The Edge confirms he’s swapped his tube amps for Universal Audio’s UAFX pedals at U2’s The Sphere residency
It comes after speculation surrounding his pedalboard.
Image: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for (RED)
As a number of fans have speculated, The Edge has confirmed that he’s ditched his tube amps for Universal Audio‘s UAFX pedals for U2‘s shows at Sphere in Las Vegas.
Earlier this week, tongues started to wag after photos of the guitarist’s pedalboard featuring digital amp emulators began to surface online.
The Edge is known for his love of tube amps – particularly the Vox AC30, Fender Deluxe and Fender Harvard. But now, he’s confirmed that he’s made a change.
In a statement to MusicRadar, the Irish guitar legend said, “For various reasons at the Sphere I decided to switch from amplifiers to digital amp emulators. I’m using UA Ruby, Dream and Woodrow amp pedals with some Fractal Axe-Fx units handling additional amp emulation and FX.
“When you introduce radio leads and all the electronics involved it’s never the same as a simple guitar into amp tone, so it’s a case of high-level complexity to make it sound simple.”
His three new amp pedals are similar to the ones he used previously. They’re based on a ‘55 Fender 5E3 Deluxe Tweed, Vox AC30 and AC30 Top Boost, and ‘65 Fender Deluxe Reverb. However, per Universal Audio itself, The Edge has actually bought the whole range. It said on its website, “Edge has bought most/all of our pedals. He’s also shared his feelings with us directly, but we are not using it to promote specifically, out of respect for him.”
U2’s residency at the Sphere marks the first time the $2.3 billion arena will see musical performances. The band have been performing their classic 1991 album Achtung Baby in full – as they explained in a recent statement.
They said: “Achtung Baby is the right album and Sphere is the right venue to take the live experience of music to the next level. Sphere is more than just a venue, it’s a gallery and U2’s music is going to be all over the walls.”