Lefty Goes Delay Shopping

Guitar Center is usually a place I go when I know I want to be disappointed.  The area of lefty guitars has been well-trodden in this blog.  Every time I show up, there seems to be fewer of them.  But this time was different.  No, there were no more lefties... I'm just shocked that I did so well.

The topic of the month is delays, specifically analog delays.  For a while I relied on a Boss RV-3, which is a combination reverb/delay.  I discovered it had very low output level and I have no idea how to go about fixing it (no tubes), so I needed a new one.  I got a great hamfest deal on an ADA multi-fx box, which does flanging, chorus and delay.  It sounds ok, if a bit dated, but it's a rack mount device so it's not well suited for carrying around.

I did a lot of YouTube shopping.  YouTube is the greatest thing to happen to guitar in a long time.  If you want a guitar, amp or effects, odds are someone has a video featuring it.  Some even have comparisons.  After asking around further, I decided I wanted to try out the MXR Carbon Copy and the Electro Harmonix Memory Boy.

Guitar Center shocked the hell out of me by having the Carbon Copy, Way Huge Aqua Puss and a 4 knob red (T-rex/reptile?) Tap Delay used.  There was also a new Memory Boy.

Test rig was a generic white lefty Strat and a Blues Deluxe amp (close enough to my rig).  The Aqua Puss and Tap Delay were ok but failed to distinguish themselves.  The Carbon Copy was cool.  It had a nicer tone and more range as an effect.  Plus that cool, metallic green finish :)

The Memory Boy is one of the newer Electro Harmonix pedals.  They really have come a long way since the Big Muff and Memory Man.  They're doing very interesting things, including the Memory Boy.  I really liked this pedal the moment I plugged it in.  It's a normal analog delay but it also features modulation, so you can achieve anything from a slight chorus to an insane pitch change and vibrato.  It's almost like two pedals.  The tone, however, sold me.  It's not pure and it's not digital.  It's a little thick and colored.  The pedal was compact too.

My wife, who is not a musician, said there was only one choice: the Memory Boy.  Of course we know that my wife is easily entertained (by her choice in husbands).  She's also correct; it was the best of the bunch (for my application).

Financially it was an interesting decision:

• Tap Delay (used) - $99
• Aqua Puss (used) - $139
• Carbon Copy (used) - $90
• Memory Boy (new) - $139

Any of the delays would have performed adequately.  Had I purchased the Carbon Copy, I would not have been disappointed.  The Memory Boy just aced the others tonally, plus it had the added benefit of modulation.  

If I played a different instrument, I might have gone in a different direction, as the MB's output is definitely colored.  But this is exactly what I needed.  Aside from playing around with a chorus setting, the delay is probably going to be Set It and Forget It.  Others might like a more accurate (sterile) tone from their delay.

Your mileage will definitely vary - shop around, listen to the boxes on YouTube and play them in person.  Ask questions if you have them.

Going to the Carnival

Carnival Cruises is in deep shit again.  By that I mean for the third time, a Carnival ship has experienced broken plumbing.  These people cannot seem to get it right.  The only positive here is that the ship was docked, not dead in the middle of some ocean somewhere.

An esteemed coworker wondered aloud why it is that every time there is a systems failure on a Carnival ship, it immediately affects the plumbing.

First Mate, the anchor has broken - man the toilets!

Captain - our radios have failed.  I'll get the toilet paper. 

Let me be the first to suggest some minor changes in their advertising:

Excrement Cruise Lines
Come Cruise with Us (and Shit)

Hey Hey, It's the Pope

White smoke billowed from some chimney or other in Rome and the Catholics have a new pope.  Good for them (I hope).

If anyone has been watching CNN, the follies have been most notable.  We watch it at work with no sound and the first thing I noticed was wall-to-wall Pope Coverage.  The captions were amazing: there was one that said Cardinals Locked Away.  I kept thinking they should be.  The cardinals vowed secrecy.  Of course they vowed secrecy - how else could they have kept their scandals out of the light for so long?

My boss wondered what the hospitality arrangements were, probably because he came from that background.  He decided that there would be no mints on their pillows; instead, they would each get a little boy.

At least my boss stays relevant.

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In other happy news, President Obama's people have fixed him up yet again, this time with the new Miss Israel, Yityish Aynaw, 22.  What makes me really go into high gear is that Miss Aynaw, 22, is the first black Miss Isreal, hailing from Ethiopia.  Yes, that's right, people, there are Ethiopian Jews.
Israel has proven their impartiality and total lack of racism by fully accepting an attractive young woman.  Of course they sterilized the less attractive ones, but hey, you can't be perfect all of the time.

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Let's see... so far I have made sport of the pope and the Jews.  Impartiality would indicate that next up would be the Muslims.  So, with that in mind, let me tell you the latest about Obamacare (there's nothing funny in the news about Muslims today).  The next time you take your dog, cat, sloth or child to the vet, it's going to cost you more because of Obamacare.  One of the many taxes to pay for this juggernaut is on medical equipment, including veterinary equipment.  And rest assured, the vets will pass the tax onto their customers.

And while I'm talking Happy News, your president is quite sure there is no debt crisis.  This man has clearly been drinking his own Kool Aid for way too long.