Lovetone Meatball

This effect is not for the bedroom guitar player, If your in a cover band also maybe not for you. More suited to experienced players who create their own music or who experiment in Guitar sound creation. You have to spend time with this effect to get what you want.

sound Quality is excellent is a warm sounding effect with analoge balls reading Earlier reviews its like Voting in an Election some people should not have a Vote, Anyone who gives the a 2 or 3 for sound Quality oviously does not have a clue about Guitar sound and Effects,The Meatball does Exacly what its designed to do and does it with Style.
Ps insert a Tube Screamer into the send and return jacks on the meatball for a ride of your life

No issues anyone who owns one will see the build quality inside perfection and hand build not Chinese mass produced Crap

Full support if needed at lovetone site but whats to go wrong with them

Well Built effect used by the pro s Radiohead and the Edge on Discoteque

Ease of use, forget it. This pedal presents a variety of knobs on the face and very little explanation on how to use them. I agree with the other reviewers saying this pedal is tailor-made for the tweaker. Even the idiot below, who defends it, can't practice what he preaches. READ THIS: You have to constantly turn knobs, this is gets in the way.

I will concede, when it is on, it sounds good, it takes a lot of time to get there. The manual sucks, if they had a website set up for sample settings it would do well.

Boostsy and Radiohead, thats about it for 'stars' These people have a lot of time and money to spend to get it just right. This is not me, you are expected to get it in one take, MAYBE two, then the show is over. Showing up to a gig with an unpredictable product is like showing up drunk to work. READ: Don't do it! The sound is great when it hits, but sometimes it can make bass bomb sounds, kind of like dropping a huge boulder into a water. Again, the numb skull below agrees, yet seems to forget, this is about OPINION not defense.

I have three amps I use regularly: Park 45 top mount, Bluetron and a Tweed deluxe. This covers all the territory I need. sometimes the Meatball did sound good but not in a live setting, sorry, you dropped the ball on this one Lovetone.

Yes, I could depend on it, but I would not take it out to a gig. First, set-ups and changeovers go fast, this pedal weighs me down, two, I am worried the flip-top may break. I would use it in a controlled environment but that is about it, reliability, I am not sure?!?

I bought it used and haven't called the company and now they don't sell anything...wonder why.

In the position I am in, I have to be able to cover a wide variety of musicals styles and quickly adapt to ever changing situations. I should have known better then to but this. I am going to break out an Electro Harmonix q-tron and go from there, it is a lot cheaper, sounds great and easily replaceable. There you go.

This is a rebuttal to the reviews nay-saying the pedal for being a boutique "investment piece" that no player would actually use...


First off...if the number of knobs scares you...don't buy the bloody pedal. It's complex. Get over it. It's really not that bad. Set the Sens. around 1/2 way up, get a low Attack and a higher Decay and you're golden. If it doesn't quite do it for you, adjust away...really subtle turns until you get used to it.

A traditional Auto Wah would be set in the Up position with a Low Band Pass and either a Hi-Mid or maybe a High setting.

...but honestly...don't buy this pedal if you only want a basic Auto Wah. Go get something cheaper and easier to use.

This thing sounds tremendous. It's thick, has a rich, wide sweep and seems to really nail all the sweet spots on my Tele (a Deluxe Reissue with humbuckers) when I'm chugging away.

And I use this pedal nightly...yes...on gigs in front of living audiences. It sits right in the middle of my pedal board with an expression pedal next to it to double as a wah when needed. Its not my favorite wah but its good enough that I won't take up more space on my board for another tone-sucker.

Sometimes I do have to reach down and tweak a knob but it's easy enough to make a change if you know how the damn thing works. Not to mention, move everything in moderation and you'll never be "losing your setting" on this. It's really not as complex as the black-ballers below are saying.

My only concern is that it can generate some ridiculous bass frequencies when set with high Color and Intensity settings. I don't think you'll blow anything up but it can get unpleasant and make all sorts of things buzz in your amp (and skull). As this is easily avoided, I'm not deducting points. Just turn it down a bit if you hear too much boom.

I've used it in live settings for 5 years now...no glitches, pops, crackles whatsoever. Just don't jump onto it and make sure to put it on a pedal board...not in a random bag of gear where everything (even the Boss pedals) gets mashed up.

And for Customer Service, call/e-mail Dan at Dinosaural.com. He's super nice (very direct but that's what I want...don't bullshit around on my dime!). He's a family man though and he does all the repairs himself so relax if he doesn't immediately drop his 3-year-old to work on your glitch.

He gets a 9 because he's a 1-man operation so you might have to show some patience.

As I said...this was a rebuttal because I don't dig people who don't do their research and end up bashing something they shouldn't have bought in the 1st place. I reviewed this pedal back several years ago (the review is a ways down) when most people were still pretty positive. Now that people are saying "it's a tweakers only box" and "no one would ever gig with this" I had to contradict and address what I'm reading.

Let me reiterate...don't get it if you don't like a lot of knobs. It has a lot of knobs and they actually do lots of things. If you're a set-it-and-forget-it kind of guy, there's cheaper and easier pedals out there for you. Hell...find a DOD 440 or a clone. There's only 2 knobs on that one and it sounds great (I know...I have an original which is great on bass rigs).

For my jazz and rock setups, this thing sounds great. Just make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.

As for value...if you're willing to pay this much for an Auto-wah, I'd like to think you want 2 things: Sound Quality and Flexibility. If you wanted a specific sound and you can spend $600+, go buy the original. Don't get someone else's crazy and innovative new design. Get the classic you wanted in the first place. Most of the reason you'll see so many on eBay is that investors bought these things like crazy back when the pedals were getting insane prices ($1000+). Can you blame 'em? I mean, come on...$1400 for a friggin' Flanger? Anyways, now that the boom's gone (probably for good), a lot of them a just trying to recoup their investment. Buy low...sell high...

If you want a Filter unit you can explore and treat like a unique and expressive instrument, this one fits the bill.

P.S.
If you really don't dig it, try a Moogerfooger Low Pass Filter, an Xotic Robotalk or a Frostwave Funk-a-duck. Those are all unique spins on envelope filters that are equally unique and sound great.

This thing is N-O-T easy to use. the manual if you can call it that is te biggest waste of a tree in the history of mankind. There are more knobs and seemingly meaningless settings that only a savant can appreciate (the idiot type) this pedal takes a degree in injuneering to figger out duh...

Well what can I say..sometimes it sounds like a cat getting let out of a plastic sack and other times like you left it in the water. Once...once I got a funky whaka-whaka sound...then I lost it, S%&#t terrible would be an upgrade, at least you can do something with terrible

Jury out, didnt have it too long, turned it around on Ebay, where you see all the old ones ha ha ha ha ha suckeeeer!!!

Seriously, I think it is built well, but tell me when is the last time you have seen one for sale that is not in 'mint' condition. there are NO GIGGING MUSICIANS using these things so at the end of the day it is really hard to tell how reliable they are.

yeah right, there is a reason these are 'sold out' too many complaints I would guess and a terrible used resale value. I called them once and the I think I got the wanker on a bad day, maybe his hand was numb...hummm

I am not one to slag on things needlessly, but really, think about all the hard earned cash you can throw away on just plain worthless items. If you want an envelope filter, look to EMMA or something moog, not lovetone...there is a reason these are no longer produced and it not for the company to get rich, good ideas, bad application keep looking.

There is definately a learning curve, but once you read the manual (5 pages) a couple of times and noodle with the settings, you'll have it down.

The tone of this thing is excellent. There are so many different tones you can coax from it it's really amazing. I love the funky sounds I'm getting. It's the best Envelope Filter I've ever had or tried.

It's built like a tank, i gig with it without a backup.

Vlad from Lovetone is amazing, I have spoke to him many times.

I use this for Funk/R&B type stuff. I get the great P-Funk type sounds and honestly, I just LOVE this pedal. Buy one, you won't be disappointed.

I bought a love Tone after reading the reviews here and doing a bit of research. the sounds on the web site are cool, but the one problem I had when I got it was to try and do it myself. This thing has more knobs than than a witch has warts on her nose, ugh...I got some good sounds out of it but it took me awhile, i haven't used it a lot out of my home because it take a lot of tweaking to make it fit in right. Like any effect thought oo much is a bad thing so I can't always turn it on and leave it on. THe manual was kind of sparse too. IT comes with a page to photo copy, thankfully, and I checked some forums out. there is a lot of info about these things, but you have to sift through a lot to get it right. Maybe some of the other reviewers are more adept at dealing witht his sort of thing, but I found it hard, like one other review said, "it probably suits the tweaker better than the player..." I agree here. I guess Radio head used one of these too, not sure.

I have some old marshalls and Fenders I play, pretty run of the mill type amps, nothing fancy here. I have a princeton reverb, a 2x12 bluesbreaker reissue, and a deluxe reverb. With the Fenders it sounded a bit bright so I had to make some adjustments. It hummed with my marshall, and was kind of loud background hum. I am not sure why this is, the only other pedal that had made this kind of hum was a visual sound jekyll and hyde distortion pedal with tons of gain.

The effects is either really weak or really strong. Again, I wish I could talk to other reviewers who said they got it to sound just right, I had a hard time with this. tiny, seemingly unimportant movements and the thing would go away, or come on too strong. The wah sounds were cool though but I have a pedal for that. There were helpful people of forums too. I hate to spend too much time surfing and not playing but I kind of had to to make it the most of it. kind of an expensive foray into the unknown.

