Is The Edge going with Axe FX for the new tour?

I attended the Seattle show last night. This was my first U2 concert (yes, I know...). I have liked and appreciated their music for decades, but never got around to seeing them on tour before.

First off : it was in CenturyLink Field, where the Seahawks and Sounders play... BIG VENUE. I was concerned about how it was going to sound. The line array systems, with the delayed stacks for the seating areas, were amazing. Really clear, articulate, and just the right volume to feel like a concert without blowing out my ears. I didn't need earplugs, which is a very nice thing.

Second : The production for this tour is beautiful. Just gorgeous stuff all around, with a tasteful and unobtrusive use of production technology. It was all about the music. I've seen video of many of their previous tours, and they often have spectacular staging / lighting. This felt really intimate, despite the huge stadium and big crowd.

Third : The band is sublimely good live. I've always thought Edge was quite good, and I love his studio work. As I said, this was the first time I've seen the band live and in this setting he was incredible. Killer tone... goosebump-inducing good. So detailed and dimensional. Masterful use of delay and layering, tasty slide work, and lovely dynamics. His ability to conjure and control feedback is an art form. I came away from the show with a great appreciation for his musicianship.

Definitely worth staying up on a Sunday night :)
 
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I attended the Seattle show last night. This was my first U2 concert (yes, I know...). I have liked and appreciated their music for decades, but never got around to seeing them on tour before.

First off : it was in CenturyLink Field, where the Seahawks and Sounders play... BIG VENUE. I was concerned about how it was going to sound. The line array systems, with the delayed stacks for the seating areas, were amazing. Really clear, articulate, and just the right volume to feel like a concert without blowing out my ears. I didn't need earplugs, which is a very nice thing.

Second : The production for this tour is beautiful. Just gorgeous stuff all around, with a tasteful and unobtrusive use of production technology. It was all about the music. I've seen video of many of their previous tours, and they often have spectacular staging / lighting. This felt really intimate, despite the huge stadium and big crowd.

Third : The band is sublimely good live. I've always thought Edge was quite good, and I love his studio work. As I said, this was the first time I've seen the band live and in this setting he was incredible. Killer tone... goosebump-inducing good. So detailed and dimensional. Masterful use of delay and layering, tasty slide work, and lovely dynamics. His ability to conjure and control feedback is an art form. I came away from the show with a great appreciation for his musicianship.

Definitely worth staying up on a Sunday night :)
The wide-screen backdrop looks pretty amazing. Pity you didn't get to see U2 when they (bono in particular) had youth on their side, they were just phenomenal. Though I guess you could say that about any older act ...apart from Peter Pan Springsteen :)
 
And who told you that an Axe-Fx can't replace an A3?

Good point but actually there is no song in this show that requires an A3 :):):)
However I admit I get some recent success recreating good A3 sounds with my Axe. Auto-wah is done, the big difference is still the flanger...
 
Saw them during the War Tour in NYC at Palladium.(small venue)I think it was around 82/83. I went because someone I knew use to go see them at the Ritz all the time and said they were pretty good. Who knew. I think they also use to play some other clubs in Manhattan at that time.
 
It's an evolved version of the rig used on the last tour. I got a text from a friend at the show who said the Fractal Audio gear had performed flawlessly. I also understand that there are now some AX8s in the rig as well.

Speaking of Edge, have you seen his signature amp from Fender? I've played it and it sounds incredible. It's a reproduction of one of his favorite vintage Deluxe amps (which I've also played). I would love to see a model of that amp at some point. We'll have to see what happens!

And we would love to have that on our Axe as well! I didn't bought it because the price point isn't for me.

Speaking about his rig, do you have some pics for us?

I'm wondering why he got an AX8 having 4 Axe in his rig!
 
I've got Red Zone Tickets for U2 in Berlin on July 12th. I've never seen them - I figure that should be a good first show :)

I've seen them 10 times (11 coming up in Toronto in June)...you won't be disappointed, even if you're not a U2 diehard. They are such a tight band and the live tones Edge gets from his guitars and gear are incredible. Bono seems to be struggling with his voice a bit in the first two shows of this tour, but for someone who just turned 57 and has performed thousands of times...it's still pretty darn good!
 
And who told you that an Axe-Fx can't replace an A3?
I don't recall all of the songs that used the Korg A3 (Numb, Zoo Station, Fly, etc.,) but I don't recall that I've heard the Axe FX adequately recreate the studio version of the Mysterious Ways riff. Other than that auto-wah / envelope thing on preset 76, sound card 01 of the A3, the Axe FX is more than adequate for the rest of the catalog.
 
And who told you that an Axe-Fx can't replace an A3?

Sorry for doubting m@!!

