Blogging Ottinger (tim)

I used it last night with my Ovation Breadwinner, which is outfitted with Seymour Duncan pickups.

It goes well with my Danelectro Chicken Salad vibe pedal. Very large, 3D sound when I mix it with the modulated mode on the DL8. It also is nice with my custom OD pedal and the Ibanez Crunchbox delay. Even if it’s just splash chords, it sounds like there is a lot going on. With arpeggios and little lead lines, it really sounds big.

I pretty much stay with the modulated delay and tapping the tempo. I just hate bending down and twiddling knobs. I’m really happy that it has so much to offer, but I can’t really bother with it in the middle of a set. I can set it up before or between, but otherwise I’m not touching it. I can still get a slapback-like echo by tapping very, very fast. I’m getting the hang of the whole dotted eighth note thing slowly it’s not as natural as you’d think. Any idiot can get eighth or quarter note delays with tap tempo, including this one.

Also beware when you don’t have a drummer at your practice. If the band drifts off the rhythm even slightly, you end up retapping the delay to keep from sounding simply awful. This alone is a good reason to stay in tap tempo mode pretty much all the time. Sadly, when you’re in tap mode, it’s a little more time consuming to get to bypass mode.

Yes, I use true bypass. If I want tails, I’ll just leave the effect on longer.

The pedal looks great, it is a good height (for reaching over the lip of the pedal board), good LEDs, good usability. It works just fine and greatly enhances my sound now that I’m the sole six-stringer in the worship band. It may take a while for me to not overuse it, but it is really nice. I’m not sure how I got by without it. I would definitely consider more HardWire pedals.

Remember my post on Delay Pedal decisions from 7 May? Well, the questions are settled.

Today I received my Digitech HardWire DL-8 Delay Looper pedal. My wife ordered it as a Fathers’ Day gift for me. She only ordered it on Saturday, and it’s here on Tuesday. Somebody has some good fulfillment logistics. The timing means I can get used to it tonight, practice tomorrow, and play on Sunday. Good thing, too. Sunday’s set needs some delay.

It came with the double-side (stick-em & velcro) for mounting it in my pedal board, and even has a big rubber block (”stomp lock”) you can put over the knobs to prevent them from being changed in transit or in the course of a show. Finally, there is a glow-in-the-dark sticker you can put on the front face so you can the pedal in the dark. Probably not much use for me, but could be valuable for some people.

Everything feels solid and precise and sturdy. I’m impressed so far.

So when the rain canceled my lawn mowing plans, I took the opportunity to spend the evening with the pedal. I played the hollowbody (SX GG5CUS) because it was handy. Tomorrow I’ll almost certainly use the strat at practice. I’m using my little battery-powered amp, so my impressions of the sound will be relative to the sound coming out of those tiny, tinny speakers without the effects.

The digital side of the delay is just what a digital delay should be. The lo-fi really is lo-fi. The loop and tape settings are just what you would expect. I’m thrilled with the lack of surprises here. The tap and loop functions work just like they said they would. I’m probably going to get used to tap tempo and live by it. I don’t want to twiddle knobs during a worship service. The reverse is pretty good, but I’m not likely to actually use it. I could get a better fidelity without delay using a volume pedal for swells. It’s novel, but I don’t know it’s useful. I’ve not tried the stereo output because I’m a small church guitarist, not The Edge. Not that I wouldn’t like to ping-pong between an AC30 and a Roland JC. That would be far too cool for my venue.

I couldn’t resist the urge to annoy my family with all kinds of ugly sounds, including crazy self-modulation and looping. Everything works. I think that the modulated digital is my favorite. The sound is totally huge when I put the vibe pedal just ahead of the delay. It’s pretty hard to sound huge through a 9v battery-powered amp, but it does. Crazy huge. I can’t wait to hear it through a real amp tomorrow.

When one person speaks about another there is

1. a pretty good chance that they’re wrong,
2. a much smaller chance that they’re malicious,
3. a certainty that the report is biased, and
4. a high probability that checking the facts for yourself will put you on their “nonfriends” list.

I’ve got more stories about this than I care to share. The last one was funny. A friend was rumored to have been in jail on Fri-Sun, as I was told when I asked about him. The truth? He had scheduled a three-day weekend months in advance, and didn’t do anything jail-worthy at all. I went back to the one who gave me the story and was told, “I can’t believe you asked him! I will never tell you anything again! I can’t trust you!” I thought it was funny.

By being trustworthy (seeking truth, trusting a friend) rather than being trusting (of the rumor-monger) I was counted as “untrustworthy?” How can that be? Because that’s how things get when people are involved. People are messed up. I know. Some of my best friends are people.

I’ve seen people do an awful lot of damage even when they were not malicious in intent. They were malicious to one person only because they wanted to be trusting and kind to another. Just “supporting a friend” and “respecting their wishes to stay anonymous.” That is conditional ethics, and is unjust however well-intentioned it may seem.

History Lesson:

In biblical times, it was a common practice to keep two sets of weights or two scales. You use the heavier weights when buying, and the lighter weights when selling. The difference between the “purchased” talent of gold and the “sold” talent of gold was all profit. The practice was listed among the very few things that God hates. Instead, we’re told to deal equally even though it reduces our very livelihood to do so, that a good reputation was worth more than we could take in such a way.

The troubling thing with conditional ethics is that it suggests that our character is not a feature of who we are an our personal values, but that character is merely a matter of conditions and relationships. I don’t buy it. I understand that you may have to choose between two good principles, but still hold that your values are internal and your character is a measure of how well you live out your chosen values (or perhaps a measure of your real values v. your spoken values).

We have warnings to deal equally with all people and to live at peace, but too often we don’t. Note that stirring up trouble and spreading lies is also listed among God-hated practices.

The problem was well stated on a programming mailing list the other day, as a long-time friend used the term Reckless Righteousness. I didn’t look up what he meant, I just let the sound bite speak to me. When we’re sure we’re right we don’t look for more evidence… we look at the world through our “righteous” glasses and every little nuance seems to support the opinion we’ve already formed. This is how prejudice lives on. I have been recklessly righteous before. I didn’t like it. Now I give the benefit of a doubt, and if I’m going to believe something I hear about someone, I want to make sure it’s true.

If I’m to live to a higher standard, I have to know what’s true. I cannot do justice without knowing the truth, and cannot love mercy if I listen while others are talking people down. I cannot walk humbly with my God if I am not living truthfully with my brothers. If I’m told something disturbing, I need to either get the truth or get out of the situation entirely. I don’t really have to take sides.

I’ve not always been innocent before, so I have to give the benefit of a doubt to people who aren’t entirely innocent. Likewise, those who are wrong unintentionally as I have been wrong unintentionally, and to those who are recklessly righteous as I have been recklessly righteous. If we are to hold to the standard, we must also forgive as we are forgiven. May it never be an embarrassment to them, and may it never be a barrier to us!