I had the pedal for 3 months now and used it at home, so I guess it works well. I like the way it opens up with the top flipping up. Alos you have to use a power supply with it because it can drain a battery quick, and it farts out. One time I couldn't tell if it was on vecause I was confused by the knobs, I had to look at the photo copy, check the settings, then I finally figured out the battery was kaput. So I bought I power supply and this helped out a lot with the sound, I was surprised. IT looks built well, but the only thing I can compare it too is keeley effects which I love a lot. I think it has a sort of mass produced look combined with a few neat features. The design looks cool.

I have heard that the company is hit or miss. I didn't deal with them, as I think a lot of others haven't either. yet they still give them a '10' That I don't understand. SPeaking to someone on the phone about the product is far different than getting something done about it. I can't really rate this one, so I leave it blank

I like funk, soul, and blues, I thought it would fit in easier, but it was hard. I would like to actually see some one use this thing and take some notes or something. It was hard for me to use this pedal. I have a yellow yeehaw from Keeley, and a nova wah. I run this with a chorus and a leslie some and get some interesting sounds and textures. THe only problem is with the signal loss running through so many pedals. I bought it used on Ebay, and will probably end up selling it in the near future. I has a good resale so I am not too worried about loosing some hard earned dough on it. I wish the instruction had more explanantion or perhaps a book to go with it laid out in sections if you want to do this, try this... I love that it has a lot of knobs and at the same time wish it didn't have so many knobs. If it was loss or stolen I wouldn't get another one knowing what I know now. I see a lot of them on Ebay (all the time) so I would try to get it cheap there if you are considering to ty it out. My suspician is that the majority of people go through a similiar edperience, and sell it after awhile. I didn't have much to compare too direct I don't think there is much out there like it. GEts in the way for me, unless I am trying to record something and then lay it in somewhere, I had a hard time using it live. If you get one, good luck, and be prepared to spend some time with it. Hope this helps.

easy to get a standard auto wah sound. from there it's all experimentation. I have mine set with everything on full besides attack and decay set at minimum. that will get a variety of cool sounds. try playing harmonic chords and let them ring, u will get some wild sounds! switching from hi to mid hi filter gives you that funky sub bass that P-funk was born to play. as for dailing in specific tones (replicating your favorite bass players enevelope tones) it's all about patience with this pedal, because it is certainly worth it!
NOTE: this pedal is not for beginners or plug and play effects users. make sure that before you lay down the money you ahve the patience to work with this pedal. it is an instrument in itself!

I use this pedal with a Modulus Quantum 4 and a Yorkville Bassman 100w, and this thing blows away everyone i play for! It is totally silent and always sounds fantastic. As the manual says it generates serious sub-bass tones so you need an amp with at least 100w. I use this thing to get the sounds of Mike Gordon from Phish and i have successfully replicated the Down With Disease bass line and the Free bass solo down to the exact tones! I have put my friends EH Big Muff through this and it wails! Be careful when putting an octave opedal through the effects loop as even more sub-bass is generated to the point that it could blow out a cheap amp

this thing is light, but could take a beating! i have gigged with this thing tons of times, but keep it far away from drunken audience members! you never know when some guy will take a dive right on to your effects rig!

when i ordered my Meatball, i spoke to Dan Coggins of Dinosaural. he is both friendly and helpful! i asked him a number of questions before ordering the pedal and he was happy to answer everything in detail without going on forever. if i ever run into a problem with this pedal (which is highly doubtful) i know i can count on him!

i play mostly funk fusion, lots of phish, improvisational jazz and this thing never stops amazing me! the price was steep, but when you demand the best, you pay for it! if this thing were stolen i would cry, and then go buy another! i ahve been playing bass intensively for five years and it compliments my Modulus perfectly. bottom line: if you ever have the money in your hands, hand it over to Lovetone and prepare to be amazed!

I don't understand why so many people give it so low ratings here. I admit, it's complicated, there are a lot of knobs to turn, but the manual is VERY HELPFUL so it's not that difficult to get a good (read: great!!) sound out of it.

the best thing to do in my opinion is to choose the settings for the filter section first, and after that you can mess with the trigger section settings.

keep in mind that the trigger up/down switch is the most important feature of the unit, as it let's you choose between the only two sounds which are fundamentally different.

keep a notebook - this might be very helpful

the sound quality in one word: pristine!!! it really is amazing and it became one of the most important effects in my rig.

I use various guitars (5 to be exact - humbucker and single coil)and two custom made amps. the meatball sounds great with every guitar and amp but sounds different with every guitar and amp- just the way I like it.

it's absloutely not noisy and you can match it with every other effect (ocatve, fuzz, delay, distortion,...) to get great sounds, sometimes very weird sounds.

to the people who gave it low ratings here: sorry but I don't agree. I think you need to spend more time exploring the effect. since this thing produces so many sounds it is equally easy to get good sounds as to get bad sounds out of it. with bad sounds I mean: over the top. sometimes this can be cool but most of the times it's not. the key to the solution is the colour knob: adjust it so that the effect get's just a bit more subtle, just not to much (it may produce a lot of bass on some settings and the colour knob takes care of that). Now this effect really shines!!! it makes my sound so much warmer, so much better

keep in mind: you master the effect, don't let the effect master you

it does not look so heavy as a boss for example but it really is reliable, so you can definitely depend on it. I have used it on stage during tours and i never had a problem with it.

since this is such a pricey effect (and such an important effect for my rig) I become automatically more careful. the better for me I guess

Dan Coggins really is a nice guy. Talked to me on the phone like I was a friend, answered my questions, but never became pushy.

a very warm guy indeed

I play funk, jazz and different genres of rock. this effect suits funk and rock (because it ROCKS!!!!!!) and I can find a place for it during jazz sessions, then I get special sounds but the rest of the band seems to like them so that's ok.

I have been playing for 12 years and now I'm a jazz student (3rd year).

What I love about it? everything!!! especially the effects loop and the blend knob (you don't find this two features on other effects very often)

before I bought it, I did a lot of research on harmony-central. but now that I have it and used it I don't regret a thing!

This is a Envelope Filter with a brace of knobs, switches and various jack sockets. These are detaled later and I cannot be bothered to type them twice.

Basically this pedal will work as a lo pass, band pass or hi pass filter. The envelope can be bypassed so it will work as a static filter. This can be tweaked via the resonance control or an expression pedal for 'DJ' type effects. There is an effects loop so that whatever is in the loop is filtered as well as being engaged via the Meatball bypass switch.

It is not easy to use and there is a basic set up point which you do need to use rather than aimlessly sweeping knobs wondering why it doesnt make any wah noises. Here it is

Sens-max
Attack-min
Decay-max
Colour-max
Intens-max
Blend-*

Trigger-'up' and 'full'
Filter-either of the 'dots' and 'lo pass'(right).

NB the three position 'pass' switch has wavy lines instead of letters. Left to right it's hi pass, band pass, hi pass and no wlook at the hierglyphics, it should make sense.

This setting will give you a start point. Now try adjusting the attack and decay and see (hear) what happens. Set them back to the start point and now adust the Hi. . Lo switch, the hi/band/lo switch and the up down switch. You should get an idea of what switch and what each combination of switches does. To get more subtle filtering set the unit back to the start and adjust the colour and intensity knobs also try the 'off' position on the filter.

Now to the jack sockets. Pedal 1 and 2 adjust the decay and intensity via an expression pedal (I have not used this function so no comment). The R-FX Loop-S jacks are the FX Loop (suprise) sockets. You can stick any effect in here and control/process it or them. I personally prefer a delay in the loop, so we'll deal with that.

With a DD3 in the loop you get subtle progressive filtering of the echoes. For example if you set a long delay with high feedback each repeat gets darker in 'up' and brighter in 'down'. Also if you play a note, let it be filtered and play another note the original notes are filtered again.

Final comment in this section. The manual suggests that the unit be powered via a mains adapter and that you try 12v even though the pedal should only recieve 9v. Also please note that earlier models have a 9v+ 3.5mm jack whilst later ones have a 9v - tip 'Boss' type adapter. The current Dinosaural ones are - tip and my 1994 model is = tip. I dont know when the change occurred. I broke my generic adapter and I'll have to get a converter for my One Spot.

It is a difficult pedal to get to grips with and I had to get help from 'Stompboxman' and 'Bieke'-thanks.

The Meatball is capable of some very extreme effects as well as making a digital delay sound 'analoguelike'. It's not exact, I do have an analogue delay, anyway.

With the decay on max it's almost like a phaser. It comes into it's own when blended with other effects, either in the loop or not. If you thought a Fuzz Factory was extreme, run it into a Meatball.

The switch sometimes doesnt operate, I'll have to get it looked at when I started playing live again. It's 11 years old so no warranty.

Have not contacted them.

I bought this as it was a good price and I know I can shift it without taking a bath. As a home recordist, there's so much you can do with it that I'll probably hang on to it.

It will probably suit a tweaker rather than a live player. Who wants t pay $500 to use it twice?

Well its a pedal how hard is it. Coming from someone who uses a lot of pro gear this is a doddle once u get your head into it. So fun to use!!

Absolutley amazing. Forget the review below this thing is the best envelope filter ever, that is why so many great top acts use it. IMO thisthing has changed the way I view tone shaping for life. It sounds sbsolutley incredible and needs to be heard to be believed. I think the guy ];s review below is poor because he doesn't want anyone else to buy it knowing how good it sounds...Well buy one and you'll see why i'm sticking up for it!!

