Lovekraft Mojo Drive

Very straight fwd. on/off stomp, 3 knobs (vol/tone/gain), and the ever popular 3 way diode switch.

Guitars: Strats, Teles, Les Paul
Amps: Z amps (Maz Jr, Ghia, Z-28), Super Reverb

When I got this I was looking for something in the Tube Screamer dept, but with a little more flexibility and better tone. If I need the TS compression it's there, if I need a more open tone it's there, if I need some crunch but not as compressed as a TS, I've got that too. The bottom is nice and doesn't flub out as you add the gain.

My main concern was that it would change the base tone of my amp, to a certain degree it does, not as much as others, a little more than others. But not enough to cause me any concern.

If you need gain (distortion) you've got it. If you need vol it's there too. The tone control is very effective which I find very important when using different amps.

I don't think the Mojo is a life changing effect, but worth what I spent. I can't see spending $400 + for a Landy to get the approximate tones. It's pedal for cryin out loud.

Well built, high quality parts, high quality board, no worries.

Ethan is quick on the emails and answers the phone. Nice guy, never had a problem.

Overall it's a very cool box.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? I didn't find too many good sounds in it. I found the tone control very lacking. The only time it got close to natural sounding was with the tone control in the off position. Anything above that it had a very pronounced 1-3khz spike. I found it almost impossible to set in a live gig setting. At home I could take alot of time tweeking and find passable tones, but If I cant dial it in playing live, it just wont work for me. I'm not a bedroom player, I make my living playing guitar and look at effect pedals as tools I need to get the job done. I found this pedal as useful as a hammer with no handle.

I play a stock Strat, Hagstom D2F, and a 72 tele with duncan hums, thru a 67 fender showman head and fender 2x12 cab with tone tubby and naylor speakers. The Showman is 80 watts with huge clean headroom, it will expose the flaws in a pedal very quickly. To me, this was one of the worst pedals Ive come across. A standard tube screamer has a gradual low midrange hump. This pedal has a sharp high midrange SPIKE. I couldnt dial it out even with the tone knob off. It did have a nice gain structure it would go from clean to very mean with a nice gradual sweep. Even the note decay sounded nice and smooth. And it seemed to have enough output to drive the front of your amp, so using it as a boost was no problem. The flaw of this pedal is in the voicing. Kinda reminded me of a pedalworx TTS, except the two step sounded better.
Im my opinion lovekraft is close to having a nice pedal here,
but no cigar yet.
This pedal could be a winner if it was wired straight in the middle setting (ie,no compression mode) completely bypass the tone stack ( so it wouldnt add or subtract from your original tone) and used the tone knob as a control to adjust how much compression you wanted.
That would make it perfect for my rig.
Of course not everyone plays the same rig as me, so your experience may vary.

I sent it back, got a refund.
It looked to be very solid, with heavy duty components.

I bought this pedal on ebay. very nice swirl paint box.(alot nicer than the last donnerbox captain crunch I had). After a phone call to the builder, he did refund my money. So I was only out the cost of shipping to and from, about $16. Then about a week after I got my refund, lovekraft filed a unpaid item dispute on the auction. WTF,, I really didnt understand that. Unless it was so he could run another auction with that same pedal/serial number, or so he could save the 2bucks it cost to run the auction. I myself have refunded money on auctions before, but I would describe it as a return and just sell the item to someone else. I never felt it necessary to file a dispute. Wierd. So I have some mixed feelings here. But he did refund my money, so no biggie.

