Lovetone

A line of analog audio effects created by Vlad Naslas and Daniel Coggins in England in the 1990's, known for their tongue-in-cheek names like the "Big Cheese" and "Ring Stinger". Producing "semi-legendary super-psychedelic analogue FX inspired by classic sounds but designed for now", the company was able to attract a diverse list of notable musicians to use their effects, including the Beastie Boys, Metallica, Radiohead, Stereolab, and Sonic Youth, as well as many others. While some regard Lovetones as revolutionary tools for analog audio processing, others deride them as being overhyped and overpriced "stompboxes". Some rare units are reported to have fetched prices near $1500 on the used market.

Most Lovetone effects replicate a popular vintage analog effect in part, but usually implement that effect in ways not previously done. For example, the Lovetone Meatball, which is perhaps the most popular and well known Lovetone, is an envelope filter/follower that may at first seem to be a copy of the famous Mu-tron III, but upon further inspection incorporates a number of features previously seen only in analog synthesizers. In fact, one of the hallmarks of Lovetone effects is the ability to control multiple parameters of the effect through control voltage (CV) inputs that are commonly used in analog synthesizers and synthesizer modules.

Units Produced

Meatball - envelope filter/follower

Big Cheese - fuzz

Brown Source - overdrive

Doppleganger - dual phaser/vibrato

Wobulator - dual tremolo

Ring Stinger - ring modulator, octave fuzz, simple analog synthesizer

? (Flange with No Name) - stereo flanger, multi-function time/stereo modulation effect

Cheese Source - combination of the Big Cheese and Brown Source in one unit

History

The sale of Lovetones began in 1995 and after the initial run, production was generally inconsistent. Selected models would frequently go out of stock or production for a period of time, though production would usually be revived later. Due to this tendency, throughout the history of the company there was speculation that the company would soon go out of business. When production of all Lovetones ceased in 2001, the pedals immediately gained collector's item status and some units saw their resale value double or triple on auction giant eBay, similar to the price explosion that followed the dissolution of effects maker Way Huge. In 2002 the company announced that they would again be making the Meatball and Cheese Source pedals, to be sold through Dan Coggins's newly formed company Dinosaural, which became the primary point of contact for Lovetone technical support and repairs. These effects are currently still available though stocks of the Meatball are reportedly running low.

External links

Lovetone website - [1]

Dinosaural website - [2]