Soild as a tank....gigged and gigged again

have never had to use then which shows how great this thing really is

Amazing...go out and buy one at whatever price you can get...these will soon be even more rarer than they are and people will be selling them for twice as much. Considering theres not that many made in the first place

My personal experience with the Meatball Envelope filter. First, I find it appropriately named as this pedal is very complicated to use and is nearly impossible for gigs, being better suited for studio work. This was somewhat frustrating for me. The owners manual did not offer much help either. I will give them points for including a blank settings page to photocopy for documentation. I bought this pedal after reading the glowing reviews and expecting to invest time figuring it all out. For the working musician on time constraints and budgets, I find this pedal difficult to incorporate in a timely manner to live seetings. I will take away any high marks here.

I use lower powered amps (10-20 watts) Siegmund Midnight Special, Marshall Lead and Bass 20, various Fender Tweeds, with almost exclusively single coil pickup guitars, Strats, Teles, Hamer with P-90's. There is some low band frequency that comes through with this, but nothing too bad. The effect is not noisy at all, but as I mentioned earlier, it is very unpredictable making it difficult to use for live settings, which was what I mistakenly bought it for originally. For the life of me I have yet to reproduce the sounds of where it was supposedly used by my 'favorite artist'. I have to give it low points here as well. I have several other effects I can use in place of this and achieve better more reproducible AND predictable results. I have gone back to my regular wah, a fixed wah, tremolo, reverb set up. I have a lot more options with this and more real world application here. I wanted to like this pedal but so far have found it a very expensive lesson learned. I my opinion this effect is better suited for the bedroom guitarist or Doctor (you know who you are) who fancys himself or herself a guitar player and has a lot of time (and money) to fool around with and get some wacked out sounds. I don't want to sound like sour grapes here, I would recommend anyone considering this effect, to seriously think about putting your money elsewhere, unless you already have it all and feel the need to spend a ridiculous amount of money and buy into the hype (I fall in the latter category) Another gripe I have with this pedal is that it doesn't seem to sit well in my chain having tried it in a few different positions in my set up. It isn't all bad, when it does sound good it is really good, but those moments are too few and far between with the Lovetone Meatball. I mean no disrespect to any other person reviewing here, I can't help but think that some people feel compelled to give this pedal a high rating simply for the fact that it was so expensive. I am being honest here.

Hmmm...well in terms of construction and build quality it appears sturdy. The chassis has a unique way of opening which makes access a snap; It folds up like a rag top. I would however not use this for live playing situations for two reasons: the first being the high cost factor and the second being too unpredictable. I find it would even be difficult to make the same mistake twice with this pedal. I also have this fear of having something being spilled on it and we all know how water and electricity mix...

I spoke with the owner on the phone several times, Daniel Coggins I believe his name is, and although he was pleasant and friendly on the phone he did seem to have an as a matter of fact attitude. I will stick to these facts: I have not had the pedal serviced and nothing has gone wrong with it to date.

I guess this is where I sum all this up...We play blues, funk, swing stuff and I like to have fun with effects to try an mix it up a bit. Had this pedal been more predictable, I think I would have found a place for it, but as is, it was nearly useless for my intended application. I have been playing for nearly 20 years and have been through more equipment than I can remember. As I age, I am slowly finding my needs becoming more and more simple. Occasionally I do splurge on something nice and this was one of those times. The most disapointing part for me on this pedal was the difficulty to get it in a place where I could find myself less worried about what the pedal was going to do and instead focusing more on my tone and and playing. If it were lost or stolen I would be grateful and file an insurance claim. I chose it based on the positive reviews here, but a part of me can't help but think that a large portion of the reviews here (for the Lovetone pedal) are from people who spend their playing time in the bedroom with their expensive equipment that they will later sell in 'mint' condition after the novelty has worn off. When you check Ebay, you will find a lot of Lovetone pedals for sale commanding stupid amounts of money for investment purposes. Ask yourself: If they were All That, would people be selling them to make a buck on? Most working musicans know, when you get something truly stellar it would take an act of God to get them to let go of it. For me this is a bad sign as these pedals will get rarely used in the public and be relegated to boxes for the next sap to spend too much money on something he thinks he needs. I have only bought effects from two sources up until this one: analogman and keeley, and they have lived up to my hard earned dollars spent on them. If you are truly considering a Lovetone pedal for your set up, think twice brother on how much money you will be putting out. On the plus side, it has a good resale, and I think this is why you see so many of them being recycled on Ebay and the like. If I could get a refund I would take it in a heart beat and never look back. Anyone want to buy a Lovetone?

As with all of Lovetone's pedals, the Meatball can be a bit intimidating. It has 10 different knobs that can each radically alter the sound you're getting. On the other hand, it is quite easy to get a good sound out of after you've given it a few days of practice. On a box this complicated, the best thing is to treat it like another instrument rather than just a tone enhancer. It needs practice and a period of time to gain familiarity with it to be really tweakable.

A few insights about the pedal...
The "Sensitivity" knob is probably going to be your source of the most frustration. It is extremely sensitive allowing for just about any signal level to drive this unit (huge plus for my situation). The trick is that you have to find a sweet spot where the unit will sound best for whatever noise you're currently making. They give you a pretty big band to work with but you'll hear the effect really clear and controlled when you find just the right spot.

The Attack and Decay knobs need to be used in tandem. The general rule of thumb (in the Up position...) is the higher the Attack, the
even higher the Decay. This is to avoid having the effect decay before the filter kicks in...you won't hear anything but filtering if you set it like the decay to low or the attack to high.

The other 3 knobs are easy and obvious. Colour and Intensity add different characters to the filter sweep...I believe Colour is affecting the width of the sweep and Intensity is affecting the tone but I think theres some big time overlap. I like 'em both cranked on guitar but I like the Intensity at about halfway for my horn setup. Blend is exactly that.

The chicken-head knobs all select the main features of the filter. You can select the type of filter pass (High, Band, or Mid), you can set the range (High, Mid High, Mid Low, Low...). There is a switch for determining the overall width of the filter sweep or even disabling it so that the MB only filters your tone.

The most unique knob on this filter is the Up/Down setting. This lets you flip the direction of the sweep. I know there are a few filters out there that can do this now (and I'm sure they got the idea from the MB) but know that this is the designer original as far as I'm concerned and it is unmatched in sound on this setting.

The manual is a must read. It's confusing in places so take some time with it and be willing to reread it for new insights. The LT guys were nice enough to include a couple of settings to get you starting greatly adding to the ease of use.

This is the king of envelope filters. I've played through a Mu-Tron (which admittedly is fantastic), I've used many digital pieces of junk...The Meatball is the king. The only other filter I like this much is the Moogerfooger which has an amazing sound and flexibility but sounds too analog-synthy for my personal taste.

I use this pedal in a rig with a saxophone setup and a guitar setup depending on the night and gig. It took a lot of playing to get the sound working with the saxophone (had to turn the Sens way down and the Intensity to 12o'clock just to get a good sense of the effect). The guitar was easy. It puts you in the heart of funkland instantly - you'll be able to walk with Bootsy in P-Funk territory within seconds of using it.

If you're into trippier effects can find those with longer decay times and different positions of Attack, Up/Down, and the filter pass and range switches.

Know that U2, Radiohead, Beastie Boys, Bootsy Collins, Sonic Youth, King Crimson...etc all use this pedal. You'll be in good company.

As far as sound quality, this is tops. It doesn't affect my tone at all when bypassed. I don't know if it's true bypass or not but it doesn't matter. It goes away completely when off and induces insanity when on. Exactly what I like.

I say this about all of the LT pedals but here goes again...it's built to last. It's not an MXR or Boss tank but it's well housed and sturdy. You won't have to worry about anything except theft!

The guys are tops. Dan and Vlad love what they do and take care of their customers. You'll get as much support as you need.

I play a mix of Jazz, Jam, Indie Rock, Funk, Fusion, and Blues (not all at once...I just work with a lot of different groups). I can safely say that the MB would be in every rig except for the most reserved of jazz clubs. It works so well with my sax rig, I could get away with just this and a good delay unit (I use an EHX Memory Man). It's so versatile, I don't need anything else to shape my tone. That being said, I've become obsessed with Lovetone. Here's my rig:

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

The rig isn't noisy in the least (though the length of the chain does eat a bit...) and the LT's always give audience members bulging eyes of wonder when I kick 'em on.

If you can afford these guys, do it (price omitted out of mild embarrassment). You won't be sorry and you'll tweak your way into sonic heaven.

P.S. All you Lovetone guys out there...E-mail me and we can talk settings and such nonsense. You know how confusing and adjustable these guys are. I'd love to exchange insights!

The manual for this is pretty good and straight-forward, however this isn't the "easiest" pedal to use just because its so SENSITIVE. To me, this isn't a bad thing; it just takes a little patience. Chances are an over-the-top setting for one guitar would be perfect for another.

This thing either sounds sickeningly wonderful or sounds like crap, but this isn't the pedal's fault. Again, this thing is so sensitive, which is nice, because it will react differently to humbuckers as opposed to single coils. Actually, I have three strats, and the meatball sounds differently for each one...now throw a les paul or hallow body electric into the mix. the only thing i don't like so far (and maybe i'll find a way around this), is that there is still a hint of "band pass" bleeding through the "low pass" settings.

very dependable.

i can't afford a back up, so whether i gig with it or not depends on alot of external factors.