I bought this pedal after reading all the glowing reviews here on harmony central and on the gear page forums. Which leads me to believe that:
1. Everyone of these reviewers play entirely different rigs than me.
2. Lovekraft has a few friends that want to help him get his pedal business off the ground.
or.
3. These people wouldnt know a good tone if it bit'em on the butt.
I was pretty dissapointed with the sound of the mojo drive. I sent it back for a refund.
I own or have owned, lovepedal E/ Woodrow, Xotic RC,AC,BB, Aphek Sunday Driver/Peanut Butter, Way Huge Red LLama, Matchless HB, and many other boutique pedals, as well as Bad Monkeys and the like.
I can honestly say I would take the bad monkey over this pedal. The gain on the monkey dont sound as good as the Mojo Drive, but it is voiced alot better.
It is my opinon that if your looking for a good dirt pedal you can do better for less money.
The Aphek pedals,(awesome) and Xotic pedals, are in the same price range and sound miles ahead of the mojo drive.
I'm not trying to slam someones product. I'm sure some players will love this pedal.
But I like a dirt pedal to sound like I just turned my amp up.
To my ears the mojo drive just sounded like I turned on a AM Radio.

This pedal is pretty straight foward, and with the 3-way toggle switch in coordination with the gain and tone knobs a great many tones are possible. I've found if you really get to know the gain knob you'll find the pedal contains many "sweet spots."

Of course, this is where this pedal shines. I've found that different guitars favor different settings of the toggle switch. I use a american deluxe telecaster with two dimarzio humbuckers in the "vintage setting" and have found some great old-school boogie tones (that slight break-up sound all the way up to the brink of usable feedback). With a les paul with burstbucker pros in the "marshall" setting I've found an awesome mid-range overdrive/distortion that cuts right through a mix (a fender deluxe reverb competeing with an entire band). This pedal has tone in spades, and after alittle tweaking it becomes easy to understand how to get the exact sound you want (a problem alot of these "boutique" overdrive/distortion pedals possess). I'd also like to mention when not engaged it is absolutely transparent, something I can't say about my old ts-808.

I haven't had a problem yet and the pedal appears to be constructed of very high quality components. I wish other pedals in this price range I could say that much for.

I've haven't had to directly speak with Ethan, but the website and other testimonials have illustrated that it wouldn't be a problem. Any person willing to offer a money back gurantee is obviously going to stand behind their product.

I guess the best thing I can say in this catagory is that I've made this my main overdrive/distortion unit. Your basically paying half price for a boutique pedal that may be better than many of its more expensive counterparts. I bought this pedal on a wim on its merit through reviews like this one, a decsion I'm extremely glad I've made. Do youself a favor and at least consider this pedal. With a money back gurantee theres nothing to lose and I don't think Ethan's had very many returned to him (just a hunch).

Pretty much sounds friggin incredible. I had it dialed in to all three settings in about two minutes.

Yep. I don't care about getting the sounds of my favorite artists. I care about articulation, fidelity, and a nice bouncy feel when playing. I like the notes to sag sometimes, and I like them to be immediate and urgent sometimes. This pedal will do both, really. Also, the different gain settings and the pure range of gain are all usable. This pedal goes from john mayer to brad paisely to acdc to guns n roses, though beyond secretly rocking out I have no use for the guns n roses setting. Not noisy, and it's very very strong sounding. It really pushes my amp nicely...I actually don't know how to put it, but somehow it makes my amp punchier. Oh by the way, I play a custom strat (solid rosewood neck, alder body, stainless frets, bone nut and custom pickups) through a heritage patriot. Basically the cleanest prettiest sounding setup I've ever heard.

Won't break.

This guy's offering a money back gaurantee for this product. That's just ridiculous when you think about it. First off, it stands to reason that he'll be getting returns left and right from knit pickers, and it also stands to reason that he must know that his product is so good that nobody will return it. I don't think he'll be getting any returns. Also, very accomodating, etc.

