...
Still, you've had to make some other changes to it over the years. It's certainly not stock.

"It's not stock at all. I have Marshall capacitors in there, Fender capacitors and resistors. It's totally one-of-a-kind, a real Frankenstein. Edge loves that amp so much and he really relies on it. It's probably more important to him than any guitar."

Have you ever had any serious mishaps with it during a show?

"Only a few, thank goodness. But any time something happens, it's serious. The worst time was during the Vertigo tour. The audio just stopped - the power stayed on, but there was no output. Nothing."

That sounds like trouble.

"Oh, you know it. Not only is Edge completely comfortable with that sound, but 95 percent of the presets are going through that amp.

"I quickly got a replacement Vox amp on stage, but even so, it was one of the worst shows ever - I just mean for Edge on a personal level. The crowd had no idea anything was wrong, but he was just so disappointed. When you're up there and you're giving your all but you're not getting the kind of sound you want, it's very dispiriting. I could tell he was frustrated the entire time."

The replacement amp, is it wired the same as the main AC30?

"Pretty much. Of the 14 Vox amps we own, it's the closest to the main AC30, but it just doesn't have the same compression. You can't introduce compression with speakers that don't have mileage on them. Edge calls it 'sparkle' - toppiness.

"Think about the sound he gets from his Strat on Where The Streets Have No Name, that crystal-like sound. That's what 'sparkle' is. It's a special sound you can get from a speaker, and the only way to get it, if the speaker's right, is when it has some mileage on it, when it's been used."

I guess it goes without saying that Edge's AC30 is akin to Clapton's Blackie.

"Oh, it's priceless. If he auctioned it off, I don't know how much it would fetch. I know I take such good care of it. I've taken it on flights and sat it right down next to me in its own first-class seat - there's no way I'd let that thing out of my sight."


Let's talk about delay. I noticed that when you guys played City Of Blinding Lights there was that unique delay to the guitar sound, even in an empty stadium. Do you still have the delays set to 3/16ths?

"No. We have new tempos in the show. I would say that 80 percent of the echoes of the show, Edge is still using his own Korg SDDs 2000s, which have to be manually bumped up. You have to go through them to get the right settings. And you can't go down, you have to go up. So you have to go 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and so on to get to 4. Pride, With Or Without You, Streets - I know what number he wants and I have to change the settings manually. But sometimes the tempos do change, so I have to have it all written down."

And I see that there's no monitors on the stage - is Edge hearing his guitar sound through his earphones?

"Yep. Through his phones and what's coming from behind him. I don't want to say it's a compromise, but it's something he's still getting used to. What's funny is, the sound has been remarkably consistent. From what Edge hears on stage and from what the audience hears way out there, there's no bouncing around of sound."

Let's talk about some of guitars Edge uses on tour. You have a veritable guitar shop you bring around with you.

[laughs] "We do bring a lot, yes. I should be stringing guitars right now, in fact. C'mon, let's go downstairs."



Edge's '75 Les Paul? No, just an incredible re-creation. Photo: Joe Bosso


We take the stairs down to Dallas's cramped work area, filled with electronic gear and lined with guitars hanging from racks.


My word! How many of these do you string each day?

"Generally, about 18 or 19. Last night was 21. I have a system: the guitars are unloaded off the band truck around 9:30 or 10am, which is when I begin to string and stretch. I can usually have 14 guitars finished by the time the band comes in for soundcheck. Then I try to get another four done right up to when the support band goes on.

"While that's happening, I have almost an hour to get in the last string stretching and tuning on each show guitar. I have a pretty good procedure and rhythm for all of this, but meals often take a back seat or passed on altogether if there additional guitar repairs."

So Edge wants fresh strings every day? He doesn't like a little grit on the strings?

"Nope. And he'll even ask me while he's soundchecking - 'Dallas, are these strings new?' He can tell."

[Pointing to some Gibson Explorers] These guitars here…is one of these the famous '76 Explorer?

"No, we finally retired it. It's such an important guitar for recording that I finally convinced him to leave it home. Nothing serious ever happened to it, but it's spent years in the sun, getting rained on - outdoor shows do that. I wanted to nip things in the bud while I could.

"It's a bright-sounding guitar, very toppy - like the AC30, it's one of the most important components of his sound. So I told him, 'Let me look around. I'll find some amazing replacements,' and I came up with three 1976 Explorers, all with the natural finish.

"The right ones are hard to find because Gibson had two different Explorers in production that year. The ones that were produced from June through December had a thin neck, but the models that were produced during the first part of that year had a thick baseball bat neck. Those are the ones Edge prefers. Gibson didn't make many of them, only about 1800 of them or so, and people hang on to them. Finding a few of them that were just right took some detective work."

[Seeing a faded Alpine White Les Paul] Now, I know Edge auctioned his '75 Les Paul a few years ago…What's this?

[Takes the guitar out of the rack] "Let me tell you a story, Joe. This is the most amazing thing. Yes, The Edge did auction his Les Paul off for Music Rising - it made a phenomenal amount of money. [Ed. Note: final price $288, 000] It was hard for him to part with it."


I can imagine. He used it on New Years Day, Love Comes To Town…

"So many classic songs. It's a crucial guitar for him. But it was a great cause, so he couldn't say no. Anyway, it was Christmas time, and I'm home in Colorado, and this huge UPS package arrives at my door. I open it up and it's a brand-new Gibson case. I'm like, 'OK, what's this?' I flipped the locks on the case and took a look inside and I thought I was seeing things…it was The Edge's '75 Les Paul!"

Wait…Gibson bought it back? I thought it was part of Guitar Center's Legends Collection.

"It is. The second I got this guitar, I started checking it out. Look at this [he flips it over, shows me belt scratches and dings]… it was eerie. I thought somebody made some sort of mistake at first. Did they send me the auctioned guitar to be authenticated or something?"



Gibson re-created every scratch and dent on a copy of Edge's '75 Les Paul. Photo: Joe Bosso


"So I called Edge and said, 'Do you know anything about this?' And he was like, 'No. What are they doing sending it back to you?' Which wouldn't have made any sense: you wouldn't send a guitar like that by UPS; you'd hand deliver it. Edge didn't know what was happening.

"By now, my wheels are really turning. So I unscrewed the back plate…brand-new wiring. Brand-new pots, everything. I keep checking - a brand-new switcher. I take the pickups out…brand-new wood inside."

Gibson made a replica of the '75 Les Paul?

"Yep. They made an exact replica. Gibson wanted Edge to have the guitar even though he'd auctioned it off. I still remember when he plugged it in for the first time and played it; he was like, 'This is it! It's the same guitar.' We couldn't believe it.

[He admires the back of the instrument, runs his fingers over the "2" decal] "I mean, look at this. They even got the same decal and faded it just like the original. It's scary! The weight, everything. I mean, how can you get the same weight of the wood - new wood is going to be different than older wood. Totally amazing. Edge used this on No Line On The Horizon, he loved it that much."
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