I've never had a problem with any lovetone products, but I've spoken with Vlad from lovetone, and he's a pretty cool guy, and has some interesting ideas (anybody try this pedal with a pedal steel?).

To be honest, I've had this pedal for nearly three years, and I feel I've only scratched the surface. There are so many applications of this pedal, not only solo, but in conjunction with other effects/instruments/studio applications that make the meatball an aural playground. While I mostly use this for R&B and rock guitar applications, you can use this in many other ways. I first heard this pedal used on U2's POP album, specifically the songs "Discotheque" and "Please". These are good examples of how you can get both beautiful and nasty sounds within the context of a band.

A couple of recommendations:
1) Plug the Lovetone Big Cheese (on the "Cheese" setting) into the FX loop of the meatball. You'll get sounds so dirty you'll have to take a shower and/or go to confession.
2) Keep some kind of notes with this pedal. Whether its a notebook or photocopies or the pedal diagram from the owner's manual, you'll want to remember the precise settings, especially for gigging.

Lastly, approach this pedal as another instrument, not simply a generic stompbox. The Meatball is very sensitive and really has its own personality. In other words, you have to learn how to use it.

umm.well, first off- i had the manual. but considering how much homework i did on this pedal before i got it, it didn't help a whole lot in the sound department. though i loved the specifics when it came to a power supply-it's got 9 or 12 volts(12 for more headroom), uses anywhere from 200ma to 1.5 amps and it's got a positive tip.
you can get everything you need at your local radio shack. (unlike a whammy 1 power supply).like i said, i did such extensive reading and homework on this pedal i felt like i already knew how to use it when i got it. i had it in ten minutes. granted, there are HUNDREDS of different sounds you can make with this thing. i certainly thought the manual helped. but after i plugged it in,i found exactly what i wanted almost right away.

JEEEEz. there's nothing you could give this thing but a 10. whoever said this box is a tone machine hit the nail on the head. it's the warmest sound i've ever heard. the mutron 3 for some reason did not impress me that much. maybe i need to give it another shot, but there's no way it could stand up to the 'ball. this pedal having it's own fx loop-holy crap! not to mention(for you guys with no manuals)that you can use a passive volume pedal like an ernie ball as an expression pedal through the pedal 1 and 2 jacks. outside triggering? check out these freakin- options! i've never heard anything like it. utterly ridiculous. i love it. get those awesome mars volta sounds if you roll back the blend knob to about 48%. i use it with a triple rec. gotta watch it though, this thing creates such sub bass that it could blow your shit! sounds great clean. doesn't even sound clean anymore by the time the meatball gets through with your signal! and whoever said this earlier was right, too. however you tweak the pots, it sounds the bomb!

i think you could totally depend on it. would i gig it without a backup? i probably won't gig it at all! not after paying half a g for it! besides, my mentor got a knob snapped off his mutron 3 by a drunken crowd surfer that did a torso plant on his whole fucking pedal board! if you can break a knob off a mutron, uh uh. i trust the pedal. i don't trust the freaking miscarriages galavanting around breaking my expensive ass shit!

couldn't tell you, they have been MIA for awhile now. but i hear these guys are genuinely professional.

as far as i'm concerned this is the best pedal ever. anything this controllable that sounds so amazing is just not natural. vlad must have sold his soul to make this thing. a 10! a 10!

Can sometimes be a struggle to get the sound you're looking for. A basic understanding of synthesis certainly helps while trying to figure out the controls and how they interact. Can be quite difficult to quickly recall settings in a live situation, but this is to be expected due to the complexity of the controls

Very smooth analogue filter section but can sound fierce when pushed. Capable of generating some amazing sounds and a few interesting stinkers too. I originally used it for bass guitar but I now use it as a synthesizer module. It is very versitile in this role due to its generous external control sockets

Had it for a couple of years and gigged it heavily before it developed intermitent faults. Not realy suitable for workhorse duties. A smaller, simpler and more rugged unit for stomp box use may be more practical, though probably at the expense of sound quality. I have retired mine to studio duties

Fairly good during sales and delivery. However, tried to contact Lovetone by post once and e-mail a few times concerning repair of my meatball but didn't recieve any reply.

Generally I think the Meatball is a very good sounding, versitle and quirky machine. Although it is well built, it is perhaps not rugged enough to be used as an onstage stompbox, as the foot switch would suggest. But I'm a clumsy sod with big feet

I got this pedal used with no manual, and it took me a good hour or two to get the hang of it. Now I have some settings that I like, mainly straght ahead "wah" type, either slow or fast and "quacky". Took some work but it does make sense after a little while. I do hope to get a manual from Vlad soon just to learn about the Pedal1 and Pedal2 jacks and anything else I'm missing.

Wonderful sound! I have owned 2 DOD FX25s and an EH Qtron+, and tried many others, and this is by far the best envelope filter on earth! Very clean bypass, which is critical to me as a bass player since it's off 98% of the time. I've used it with lots of different amps including my main SWR Redhead, basses include my Sadowsky 5, Warwick 5, and several cheapie P-basses and it's shined with them all. On the floor I run a Trace Elliot compressor and I've just added an EBS Octabass, and they both work very nicely with the Ball. The effect is quite funky or crazy or whatever you want it to be. I found out after getting the pedal that Mike Gordon from Phish uses one of these and I can see why. I've easily been able to dial in some of the sounds he uses and well as playing with my own settings.

I did bring the FX25 to gigs as a backup the first few months, but I stopped bothering. Certainly I could get through the night without envelope filtration, I've had worse problems on stage! :) I did have to clean all the pots and switches several times when I got it as some of them were quite scratchy. Since then it has been perfect, though, and seems well built. I have no idea what kind of abuse it took from its previous owner, so I feel it deserves a 7.

Vlad seems kind of hit or miss. I tried to get a manual from him when I first got the pedal, and now about 6 months later I'm trying again with more sucess.

I have to give this a 10. It's the best envelope filter ever made! The learning curve may be steep, but for a reasonably intelligent person it's quite easy to get amazing standard envelope filter "wah" sounds as well as 1000s of other effects.

ouah quite hard i was too ready to ship back cause it was a second hand one and it came without any manual . So it take me hours of tweaking , i also own a ringstinger and use to think i could use all lovetone but a manual is quite indispensable even for a french guy , so if someone feel like email me one it ll be a blessing .

can make all enveloppe filter type plus many more but i m on the beginning of my sound journey , it s a perfect choice for someone like me who play in a funk band and in a drumbass band this unit can go quick on the edge or can shape ur sound dimensionnal .i haven t find the good pedal to put in the loop . fun fun fun but not feet evry style .

no problem i have torture my other lovetone and she still do what she want to . fichu caractere ces pedales.

second hand but i repeat if someone can email me the manual i ll be glad . thank lovetone owner support

i play for twelve years and i m building my dream pedalboard slowly cause it s hard to find a good pedal in france . so i bought on the web witout knowing the sound but my nose seems to work this one ll stay in the final pdlbrd,next to the ringsting the keeley comp a talkbox , a teese wha . vlume,baked ts 9. rotospher.moog phaser..i plug in a benson a tele and a luke . i was looking for an envelop filter cause the mutron the tube ziper i tried didn t convince me. this one does

I give it an 8 because no matter how you tweak the knobs, it sounds like the bomb!!! anyway, it's not easy at all at first, but once you figure it out it's not a problem to get a specific sound.

the bomb

a tank

i had read that the company had stopped making pedals, but was still available for assistance.....I emailed them 10000 times to ask a couple questions, and they never got back to me....i dont know if they're dead or they dont like my email address.....

the only thing I would change about this pedal - and the whole lovetone collection - is the sensitivity of the knobs....if you turn one knob of 1mm, it's virtually impossible to get the same sound that you had before you tweaked it....but it doesnt matter, cos as i said, no matter where the knobs are, the sound is the bomb!!!!

Lots of knobs and switches.
It comes with time, after a year or so with playing with it I have found quite a few odd sounds, but unfortunately only two usable ones in the spectrum of music I'm playing. Still very fun to mess with.
The manual is a good starting point.
I am posting this as a up date to my Badly spelled, punctuated and written review from about a year ago (look down the reviews). I am a bit more experienced now and have come to realize how hard it is to use filters, phasers and flanges practically instead of just devises to make silly noises. This may be just me and the type of music I play (strait ahead rock).

Very good. Everytime I use it sounds great.
It is true bypass. I don't like using pedals that once disengaged u can still hear the effect in the background (Boss sd-1, EH small stone US reissue-still a good units when on). I don't have to worry with this unit. I always expect some tone loss with a pedal when turned off (JD crybaby, lovetone big cheese- still good units), it does not bother me, but there is no tone loss with this pedal. There is no hum or buzz either.

Very cool slimy wah noises, rubbery quacks, speaker killing sub bass throbs, when put into the down trigger mode you can get some noises that sound like you guitar is being pulled into a black hole!

Over all some very odd sounds, some very funky sounds but not that many practical sounds for live playing if you are in a strait forward rock band IMO, more a studio/bedroom effect.

