Reverb / Shimmer effect (Edge/U2)

[finetuned]

Hi,

I'm looking to build an effect that does the famous 'shimmer' effect from U2. I've read that the line6 Verbzilla on the Octo setting imitates it very well. I figure it's like a reverb, which layers the sound with octaves.
Any suggestion on how to build such a pedal? I figured a reverb and an octave pedal should do the trick, can anyone help me or point me in the right direction?


Thanks a lot

Stan.

[Bucksears]

Given the biblical number of effects Edge uses, can you narrow it down to a couple of songs where he uses that particular sound?

A big thing that I learned about his sound is that he doesn't play as clean as I thought he did. A lot of early songs (Pride, for example) have a bit more grit than you immediately hear.
His 'chimey' sound seems like it's all treble and midrange to me; very little bass. Not to mention, I've heard that he plays with the edge (no pun intended) of the pick rather than the tip.
I'd just love to have his (vox-ish) overdrive sound perfected. I like the English Channel, but it gets muddy at its highest gain.

- Buck

[Rodgre]

The E-H Deluxe Memory Man is THE way to go here. Put the modulation on Vibrato, and turn it up a little bit, and set your delay for quarter notes and play "Bad" all day long.

Roger

[donald stringer]

Thats the sound I want exactly. This is a study of some of his delay setting in case anyone is interested,http://www.amnesta.net/edge_delay/      How much does a memory man cost

[donald stringer]

In a pinch you can also use a dd-5 I think setting it on dotted eighth notes. I think You dont really get the magic tone mind but you get pretty close to an edge delay

[Rodgre]

You can find Deluxe Memory Men for around $220 or so. It's really worth it. Not only is it my favorite analog delay ever, but that modulation effect is key for that shimmery effect you want. Daniel Lanois also uses that effect.

You can do it with any delay that offers modulation, but I find the Memory Man is the ultimate for that sound. It's not about the delay time setting as much as it is the tone of the delay.



Roger

[blanik]

you can do that with ANY delay, the hard part is getting the timing right on the spot every time you start it...     (you have to play between the repeats at a different speed than your  delay setting)

the rebote 2.5 actually sounds quite good for this... (very similar to the Memory Man or a tape echo)

R.

[finetuned]

Hi,

thanks for all of the replies

I already play with the side of my *blue herdim*  (same as the Edge uses), and I'm already building a modulation delay (well, two actually). I'm using a Vox AD30VT of the AC30TB model, and I've got the basic sounds there. (Although all the tips you gave me took me quite some time to figure out on my own, so thanks anyway )

The shimmer effect, let's see, it's in the opening tune of the Vertigo Tour video (Chicago, before City of Blinding Lights), I think it's also used in With or Without you, (along with an e-bow).

The effect sounds very orchestral, almost like a string section, constantly moving and shifting. The Edge uses an Eventide Ultra Harmonizer for this (which is completely out of my range). If you do a google search on "shimmer effect U2" or something like that, you'll probably come up with a better description.

Maybe I'll post a sound clip after the weekend.

Stan

PS: the pick REALLY REALLY make a BIG difference, everything sounds so much more "Edge-y" than before with my non-ripples Dunlop picks!

[hairyandy]

Rodgre is exactly right, the EH Deluxe Memory Man set on Vibrato is the basis for a lot of Edge's shimmery delay tones.  Another modulated delay that would be great for this is the Blackbox Quicksilver delay.  It also has an effects send so that you could run the delayed repeats through another pedal like a chorus, vibrato or a Phase 90.

Andy

[finetuned]

Hi,

Thanks for all of the replies, but I think there's some misunderstanding about the whole topic. I'm not looking for delay related things. I've got all of the Edge's things quite down (picks, playing style, amp, guitar, vibrato delay; the tone is there my friends).

Edge has designed a certain effect, that by U2 fans is often called the 'shimmer' effect. It has nothing to do with 'shimmering delay tones' (no offence intended!), but it's a completely different effect on it's own. You can hear it in the following video:click here (YouTube). It's really the part before the delay notes start. That sound you hear, is just The Edge (no keyboards, just the 'shimmer effect').

That's the effect I'm looking for.
So far, I've heard it's a Reverb which octavates the decay over and over, up and up, so you get this big orchestral sound.

