U2 – How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb album cover

U2 – How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Album 2004

The music gear and equipment used by the artists, producers, engineers, and more involved in the making of the 2004 album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

Music from How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Gear Used On How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Explore the instruments, equipment, software, and production tools used in the making of U2 – How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (2004). Click more on each item to see exactly how it was used.

Amplifiers used by Adam Clayton on How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Bass Amplifier Heads

Ashdown Engineering ABM 900 EVO II

In this scan of an article from the January 2006 issue of Bass Player magazine, the "Signal Chain" section indicates that Adam was using two 900 EVO II heads at the time of recording and touring for U2's album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

Effects Pedals used by The Edge on How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

Fuzz Effects Pedals

Ampeg Scrambler SC-1

Avg price: $433.05

Located between the Lovetone and the Tube Screamer, The Edge had this on his rack during the Elevation Tour (as seen in AudioFile's feature "U2 - Wired for Sound") and the Vertigo Tour (as is visible in this Guitar World feature at 2:07). It was used in the studio for the solo on "Kite", as stated in this January 2001 Guitar Player interview.

Guitar Player, January 2001, "Basic Instincts"

GP: So the songs that have solos were just begging for them?

Edge: I think they were. For instance, "Kite" originally didn't have a solo. We had the tune almost finished, but we weren't quite happy with it--it needed a twist. So we edited in a section, I plugged my '64 Gretsch Coutnry Gentleman into a cool fuzzbox--and Ampeg Scrambler--and a Vox AC30, and I came up with a solo for it. It really made that part of the song come alive. that's a case-in-point where the decision to do a solo came from the sense that something was missing in the tune.

(...) GP: What were your main fuzzboxes?

Edge: The Ampeg, a Tube Screamer for a good general distortion without being too in-your-face, and an old Manny's Fuzz--which is really extreme. I also used this really obscure Japanese pedal called the Sobart [sic] for the heavy sections of "New York." That pedal is so extreme. You step on it and all hell breaks loose. On "When I Look at the World", I'm using an Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer for that mad distorted tone.

AudioFile, "U2 - Wired for Sound"

[tapping the Ampeg Scrambler] This was used on the "All You Can't Leave Behind" album.