Love Pedal Toxic

Are you kidding? One knob my friends, but what I can get from that alone ...!

There seems to be a wide range of opinions here about the Toxic. Everyone has to report on what THEY've experienced. MY experience(s) have been that this pedal is way unique and not a clone of anything else, so maybe if it were more 'normal' the reviews would reflect what I consider to the mediocrity of most OD / Dist / Fuzz pedals; everyone would then agree that it's so much like their favorite artist. This is not a pedal for that (more below in 'overall').

I've used the Toxic with several axes: Semi-hollow: PAF HBs, Strat slabs: SSS, HSS, HHH, & found it to be sweet in interesting ways with all of them. It's a remarkable un-noisy pedal for the amount of crunch I can get. I use a small variety of SS & tube amps & had no issues with the Toxic being unfriendly with either camp. I currently gig with either a little 210 SS Fender or a compact 112 Peavey Tube (both easier to pack into my Civic than the 212s). Clean or heated up, the Toxic plays well with both. So here's my take on it:

"Just ONE knob, what up here?" A few years ago, when I first received this Toxic, I felt a bit of buyer's remorse, that it would be a one-trick pony (one knob, one trick right?). Here's what I've discovered: Flat out (turned all the way up, the Toxic wants to rip my head off with massive, raging distortion / fuzz. At unity (same level on as off), it interestingly combines OD with Distortion. At any setting, using my guitar volume, the Toxic gives me flavors from kind of dark, edgy blues through fat overdrive, all the way up to full-blown-duck-and-cover rock. This pedal does more with just one knob than most of my other multi-knobs!

"So what is that one knob, tone, drive, level, what?" I think it's all in there. 1st, it's not the tone knob, although I can control tone: the tone is somehow already there, tweaked for everything I do! It's weird: I've been so used to reaching down to 'fix' the tone on most pedals (mostly in an attempt to lose the hi-end nastiness, or the lo-end flabbiness)... but I don't need it with the Toxic, no matter what amp or axe I use.

"So if it's not the tone knob, what is it, the level?" Yes and no. It does control level, but in a really interesting way. "So if it's not the level knob, what is it, the drive?" Yes and no. It does control drive, but in a REALLY organic way. I've found infinite shades, not normal, not just a "I want brutal so I turn everything all the way clockwise" pedal. I've gotten brutal & I've gotten mellow, and tons in-between, but it mostly depends on dynamics: picking, guitar level, amp level & drive, etc. I haven't found anything it can't do except that it doesn't take up space like so many of my other "boutique" pedals with thick bodies, 13 knobs & switches (I think it's about the size of an MXR Dist+).

The Toxic has added an entirely new dimension to my rig. I want to sound convincing to your audience, and I think it's a product of how I play, what use, & how I use it. This pedal rocks my signature.

I have gigged with mine countless hours & have backups for most everything, but would have to get another if the Toxic ever went down, but I've never had a moment's difficulty with it. A 10 in my book!

Haven't needed it, so I rate that as a 10.

If you're looking for the Tubescreamer or DS Distortion thing, you can find it in the Toxic to a certain degree, just with much more attitude. What I mean is that I have a few pedals for those sounds (ex.: Barber pedal for the TS-but-way-better stuff, & Keeley for the DS-but-way-better), but the Toxic is out of a different mold, so if you want the standard stuff, get a standard-based pedal. I'm keeping this one because it is unique and powerful.

As I said, I've found the Toxic to work well with my SS and tube amps, clean or dirty. It's almost like having an entire arsenal of various overdrive pedals in one, by simply adjusting one control. Not a 10 here (I don't think I have anything that's a 10) but still a great pedal.

One knob, two switches?

This is a Toxic II that I'm reviewing.

It's got a volume knob and a switch that engages a super-loud boost.

The basic tonality is a fuzz. Nothing special here. Not super high-gain. Not super extreme. Just a fuzz.

Sean can communicate -- just not with me. He might have been pissed at me because I saved (and made public, of course) his little childish outbreak on TGP just before the thread was deleted.

I asked him why the first Black Magic I bought sounded like ass. His answer was something like "I don't know what I built."

As you can tell, I'm not one of his fanbois and consequently stopped buying Lovepedal stuff a while ago.

It's working.

Might sound good with some setups. From what I would say, Sean builds pedals for the Strat + Fender guys. Sadly, that excludes me.

My other gear... Ibanez 2027VV 7-string, Marshall 69 Super Lead. Vintage fuzzes. I play a lot of distorted stuff.

Easy... one knob. so easy.
This particular toxic was apparently custom made, and i think it was more saturated than the usual ones.

using it with either boostedlipstick equipped surfcaster or epi les paul elite into a valvetech fendery amp. Some noise, about what you'd expect out a boutique high gain pedal. Mine was extremely high gain. For Super-distorted leads it was very musical, it's too trebly-scratchy for any type of rhythm work. Also, rolling off the volume didn't clean it up, but it unsaturated it in a nice way so that you could actually use that sound too in your solos. But, just that one sound.

