A lot of people appreciate the depth of tone The Edge generates. Many delay pedals have been sold as people chase the sounds they heard on U2 albums. One factor I have heard is the choice of pick, particularly the Herdim pick. The Herdim pick features dimples where you would grasp it, and it is said The Edge turns the pick sideways and picks across the dimples, leading to a kind of scraping sound as the strings are plucked. Dunlop also makes picks that have dimples.
Anyway, you can get picks from Herdim in different thicknesses. Following is a clip of a Fender Medium pick versus a Herdim blue pick played with the dimples on the strings. Each riff or chord set is played with the Fender and then followed by the Herdmin.
Clips were played on a Fender Strat CS through a Fender Deluxe Reverb. For delay, a Memory Man Deluxe.
I thought I would be able to try the exact pick as Dallas tossed me a pick during a soundcheck at a recent U2 show, but the pick (shown in the pictures) was a regular smooth pick. Oh well. Anyway, I think you can hear that the Herdim can give you the kind of scratchy attack you hear on some U2 songs.
Sound clip:
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