After hypothesis not too long ago surfaced on the web, The Edge has now formally confirmed he’s ditched his suite of tube amps in favor of digital amp emulators for U2’s ongoing string of Las Vegas Sphere exhibits.
Rumors of the U2 guitarist’s vital rig shakeup started circulating earlier this week, with Final Guitar sharing snaps of what seemed to be a new-look model of The Edge’s pedalboard that housed the Common UAFX Audio Ruby, Woodrow and Dream pedals.
For these unfamiliar with the UAFX vary, these three items are all pedal amps based mostly on British, American and Tweed amps, all of which supply onboard speaker cab choices.
It was a curious image certainly, with many suggesting that the Edge – a long-term loyalist of the tube amp contingent and champion of a Vox AC30, Fender Deluxe and Fender Harvard setup – had defected to the ranks of digital amp emulators.
Properly, The Edge has certainly made the swap, with the guitar legend now revealing he will likely be choosing three aforementioned amp pedals for U2’s run of exhibits at Las Vegas’s Sphere venue.
In an announcement issued to MusicRadarThe Edge confirmed, “For numerous causes on the Sphere I made a decision to modify from amplifiers to digital amp emulators. I am utilizing UA Ruby, Dream and Woodrow amp pedals with some Fractal Axe-Fx items dealing with extra amp emulation and FX.
“Whenever you introduce radio leads and all of the electronics concerned it is by no means the identical as a easy guitar into amp tone, so it is a case of high-level complexity to make it sound easy.”
Not solely is that this an enormous endorsement for Common Audio – who, bear in mind, solely began making {hardware} pedals in 2021 – it’s additionally a significant coup for the digital amp camp and a ringing seal of approval for contemporary amp expertise, which can now be represented on stage at the costliest, state-of-the-art multimedia music venue in historical past.
The Edge’s choice is smart, too: the three amp pedals he’s operating are sonically much like his earlier amp setup, and are based mostly on a ‘55 Fender 5E3 Deluxe Tweed, Vox AC30 and AC30 High Increase, and ‘65 Fender Deluxe Reverb.
It seems the Ruby, Woodrow and Dream aren’t the one UA pedals to take The Edge’s fancy, both. As confirmed by the model itself, he’s purchased the whole vary: “Edge has purchased most/all of our pedals,” UA posted on its web site. “He is additionally shared his emotions with us immediately, however we aren’t utilizing it to advertise particularly, out of respect for him.”
Whether or not the Edge will stick with his new Common Audio setup sooner or later stays to be seen, but when they sound as much as scratch on the Sphere, we see no purpose why he gained’t stick together with his new pedalboard. It is going to actually make transporting his mammoth guitar rig simpler, too… properly, barely simpler.
Guitar World has reached out to the Edge’s guitar tech, Dallas Schoo, for additional remark.