I'm sure it's fine

He seems freaking awesome, but i never dealt with him, 'cept to buy it.

play whatever, jazz now, but rock and metal then. Good pedal if all you want is a pedal for distorted musical leads. playing for four years, own a bunch of stuff. For the same price, i'd spring for a modded RAT or DS-1 just for the versatility, although the sound of the toxic seemed pretty unique to me. So, it's cool, it sounds good, but It'd probably be best to get a good compressor or something to use with a more versatile pedal, and then you'd probably get a sound similar to this.

This is an excellent pedal that is built very well and responds to quality signal- "crap in, crap out" seems to be the problem in the other review I read on this. It is as simple as pie to use- one knob. Crank it to the desired level and have fun with it.

I use a 1968 Gibson Les Paul Jr into a custom treble boost, into the Toxic, and into an RGW Bad Bob clean boost (all these are true bypass), and then into a 1967 Traynor YBA-1, which is basically a Marshall Plexi/Fender Bassman hybrd (GREAT amps- EL 34 powered brutes) and THD 2X12 cab. It is a very, very simple signal path, but I always get tone compliments. Simple- keep your pedals to a minimum and let the amp's natural tones do most of the work- in conjunction with a good guitar, of course.
The Toxic just smokes with this old P-90...brash, gnarly, and with gobs of sustain. I can dial in crazy fuzz that is thick- not washed out sounding- and has real muscle, or with a lower setting and activating the treble boost in front, I can get very nice long sustaining tones, ala the violin. You can do early Zep to a Tee with this combination, but I was also able to tweak the three pedals and get the Mick Jones (Clash) sound as well...that is pretty far apart tonally, and the Toxic is very versatile. Oh, and it is very, very quiet...always nice, especially when using two boosters and a P-90 eqipped guitar!!

Sean at Lovepedal is a great guy and knows his stuff. I would rely on this as it is ruggedly built- housed in a cast MXR style box...bullet-proof. If there is a problem, I hear that he stands behind his work.

Never had a problem and I have owned mine for a while and use it at every gig/rehearsal.

Been playing 22 years, and still play semi-professionally. This is not the end all pedal, but nothing is. However, if you want a simple, hassle-free set-up with great TONE, I highly recommend this. It would work well with a good quality overdrive, booster etc. True bypass is essential if you want to dredge the most tone out of your rig. It has never made sense to me to spend thousands on getting a great guitar and rig and then blowing the sound to hell by filtering it through a series of $39 pedals...how stupid is that? Coversely, I think a lot of the so-called "boutique" builders are scammming the public as well. Come on, the Klon is not worth $350 and EVERYONE knows this, and there is no way in hell you can convince me that a Way Huge Red Llama is worth $400+...ridiulous. People, use your ears, not your eyes!! There are tones aplenty in the Toxic and it has a very good tone to it, it is well built, and not expensive. However, he is no longer building them so if you are lucky enough to find one, grab it. Probably will be recognised as a future classic. The LovePedal line is pretty darned good (although I could not stand the Fuzz 50...another story for another time).

It's got one knob, but is deceptively easy to use. It is very interactive with your guitar and amp settings, and I can equally see it sounding amazing or crappy with your setup, depending on what you bring to the table.

OK... I can only comment on how it sounds with MY setup. I use an Ibanez Artcore into a Fender HRD and Carmen Ghia. My gear is very unforgiving with most other things and I haven't found many things that want to play nice. The Toxic is the only distortion that seemed to fit right in with my setup. VERY Santana/Boogie esque sounds for lead work. I don't really care for how it sounds with complex chording and sub 5th fret work, but it is articulate throughtout the neck and in fairly complex chording. For what I want, it's perfect, but it's definately not an "all-in-one" affair.

I think I can depend on it. Opening it up revealed lots of black goop and no apparent circuit board. Nothing wrong with this, but I obviously couldn't repair it myself. I have no doubt that Sean would take care of me if something came up.

Very personable. A+ communication and shows a genuine interest in my questions.

This thing was dirt cheap new (cost of a Boss production pedal) and fills in a certain sonic need better than anything else I've tried. I'm not a huge distortion fan, but I love the swell and sustain this pedal brings to my lead tone.

There was only one knob, which controlled the output level and, I think, gain. Thought this outwardly appeared simple, it was a chore to tweak my rig to match the pedal, especially with higher gain sounds.

I use Schecter Elite Series Guitars and Vox Tonelab amp modelers run through full-range solid state amplification. I was disappointed to find that the soundclips that were formerly posted on the Tonefactor site were only reflective of how this pedal behaves with a Mesa Blue Angel or other high-end tube amp. I was able to get somewhat decent classic rock type sounds by rolling off the volume and tone of my guitars, but nothing quite as "dumble-iscious" as the aforementionend clips. It basically sounded like a decently modded ProCo Rat or Boss DS-1 with my rig ... and there was a great deal of RF interference when it was used in conjunction with higher gain sounds.

I ended up trading mty Toxic very soon after its purchase, so ... ?

Never had a need or desire to contact the builder.

Though certain soundclips made this pedal sound promising for a Dumble-type sound, it did not deliver with my rig. The absence of an LED was another issue that made this pedal less desirable. I am glad that I was able to trade it for another boutique pedal that was more to my liking.