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Suede·Social·Issue No. 20
Tone recipes·2026 · JUL
Rock1987easy to fake

01U2

Where the Streets Have No Name

The defining dotted-eighth delay tone. A bright single-note arpeggio in 6/8 over a sustained organ pad, where the delayed repeats fill the rhythmic space between picked notes and the player only actually picks every third sixteenth. Chiming, hollowed-out top end with almost no low midrange. Recognizable in the first half-bar before the band drops in — the delay IS the part.

02Signal chain

Guitar to amp, 3 pedals between.

  1. In
    Guitar

    Fender Stratocaster, neck/middle pickup position

  2. 01
    Primary dotted-eighth delay, the signature element
    Korg SDD-3000 rackmount delay

    Time: 388ms (dotted eighth at ~120bpm), Feedback: 38%, Mix: 50%

  3. 02
    Subtle stereo widening reverb
    Yamaha SPX90 multi-effects
  4. 03
    Used very subtly to add motion to sustained chords
    MXR M101 Phase 90

    Speed: 9 o'clock

  5. Out
    Amp

    Vox AC30 Top Boost into Marshall JCM800, both clean

03Field note

The secret sauce

The Edge plays the part as if the delay were the player — he picks the downbeat and lets the dotted-eighth repeat answer back. Without that rhythmic restraint the tone collapses into mush.