The amp I use with it is a Ampeg ss-70 the guitar is a USA fender natural ash stratocaster

Skip if Bored by gear lists

My gear has changed since I wrote my last review, I don't use a Nashville Tele, and never have, I wrote it the week before I went to get a new guitar. I had my heart set on the Nash Tele but when I got into the shop, I saw a beautiful USA natural ash Strat, and got that instead, it is a superior guitar in every way. I have the custom Tele still; it has now been dubbed the Turd. The Amp is the same, Ampeg ss-70. The pedals have changed quite a bit. I still have all units from a year ago (a wah, a rat, a sd1 overdrive, voodoo labs trem, big danelectro delay unit, the 4 lovetone,Meat,Wob,Big C, brown S) but I have bought a shit load more, half I don't use:
Boss: comp/sus, flange, dd3 delay, eq, chorus, tuner and an EH small stone.
But I only ever use the Rat and 4 boss units live; I never use the lovetone units out of my room. Here is my live set up.

Fender Strat-the RAT-Boss ce-5 chorus-Boss dd3 delay-boss ge7 EQ-boss tu-2 Tuner pedal-AMP

I like to keep it simple but it sounds quite good, hope to get a fender twin and a Gibson les Paul soon, it is all a case of money, I only work at the weekends I'm still at college. Soon I will have a very good setup. It pays to get the best, which is why I got lovetone.

Good, like I said I only ever use it in my room so there is never any real danger of it breaking. If I gigged with it I would have to keep it on a board for fear of it being kicked, stood on and generally molested by careless suckers who cant look where they are going.
Over all very well built. I have never had a real problem; the only thing is the switch sometimes gives out a pop, probably because it is dusty.
I would use it with out a backup for two reasons
1) I doubt it would go wrong
2) I could not afford another

Vlad is always helpful, friendly and professional. Even with my stupid questions. Responds to e-mails quickly. Because all their pedals are so reliable I have no experience with repairs. Probably good.

A great pedal, my fav bedroom unit by far, followed by the other three lovetones. I can't find the right place for it in my band setup but I can live with that. When making up riffs it is really fun because it makes you think in a whole new (funky) way.
If you were in a funk/experimental group this pedal would be perfect; anyone else might have trouble using it for anything but a specialty sound.
With pedals I am always thinking 'could I ever really use it?' if I was in a funk band, yeah, but as I am not... no.
But it is still my favorite pedal.

The pedal was attractive to me in the begining because of all of the perameters. The pedal has an extremely slow decay so you can get the swirling swooshies after the note decays. You can also take the pedal off trigger mode and use it as a filter. Too bad it sounds so thin.

I own a qtron, mutron 3 and a Ibanez 201. The meatball by far has the most knobs looks the best and is anything but meaty. Compared to the mutron and the ibanez this pedal sounds like aluminum. I am a tone vintage pedal freak, I shelled 400.00 for the pedal and tried to force myself to like it. It reminds me of a extremely controllable DOD pedal.

My overall rating is not a 1 because I think the pedal was made well. It is way overpriced and sounds thin. Anybody wanting a filter should check out the time tested mutron 3 and the ibanez 201, or if you can find one the original seamoon funk machine.Ohh yea check out frostwave.com they have an envelope filter modeled after the ms-20 filter for 180.00.

Well, like the rest of the Lovetone stuff, this is no walk in the park, but if you read the manual and start off with one of the sample settings, you can wander from there and find yourself in some very strange places.

I use an '88 PRS Custom 24 and a '74 Telecaster Deluxe (2 humbuckers) through a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Combo. This thing is just plain old bad ass. It sounds so lush, and I can get some very percussive sound with the trigger set on the down setting, it just thumps when I strike the lower strings on my guitar. When the decay is set at really long and you have some delay going, it just gets mad. I love it. This thing is not noisy at all. The effect level can be set with the blend knob, and full on it just sounds so funky. You can do the Radiohead thing perfectly with this, now I know how they do even more of their crazy noise-making.

So far this thing has had no problems, but I have the Lovetone ? Flange pedal and I'm having difficulty with it cutting my guitar signal periodically when I step on either of the three switches. That makes me worried about this thing. I'd bring a backup if I could afford it.

On the subject of the broken flange pedal, Vlad has never responded to me about getting it fixed. I have probably e-mailed him 6 times since November, and I've never heard back from him. I have no idea where I'm going to get this thing worked on, even the most skilled pedal repairmen I know are hesitant to work on this thing.

I will probably never play guitar without this thing in my signal chain, simple as that. Nothing out there sounds close to this. The Lovetone stuff is just over the edge, and it is ridiculous that they are not making these things anymore, totally ridiculous.

It's not easy to use. Simple as that. Best bet, Start with the settings in the manual and work from there. I didn't and spent an entire day trying to figure out why NO sound was coming from my unit. Tons of switches and knobs. The manual is an informative as well as an entertaining read...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, READ THE MANUAL

HOLY COW. There is really an unbelievable amount of filter sounds that come out of this puppy. Auto-wahs, little high-pitched squeals, sub bass. All the sounds sound so FULL. Granted you can set it up to make it sound thin, but even on those settings, the intricasies of what you are playing come through. There is really no other rating you can give this besides a ten.

Um. Lots of knobs and switches to break. It's built pretty solid for the engineering marvel that it is, so i can't fault lovetone on the build quality. Boss pedals are 10's, so this pedal is an 8.

Um. Problems. When I emailed Vlad about buying a unit, i got a bunch of emails with reviews and all my questions answered, very politely. After recieving the unit, I emailed Vlad about the control inputs and got nothing back. And a one-year warrenty is a crock of shit. ZVEX, FULLTONE, all the boutique makers have these lifetime warrenties, and we only get a stinkin year from Lovetone?!? Bull-doody

bla bla bla. I play alt-rock. That's a stupid thing to say, but its true. I own lots of other gear. bla bla bla. I love the sound of this pedal. It's SO expensive though. Actually, now, that lovetone halted production, they are REALLY expensive. Been seeing some for like 400+ on ebay. I really doubt they stopped making these for good though, so don't get taken by some schmuck on ebay. I think lovetone did this before. Anyway, I love the pedal. If its within your price range, and you like envelope filter sounds, and the like, you'll appreciate this pedal. Don't sacrifice amp or guitar money for boutique pedals though. Too often you see people with like a Rogue strat plugged into a Crate 1x8, but they have every 300 dollar pedal known to man. Usually, I'm all for the cheaper versions of boutique pedals. A TS-7 sounds damn close to the boutique tube screamers. I love the mini-danelecto pedals. But the Lovetone stuff has no cheapo counterpart. Vlad doesn't make boutique reissues of pedals like Fulltone. Vlad and ZVex make their own stuff. And its revolutionary.

It isn't difficult to use for what it is but to get the best out of it you do need to understand what the controls do, which is fair enough. Although I started off playing guitars, I've got my head truly into synthesis so I would have preferred it if the controls were named with their common term - i.e. colour and intensity should be resonance and frequency. It REALLY is worth working out though.

Lovetone really do love tone. I could simply gush for hours about their work. It's one of the most 'musical' mad boxes I've come across. Just brilliant. No noise. Filters are very characterful so people have personal tastes on these things but I think it's great. I'm not a big 'tone' man, I'm well up for mad sounds and this really helps. Sure, I can think of things they could add, lfo(s) for instance, but the fx loop allows an awful lot of creativity.
I suppose the only thing is I find the sensitivity not really sensitive enough. Then again may be my guitar has a weak output (think it's a Gordon-Smith or something.) Still, there's no other score to give it but a 10.

Seems really rugged however I'm not a particularly wary individual. I'll gig anything. If it blows up, well, it died in the line of duty, what better way to go. But, anyway, my feeling is this pedal's absolutely solid. Much, much more solid than anything else I own.

This company, wow. I'll post my little experience of them on my RongStinger review but all I can say is that they really do seem to care about their products and the people who buy them. I guess it's a trade-off isn't it? Big faceless corporations make mass produced homogeneity, but they do it cheaply. Small companies like Lovetone make some amazing little boxes and give you unbelievable support but have to charge a lot more. In this case, I think it's worth paying for.

Pukka. If all their stuff were a bit cheaper I'd get them all without a second thought. Seriously, if they did a special offer on buying multiple pedals, I'd just keep buying. I love mad sounds, and so do these guys.If it were stolen, I'd really miss it, I mean REALLY miss it. At 250 quid I'd whince and look at other dynamic filters, but I reckon I would end up back with this one. It's a really creative box. I'm giving them a 10 because I trust they're not largin' it on a beach in Indian Ocean while slaves make their stuff. I guess they need to charge this much to keep things tickin and fair play, you do get your money's worth. Just wish I could afford the lot. If you can, you really won't regret it.

