Happy Jack

So we're now in uncharted waters ... I don't normally do reviews of FX pedals but (rather bizarrely) this is an actual request! I've just discovered this pedal, which during its brief existence was often known as 'anti-chorus'. I've owned various chorus pedals over the years and they all have that seasick sound to my ears, and verge on being flabby. What I really wanted was a sound that would thicken up my bass when playing in a 3-piece (in an ADT sort of way) and work well with a nice octave pedal for fretless work. I stumbled across a YouTube of the LUXE and instantly thought "that's the one". For reasons about which I know nothing, this pedal was only on the market for about two years before DigiTech withdrew it, so there's not many of them out there. After strenuous searching (oh alright, I looked on Reverb) I found what I suspect is the last unsold LUXE in Europe and immediately bought it. I've done five sound files: Vanilla sound, no FX at all DigiTech CF-7 with all knobs at 12 DigiTech CF-7 with all knobs at 2 LUXE with Detune knob at 2 LUXE with Detune knob at 10 The bass is a Fender Precision Fretless (1977) played through a GB Shuttle into an ElBee 1012 cab. Recording was done with a standard Zoom H2 handheld. A word of warning. We all know that fretless bass demos are played by Bass Gods who cram seven Jaco licks into every bar and drown us with 'mwah', right? Well I'm not that guy. Clip 01 Vanilla.mp3 IMHO it's a nice enough sound, quite lovely in its own way, but not particularly engaging. Clip 02 CF-3 at 12.mp3 Despite being the simplest setting on the pedal, for me this is about as good as chorus gets. If only it didn't have that flabby, wobbly feel to it. Clip 03 CF-3 at 02.mp3 Oh dear. This is really not much of a tweak ... three knobs each moved by about 10 degrees clockwise, and look what you get! Clip 04 LUXE at 02.mp3 There! Now that's what I'm talking about. The bass is thicker and (to my ears) far more punchy, as if I had quickly swopped out the pickups for SD Quarter Pounders between recordings. There's no seasickness, and the flabbiness has disappeared. Clip 05 LUXE at 10.mp3 The difference isn't enormous, and I don't think this is an improvement, but it's still a completely useable sound. And that really is the key. The CF-7 is a marvellously flexible pedal which can do pretty much anything you might want, so long as you have the time and desire to fiddle around with it and note which combinations work for you and which don't. For stage use, I have only ever used one setting, because a busy pub gig with impatient punters and scowling bandmates is not the place to start twiddling knobs. Unless you're the guitarist, of course. And it's all too easy for your knob twiddling to result in completely awful sounds, silly noises to irritate others [see also Bass Synth]. The LUXE on the other hand has a Level knob which you shouldn't need to touch once set for the gig, and a Detune knob which has a simple, direct function and really struggles to generate an unuseable sound. This is a pedal which can find an instant and permanent place on even my smallest board.

And the acoustics are very different too!

Both my bands are 3-piece, both contain at least one member who takes Covid-19 as seriously as I suspect you do (i.e. very differently from me) but I can see no point at all in trying to push others into changing their life view, or agreeing with my opinion, or doing what I want because I want to get gigging again. When they're ready to start again they'll let me know, I'm sure. Until then, I'm trying to chill.

Beautiful plumage, the Norwegian Blue.

In 17 years you'll be the same age as me, and you'll probably find that remark quite funny! For what it's worth, I picked up a bass guitar for the first time on my 49th birthday ...

Judging by many of these posts, Blue, there's going to be much less competition in future, so those of us who want to keep gigging won't have much trouble.

Simplifies the credit control function ...

I like to think that my performances are professional.

Well ... ish. "I'm really urging people to get out there and to play their part: buy the tickets for outdoor plays and musical recitals, get to your local gallery and support your local businesses," he said. Not sure I've ever really considered my gigs to be "musical recitals" but I'll take what I can get.

Do we count as "Outdoor Theatre"?

Posted at 17:1017:10 When will things re-open in England? That is a raft of announcements from the culture secretary. But when will people in England be able to take advantage? Outdoor pools will be able to re-open on 11 July Indoor gyms, swimming pools and sports facilities will then be able to re-open from 25 July Grassroots sport will be able to return from this coming weekend, beginning with cricket (other sports will follow) Outdoor theatres will be able to start up from Saturday Small pilots of indoor performances with socially distanced audiences will also take place to help work out the best way to get them up and running From Monday 13 July, beauticians, tattooists, spas, tanning salons and other close contact services can reopen "subject to some restrictions on particularly high-risk services"

If YouTube's recommendations don't float your boat, try Spotify. A great way to keep on your toes during these Lockdown / post-Lockdown / social distancing days is to set up a random playlist and see whether or not you can hack it ... can you keep up with every song that comes into your headphones, like it or not, know it or not. And every now and then you discover a great track you didn't know about.

It would only work in twelve bars.

There's a video. Your ad-blocker (or similar) may have ... erm ... blocked it.