Lovetone Doppelganger Phaser/Vibrato

Most of the things are stated in the reviews below already. At first you'll need about 30minutes of tweaking to figure the main things and to be ready to dial in what you are looking for. The depth not only adjusts the sweep broadness of the phaser but also drives the unit a bit harder, so a very slight and pleasant overdrives occures. You can also control the amount of resonance of the phasers filtering which makes it really versatile *in front* of an overdrive/dist. pedal (sounds like some sort of mild Wha whith the resonance further than 9 'o clock). However, normally you would patch it in almost as tthe last piece in your effect chain, to give your sound some depth and liveliness. All in all, after getting it to know, very easy to use, live and in studio.

It is extremely quite like all the Lovetone gear. In fact you can also use it as a studio effect device (I lent it to a friend of mine once who wanted to mangle his drum loops with it and was really pleased). For my guitar play I use it almost only in phaser mode, because it makes the guitar sound so much deeper, funkier and gives you that certain attack when playing clean to slightly overdriven, that lets you cut through without annoying everyone. Also - as stated above - it can dispend the need for a Wah sometimes if properly adjusted. I have it almost always on (though it's good to know that it has true bypass - but who needs it?) because you can turn it down to be almost unhearable - but when you switch it off you know that something important is missing. This pedal can take you from an very mild and lush deepening of your sound to some extremely bent sounds but you'll probably end up using it in the civilezed range even if you are into extreme sounds. I play everything from ultra-clean glass-funk to the most broken-up farting-kraut-rock to slow-riff industrial-waste metal... the Doppelganger is with me. For those of you who like comparisons: it has a much wider range of sounds than an MXR (my previous phaser pedal) and is more defined than an EH SmallStone.

Have it for about 8months now - and it did never let me down. However, the housing of the Lovetone Pedals is a bit strange - quite big and made of comparably thin welded steel. But most other effect pedals are made out of aluminum and therefore need to be thicker. Everybody else told me that Lovetone pedals are really reliable though they feel a bit like a big box full of air.

Vlad @ Lovetone is quite helpful and responded to all my emails within a few hours (!). He will also keep you informed about new products that are about to come and he even does not bother to ask after some months if you are satisfied with his product. I feel, they do care.

I'd buy it again. Its a secret behind a 'happening' tone, something that can juice your sound up without letting everybody know 'Now I have dialed in another effect!". If you are sometimes wondering why some recording always sounds a bit deeper and more powerful than you can get with your setup, chances are that they used an UniVibe or something similar - like the Doppelganger. I cannot confirm - like others did - that you can duplicate an UniVibe but who cares. Its great for funk, it works a treat in front of a good overtone-sensitive overdrive, it lends your guitar some of jimi's soul - what more can you expect? Well - you can always whish for more, can you?

I bought this pedal used from rudys music in NYC (rudys has some good stuff, but you will pay!!) after i had purchased a big cheese from Lovetone. at the time i purchased the cheese, Rudy's was no longer selling Lovetone (direct only), so the salesguy (no longer there) says, "ah what to you want the Dopp for? Go buy a biphase, its the same thing!!". Mind you a month earlier this same guy was extolling the virtues of all loovetone pedals and he uses them every night in his rig. I preface my review with this experience because: Lovetone pedals are NOT EASY TO USE. That is, its not easy to use relative to Boss or VooDoo Labs pedals (plug and play). It is, however, easy to get sounds out of this box that you wouldnt have ever known to ask from your basic stomp fare. That said, i dont want to see anybody ripping this pedal because they couldnt get that Kurt/one knob/chorus/Nirvana tone. You have quite a few options to play with, as there are two LFO's (HF & FH), speed and depth for each, a color knob which is kind of an EQ(??), CV input for rate control of each LFO, phase switch, and phase/chorus stompswitch. If i missed something, my bad, as i'm writing this at work from the top of my head.