I really appreciate all of the comments, and I don;t mean to offend anyone by this post.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts, in advance.

Stan.

[finetuned]

Hi,

Does anyone know a good reverb pedal and a basic octave pedal? I'm looking to get the decay(s) of the reverb an octave higher each time, to create a shimmering sound.

I hope someone can help me.

Thanks
Stan. 

[trevize]

maybe 2/3 memory man.  A lot of the edge tones can be achieved cascading two delays one short and one long, but you should also have one for triplets... ( & some modulation could be needed)

[finetuned]

maybe 2/3 memory man.  A lot of the edge tones can be achieved cascading two delays one short and one long, but you should also have one for triplets... ( & some modulation could be needed)

Please, no more delay tips....

Read my above reply.

[AL]

So the entire intro (about 30 seconds or so) is just guitar with that effect? No keyboards? That's really interesting.

Hmmm? I know virtually nothing about time delay effects but it sure does sound like a keyboard. Maybe some kind of synth?

Reverb vs. Delay? Similar effects  - which is probably the reason you're getting all the delay comments. You should be able to get a decent reverb w/ a delay.

Wow that guy does some cool things. I wonder how many feet he has to step on all of those pedals?


AL

[Brett Sinclair]

What about the Line6 Verbzilla... it has a shimmer setting called Octo (reverb + delayed pitch up feedback) Look for the sound sample on the Line 6 website.
I think it might be difficult to do this with just a reverb and pitch up in a feedback loop...

[AL]

What about the Line6 Verbzilla

Funny you should mention that. I did a quick search and this is the first page I found - shanzuguitars.com

The Shimmer effect is reminiscent of an orchestra or strings and can be heard in songs such as "With or Without You", "4th of July". U2 often use the effect live and it can be heard during the opening introduction to the song "City of Blinding Lights".

The sound originally developed during the recording of The Unforgettable Fire album and was created by The Edge and the albums producer (Brian Eno).

The effect was created by splitting the signal at the beginning so that you still hear the normal guitar sound, the other part of the signal is then heavily treated (in the studio via an AMS 1580S) with a harmonizer/delay then a heavy reverb.

The Harmonizer/Delay works by treating each note by harmonizing the delay an octave higher than the original note, the next delay is two octaves higher, next is three, etc. It then gets a heavy dose of plate reverb. This sound appears to constantly shift which creates the "swell"-like effect.

There are only a handful of units that can produce this sound. The AMS unit is one, U2 are also known to use the Eventide Eclipse. The new Line 6 Verbzilla also produces a similar effect by using the "Octo" reverb.

AL

[ashcat_lt]

I cannot get that YouTube thing to play for some reason.  I've tried a couple times.  Responding to that last post:

I know my Boss PS-3 Pitch Shift/Delay will do something like this.  If you put it in single PS mode, one of the knobs controls the initial shift and the other is a feedback control, feeding the shifted (and slightly delayed) signal back into the pitch shift. 

You could get this effect with any combination of delay>PS>verb and a feedback matrix.  I've done it using a little mixer.  Somebody around here was talking about a feedback loop box recently...

As for "how many feet?" I saw an interview back in the early '90s (I think it was during the Zoo tour) where he showed off and kind of explained his rig.  At that time he had a custom built switch board that controlled some kind of rack mounted "brain."  I think he had a switch for each song.  Step on the "With or Without You" switch once and you get the intro sound, step on it again and get the verse, one more time for the chorus, etc...

[sevenisthenumber]

Did you ever find anything that did this?

[ppatchmods]

man we could discuss this until the cows come home and pigs fly...

i've heard the rumor that he uses/has used a scrambler for the octave stuff. it is possible, but then again...anything is possible when it's the edge! he plays rythm in my fantasy band! 

[DougH]

It's not trivial. The Verbzilla "Octo" is okay but I prefer this:



Either way, it's not an easily "diy-able" project to undertake. Yes, you could build a compressor, delay, chorus in one box but the hard part is going to be getting the clean octave up with slow attack- that's a better job for DSP.

BTW, I bet the Verbzilla/Octo could be improved by putting it on one side of a stereo buss, setting it to 100% wet and processing it with some chorus. Then you have to mix the wet/dry sides of the stereo buss back together.