Axe vs Korg A3? That's not really a fair fight, but the Mysterious Ways patch is a bastard to re-create! The Axe could do it, no doubt. They were playing it on the last tour, and if it's true what people are saying about his rack, it was axe fx. I couldn't tell the difference, at all.

All I'm gonna say is, whoever made that patch has skillz.
 
New It's an evolved version of the rig used on the last tour. I got a text from a friend at the show who said the Fractal Audio gear had performed flawlessly. I also understand that there are now some AX8s in the rig as well.

Was your friend backstage with the band or in the crowd making a guess? Are the amps props? AXE for backups maybe? Or a few certain songs/effects?

No reason other than curiosity I suppose but it would be cool to pull up a particular song on YouTube and hear what a wizard like the Edge can do with the AXE.
 
Actually not, the A3 wasn't there in the last tour. But you raised a fair question about the mics. I just checked and the amps seems to be not mic'ed:

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Maybe he is going all Axe for PA.

Any news for us @edo ?

My guess is actual amp rig is under the stage and those 2 stage amps are for feedback and for front field purpose.
Although, lately the axe fx has become so good that its hard to tell if he's using a real amp or a model - although the tone is very simila to the ie tour, so I'm assuming he's still using the ac30hw2x's and deluxe's he's used for the previous tour.
I haven't checked properly, but in the previous tour he also had a qsc k12 near the stage amps for axe fx monitor, is it still there?

To answer @Admin M@ , I did try the edge signature deluxe amp and its killer, although its freaking loud and and breaks up very early (like with volume at 2 or so). As a u2 tribute guitarist, personally I would not spend 2200€ on an amp that's used for about 20% of the tones, but if I ever needed a small / loud amp for small gigs, it would be a great choice.
As far as the A3, agree with Matt, not only the axe can replace the A3, but it does it in a better way, with less noise!
Finally, as far as the ax8 being involved, that's something weird.. if I ran a 25 unit rack I'd probably just keep adding axe fx 2's as opposed to a pedalboard, unless I were using it for the cp70 piano on the b stage (where he used to use a line 6 m9)..
 
And who told you that an Axe-Fx can't replace an A3?

Gonna call you out on this in a nice and positive way. You can create sounds similar to the A3 (preset 76 I'm talking about - and album only sound, not the variety of live sounds) but you can't replicate it. Bold statement I know but hear me out. There are two parts of the sound that aren't possible:

1. Flange. The sweep range of the A3 flange with the AxeFx is not wide enough (it can't go high enough in pitch)
I would really really like for the flange block to be revisited. You can tell what I mean by just running some noise through the real A3 with just the flanger on - try to do that in the AxeFX - good luck.

2. Reverb, although a simple plate, is not possible with the reverb block by itself.
The plate on the A3 has a pleasing sound. It does not sound like the Axe plates which sound very sterile in comparison. I've tried lots of alternative ways to achieve this (E.g. feeding a delay with high diffusion into the plate reverb, compressing the input to the reverb, compressing the output, etc. etc.) but it doesn't work. I feel that it probably can be achieved with just the right set of blocks but I'd rather simply have a model of that plate instead.

Please prove me wrong!!! :0)

I recently consolidated years of presets that I've built and I am shocked - even ashamed - at the total presets that are dedicated to preset 76... we're talking about an insane amount of time with many, many different approaches. I used to struggle with the wah and originally used the filter block but later switched to 2 wah blocks in series. I posted a Soundcloud clip using the filter approach and a/b-ed against the A3. Yes, people had a hard time telling the difference but believe me, if you played it, it was bad and in no way was close to the A3 outside of that intro. However, these days I feel the new approach is acceptable although still a little harsh on the attack (too much distortion/high freq. artifacts). I combine this with two other lines in parallel for the dryer, eq-ed sound so that the "grind" occurs at the right time and at the right frequencies - the wah alone can't do this.

Mind you, I don't care at all about the live sound. The album sound is where it's at and you can pretty much replicate it with a real A3 by turning off the distortion, putting different drive in front of it (dunno what the edge used and at the moment I forget which I prefer), and following it with proper eq w (in real life was likely a combination of the cab, mic, and some post processing).

Modeling this in the AxeFX requires a few different approaches to get the ENTIRE sound. I have several presets that most players would find more than acceptable in sound and responsiveness... but I want those goosebumps I feel when I've really nailed a sound and fool myself. I've achieved that with a variety of other U2 sounds (The Fly was hard... again album only, forget the live stuff...).

So M.... maybe you have an approach to use to achieve the album sound Mysterious Ways. Edge hasn't done it - not in any public recording that I know of. Last tours Mysterious Ways is nothing like the album.

