High Noon (Man O' War) Delay #2

[blackhatboojum]

Ah yes.  The trusty Maxon AD-900 analog delay.  Little did I know that when I built my first Man O' War in April of 2022, it would turn into the holy grail analog delay for me.  When I first threw this font of my amp and dialed it in, the heavens opened and the angels begin to sing.  Ok... it wasn't that extreme but, it was definitely a "Hot damn!  That's what I've been looking for" moment.  Since then, It has been the golden standard and what I compare every other delay I've built to.  It's only 3 knobs, no modulation, and no space ship/runaway feedback noise with this circuit.  It doesn't have the percussive edge like a DM-2 and it doesn't have the bright crispiness like the Memory Man.  It's not dark and soupy like an MXR but, it's also not a clean and pristine delay either.  Just straight up warm, natural, and ear pleasing analog repeats.  On top of that, there is absolutely no hiss or white noise when you click this baby on.  That is almost unheard of with an analog circuit.  All of this combined, is what made me fall in love with this delay.  It's my bread and butter, and the most used pedal I've built to date.  The only problem, is the first one I built didn't match my Old West aesthetic that I've adapted.  Sure, I could have redone my enclosure but, what's the fun in that?  Having two of something good is always better than just one anyway.

For my enclosure look, I stepped away from my Arizona thing a little bit but, still pertains to the Old West.  Let me paint the scenario...  The sun is at it's highest point in the sky, the street is dusty, and two figures are just outside the local saloon.  Our hero and anti-hero are squared off, about 25 ft apart, facing each other with their hands hovering above their pistols.  The anti-hero is doing his best to look tough but, you can see some fear in his eyes.  The hero is unphased, unafraid, and his steely gaze could cut a hole in your soul like a knife...  Suddenly, both figures draw their six shooters.  BLAM! BLAM!  Two shots ring out at almost the exact same time.  As the smoke clears, you can see the hero still standing, smoking pistol in hand, unharmed, with that gaze still trained on his enemy.  The anti-hero grabs his chest, staggers a few steps, and then drops in the dusty street.  Our hero emerges victorious and the anti-hero is now dead.

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm talking about the classic duel at High Noon.  A cliche that has filled books, television, and movies for well over a century.  Given how popular this cliche is, have you ever wondered how true it is?  Well, guess what?  It's BS.  It never happened.  There are very few recorded instances of one-on-one pistol duels that even happened.  Let alone occurring at exactly 12:00 pm.  I can't tell you where the "high noon" idea  came from but, I can tell you where the one-on-one pistol quick-draw duel in public place, thing came from.  The Hickok-Tutt shootout. 

The Hickok-Tutt shootout was a gunfight that occurred on July 21, 1865, in the town square of Springfield, Missouri between Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt.  The story goes that Davis and Tutt, both gamblers, were actually friends at one point.  However, they eventually had a falling out over women.  Wild Bill supposedly had an illegitimate child with Tutt's sister, and Tutt was supposedly paying too much attention to Hickok's lover.  Whatever the truth is, Wild Bill refused to play in any card game that included Tutt and Tutt retaliated by helping other card players with advice and money in order to bankrupt Hickok.  This ongoing conflict eventually came to a head during a game of poker at the Lyon House Hotel.  As Hickok played against several local gamblers, Tutt was loaning out money and coaching them on how to beat Wild Bill.  Despite Tutt's efforts, Hickok was winning.  Annoyed, Tutt reminded Hickok that he was owed $40 from a past horse trade.  Hickok shrugged and paid Tutt the $40.  Tutt then claimed that Hickok owed him an additional $35 from a past poker game to which Hickok replied, "I think you're wrong Dave.  It's only $25."  Having a large following at the Lyon House and several armed associates, Tutt decided to humiliate Hickok.  He grabbed Wild Bill's prized gold pocket watch off of the table and announced he was keeping the watch as collateral until Hickok paid the $35.  Hickok quietly demanded that Tutt put his watch back but, Tutt replied only with an ugly grin and walked out with the watch.  Hickok was livid.  Not only was he publicly humiliated, the taking of the watch as collateral, implied that Hickok couldn't pay his debts which was also an insult to a professional gambler.  To make matters worse, Hickok endured several days of Tutt's friends and associates mocking Hickok.  On the final days of mocking Hickok, they announced that Tutt was planning on wearing the watch in the middle of town square the next day.  Hickok warned them, "He shouldn't come across that square unless dead men can walk." 

The next morning, Tutt was seen with Hickok's watch openly hanging from his waist pocket.  Within an hour, Hickok heard of Tutt's actions and met up with him in the town square.  It was reported that they discussed the settling of the debt and watch's return but, couldn't to an agreement.  They parted ways after a drink and Tutt returned to the town square, still wearing the watch.  A few minutes before 6:00 pm, Hickok was seen calmly approaching the square with his Colt Navy in hand.  Seeing the armed Hickok, caused the crowd to scatter and left Tutt alone in the northwestern corner of the square.  At a distance of about 75 yards, Hickok stopped, facing Tutt, and called out, "Dave I'm here."  He then cocked his pistol, holstered it on his hip, and gave one last warning.  "Don't you come across here with that watch."  Tutt said nothing.  He just stood there with his hand on his pistol.  After a brief delay, both men faced each other in the dueling position.  Tutt reached for his pistol, Hickok then drew his and steadied it on his opposite forearm.  Both man fired a single shot at almost the same time.  Tutt's shot missed but, Hickok's bullet struck Tutt in the chest.  Tutt cried out, "Boys, I'm killed," ran onto the porch of the courthouse, stumbled back out into the street, and then collapsed and died.

Two days later, Hickok was arrested for murder.  His initial charge was later reduced to manslaughter based on the circumstances.  He stood trial on August 3 1865 and three days later he was acquitted.  11 years later, Wild Bill Hickok sadly lost his life while playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon in Deadwood South Dakota.  Before Wild Bill's untimely death though, The Hickok-Tutt shootout would make Wild Bill Hickok a household name and folk hero for years to come.  It's also the basis for almost every high noon shootout story that you've seen in popular culture.

[jimilee]

Looks fantastic and a history lesson to boot.


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[harryklippton]

Excellent build and thanks for the story

[Paradox916]

Very cool man!  great build! 


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[gordo]

Very cool!

[Philthy]

Lovely

[Thewintersoldier]

Another killer build dude, great job!

[zombie_rock123]

Awesome dude, build report and build! the graphics look perfect on that.

My only knowledge of that era is drawn entirely from the show Deadwood but Hickok was in it and sounds like they weren't too far off the money historically speaking! And they said that one word quite a bit 

[jessenator]

Echoing the above: nicely done inside and out. I'd never heard that story, either.

[peAk]

Good stuff!

[blackhatboojum]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed the story .