If you havent gotten it already, this is another pedal that's not for "bedroom level"(?????) weekend warriors. Ive had this box for 2 years, and i find you get the full effect and full aubible benefit of this box with your amp set clean and turned up .this pedal has the ability to dirty your sound up all by itself, but again you need to turn up. Turning the color knob will clean up the tone if you want sparkly clean lines . If you really want distortion use a fuzz in front or behind (i use a Fulltone '69 pedal with a RMC 3 Custom wah in front of that). With a setup like this and the expression pedals hooked up (passive only!!), you can cop a pretty decent univibe phase/chorus or a cranked Magnatone vibrato. Currently i run this behind my Wobulator and sinc the speed to get a stereo vibrato sound. Each LFO modulates in its respective frequency, high freq and low freq. Its actually possible to comp a bass note at one speed and depth and fret high notes at another. This makes rhythm playing a real treat.

Ahh thats where these pedals shine. These boxes get used by me and my band. to get similar sounds i would have to break out the Bi-phase, the Uni-vibe and the Gretsch Tremofect. Granted each of these boxes probably does what it does better than the Dopp, but at a Jam or a Gig , you cant beat the sturdy construction, battery operation and the fact that theyre still made eases pedal theft. worries. Another thing is the controller option. If your expression pedal breaks - get another one. Try that with a Bi-Phase!!!!

Once again theres nothing "easy" about Lovetone. All thier pedals are made AND sold in England, which means you have to call overseas and order the pedal and arrange to be home for delivery, as sometimes the fed-ex guy will hit you for customs duty. And thats if you have a credit card ! If not, you have to convert your currency to punds sterling via bank check and send it registered mail and still arrange to be home for delivery with yet another 50 or so bucks just in case. I opted to pay the extra 40 dollars for fed ex just so i could track the package and schedule delivery, which took a day and a half. Regular air mail takes about a week. WHEW!!! But once you get the gear you're set, Vlad guarantees these pedals for a year and answers all e-mails himself. As yet, ive had no problems, but i sleep well knowing theres a person behind the product

Some people say i have gear aquisition syndrome, but i feel each effect has its own inegrity and soul. These boxes with the flip top and trippy/tasteful color scheme inspire me to play old songs in a different and better way. Also, knowing that i can leave the "good" stuff at home inspires my playing as well. If your one of those rare players that can actually play, these boxes wont stifle your playing style just because you like to play all six strings. I play and have some of the old EH chorus/phase boxes, and they "effect" my tone a tad much for soloing or anything other than chord vamping. With the Dopp your guitar tone actually gets through, so you can step out with that fast scalar run and not have a detuned, phased pile of junk single note tone. This box, as are the others ARE expensive ($400.00 new)but theyre even more EXPANSIVE!! Well that ends my first review for HC. Please email me if you want to talk about the other effects i have.

Well, this category is sort of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you've got control over so many parameters that you might think it difficult to dial in the sound in your head. You've got single- or dual-LFO operation, a rate knob for each LFO, a span knob for both high- and low-frequencies, a selector for in- or -out-of-phase LFOs, a footswitch for Phaser or Vibrato modes, etc etc. The reason I still give it a ten however, is that there is NO BAD SETTING. really, even if you dont immediately find the sound in your head, all the other noises you stumble across on your way there are so good you won't even care. this thing is SO DARN DEEP its sick!

Like all Lovetone stuff, the Dopp is dead quiet. The effects all sound fantastic, from the musical univibe imitation provided by the vibrato mode to the unbelievably thick swells of the phaser. The dopp is so maleable it can imitate the sounds of any of your favorite phasers- the deep, milky swells of the Small Stone, the watery sheen of the Phase 90, and literally anything in-between. Here's what im running in-line with it: PRS geet --> Teese RMC 3 wah --> Way Huge Saffron Squeeze compressor --> Z Vexx Fuzz Factory --> Fulltone Fulldrive II --> Way Huge Swollen Pickle fuzz --> Doppelganger --> Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man --> Carvin tube amp. It sounds awesome with all of these pedals, especially the fuzz factory (bizarre) and the memory man (i think analog delay sweetens up any pedal pretty much).