I play blues (the clean kind all the way to the compressed overdriven kind), country, fusion, hard rock, flamenco, slide, chicken pickin, metal, etc. There is no style of guitar that I don't love to play. I do this for a living, I've been playing for a while, and I've owned alot of high end professional quality amps and pedals. Right now, I use only one amp for all my stuff, a teese wah, a homebrew compressor, an a.c. booster, a brick, and the mojo drive. This setup allows me a wealth of tones. If it were stolen, I'd buy two more. This pedal has been compared to every damn boutique pedal out there, and it just smokes everything I've ever tried or heard used. I wish it had...breasts. Yep, that would round out the whole package. Breasts and a coffee dispenser. Also, it's gonna keep me playing well into the night tonight, so the breasts and coffee would be good for that, too... Hmmm, this company has something here that, if marketed correctly, could knock every other overdrive pedal off of the shelves. I've never played anything I've enjoyed more, honestly.

The only hard thing about this little jewel is deciding where to place the knobs and switch. Way too many cool sounds to just have one on your board. Thank you sir may I have another?

I can't imagine any guitarist not digging the hell out of this pedal. The tones are so much more than just descent. I play a Strat through a Twin Reissue, and it smokes. It sounds amazing with the Maxon AD999 too (I might add). It's actually three extremely toneful OD pedals in one. I've owned many tube amps over the years, and I HONESTLY believe they're tones all obtainable with this pedal. It even sounds sweet through a cheap little crate. There's your expensive sounding low wattage boutique amp! Can't say enough about this one..

I haven't had it very long so I can't really make that determination. It does however look like your basic high quality piece of gear. I'm sure it would be just fine using without a backup. Think I'll get another one though just in case...

I can't see this being a problem at all. Anyone that pays this close attention to detail (as far as tone goes) has my vote of confidence. My purchase was extremely smooth & fast too.

The only other thing I can really express about this pedal is that I wish the Mojo Drive had existed a few years ago. It's really inspiring to have a pedal that you know makes you sound good, no matter what kind of amp or guitar you're playing through. And the better the guitar & amp, well... need I say more. I'm really going to have to get me one of those Radial Re-amping devices now. Trust me, it's the poop.

Simple my favorite!

Great sound three tones, all usable.

Built like a tank.

Speak to the man himself!

I have owned everything (well almost). This is the best so far! Great price for this quality!

The LoveKraft Mojo Drive is very simple, yet very versatile. There are three modes that have been discussed in the previous reviews. I also find that it is so versatile that I had to have two! Ethan at LoveKraft invited me over to try the prototypes. This pedal is incredible. It is three overdrive pedals in one. The controls and layout are simple. No matter how I set it, I love it.

Instead of getting really technical, I'd like to tell you why this is a great unit. No matter what I've tried, the new wears off and I sell it. I've paid $400 for some units and I've paid $50 for some units used. Each of them enthralls me for about a week and then I find I haven't used it for months. I've had my Mojo Drives for three months and I'm as excited about the sound I'm getting as I was at Ethan's the first time I tried them. I can't say anything more.

I won't fill you w/ BS. Ethan's a very good friend of mine. His attention to detail in anything he does shines through. If he can improve the construction or reliability, I would be surprised. He uses the best components and builds the Mojo Drives one at a time. I have about thirty hours on mine.

Ethan is honest and stands behind everything he builds. I have custom amps and these wonderful pedals. I have no doubt they are supported for the duration.

What product can you purchase at this price and get this much enjoyment? I'll be waiting. Bravo!!

Easy to dial in many different,great sounding tones.Three knobs,a toggle,and a bypass switch.

This thing kills in the sound department.I usually dread the "Amp-Like" analogy when talking pedals,but that fits this pedal to a tee.Does low gain drive with nice singing highs(how I'm using it right now),and can also get mean cause it has alot gain on tap.The toggle switches between clippings,I like the up position (symmetrical),but the down position(Asymmetrical) sounds nice too.I'm seriously considering a second Mojo Drive so I can have both a rhythm and lead setting.
I run this through either a '65 Blakface Fender Super Reverb or a Marshall DSL 50(Green Channel) and get fantastic sounds out of both.
I've tried alot,I mean alot of overdrives,and dirt boxes in general.This stands toe to toe with the high end pedals that are fetching crazy money.I a/b'd the Mojo with all the big ones (see Landgraff,Lovepedal E,808) before happily plopping my $150 down.
I can't recommend it enough.Try it yourself,and thank me later.The builder was a nice guy,and even gave me a two day try out period.Don't see that at a guitar show to often.Needless to say,I did'nt give it back.

