Magnificent

[Fly33]

I think the riff in Magnificent is one of Edge's best. I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking, "Holy crap, this is the best riff he's written since Streets!" Maybe not, but it's still one hell of a riff with a great tone.

What effects do you think Edge is using for the different parts of the song?

He's playing his Gretsch Country Gentleman live, so I assume that's the main guitar he used in the studio. My guesses are:

Intro Fuzz - some sort of octave pedal. In the studio maybe the WH-1 going down?

Main Riff - Delay (dotted 8ths) plus Boost? (SDD3k? FA-1? Something else?)

Verse - Delay with Shimmer

Solo - Slight drive and delay. Could be a clean boost or compressor, or a TS-9/equiv.

Anyone know for sure?

 

[mirrorballman]

The Intro is the WH-1. As for the verse, that's not the shimmer, it's the POG at full work.

The rest of the signal path is very hard to tell and know, since Edge's main rack isn't on stage this tour around. So there's no 100%. But your assumptions are going in the right direction, no doubt (Boost in Solo, etc.)

 

[Edge_Orchestra]

There is studio footage of Edge playing "Magnificent" on a tobacco Telecaster. Now that doesn't mean that it made the final cut. But it is possible.

My thoughts are that in the studio, the Telecaster was used for one or more guitars parts. I also think that the slide part, in the studio, was one of the Gretsch Country Gents. So for live, it made sense to The Edge to use the Gretsch for the entire song.


You can see the Telecaster for "Magnificent" in this clip:

http://media.u2.com/flash/highlights/edgeputitdown.swf

You can also see it in the clip below from when they were in Fez. The arrangement is hard to make out at first, as they were still putting it together in Fez but at about 1:35 into the clip, you will hear familiar bits. And in that it seems to be the Telecaster I've mentioned and the POG that are part of that tone.

YouTube - U2 FEZ video bonus NLOTH HQ


I know I've said it many times but keep in mind, most songs are made up of many guitar parts. Some Daniel Lanois plays. Sometimes Danny uses Edge's guitars and sometimes his own. Also, Edge might use a different guitar for each part played. Sometimes most of a song could be one guitar but a different guitar for the solo, which is what I think is the case with "Magnificent" -- and was the case with "Walk On" (Les Paul but Explorer on solo) and "Kite" (Les Paul but Country Gent on slide solo)

 

[breathe]

New version

YouTube - U2 Magnificent Remix, Mexico City 2011-05-11

 

[Edge_Orchestra]

From this video, you can see that is appears that Edge was considering using a Telecaster for the live shows.

I think the reason he ultimately went to the Country Gent is that he's found the neck pickup better for slide sounds than that of the Telecaster.

YouTube - ‪U2 - 19 Days Countdown to U2 360 - U2MIRACLE.COM‬‏