This thing was kind of hard to figure out at first. If you don't under stand ECF's (envelope controlled filters) forget about it. I bought the unit used and it didnt come with a manual. After reading an article here, http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/ECFtech/ecftech.htm, I was really able to get some great sounds out of this thing. This thing is super tweekable. ive kinda figured it out. Basically there are 2 sections. A Trigger and a filter. The trigger can go up or down. (most of the good guitar sounds or with the trigger in the up position) It can also be turned completely off, to full or to half. It has 3 knobs sensitivity, attack and decay. It also has a green led indicating when the trigger is active and the brighter the led the more it is being triggered. the filter is pretty easy to under stand.
It got four different ranges high, mid to high, mid to low, and low.
It also has a swith which effects it somehow but I dont understand?
that switch has three positions. it also has three knobs. colour, intesity and blend. All of which seem to do the same thing and sound best turn all the way up. Im sure there is something I dont understand about why they all seem to do the same thing???? Who knows? The effects loop is incredible. It applies which ever effect you insert to the filter.

i use a les paul studio->line 6 delay modeler->boss-ds-1(which i want to replace asap)->lovetone meatball with a big muff in the effects loop of the meatball->mesa trem-o-verb 2x12. im not much of a tone nut. i like things that sound good really loud and noisy. but this thing is incredible. i used it in my studio on keyboards and it seems to magically make things just sound better. i also used it in my guitar rig with my band and et super louyd levels it cleans my tone up so nicely. i can get the exact sound that ed obiren gets at the end of talk show host. the whucka whucka sound. download a live mp3 of the song and youll here it.

i guess ive only had it a week. id better be able to for what i paid. i can't afford a backup.

vlad is so nice. he replied to my emails very quickly. he wouldnt answer any questions without the serial # and my contact info. once i gave him that though he answered all my questions and offered to send me a manual for 5 pounds including shipping to the us.

i like to sound like johhny greenwood playing guitar for yanni and barabara stresand. i like to play noisesy crazy experiatel shreiking guitar. this thing is great i can get squektches and skweekqz and quacks out of it. ive been playing 6 years. i love this thing. lovetone is the perfect name for this perfect product. at first i was skeptical and just bought it cuz it was so cheap i was going to resell it and make a couple bucks. i can now not live with out it. i need to get a ringstinger.

Oh my..will this EVER get a low score... This is the most complicated effects unit i have ever used. PERIOID. I suggest spending a lot of time witht his unit before you judge it. Naturally, the first thing we did when we took it our of the box was "crank that baby up". We turned every knob right..and nothing happened. It was only through extensive work and lots of manual reading that we finally produces some sounds. One must also consider the nature of the knobs and their labels. Lets see..we have.. Sens. Attack. Decay. Colour. Intens. Blend (makes sense so far right?) Trigger up or down. off full or 1/2. Filter High..dot dot..Low.. and Mysterious squiggles at the bottom. I can honestly say I now have a firm grasp of thei pedal- but at first it was an enigma. I do wish there were numbers or something on the knobs so i could be like..oh yes..i set this at 8.. but. you have to "guesstimate" a number. I should also mention that the ONLY hting good about the manual was its power supply specifications and suggested setting...there were 2 suggested settings by the way. I had to read the thing a few times before i got it. THe explanation of the filter section just sucked. I still would like to know waht it means by high-pass, band-pass, and low-pass. From experimenting it seems to affect the Eq somehow. I think it has to do with the output. Oh yea. I forgot to mention. If you have a low output guitar- like my strat youll have some problems with this unit. We had to take the meatball out of my amps effects loop to get it to trigger consistently. My friends Sg had no problems however. If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this pragmatically let me know.

I am currently using this with A fender strat and a Carvin Legacy. I meantioned the problem witht he strat earlier. Likewise i use a boss noise gate and a boss dd5 digital delay. Both the amps distortion and the delay sound AWSOME with this pedal. Once i got this thing going- it worked great. I would like to run it through my amps effects loop though, so i can use its preamp. The thing is totally quiet by the way. From experimenting Ive found that the best quality of this pedal is its ability to combine it with other effects. BY itself alone i can get it to sound like old skool funk or a deranged sitar. Experiment a lottel more and you can get a cool synth like swooshing sound. Add some delay and you have a computer spazzing out- with that really cool popping whipping sound. Add some distortion and it sounds like A screaming banshee or that ever memorable guitar solo from paranoid android by Radiohead. We even used some external triggering for some totally cool effects. Run one instrument in the effects loop and another in the "in" and you can actually have two instruments playing at once..affecting each others sound. We spend an hour or so making some really cool ambient music with this option. Basically, the skys the limit. Bow down.

Well. the things made of metal. Its hollow too. It's also got a totally spiff fliptop. Hmmm, i seriously doubt it would break or mess up. This thing is honestly the pinnacle of sound engineering. The knobs are plastic..but they seem to be a very high density plastic. As long as you leave it closed and dont stick forks in the internal circutry it sould last you forever. Get a power supply though. Yhe thing is a battery monger.

Vlad is the man. He was friendly, prompt and helpful. I would imagine if i had any problems i could just email him and get it resolved quickly. I was a little worried ordering an effects pedal for across the pond at first..but now.. well hes a lot nicer than all the jerks at my local guitar center.

Overall.. this thing is freaking awsome. the most important thing.. in the long run.. is sound and reliablity. Ive been playing as a hobby now for almost 10 years and this is an awsome addition to my gear. I play progerssive and experimental rock..with electronics. Boy did i EVER hit the jackpot with this!!! Compared to all other brands of effects ive played, this blows them all away. Trust me, just because its popular doesn't mean its good. IM dtermined to eventually get the entire lovetone line now. Im a believer. The only complaints i have are little things, like markers on the knobs or a more in depth manuel. WEll, i say that..the manuel is pretty big already, but this pedal NEEDS a big manuel. I can't hpwever grade this down on my own ignorance in operating the pedal or a thrifty explanation of its knobs. THe sound makes up for it a hundred fold..and.. you would have had to spend a lot of time with it ANYWAY to figure it out. Basically, this is the uber-pedal as far as sound is concerned and if you ask me, that is whats important.

The Lovetone Meatball is the best envelope filter/follower that I have ever used or heard. It has a unique tone and sound shaping, that only can be described as FUNKY!

Although the pedal can be intimidating to the eye due to the large number of knobs and switches, the sound will soothe any doubts you may feel about your purchase. Once you recognize the function of each knob, it is really easy to get the perfect sound -- and some really whacked out sounds!

The manual is a "must have" for a first-time user, but after a 10-minute read, the Meatball will be rolling all over your sauce!

I typically run a 5-string Pedulla Thunderbass II directly into the Meatball, run a Roadkill distortion box in the effects loop on the Meatball (that's right, the Meatball pedal has it's own effects loop!), and run the Meatball into an Eden Metro DC-210XLT combo.

The Meatball is noise-free, and doesn't affect the signal amplitude (in fact, it doesn't have a "level" knob). I have noticed that sometimes the envelope sweep can get so low, that it will drop out of the audible range, but that is only when I have it dialed in to some experimental settings.

This unit is bomber! It is one tough box, and has an industrial strength stomp switch. The knobs are plastic, so I guess the pedal isn't completely indestructible (thus the 8)....

I can't imagine this thing ever breaking, but I would replace it in a heartbeat if it did.

I have talked with Vlad on a number of occasions as I was shopping around and comparing, and he is a great guy. He was very helpful, cheery and easy-going, and informative.

Since this pedal has yet to break, I haven't had to talk with Vlad about repairs.

I typcially play groove-oriented rock, and don't actually use the Meatball much for that sound. But when I'm getting funky, nothing else can compare!

Really, if you get the chance to hear and use one of these things, you will forget about all the other envelope filters out there. It is truely unbeatable in sound and versatility, and is well worth the price.

Kind of hard to use at first, becuase there are so many differant settings and types of sounds. The instructions help, but you have to just sit down and mess with it. No matter what te setting, anyone will be imporessed.

I play a Aria custom shop 5-string through an SWR 4x10 and a 15. The 15 is great for the sub-bass sounds. The effects always ring out clear abd sound great. Even on my little practice amp the meatball sounds great. Blending it with a fuzz pedal (it has it's own effects loop!) is amazing.

Very reliable although if you use a battery, it will eat it up pretty fast. Definately a gig pedal.

Very friendly. Vlad got my pedal in the US in 1 day!

I play everything from blues and jazz to funk and alternative. This pedal works great for showing off or just adding a little flavor to a "blah" tone. It's a little hard to figure out, but once you set to where you like it, you'll love it forever. Very light, and made of metal.You can't use it full blast all of the time, because it will get old. You got save it to blow people away, and it will

I already posted a review so I wont rate this pedal again, but I want to let all bass players no of what I found. When I first got my meatball, the sounds were great but on the setting I liked the most, a very loud thump would come out of my amp. It could be controlled by muting the strings but for the money I paid, I wanted the sound to be perfect. I run a compressor with my bass rig now and it has a low pass filter on it. When I kick on the filter, the nasty thump is gone and I can use lower filter settings on the Meatball to get the sound I want. If you are a bass player and have the same problem I did, try the Behringer MDX4400, with the Ball, you wont be unhappy

Number one, i am not a pro guitarist, i only have 5 non lovetone pedals(a wah, a rat, a sd1 overdrive(modified),a voodoo labs trem and a delay unit) so i have not had a great deal of experience with sound prossesing.
The only way u can get the most out of this pedal is by reading the manual. the controls are all interactive so touching one will affect the others.
to start with i plugged in the pedal and turned all the knobs to the max and plucked and strummed away, not much happened. i re-read the manual and used the sample settings. from here on i have got better at using it and found loads of sounds i did not know existed. for me it took time to get to know it but it may be quiker for the more experienced musisions.

WOW. i dont know much, what what i do know that this pedal comes up with some of the coolest(bissare) sounds i have ever heard.
when i got it i was looking for that weird radiohead phasey sweepy sound plus some funky quacks, it certainly delivered the goods and a whole lot more. u can get so many sounds out of it u would be amased, the way the the controls interact makes it imposible to ever master it.
My amp and guitars are good but not pro quality, these pedals were designed for the high end of the market, if u have good gear they will make it sound better.
i use a fender nashville tele and a customised tele(bridge humbucker, strat bridge) through a lovetone wobulator,big cheese and brown source into a very clean ampeg SS-70. i dont use it with any other companies pedals because i feel they would spoil the sound.
the way it interacts with other fx is great, u can put other pedals in the fx loop and get some of the most mental wacked out sounds u could imagine. i use it with the big cheese set on swiss, YUK! is the only way to descibe the squelcy sounds i can get. use it with a octave if u dare!
it is not nosiy at all. it has got super true bypass, when put with the other(cheaper fx) in a chain it will make it queiter!
very clear sounding.
i know if my gear was a bit better i could get them sounding dangerous!