Looks well wired inside and I was told he uses the best parts he can get his mitts on.I'm sure if there was ever a problem,the builder would help me out.

Nice guy,who seems to know his shit.He did'nt mind me being anal while auditioning his pedal against the "boutique" ones in his booth at the guitar show.Plus I got to try some dream pedals,and left feeling I got one just as good,without the ginormous hole in my wallet.

I play a wide range of music from blues,rock,funk,what ever music mood hits me.This fits in my pedalboard nicely as my main overdrive.Along with my Skreddy Mayo and Catalinbread SCOD i'm am now set in the dirt department.That is,untill I decide to pull the trigger on my seond Mojo Drive.

I am a gigging musician, not a collector, so practicality and ease of use are a huge part of my decisions when purchasing gear. It is very easy to dial in ear-pleasing, musical sounding overdrive/distortion tones on the MojoDrive (I like the toggle down, with all dials approx half way). In fact, it's difficult to get a bad sound out of this unit. For stage use, the dials and LED are easy to see, and the toggle switch is out of the way, so as to not be accidentally bumped during operation. One request...during performances for us "variety band" musicians, it would be great to be able to toggle between distortion sounds with your foot instead of your hand - any chance of that modification happening?

I am currently using this pedal in front of either a Fender Deluxe, or a Marshall 4-input style combo. As a "variety band" player, I have to be able to produce a wide range of sounds every night, and this pedal is the "distortion" part of my chain for bands like Jimmy Eat World, Joan Jett, and Collective Soul. For "overdrive" tones I still use a TS9 in my signal chain, but I am confident the MojoDrive would suit this purpose equally well (and without the midrange "honk" of the TS9). Additionally, this pedal responds well to the nuances created by adjustments to your guitar's volume knob - a technique I use frequently.

I have this pedal on my board, without a backup, and have no worries. It's obviously built to very high durability and quality standards.

I have used this vendor for support on various guitars and amps over the years, and have always been impressed with the quality of work...which is why I didn't hesitate to purchase one of these pedals when they became available.

As a guitar player of almost 25 years, with a very high emphasis on tone quality and purity, I can say that this pedal is one of the best additions I've made to my rig. At a fraction of the cost, it rivals the sound of many of the most highly regarded boutique boxes out there. While the features of this product are the same as several overdrive products out there, the sounds is remarkably different.

Very easy to use, plug in and it sounds great! Very thick sounding, makes the notes jump out of the amp. The little switch gives 3 different tones, I like the switch in the up position. Manual came with it.

This is where it really shines, it's my favorite OD pedal. I brought it over a buddys house who has all the expensive pedals and we compared it. It holds it own with most of the high end pedals, sounds very much like a Landgraff, and I was surpised to find that it sounds almost exactly like a Lovepedal Eternity also, only with slightly more gain available. Sounds way better than a Tube Screamer, I liked it lot better than a Fulldrive. This pedal never sounds muddy or flabby, even when cranked up. There's alot of good sounds in it, I don't think I've found them all.

Looks like it's built very solidly, I don't forsee any problems. Works perfectly so far.

I bought it directly from the builder at the Florida guitar show, he was very helpful and I have his card if there's any problems. I'll give it a 9 as I haven't tried customer support.

I'm a Les Paul into a Marshall kind of guy and I like Blues and Classic rock, been playing about 20 years. With my JCM 800 set with a little gain, this pedal gives me the exact sound I want. I think this pedal is a bargain compared to what similar pedals cost. Looks cool too.