Lovetone Cheese Source

There is a decent learning curve, but once you read the manual (3 pages) a couple of times and noodle with the settings, you should have it down.

The Fuzz on this thing is excellent. I love on Cheese Mode when you take the Curds past Noon it gives this gated fuzz type effect. The overdrive is excellent as well. I use it with a Fender 75 RI Jazz and an Aguilar DB359 and GS212 Amp and Cab. It sounds amazing paired with the Lovetone Meatball and an Octaver in the Effects Loop of the Meatball.

Both the Overdrive and the Fuzz are top notch quality, and the fact that they are in the same box, makes it all the more better.

Built like a Tank.

I've spoken with Vlad many times, the Customer Support is Excellent.

If you like insane Fuzz and that classic 60's Overdrive then this pedal is for you. It's got great tone, and a lot of different options which make it very useful and versatile.

Really not that hard to use: this is two lovetone pedals in one: the brown source overdrive and the big cheese fuzz. The standard setup if you use both effects at once is big cheese into the brown source but there's a way to reverse the order so I guess a 7 is in order...also there's a bunch of tone settings for each effect that take some getting used to and dramatically (especially on the cheese side) change the overall tone and response of the pedal so it take a little getting used to but once you do it is a breeze to use. The manual is also very informative and even gives you some sample settings to try out.

The big cheese side is AMAZING!!! The tone settings are as follows: off gives you that classic fuzz face sound but with a bit more gain and way more output than a vintage fuzz face. Tone setting one sounds like a big muff-scooped and heavy as all hell with a tone of gain available. Tone setting two is like the fuzz face sound with the ablility to use the tone control (which is labeled hog-to-bee) which is great. Final tone setting is the cheese wedge which is somewhat simliar to the zvex fuzz factory gated, stuttering fuzz sound. Truning up the curds or gain control will make it more gated...really sounds truely sick and wicked and synth-like...amazing again. The brown source side is much more subtle. Has four tone settings as well (one of which is tone bypass) and the other three cut out low end successively. The brown source does not sound like a tube screamer...it's much less midrangely, warmer, and dirtyier...truely a unique effect. I wouldn't say it's great for clean boost or transparent overdrive, when you kick this thing on you can definately tell there's an effect but I have to say it is a really great sounding overdrive that just sounds gnarly...love it!

Seems well built and I love the flip open top to acess the battery...genious. However, this pedal is waaaayy expensive, especially when you consider that you're going to have to buy in english pounds and the current pound to usd exchange rate is pretty awful this pedal gets expensivve in a hurry-basically I'm babying the hell outta this thing so the reliability issue is somewhat negated.

Even though they're in England and I'm in America thier customer support is excellent. Vlad answered all my questions throughly and quickly...a realy pleasure delaing with this company.

Awesome pedal...I hear they aren't going to be made much longer. In fact I got a discounted one cause all they had left were "second" enclousures (btw, i can't find a scraach or scrrape anywhere on it!). So if you're thinking of getting one now is definately the time to do it! These pedals are rare, expensive, and collectors items and for a very good reason: they sound incredible and like nothing else. One of a kind!

i know i am supposed to be critical, but this thing sounds better than any pedal you own at any setting. i truly mean that. you will not find a more practical and better sounding pedal anywhere.

like i said before, sounds better than anyother pedal at any setting. this tool is capable of any sound, and it is easy to get there. new music or old, this just does it, but it really shines the brightest in helping you create your own tones. it is a very inspiring pedal that actually makes you a better player.

i do not mean to give all 10's, because i know that's cheesy (no pun intended), but if any product desrves it, it is this.

dan and vlad are the two most dedicated and caring guys in the business. i really cannot say enough about either of them.

if you are debating if the price is too high, i can understand. i can honestly say this is worth every single penny. i have quite the collection of fuzz, overdrive, and distortion pedals. i have been sarching for the perfect tones for years. as soon as i got this i sold all of my "irreplaceable" vintage and boutique pedals. if you want to know more, do not hesitate to e-mail me. myy2free@yahoo.com

I give this a 5 not because it's hard to use, but because it's infinite in it's capabilities...because of this, you have to spend time with it, you have to understand it...it's unlike any distortion pedal you will ever buy.

Easily a 10. The most layered, textured, distortion I've ever heard, a la My Bloody Valentine, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, or the most cutting tone, Franz Ferdinand, British Sea Power, Pixies. So many sounds on tap. It's more of a tool than a pedal.

Looks and sounds dependable. If you don't hit it with a sledgehammer you'll be fine.

I've spoke with Dan and Vlad a few times and they seem very straight and reasonable guys.

