LOVETONE!

[i love sharin foo]

It took quite a long time to get to what I have now. I've owned the Ring Stinger since 2001. It has been my most used pedal ever since. I had a Big Cheese back then too, but didn't hold onto it. I read a review before I bought it saying that it could nail Big Muff tones, so I bought it hoping it could replace my Soviet Muffs (mainly because of reliability) at the time and also cover more ground, but it didn't hit those tones well enough, so I sold it. I acquired my current one a couple years ago and it hasn't left my board since. No, it doesn't really cop any other tone 100%, but it can do many, many things well and it suits me perfectly now. I just snagged the Doppelganger and Flange With No Name. I've wanted the flanger since when they were still in production but have always waited for the right time. I finally resigned myself to the fact that they will never drop back down in price, so fuck it. Now's as good a time as any to get one. It's a pedal with a steep ass learning curve, but that is the best part about most of the Lovetone stuff. You don't just plug it in and go.. you have to spend a lot of time with them learning how all the controls interact and only then do you really begin to scratch the surface of what they can do. It's not the easiest to dial in the same exact sound twice, but it gets better over time. I want the eventually get ahold of the rest of the pedals to finish out my set. I need a Brown Source, late production run Wobulator, and a Meatball. I'll probably eventually try to get a Cheese Source too but that would be later.

[gaussgunn]

tons of money, kilos and sounds

[fuzzjunkie]

I also got my RingStinger back in 2001 and it's been a favorite of mine as well!

I've always wanted a "?" Flanger to pair with my Ring Stinger. If I were more of a collector I'd want a Doppelgänger and Wobulator too, but the Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe does all the trem and phasey modulation sounds I'd ever "really " need. I'm not a fan of their dirt pedals and the Meatball doesn't do much for me either, although it has a lot of adherents elsewhere.

[zhivago]

I have always wanted a Big Cheese, but somehow it never happened.

The other one that always intrigued me was the Doppelgänger so it is very cool to see you have one now Justin!

Awesome collection!!

[i love sharin foo]

I also got my RingStinger back in 2001 and it's been a favorite of mine as well!

I've always wanted a "?" Flanger to pair with my Ring Stinger. If I were more of a collector I'd want a Doppelgänger and Wobulator too, but the Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe does all the trem and phasey modulation sounds I'd ever "really " need. I'm not a fan of their dirt pedals and the Meatball doesn't do much for me either, although it has a lot of adherents elsewhere.

The Ring Stingers are an amazing tool, aren't they?!! I wouldn't part with mine for anything.

You know, I've never really been much of a fan of flanging, phasing, or chorus. Delay, reverb, and fuzz have always been my #1 effects. I kind of wrote off the Doppelganger for a long, long time. After watching enough videos, I kind of figured out that it is really quite mellow as far as a phaser goes. It's a pretty restrained, transparent effect here. It seems that its strengths lie more in how it blurs the line between phase, chorus, and vibrato. It excels at that. But it still keeps all the nuances of your dry tone, just builds upon it. It almost sneaks up on you.. like to the point where you almost feel like you can't hear what it is doing, but then you click it off and instantly feel these loss of character. Its really good, just not in the same way as the Ring Stinger and ?, which push it to the extreme right out of the gate.

I want a Meatball to run a fuzz box through it's internal loop to try to cop some fat, analog synth tones. That's my goal with that one. Especially with bass. Then loop them

[fuzzjunkie]

I get offers for the Ring Stinger whenever I pull it out. I have the little photocell expression jack for it, but it works better with an expression pedal.

The Doppelgänger's thing is definitely subtle. That is a selling point for some and deterrent for others. I only have three modulation pedals; the Voodoo Vibe, and A/DA Flanger and Final Phase. The A/DAs do thick, chewy and extreme, while the Voodoo Vibe can do subtle if you want. I'm more of a fuzz, echo and reverb player as well, so that's all the modulation I really need.

I think the Meatball is the most recorded device of Lovetone's offerings. I have an Electrix Filter Queen; which is 2/3rds of a Filter Factory, but only use it occasionally on guitar or bass. I mostly use it to make my Roland and soft synths sound analog. Then the Ring Stinger with a electric piano for Fender Rhodes tones. I used to use it for a theremin substitute and octave fuzz when I was playing out. Now I use it to fuck with ambient soundscapes.

[eggwheat]

I got a collection of them too...I was selling my spares on here last year.. Had 2x flanges and 2x Brown Source...Changed my mind on the BS and the spare Flanger sold in about 10 seconds on eBay..actually it sold twice..once to an arsehole who had it a week then sent it back saying it didn't work right..and sure enough it wasn't working when it came back because the twat had been inside and turned the internal trimmers to minimum... some kind of psycho..

? flange is 10% flanging and 90% madness...you never get the same sound twice!

[i love sharin foo]

I've had about 4 or 5 hours in on the ? flanger so far and it is incredible how much it can do. Once you get a handle on what each control does (the manual really lends a good head start.. THANKS PHILIP!), it really isn't as overwhelming as it can seem at first. It's like the Ring Stinger.. you start to develop an intuition of how everything interacts. I can't believe it took me a decade and a half to finally get one. It works really, really well with other pedals too. It can be so musical, or atonal noise, whichever you choose. There are some great phase and chorus tones in it as well. The self oscillation is turning into an awesome base to build other stuff on top of. Many fun hours ahead with this one WORTH EVERY PENNY!

[zhivago]

This is excellent news, these sort of effects are like musical instruments that you control with a guitar

[fortytwo]

Just saw a Brown Source for sale locally about a week ago, but for way more than I wanted to pay for it.

[cpeck]

Have a Meatball and a Big Cheese. Will get a Brown Source at some point.

I'm into the sounds and the massive enclosures.

[fuzzking]

dude! i'm not even half the gearhead i used to be... but i kinda envy this.

[Paco]

The Big Cheese is the most beautiful pedal. Ever.

[i love sharin foo]

Yes!

v2 Wobulator! The early ones are easy to find, but the v2 isn't so common. They have the volume drop issue of the earlier ones rectified and also have a phase switch added. I am super happy to finally have it. I also snagged a really early Meatball for the first couple hundred built in '95, but it isn't here yet. I am making some serious progress toward the set! I know it is kind of insane to try to collect them all, but it's been a dream I've had for 20+ years. I never really buy much gear anymore, so I don't feel too bad about it Sold a few things to make it happen. A while back, I did sell my DoppelGanger though since it was a v1. I am hoping to replace it with a v2 at some point. I really want the square wave option!

[fuzzjunkie]

Congrats on that one!

Snake driver is one of my favorite Jesus and Marychain songs and they use a Wobulator during the noisy middle bit. I don’t know of any other well known recording that uses one, but I would think the Edge or Radiohead would have found a use.