more subtle. Another point
worth noting is that unlike
a lot of digital reverbs, the
Deluxe Deluxe Plus can
stand up to being hit at the
front end with a heck of a
lot of boost. I hit it with the
full force of Mr. Black’s new
JDS- 50 and the Deluxe
Deluxe Plus responded
beautifully with no weird
glitches or other artifacts. I
give mad props to Mr. Black
for the tuning that went into
this circuit.
With regard to the tremolo
sound, what I’m about to
say might sound crazy. This
little baby blue box has one
of the best tremolo effects
I’ve ever played outside
of some classic blackface
Fender amps. It can be
subtle, or it can be over-the-
top choppy, but it always
sounds natural, musical, and
beautiful. I imagine that 99
percent of the time, I will
have the intensity knob set
at 11:00 and the speed knob
set at 1:00. But there’s lots
of fun and great sounds to
be found with those knobs
all over the place. The
available range of the Speed
knob is especially fun. It
gets a little faster than your
typical tremolo, but it gets
way slower at its lowest
settings. So slow in fact that
it sounds like you have a
friend turning the volume
up and down on your amp
very slowly. I found it to be a
really cool sound for mellow
rhythm parts and slow leads.
Most people think that
drive pedals should precede
Reverb in your effects chain.
But with old stand-alone
Fender reverb units, you
placed them between your
guitar and your amplifier.
To experiment with similar
placement, I ran the Deluxe
Deluxe Plus into the new
Catalinbread Formula 55.
In other words, I did the
pocket version of a Fender
reverb into an old Tweed
Deluxe. And the resulting
tone was off the chain! The
reverb takes on a gritty
clang that reminded me of
Neil Young tones.
WHAT WE LIKE
A/B testing the Deluxe
Deluxe Plus with my vintage
Fender Vibro Champ, I had
a hard time choosing a
favorite tremolo. In fact, I
love this thing so much that
it might end up replacing an
old favorite that’s been on
my pedalboard for a while.
It’s just that good! This thing
is indeed doubly deluxe.
CONCERNS
The reverb sounds great,
but I wish there were an
option for shortening the
decay.
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