PS I have an aging A3. I want to get rid of it. Please help me :0)
 
Gonna call you out on this in a nice and positive way. You can create sounds similar to the A3 (preset 76 I'm talking about - and album only sound, not the variety of live sounds) but you can't replicate it. Bold statement I know but hear me out. There are two parts of the sound that aren't possible:

1. Flange. The sweep range of the A3 flange with the AxeFx is not wide enough (it can't go high enough in pitch)
I would really really like for the flange block to be revisited. You can tell what I mean by just running some noise through the real A3 with just the flanger on - try to do that in the AxeFX - good luck.

2. Reverb, although a simple plate, is not possible with the reverb block by itself.
The plate on the A3 has a pleasing sound. It does not sound like the Axe plates which sound very sterile in comparison. I've tried lots of alternative ways to achieve this (E.g. feeding a delay with high diffusion into the plate reverb, compressing the input to the reverb, compressing the output, etc. etc.) but it doesn't work. I feel that it probably can be achieved with just the right set of blocks but I'd rather simply have a model of that plate instead.

Please prove me wrong!!! :0)

I recently consolidated years of presets that I've built and I am shocked - even ashamed - at the total presets that are dedicated to preset 76... we're talking about an insane amount of time with many, many different approaches. I used to struggle with the wah and originally used the filter block but later switched to 2 wah blocks in series. I posted a Soundcloud clip using the filter approach and a/b-ed against the A3. Yes, people had a hard time telling the difference but believe me, if you played it, it was bad and in no way was close to the A3 outside of that intro. However, these days I feel the new approach is acceptable although still a little harsh on the attack (too much distortion/high freq. artifacts). I combine this with two other lines in parallel for the dryer, eq-ed sound so that the "grind" occurs at the right time and at the right frequencies - the wah alone can't do this.

Mind you, I don't care at all about the live sound. The album sound is where it's at and you can pretty much replicate it with a real A3 by turning off the distortion, putting different drive in front of it (dunno what the edge used and at the moment I forget which I prefer), and following it with proper eq w (in real life was likely a combination of the cab, mic, and some post processing).

Modeling this in the AxeFX requires a few different approaches to get the ENTIRE sound. I have several presets that most players would find more than acceptable in sound and responsiveness... but I want those goosebumps I feel when I've really nailed a sound and fool myself. I've achieved that with a variety of other U2 sounds (The Fly was hard... again album only, forget the live stuff...).

So M.... maybe you have an approach to use to achieve the album sound Mysterious Ways. Edge hasn't done it - not in any public recording that I know of. Last tours Mysterious Ways is nothing like the album.

PS I have an aging A3. I want to get rid of it. Please help me :0)
Hello, this is my preset of the funk wah. For me it was enough to sell the A3
 
Please try this preset. This is my last one trying to replicate the A3. The auto-wah is based on fisioaura work. I had an A3 and yeah, the flanger... I completely agree with grape.

Important: you have to be tuned in Eb.
Important2 : if the drive is disabled on scene 1, enable it.
 

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Speaking of Edge, have you seen his signature amp from Fender? I've played it and it sounds incredible. It's a reproduction of one of his favorite vintage Deluxe amps (which I've also played). I would love to see a model of that amp at some point. We'll have to see what happens!
If anyone has the pull to get it to happen, that would be you! ;-)
 
I literally signed a legal agreement that says I'm not allowed to.

Understood. Please put me in touch with Mr. Edge. I have a better preset than he does for the album sound of Mysterious Ways (that is of course assuming the best he has is from the last tour... e.g. the live sound, not the album sound).

This is the old one interleaved with a real A3.


The old one did not translate well at all through the firmware updates so I made several more attempts.

My current ones are much much nicer to play through the whole range - to the point that I like it compared with the A3 but side by side, I think the difference is clearer - again due to the flanger and reverb. I don't have a recording of that online though. I have a better Fly version too than what's posted. He'd love it.
 
Hello, this is my preset of the funk wah. For me it was enough to sell the A3


Hi. I had heard your recording when you posted it. It doesn't sound like the album. I think your's sounds more like his live sound from the last tour. To be honest, I don't know if he used an AxeFX for that sound or an A3 in the last tour. The point being, it doesn't quite sound like the album either way. When he's definitely used the A3 on tour, it doesn't sound like the album either. My only guess as to why is b/c of the drive used before the effects or a slightly different gain structure that affects the bite and oomph that happens across time.

Anyway, I'm not saying yours is bad but it's not what would cause me to sell my A3. Mind you, I'm totally fascinated by this sound. First for the Korg designers and second for the Edge (or whoever) that discovered it and framed it into the song we know from the album. He has an incredible skill of finding unique sounds.
 
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