Ive heard LOVETONE stuff can be shaky, but its usually only when you receive it. I bought this pedal used and the first owner had no problems so I don't expect any either. still, I'll hold off on my rating for now.

LOVETONE are the greatest- they always replied to my e-mails the next day or earlier, theyre eager to please, and they deliver the goods. I really wish more people would buy their stuff and keep them in business. But i guess it's your loss- just don't complain when the company folds their stuff costs megabucks in a few years... I only wish I could have bought this pedal from them, but I'm a poor college student and I buy ALL of my gear second hand- it's the only way.

I can't believe how good this pedal is. I dreamed of owning a dopp ever since I first visited LOVETONEs web-site over a year ago. Believe me when I say I am not disappointed at all- in fact, it sounds better than I'd hoped, and that's saying a lot. LOVETONE stuff just blows me away- its expensive as hell but it basically packs in every feature you could ever want. For example, both the Meatball and the Dopp have "pedal facility", meaning you can hook up two passiv volume pedals to the in-jacks on the pedal itself and control parameters in real time! Think of the morphing capabilites this would entail with the dopp- your guitar could go from shimmering, hyperspeed phasing to megaslow, molasses tone with the sweep of your foot. My final thought is this: instead of spending $400 bucks on a beat up Polyphase or an early Bad Stone, buy some LOVETONE stuff. It's more reliable, noise-free, and simply ASTOUNDING. Alright, I've ranted long enough- if you've got the bucks, check the dopp out- you wont be disappointed. And if you've got one already and you see this, please send me any choice settings you've discovered, as I'm a little overwhelmed with all the options right now. thanks!

I was just checking over the reviews for this product, as I do periodically for all the guitar paraphanelia that I own. I was disappointed to notice that I still have the only review of this really great pedal. I also realized that I had mentioned a problem in the original, and had never written to speak of its resolution. What a jack-ass I am! After contacting Lovetone about the cut in the signal I was experiencing, they asked me a few questions about the wire connections. I checked them, and had a more knowledgable friend also check them. When I explained this to Lovetone, they told me to send it back. Ten days (if I recall correctly) later I had a new pedal that worked perfectly. I apologize for not posting sooner, and possible misrepresenting the company and their product. The people over at Lovetone are great. Also, let me emphasize that this remains the pride of my pedal arsenal. It is undoubtedly the most versatile, variable, harmonically rich, and trippy phasor I have ever dealt with. So while this may be a year late, thank you to Lovetone.

The Doppleganger is an analog phasor/vibrato unit that has two LFO's. You run them together or separately, in phase or inverted. The vibrato mode is supposedly similar to a uni-vibe (and, according to some reviews, better), but I've never really heard one. It is very subtle. We all know what a phasor sounds like, but this unit is absolutely trippy. Best of all, you absolutely cannot get a bad sound out of this baby. It is unearthly. I would give it a ten except there are so many possibilities- it has 6 knobs, 3 footswitches, and 2 switches- which obviously can get a little confusing. The manual's fairly basic, but in good humor and is pretty informative.

I can't describe the sounds you can get out of this thing- just believe me, it is crazy. Sometimes you forget it's on, because the sounds are so subtle, and sometimes it's so powerful it makes you dizzy. I run it through a crappy amp and guitar (it cost more than the two combined), but it still sounds fantastic. It is dead quiet. Even with everything juiced, you hear nothing when you are not playing, even with distortion.

Well, here's the problem. I just got it today, actually, and although I am in complete awe, it does have a bug. Sometimes when I hit the foot-switches, the sound cuts out, and I have to hit them a few more times to get it going.

I just contacted the company about the problem, and I expect them to be very helpful- they have been so far. It is warrantied for a year anyway.

Buy it again? God, yes. I realize the price is wicked, but it is worth it, and will be worth it in the future. By the way, it has inputs for a foot control for each LFO- which unearths so any possibilities. You never would need another phasor or chorus for that matter, because it can emulate that, too.