If you want very versatile distortion, from drippy, to layered, to buzz saw, to cutting through the mix, etc...without losing tone, then this is the pedal for you. It's hard to explain how good this is...it's really an amazing thing. I've searched long and hard for a special distortion sound that was interesting and big, but with identidy and character...I found it in this. They're very expensive, but if you want the best than it's not really an issue. I record a lot and play out a lot, it's unbeatable in a live situation and great in the studio, for guitar and bass.

For those unfamiliar with the Cheesesource, it's the Big Cheese and the Brown Source combined into one box while retaining all of their individuality.

On ease...It's a distortion pedal (or more specifically overdrive/fuzz). It's really not very complicated. Still, it's Lovetone which means there are a lot of capabilities built into this box. Read the manual...once should suffice on this one.

On the Source Side, you dial up overdrive and then tweak the gain to your satisfaction. The 3 numbered settings change the tone control's response so you can get a specifically tweaked sound but the "off" setting sounds great on its own.

The Cheese Side is only marginally more confusing and that's only because Vlad got clever on his labelling of the knobs. For the record...Curds is gain, Whey is output volume. The Hog/Bee knob is just another Tone control...Hog being low...etc. The settings are all useful. "Off" is a great, traditional fuzz with amazing balls. "1" gets into the metal realm of Iommi and the like by scooping mids and making the Tone sweep more bass and highs but less middle. "2" has a more middy sound that sounds great for leads or brighter ensemble work. "Swiss" (the cheese wedge) is UNHOLY but more on that next...

One more comment about use...you can use either side separately. This means that the 2 pedals are in fact recreated in one box. The Lovetone guys even included two inputs and outputs so that two separate signals could be routed and never have to be mixed. The surprise is that the main input is normalized through the Cheese so you can use both effects at the same time without extra cables...AND (in a stroke of genius), you can use the other left-over output as a stereo output just for kicks. With one extra cable, you can even reverse the routing to make the Source side push the Cheese (rather than the other way) making the Cheese even more sadistic. Talk about versatility.

Some general comments...this effect is:

1 - True Bypass - yes really...I've seen debate but the truth is in the wiring...
2 - Very configurable
3 - Beautiful on every setting I've dialed up

The Source Side on it's own is pretty tame. It sounds like a beautifully warm overdrive in the realm of Clapton's "Woman" tone. Still, it's one of the best overdrives I've ever heard. I'd put it right in line with Keeley modded TS-9's and the like except that this guy is more variable. It actually can get much nastier if you push it all the way and it does a better job preserving dynamics.

The Cheese side is unbelievable. It can sound like any distortion you can imagine (it can get a great DS-1 one sound without any of the hum or the tone sucking) and the different settings available are amazing. I tend to stick to the "off" mode because the rawness of it is excellent. There are so many harmonics in the sound (but only the right ones), you'll get lost in the tone. The metal setting (1) is huge and the middy (2) is crystal clear for what it is. The "Cheese Wedge" is truly ear-melting. There are few words that adequately describe what this setting does to the sound. Think slashed speaker cones pushed to the edge. If you back it off a bit, it's buzzy and harmonically saturated with nastiness. If you push it, it squelches out into oblivion. With the 4 positions on this pedal, you have everything you need in the world of nastiness.

Here's the part of the combo pedal that makes it better than the other two ever were...you can use the Brown Source to "tame" the Cheese side by smoothing it out and clearing up some of the crunch while simultaneously boosting the hell out of it making it a great kick for solo leads. I bring the Source side into an already Cheesed distortion to build into solos or get the extra punch when needed.

You can also reverse these guys which takes the Cheese into a grisly world of grotesque oddities (try driving the "1" setting with a crunchy Source setting...it's nearly Death Metal perfect but has the old-school heaviness to it that you haven't heard on any of the modern brutal records.)

Last bit...I use this in a rig for a sax. Yes, you read correctly. I wanted tone above all else. And it had to be crystal clear because I really like my tone. This thing is crystal clear when it needs to be and even when you go way out, it maintains the quality of the source signal impeccably.

For the curious...here's the set-up:

EHX Microsynth -> LT Meatball -> LT Cheesesource -> LT Doppelganger -> LT ?Flange -> EHX Memory Man

In other LT reviews, I've said the same thing so I'll keep this really short. It'll last. It's not built like a Boss but it's built to be used. Just don't go cracking walnuts or crushing beer cans with it and it should be fine.

Read my other LT reviews if you need more...the LT guys are beautiful cats hands down. Have faith and push these boxes to the limit.

