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Bono and The Edge onstage on U2's current 360° Tour (© A3464 Rainer Jensen/dpa/Corbis)

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How are the Death By Audio pedals working out?

"Oh, they're great! We're using the Supersonic Fuzz Gun and the Harmonic Transformer. This guy, Ben Curtis - great guy - he makes these different distortion pedals and he turned us on to them.

"At first, I didn't know if Edge was going to be able to use them. They sounded a bit like white noise to me - white noise with some parameters. But Edge heard them and he was like, 'No, no, there's something there.' And he started hooking them up to his echoes, and viola! he started making music.

"The Fuzz Gun is on No Line On The Horizon, that big intro sound. It's on Ultra-Violet, too - it's fantastic. The guy is always looking for something new that can create music, and he'll tinker with a pedal or a device for days until he can make it do something he wants."

In addition to working with The Edge on tour, you're also with him in the studio - you're a full-time employee.

"That's right. Edge and I have a great relationship and his trust in me is very gratifying, so yes, I do work with the band in the studio. Any time guitars and amps need set up for recording, I'm there - wherever that is!" [laughs]

On the new album, were there any times that you helped Edge out with a guitar sound, if there was something he was stuck on?

"There was an instance on the new record where something like that occurred. It's usually Bono who will say to me, 'I'm having trouble on such-and-such a song, Dallas. I need the right attitude, I need some inspiration. Before Edge gets here, can you work on some things, come up with a guitar or effects?' And of course, it's extremely flattering when he does that.

"There was a song called Stand Up, that… the guys were in a bit of a rut. It was good, but they were frustrated. They didn't feel it was going to that next level. We were in Olympic Studios. Bono was sitting on the couch writing lyrics. Steve Lillywhite came in and said, 'There's no juice to the song. The middle-eight isn't happening. There's no inspirational sound to it. I think we should just cut it from the record and move on.' Danny Lanois and Brian Eno were in total agreement.

"Now, I'm thinking, The Edge is the best guitar player in the world. I know he can make this song work. So Bono said to me, 'Dallas, this song can fly. Can you go into the studio and think of something?'

"So I went in and I turned on three distortion pedals and an analog echo. I plugged in the Explorer and I came up with this really offensive distortion sound. But then I did something: I turned the volume on the guitar off, hit a chord and then I cranked the volume knob."

You worked it like a volume pedal.

"Yeah! It created this incredible siren-like sound. All of a sudden, every face in the studio lit up and Bono was like, 'Edge, get in there! That's it!' Edge raced in, took the guitar from me, and at that point it was all in his hands; he found the right note patterns, the right places to play, and he totally turned the song around and made it a winner."

Still, it wouldn't have happened without you.

[He shrugs modestly] "Ah, you get lucky sometimes."

Next page: The Edge's tour equipment

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