When i first picked up the unit i was worried, it was so light i thought there was nothing in it! but once u have fliped up the top up u can see how well made they are. i have no worries about this unit.
i do gig with this and their other units on the loveboard. the only thing i can see going wrong are the switches. if i stand in it to gently it gives out a loudpop, in a live situation this would not be a great problem as u stanp on the pedals as the notes are your no 1 concern.

Vlad is the man! every time i have called him to ask about anything he has been very helpful, even with my dumb arse questions. he treats everyone with the same level of respect, bedroom guitarists to superstars(read their client list). i have never had a major problem with any of my lovetone gear, but if something did go wrong i would not hesitate to send it back. top sevice.

if u play funk or any style for that matter u should get this. it suits everything.
i have been playing seriously for 3 years i dont a great amount of gear but what i do i value. i own 4 of the lovetone pedals and their board, they are the best u can buy. i am only 17 and i had to save for ages to get this and for people who have the cash why dont u get a meatball or any other lovetone pedal? u wont be disapointed.
if u buy this pedal it will make it easyer to create your own sound(dont be a boss boy) u feel like u r the only person that can make the weirdest sounds imaginable. the one draw back is quite a big one. the cost. they are expensive but they are worth it, the trade off works for me.
e-mail me for full details i will try my best to explain. u will be impressed.

It is a little tricky to work with at first. I turned each knob and each one did nothing. I thout is was broken but in an instant, a waterfall of sounds came out. Each knob works with another so you must figure out which ones they are. After that you are set. The direction switch is a little tricky but alas, I have got it. Think of the ball as a wah peddle. When the direction is down the tone starts at the top and comes down. When it is up, the tone goes down first and comes back up.or vice versa, i dont have it to look at right now.

amazing, silent as hell. There is no noise what so ever. All sounds are very clear(if you want them to be)

Very light but looks well made. Dont use a battery, its power is too little, and dies quickly.

Best support of any company, Vlad is great

Great! Can't say it enough. Great for all instuments especially the bass. I can turn my bass into water, mud, Guiness or 10w30, Or any other sound you can think of. I also found some slight reverb.

Totally mad with each knob changing the overall sound with the slightest movement/rotation. However confusing it may appear initially, the unit is entirely intuitive. The manual is well written and humourous giving a great insight into Vlads madness and commitment to user enjoyment.

I use the Meatball primarily with guitars (Gibson LP and Tele) and have found (as per manual) that the unit is entirely dependent upon the dynamics of the instrument and the way in which you play. The Gibbo's high out put triggers it much earlier than the Tele. Lately I have been using it in conjunction with an Electro-Harmonics mono synth between the left and right outputs of a cheesy TR505 and the desk giving the tired old Roland a steroid injection and producing unbelievable results. It is totally quiet which is more than I can say for my other outboards. Using it to emulate other artists isn't my thing after all, if other artists are using it then it's for the same reason that I am and that is for it's originality and virsatility. Totally exceptional and outstanding sound!

Totally reliable. I bought my first Meatball in '95 from the only non-Lovetone outlet in the country (Ritz Music in Putney, South London) after reading a review in "Guitarist" magazine then, like a fool, sold it a year and a half later when I became so skint. It brike my heart as it had never once let me down despite playing at some of the roughest venues in London. Last year I searched high and low for a second hand Meatball with no luck and finally raised the cash to buy another. The day it arrived I was in the bath when the postie knocked and I ran to the door, signed and slowly, serimonially removed it from the packaging and sighed as if I had been re-united with a old friend who I thought had died! Plugged it in and it was EXACTLY how I remembered it. The business! I couldn't really afford the one unit and Never ever had a failure so I couldn't/wouldn't have a backup

The secong Meatball was ordered directly from Vlad and I think it cost me #200 which was around #10 more than I had paid five years ago. Vlad seems to be a nice chap but I cannot comment on product support (apart from the tempting emails I receive from him, enticing me to buy the Wobulator etc which I find so unbelievably tempting).
Totally reliable so I have no experience of repairs.

My style of music varies with the wind varying from acoustic folk to ambient, vibey guitar based instrumental music and whilst the Meatball has such a diversity of sound it can be applied to distorted cranked up guitar sounds through to jazzy solo's, there is a temptation to either over-use the effect signal (blend) or to simply over use it (have it feature in every bloody song!) but all of these irresistable temptations eventually subside and more even use becomes the norm. I will never go through the pain of loss that I experienced when I sold this unit and so I will never sell it again. If it was stolen then Mr thief would have to have it re-sprayed because it is "Personalised" and there aren't many using this on the amateur scene here in South London so I would find it and KILL. Failing that, I would definately buy another. I would say that it is my favourite unit on the basis of Sound/appearance/feel/anarchic character. One special feature is the flip-top access, Superb for hiding illicit substances within - NO ONE is going in there!!!!
I loved this unit from the day that my daughter and I walked into the shop one cold, snowy afternoon in January and played it. There is no other unit that I have played that matches this (various auto-wahs, Mooger-Foogers etc). Makes me proud to be British (and that 'aint very often, I can tell you!) It's versatility is in the flavours it offers not only to guitarists but to most musicians and most sound engineers and producers. An utter legend!

I've been fiddling with it for a week with no manual. I finally figured it out. More than easy to use or hard to use, I would say it's fun to use. The last time I enjoyed a pedal so much was the Guyatone micro octave or my Mooger Fooger.

It's a dream machine. I'm getting ready to record tracks for an up coming project and one of the things I instantly felt was what apleasure this is going to be to record with. The effects are tight and bold not watered down common denominator stuff.

I don't know yet. I haven't used it live. One big question I have is all the electronics are on the face not the bottom of the box. The more I stomp on my stomp box, the more the electronics will get jolted directly. One joy is the filp top, though. I love how it's like a car hood, requires no screws so I can change the 9-volt painlessly. Reliability, I've only had it for a week. It's just too soon.

Up until five minutes ago (upon looking up the web), I had never heard of this company and have not contacted them. You can;t even get onto their web page right now.

Rock, experimental, new music

Within 10 minutes of receiving the pedal, I was giggling like a schoolgirl at the utter silliness of the sounds I was creating. Going against all in built male traits, I read the manual and it was not only informative, but entertaining as well. I leant the pedal to a friend and didn't give him the manual. He had some difficulty in getting it to happen. It's not easy, but it's not hard. Personally, that's what I like in a pedal. I don't want to know everything it can do in 2 minutes. I like to explore.

The pedal is utterly silent. Pristine, beautiful. All of that stuff. With a distortion running in the loop, you become on the brink of out of control, and what a wonderful place to be. With the ingenious blend control, the effects can be ever so subtle to overwhelmingly ridiculous - the way I like it. For a good demo of the pedal, have a listen to tracks 2 and 3 from Radiohead's Ok Computer. In fact, if your jaw drops at any of the tones you hear on that album, it's probably one of Vlad's creations.

They're very light. I was surprised by that, but they are so perfectly constructed that I would be amazed if something did go wrong with it. I can't afford a back up. I have to buy all of the other Lovetone's first. I'm nice to my babies anyway.

Vlad is the nicest person I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. He replies promptly to all of my stupid emails, and his great style of writing means I'm always looking forward to hearing from him. The LED on my friend's Cheese Source quit working, and Vlad thought it was the switch, so he sent us out one, and we whacked it in - problem solved. A quick and easy solution to a problem out of Lovetone's control.

I've played many a quak box in my 7 years of pedal collecting, and nothing compares to this. The Meatball is far from being just a quak box. The external triggering facilities, the perfectly positioned FX loop (it's interesting to note that the new Qtron has a FX loop - innovative or what?) the ability to control parameters with a volume pedal means this is a high-end piece of signal processing. This is a very inspirational and creative tool for my music. If it were stolen it would be replaced straight away. I'd be lost without my meatball. I am in love.

You need to read the instructions on this one. Once you get the hang of it you can tweak away for hours. Make lots of duplicates of the control panel layout (included) so you can recall cool sounds. If you're into mad-scientist effects, this is a must have.

I use a Mesa Boogie MK-IV combo, with a variety of guitars. (Hamer Special FM, Strat Plus, Tele, Jerry Jones Baritone, Hagstrom 12 string ) The other effects I use are a Diaz Tremadillo, Danelectro Fab-Tone, Midiverb 4 and a DOD fx-17 Wah. The Meatball sounds great and is very, very quiet. I prefer to run the fuzz and trem before the Meatball. The triggering still works well and this provides the greatest flexibility. You can get all the cheesy "after-school-special" soundtrack sounds you can stand. Plus very cool U-2 Achtung Baby stuff. Turn off the trigger section and you have an assortment of great filtering options. You don't have to only use the extreme settings either. The more subtle sounds are very nice. This is an expensive pedal but if you want something different and high quality you're going to have to pay for it. Just read their client list.

10! I just got mine last week and it seems to be very sturdy. Unlike some other boutique pedals I've seen tried, this has a very professional feel and well thought out design. It can do the trashy thing but it isn't limited to that "vibe". Not a 10 only because I don't live in England.

