bohlinger hung with Dallas Schoo, who has been taking care of The Edge’s ever-changing collection for over 30 years.
The Edge tours with 45 guitars. He performs with 18 to 20 different guitars every show and has a backup for every one of them. The Edge does not endorse any string company but has Dallas Schoo constantly experimenting with different brands and gauges for each guitar and tuning.
In 1978, on a trip to the United States with his family, a seventeen-year-old Edge bought this 1976 Gibson Explorer. This guitar was there for the birth of U2 and has been part of nearly every tour and session since. Edge now owns eleven ’76 Explorers and currently tours with three of them. They are all stock and nearly identical. And to be clear, Dallas Schoo is always on the look for more.
Fender approached The Edge about a signature model based on some of his old favorite Strats. This namesake model features a large headstock, a Dimarzio FS-1 bridge pickup, and two custom staggered Fat ’50s Fender single-coil pickups. The strap on was designed by The Edge.
The Edge’s 1971 Fender Telecaster is totally stock with the exception of the mysterious numbers etched into the pickguard.
Although he mostly plays vintage guitars, this 1988 Gibson Gold Top ’57 reissue remains one of the Edge’s favorites.
Edge’s 1966 Gibson SG is all stock and even includes the patent-sticker pickups.
Edge carries two Gibson Music Rising Les Pauls. These guitars were part of a fundraiser to help New Orleans musicians get new instruments to replace those that were lost in Hurricane Katrina. Each guitar features Mardi Gras-influenced artwork to celebrate NOLA’s rich musical heritage.
Here is Edge’s 1964 Epiphone Casino that is completely stock.
Like most of Edge’s vintage guitars on this tour, this 1967 Rickenbacker 330/12 is all stock.
Edge’s new Taylor prototype features a second Sunrise S-1 LW/J sound-hole pickup placed at an angle and is used with the standard Taylor electronics.
This Takamine EF341SC was a gift to Edge from Bruce Springsteen.
The Edge’s tone comes from combining various vintage and new amps. Under the stage sits Amp Alley, which houses a baffled row of glowing tubes and cranked speakers. Of course, each amp has a spare standing by.
Vintage Vox AC30s have been a cornerstone of Edge’s tone since his earliest days. On this tour he takes out two 2015 Vox AC30TB combos handwired by Dave Clarke and two 2016 Vox AC30s that Clarke tweaked.
Three tweed-style amps round out Edge’s stash. From the top we have a Fender Edge Deluxe, a 1957 Fender Tweed Deluxe, and finally a 1957 Fender Harvard.
The only amp onstage is a lone 2017 Fender The Edge Signature Deluxe Combo.
The Edge has worked with Bob Bradshaw for years to help create his live rigs. The effects are controlled by two Bradshaw RS40 controllers: one is onstage, and a second unit sits with Dallas. In addition to the RS40, Edge has a DigiTech WH-1 Whammy, a Boss 500V Expression Pedal for his Custom Audio remote wah, two Dunlop Volume X pedals (one for reverb, one for delay), and a Dunlop Mini Volume X, which is used for quick octave pitch shifting.
Edge’s racks hold Furman PL-PRO DM C E power conditioners, three Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II XL units, a Korg Pitchblack Rack Tuner, a custom Line 6 DM-4, a Line 6 Pod Pro, a Korg SDD-3000, an Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer, a Boss FA-1 FET boost, a Boss CS-2 Compression Sustainer, a Boss OC-3 Super Octave, a prototype Fender distortion pedal, a Diamond VIB1 Vibrato, an Electro-Harmonix B9, a DigiTech SynthWah, a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power Mondo, four MIDI Solutions Mergers, a Line 6 M5, three Boss SD-1 Super Overdrives, a JHS Crayon, a sobbat DB-2 Drive Breaker, and several Bradshaw-designed Custom Audio Electronics splitters, loop boxes, and interfaces.
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Hand-crafted in Petaluma, California, this amp features upgrades while maintaining the original's legendary tone.
The Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head’s arrival in 1992 was a watershed moment for alternative rock and metal that changed everything; heavy music would never sound the same again, and the Dual Rectifier’s crushing, harmonically rich tone became the most sought-after guitar sound of the era. With a feel as empowering as its sound, the Rectifiers provided an ease of playing that supported and elevated proficiency and was inspirational, rewarding, and addictive.
Its sound and impact on the generation that used it to define what rock music would become were as sweeping as they have been lasting. And it remains arguably the most modeled in today’s digital amp landscape. Now, the 90s Dual Rectifier is back with a vengeance, built in Petaluma, California, by the same artisans who made the originals the most desirable high-gain guitar amplifier of all time.
For more information, please visit mesaboogie.com.
MESA/Boogie 90s Dual Rectifier full demo & tutorial ft. Doug West & Tommy Waugh - YouTube
Mesa/Boogie '90s Dual Rectifier 100-watt Tube Head - Black Diamond Faceplate
2 Channel HeadJohn Bohlinger gets the run-around from Keeley with their new, deep-and-watery chorus and Leslie-like modulator.
Rotary speaker cabinets impart a one-of-a-kind type of chorus effect. This pedal faithfully recreates the swirling textures and vintage warmth of those rotary cabinets. Tucked inside Keeley's laser cut aluminum case is a brand new set of circuit boards delivering the finest tone we've ever achieved.
KEY FEATURES:
- Sculpt your rotary tones with our finest sounds to date
- Updated circuits for maximum fidelity
- Simple and intuitive controls for live and studio use
- New LED speed indicator - Become one with the sound
- True Stereo for perfect integration in modern rigs
- True or Buffered Bypass - Switchable on the fly
Featuring Bluetooth input, XLR inputs, and advanced amplifier platform, the KC12 is designed to offer exceptional sound quality and versatility for a wide range of applications.
The KC12 is a first-of-its-kind, 3-way, 3000-watt active loudspeaker system encompassing the visual aesthetic of a column loudspeaker while surpassing the acoustic performance of conventional designs. Simple and easy to deploy, the elegant KC12, available in black and white, is ideal for a wide range of customers and applications from solo entertainers, musicians and bands, mobile entertainers and DJs to corporate AV, event production, and static installations.
Column-style portable loudspeaker systems are most often put into service due to their unobtrusive form factor. However, typical designs lack clarity and definition, particularly when pushed to high output levels, forcing the user into a form-over-function compromise. Solving this common dilemma, the KC12 cleverly utilizes a 3-way design featuring QSC’s patented LEAF™ waveguide (first introduced in L Class Active Line Array Loudspeakers) combined with a true 1-inch compression driver, two 4-inch midrange drivers, and a high output 12-inch subwoofer, while still maintaining the desired, elegant appearance of a “column” system. The KC12 produces an outstanding full-range horizontal coverage of 145 degrees and 35 degrees of audience-directed vertical coverage with clean and natural sound at all output levels.
The system features three inputs: a Bluetooth ® input combined with a 3.5 mm TRS stereo input, as well as two combo XLR inputs (Mic/Line/Hi-Z and Mic/Line/+48 V), with independent, assignableFactory Presets for each XLR input, making it ideal for small events where two microphones are needed for different uses. The rear panel incorporates a multi-function digital display, offering control and selection of several loudspeaker functions, including Global Parametric EQ, Subwoofer level, Presets and Scenes, Bluetooth configuration, Delay (maximum of 200 ms), or Reverb. Bluetooth functionality also provides True Wireless Stereo (TWS), which ensures low latency pairing between the music source and both left and right loudspeakers simultaneously.
Additionally, the KC12 can be deployed with or without its lower column pole, making the system ideally suited for utilization on a floor, riser or raised stage. The system is backed by a 6-year Extended Warranty (with product registration).
“The KC12 exquisitely resolves the form-over-function compromise that has frustrated users of this category of products since they made their market introduction over 20 years ago,” states David Fuller, VP of Product Development, QSC Audio. “With the benefit of time, experience, extensive customer research, and cutting-edge innovation, our talented design team has truly created something very different from the status quo – not simply a differentiated product, but an overall better solution for the customer.”