I can only give this a 10. It's basically easy to use. It sounds incredible and you can trust it. If you need a crunch box that'll do anything you can cook up and that'll actually do all of it well, this is one that stands up to the hype. Also...good news...LT is making these again so if couldn't get one before, you haven't missed your window. Note...they're really expensive...so much so that I'm embarassed I paid that much - that said, I'd buy it again if it disappeared (I've insured the hell out of my rig though...).

Last bit: I know there are more LT users out there. If you have one of these monsters, e-mail me. I'd love to swap settings. There are so many noises lurking inside and I'm only one man. I need help hunting!

The simplicity of your average stompbox times two, with only volume gain, tone sweep, and tone voicing for each side, however the tones that come out depend a lot on how well you grasp the effect of the Cheese and the Source separately and how they interact with your setup, so I'll give it a 9.

My setup is a Peavey Predator (strat knock-off) or Carvin bass into homemade blackface spec Fender Showman. The cheese can get noisy, but hey its a fuzz, and sometimes thats what you're looking for. No extraneous noise from the source side.

Some may find the Source to be weak, if you're in to heavy distortion, as the effect is kind of subtle until the gain is at about 12 o'clock. For my purposes, the Source is spectacular, as it provides dirty coloration and girth (bass presence), while maintaining the presence of your original tone and that ever important touch sensitivity. It seems that, for a clean amp, you should not run it all the way up, as it sounds too effected and not "tubey" like it does at lower settings, however maybe this why some say they prefer it with an already dirty setup. Another plus is that, as Lovetone says, the Source responds quite well to filtering, so my wah, Lovetone Doppleganger and Meatball all sound very nice in combination with this side of the pedal.

The Cheese has long been part of my arsenal,(I sold my stand-alone Cheese to fund the purchase of the CS) and I can hardly say enough good stuff about it. The "Cheese" or "Wedge" setting is particularly sick and the other settings have strong points as well. I cannot compare this to other boutique fuzzes (e.g. zvex fuzz factory or way huge swollen pickle) as I have not heard them, but it certainly blows the socks off any fuzz ive heard, and I am guessing that none but the zvex can match the craziness of "Cheese" mode.

Being played together is where these pedals shine, as each provides something that the other lacks. The source adds the more girth and "soul" (brown sound) to the cheese, while the cheese allows for a butt-load of distortion to the point where if the're both on full on you get some of the most extreme (and yet still quality) sounds Ive heard, even though I have a super clean amp. BTW, this pedal has me thinking quite a bit about purchasing a low wattage class A amp, so I can get even dirtier with it.


P.S. Sounds awesome with bass, especially running both at once

I bought this new and Ive relied on my other Lovetone equipment in gig situations without a backup, even giving them some abuse here and there, so I would probably do the same with this. I'm the nervous type with stuff costing this much, so I think I will look into finding power spike protection for my power supply, but short of spilling liquid all over it, I think you'd have to try pretty hard to kill this thing. Nonetheless, I will be vigilant ...

Ahhhh, thank you Vlad (main customer contact) and Dan (chief designer), you guys have done it right!!! You deal directly with Vlad or (now) Dan whenever you deal with Lovetone. Many (including myself) have been a little nervous about damaging our precious Lovetones and being screwed, because even though they have a 1 year warranty on new purchases, they have sometimes come off as not interested in repairing used stuff and last year, they appeared to going away forever. In hindsight this is probably due to the fact that they were so busy for so long, running a small operation and all. Now there is Dinosaural, Dan's business which is dedicated to servicing Lovetone products, and so it would appear that even when Lovetone is gone there will be someone to service Lovetones. Yea!!!

My musical taste is ecclectic to the extreme. Bass is my primary instrument. Currently, my main gig is an acoustic bluegrass group, so I'm not using this much (that is, not at all) with that group. My other group that I work with occasionaly is very ecclectic and experimental. This is definitely a good match for that group as I can never get enough of different distortion sounds. If it were lost or stolen I would soil myself, as the chance of replacing it would be almost nil. I would think about replacing it if I could, maybe checking out the zvex fuzz factory before, but I dont think there's anything out there that does what the source does, as well as the source does, for my taste. IMHO this is like all other Lovetones in that it is a musical tool of the highest quality. Naturally, any effects can still get in the way of making music, but if Im going to be using effects, they will be Lovetone if I can help it. On that note, I must agree with the other reviewer who liked the Source side because it doesn't force a particular agenda on your sound, as its quite good at adding color while maintaining your sound, if thats what you want. I'll rate it a 9 because maybe, just maybe, you could find something that is a better value.