Vlad seems to be a fine young man! I don't have any other equipment with customer support this good. He answered several of my e-mailed questions when I was trying to decide which pedal to order and was very helpful. The only drawback is the overseas postage.

I play almost all styles of music. If the Meatball only did the Touch-Wah thing I wouldn't have gotten it. It has a great range of sounds that are very "what was that!?" oriented. I know I'm being picky, but a trigger off footswitch would be very cool.

the meatball is not the most intuitve device ever created, but the sounds you can get out of it once you spend a little time tweaking are more than worth the effort. i played a mutron III extensively immediately before purchasing the meatball, and although it was much easier to get a good sound out of the mutron, the meatball has so many more sound-sculpting options that it really outshines the mutron in my opinion. by the way, im using this primarily with guitar, so i would have to disagree with the earlier post which stated "the meatball isnt really as impressive on guitar," or something to that effect. the manual gives you a couple of decent sounds to use as a starting point, but other than that you really have to read the thing thoroughly and figure out how the controls interact with each other. but once you do...

you will unearth some of the coolest, most bizarre envelope filter sounds ever with this device. the greatest thing about the 'ball is the way it interacts with other efx. it has its own buffered effects loop built into it, so that you can run another effect (like a fuzz) in tandem with the 'ball. in other words, you step on the 'ball's footswitch and the fuzz also turns on. it is crucial that you use this loop, too- running efx in front of the unit doesnt work nearly as well. efx like distortion have a minimal dynamic range and wont trigger the filter properly- the built in efx loops solves this problem. i use the 'ball in line with the following efx, geetar, and amp: PRS Custom --> Teese Real McCoy Wah --> Fulltone Fulldrive II --> Meatball --> Z. Vexx Fuzz Factory --> old school DOD phasor --> Carvin MSsomething 2X12 tube amp. the fuzz factory is put through the ball's buffered efx loop, and is the source of some of the coolest squelchy auto-wah sounds i have ever come across. with the versatility of the meatball combined with the ridiculous excesses of the fuzz factory, ANYTHING is possible. ive recreated seagull yelps, pig squeals, belches of the barry white bass variety, and everything in between. basically, "if you tweak it, the sounds will come." EXPERIMENT. oh yeah, this thing is DEAD quiet. course, i run so much other shit in-line that my tone is probably shot to hell anyway, but i love the sounds im getting so its not much of a concern...
maybe youre still wondering, "what the hell does this thing sound like?" well, first of all, its definitely possible to capture all your faveorite bootylicious parliament/funkadelic sounds to a T. you can do a nice quack-quack auto-wah with the filter in the "up" position or achieve a "bow-wow" tone with the filter running "down" (ive also discovered some backwards whooshy guitar sounds this way). but this pedal does so much more than just FONK. the 'ball is featured prominently on radiohead albums, for instance, in order to achieve those insane lead tones during the solos on "paranoid android" (right before the "rain down" sequence) and on "lucky". and morcheeba uses this pedal a bunch on the album "big calm" to get watery wah sounds. it even emulates a phaser on some settings, and has lots of techno type applications (processing drum loops, adding life to digital samples) etc etc and so forth.

very sturdy (altho it seems very light for its size). beutifully simple battery access- the whole unit "flips" open to reveal the battery and carefully shielded, cleanly designed electronic innards. too cool. cant afford a backup- anyway, i dont have backups for any of my other stuff, and i doubt most people do. just go for it...

i bought this used thru harmony-central because i didnt want to pay for shipping and deal with the exchange rate and all that (in case you were unaware, LOVETONE stuff is made and sold exclusively in england). i hear lovetone is very good about satisfying their customers, but since i havent dealt with them i wont rate this category...

this things incredible. i think its the best envelope filter out there- others may disagree with me, but theyre wrong and im right so do the right thing and buy lovetone stuff. they may go out of business soon, and then in five years youll want to buy my meatball for $800 and youll be kicking yourself. DONT SAY I DIDNT WARN YOU!
* id love to hear from other lovetone owners about their products, specifically the doppelganger, which i hope to buy soon. and if youve discovered any amazing sh*t to do with the meatball, please let me know... let the e-mailing begin!

Not the easist pedal to get started with, I first tried it in the studio, Probably not the best idea when your looking for a sound while everyone is waiting for something magical to happen. After some coxing at home the thing started pouring out the sounds. Most effects seem to have a happy zone that they really start cooking at, this one tends to do it when you turn everything up and then start backing the knobs back off.

I use this pedal with many different amps. My main live rig is two selmer zodiac twin tremelo 50's and a AC-30 in stereo. The meatball reacts differently through both amps. as well as where it is in the chain of effects. I tend to like it when it's used by itself. It's quite as hell as are all the other Love Tone stuff I've tried. I own the Big Cheese also. This has got to be my most used pedal. It gets the most reaction out of everone. Not just the name, It's the sound that turns heads.

I never think any pedal is completley reliable. I wish I could have a back up for every- thing I own But that would be crazy. I own back ups for things I can't live without. I spend most of my time touring. So my gear gets tossed around quite abit. But I have to have any problems with the Love Tone line. My biggest nightmares are my amps braking down every couple of weeks.

Never delt with the company. I've bought both of my Love Tone pedals 2nd hand while I was on tour in England. The guitarist in Morcheeba turned me on to them. I'm only having trouble connecting to there web page.

I play a wide array of styles of music but my favorite is your everyday pop music. It's where my heart is. I own boxes of pedals as well as tons of amps and guitars. I purchased a Klon Centeaur a few months ago I can't live without it now. I play guitar for the lovely little Fiona Apple and have done so for the last year and a half. We're on break right now so I've been in town doing sessions and writing. You can hear the Big Cheese and the meatball on the new Aimee Mann record as well as a lot of other new stuff I've been working on. If had to buy another set of these pedals I do it in a heartbeat. You can't live without this stuff it's too good. It's also much different than anything else out there. Do yourself a favor try to find Love Tone Pedals. You will feel like your creating sounds no one else ever has.

At first (for about 3 weeks), I could not turn the knobs so I heard the "right" sound, which in my mind would be along the lines of Bootsy/Stevie Wonder's clavinet...but now I think I've got it. The manual is a piece of paper. According to Lovetone, they are considering phasing out the pedals, so newer versions of the Meatball will probably not exist. Overall: easy to use, but difficult (for me) to get a good sound.

Not noisy. Depth of the effects can be adjusted to your liking. Very broad frequency range. Good for FONK. High-pass, band-pass, and low-pass available. Frequency cutoff switch (about 4). Allows patch thru of another effect, to be used ONLY with the meatball on. Envelope can sweep up or down (BOW WOW, or QUACK QUACK). Other features: email me for more specifics.

I did not think it was very sturdy, simply because of the weight, but I suppose if you use it with care, it'll last a LONG time. Battery changing is VERY easy. Nice stomp switch, secure electronics. I have no problem using it without a backup (not to mention I couldn't afford another one).

Very friendly, and they called me back, FROM ENGLAND, to ask if they could answer any more questions about the Meatball. Also, they changed their webpage address (for a while I thought they went out of business): http://194.164.6.10/lovetone/index.html It has a token one-year warranty, and they've kept me up to date with new stuff.

I am glad that I "ran across" the Meatball, ie. no regrets. I love that I can get funky sounds, and more, out of this effects box. I tried to compare it with a Mutron, but this was done vicariously (through records of the P-FUNK). And it passed. Too bad I didn't wait until Electro-Harmonix came out with their "Q-TRON" (an update of the Mutron III - go to SOVTEK's home page for information on this, but I don't know how it sounds: about $230?) The price is about the normal asking price for an original Mutron III, with the exception of great hidden deals.

After about four hours of playing around with this thing, I was ready to send it back to the company. There seemed like no way to get any useful sounds out of it at all, and to get the filter to wah, you had to pluck so hard your fingers almost fell off. Then I read the instructions. HINT: You HAVE to know what your doing and what the knobs do in order to use this thing. Even the manual isn't real over helpful. It takes time. Trial and Error.

Not only is this the most perfect and professional sounding envelope filter I've used on bass, it is perfectly quiet, and actually makes the line noise QUIETER! It makes your bass DEEPER, and you have so much control over the filter, that you can literally make about any sound you want. From a quick wah, right at the begining of the notes, to a long phase shifting sweep while strumming chords. ANYTHING.

Really hard to judge the dependability, just yet, but it seems VERY well built and sturdy. It is the highest quality in every regard. Envelope filters are weird circuits however, and I can see that even this ULTRA-modern version has glitches. I put an Expandora in its effects loop, and got a high pitched occillating squeal that nearly ruined my speaker.

Those wild and crazy guys at Lovetone seem to be great. Were very helpful and friendly to me even BEFORE I made any hints that I was interested in making a purchase. It comes with a one year warranty from the manufacturer, too.

I would buy it again in a heartbeat. It is the greatest sounding effect I have heard for bass. It isn't really as impressive in guitar, but on bass, it is unreal. The amount of control makes it more like a synth bass processor. And the sound quality is perfect. It keeps the tiniest little growls from your bass, while "wah"ing it very distinctly, and it somehow makes the sound about 2 octaves deeper yet still crystal clear. I've never been more impressed. Beats out my Mu-tron III by far. A Mu-tron sounds better on guitar, however. It is very expensive, however, it is WORTH a lot of money.