The feature set and performance characteristics of the KC12 are complemented by a new, advanced amplifier platform, first incorporated into the L Class LS118 subwoofer released this past October. Fuller adds, “Among the platform’s key attributes are layers of real-time telemetry and protection to ensure uninterrupted performance day after day, which is a foundational QSC brand attribute.”
“Just like our first K Series reset the bar for powered loudspeakers, elevating customers’ expectations for performance, quality, reliability, usability, and professional appearance, the K Column offers a compelling, new approach to a familiar category and is destined to redefine the whole notion of what a ‘column’ is for users of portable PA products,” states Ray van Straten, VPBrand, Marketing & amp; Training, QSC Audio. “The product is simply stunning in its sleek and elegant appearance, but with the marketing tagline, ‘Just Listen’, we’re confident that once again, QSC sound quality will ultimately be the reason customers will quickly embrace the K Column as the next ‘New Standard’ in its category.”
The QSC KC12 K Column carries a MAP price of $1,999.
For more information, please visit qsc.com.
This pedal is designed to offer both unique distortion qualities and a tonal palette of sonic possibilities.
At the heart of the Harvezi Hazze pedal is a waveshaper designed around a unijunction transistor - a relic from the early days of the semiconductor industry unearthed from the e-waste bins of flea markets in Tbilisi, Georgia, the Eastern European country's largest city.
The unijunction transistor offers unique properties allowing one simple component to replace a number of very complex devices. Therefore. depending on the operating mode, users can access a distortion, a limiter, a waveshaper and a generator - with smooth transitions among each of these.
The name "Harvezi Hazze" translates from Georgian as "a fault on the transmission line" or "signal jamming", and both the semantic and phonetic nature of these translations imply what users can expect: an impediment to the input signal, which can range from pleasant harmonic distortions to complete obliteration. The signal chain of Harvezi Hazze consists of an optical compressor with fixed parameters; a dual-mode distorting amplifier with either softer or harsher clipping; a waveshaper built around a unijunction transistor; and a tone stack section designed to tame these sonic building blocks.
Signal flow and controls
Following the input, the signal goes to the Compressor, Distorting Amplifier, Waveshaper, and then to the Tone Stack and output stages. Harvezi Hazze features six control knobs, a three-way switch and a footswitch.
- Gain Control: This controls the output amplitude of the signal in the distorting amplifier section. Depending on the position of the switch, the distortion introduced by this section is soft (with the switch in the left position) or more aggressive with an abundance of high harmonics (with the switch in the middle position).
- Spoil and Spread: This knob controls the operation of the unijunction transistor (waveshaper section). Spoil sets the point on the amplitude axis at which the wave will fold, and Spread sets the amplitude of the folding. The higher the Spread value, the more severe the distortion will be, while Spoil will change the timbre and response threshold. By adjusting Spoil, users can achieve various gating and cutoff effects; at low Spread values, distortion sounds are mixed into the clean sound.
- Tone: This knob adjusts the brightness of the sound. With higher values, higher harmonics become present in the signal.
- Three-way switch. This feature regulates either the distortion mode in the amplifier section (left and center positions), or turns on the total feedback mode (right position) when the values of all knobs begin to influence each other. In this position, effects occur such as resonance at certain frequencies and self-oscillation.
- Level knob: This controls the output volume of the signal.
- Footswitch: This routes the signal through the effect circuitry or from input to output directly (true bypass).
The array of switches on the side of the unit provides even further tonal options; the lower position of the switch enables the specific function:
- Tone Stack: Routes the signal through the tone stack section (Tone knob).
- Bass Boost: Enhances bass frequencies.
- Tone Mode: Changes the behavior of the Tone knob (tilt or lowpass).
- Notch Freq: Changes the central frequency of the filter.
- High Cut: Attenuates high frequencies.
- Compressor: Routes the signal through the compressor.
Harvezi Hazze is priced at €290. To learn more, please visit https://somasynths.com/harvezi-hazze/.