And per Dallas, it has parts from other brands too!
Yet it still have that Vox amp sparkle and chime.
From Music Radar interview with Dallas:
But the main star amp-wise is the '64 AC30.
"Absolutely. It's the basis for The Edge's sound, live and in the studio - well, aside from what's in his head and his hands and just the magic he brings to what he does."
Let's go through some specifics of the amp. It's what's known as an 'AC30TB.'
"That's right, it's a 'Top Boost.' The chassis is 1964 but it's housed in a 1970s cabinet - this I how the amp came when Edge originally purchased it. The speakers are a Jensen Blue Alnico 12" from the '60s and a Silver Jensen Alnico 12". I replaced a Blue Alnico in early 1986 for the Silver Jensen because the blue one blew out and that's what I had in the U2 Dublin storage as a replacement."
Could Edge tell the difference between the two speakers?
"Totally. He knows any kind of change I make to that amp. Nothing gets by him. Luckily, he likes the speaker combination, so we stuck with it."
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."
and the back of Edge.
Stupid watermarks though.
