“Legendary” Gear: Unreasonable Expectations

[coldbrightsunlight]

Oh no that sucks! You never asked for a mojoectomy.

Damn you Dr Evil amp tech

[$harkToootth]

Oo that's a rare one congrats

I got it from a flipper for only $4k. Sucker didn't even know what they had!

@jwar - Tnx m8... funny about Life Metal

[crochambeau]

(Although I took it to an "amp tech" to have it looked over and have him perform maintenance that he would think is appropriate for an old amp and when it came back all the magic was gone and it sounded completely neutered.)

Ugh, I'm sorry for your loss. This is one of the biggest reasons I stay away from repairing other people's shit, sometime non-acolytes wind up strangling the wizard (and sometimes the wizard actually needs killing in order to save the region).

I'm wracking my brain trying to slot something into this topic, but I try and keep my expectations low. Sneak up in the dead of night, and, well.. you know.

[Blackened Soul]

Sort of relevant....

but if a get a gibson and do this in reverse will it be as good as a epi?
gibsons have mostly disappointed me where I have played my nice epiphones.

[qersty]

Can I bring this thread back and ask if i should be worried there arent any lovetone users? like a ring mod or univibe cant be worth 1k, can it

[Achtane]

Any time I've played through an HM-2 it sounds like shit, unless the gain is all the way down, and then I really like it

[coldbrightsunlight]

HM-2 with the gain all the way down is the best setting. 10/10 would buy a clone with no gain knob and always set to zero.

[$harkToootth]

Can I bring this thread back and ask if i should be worried there arent any lovetone users? like a ring mod or univibe cant be worth 1k, can it

I think it speaks for itself. There aren't more users because they are prohibitively expensive. I bought Dino's clone pcbs.

[qersty]

Yeah it is pretty obvious as you say, yet I never hear people point out any ways that they are flawed, which I mean they aught to, that's the nature of things

[echorec]

Can I bring this thread back and ask if i should be worried there arent any lovetone users? like a ring mod or univibe cant be worth 1k, can it

Over roughly 25 years, most Lovetones have been surpassed several times over. I'd still like to try the ? Flange, but it'd have to be a clone. I'm not going to 'rent' one of these for $1,200. I can, however, weigh in on three of the fabled Lovetones.

Ring Stinger (2002): A friend bought one of these (at my suggestion?) and I got to borrow it for an evening.  At roughly $400, he was not keen on loaning it out.  A $400 pedal in 2002 would be something like a $1,400 pedal in 2019.  I had no previous experiences with ring modulators, and I struggled to get anything out of it---silence, followed by a crackle, followed by a squeal, followed by more silence.  At the time, I had a Sherman Filterbank 2 & an EHX Micro Synth, which were fairly uncommon and exotic for the period.  I couldn't get any of the coveted sounds, that were featured on Lovetone's site. I wasn't new to weird, but I was new to boxes that were so evasive and unyielding.  I've never had any itch to grab an Elta clone for sub-$400. It's hard to miss something you didn't enjoy the first time around.

Wobulator (2010): It didn't wow me.  There was really not much there that made me want to keep it.  One of the channels seemed quieter than the other.  It may have just been a flaw, where the channels failed to sync properly.  A couple friends heard it and no one inquired about taking it off my hands. ---Tremolo was my favorite effect for a long time, and I remember feeling like this unit was nothing special.  By contrast, I acquired a VibraVox around the same time and immediately sought out at a backup---easy to dial in great sounds (hypnotic, spooky, experimental, smooth). ---I would never recommend one of these over an Empress or a Gravitas.

Based on my time with these, something like an MF-102 would replace both of these pedals---easier to interact with for sci-fi, robotic clang & a more enjoyable rhythmic device as well.

Doppelganger (2010s): I've owned a clone and an original.  The clone had some nice sounds, but I was happier to flip it for a small markup, than to retain it.  When I finally got the original, it seemed much darker---because of 20+ yr old capacitors, or because of various other parts discrepancies?  Again, it has some nice sounds, but it's not worth $400-500 to me.  Lovetones aren't that eclectic to me---a couple nice sounds and that's it. You're not going to find 20 ways to use them. As someone who's owned around 50 phasers, it wouldn't make my top-10. (in no specific order)

MF-103
Whetstone
Aphazing
Bi-Phase (reissue)
Death Ray
Empress
Faye's Her
Vibrophase
Quasar DLX (V1)
Wombtone V2

[coldbrightsunlight]

I've only tried clones of the big cheese and meatball, but afaik they were accurate clones. The meatball is incredibly good and idk if I've seen a better envelope filter out there. The big cheese was pretty good but not hugely special.

[Gigahearts_FX]

Sacriledge

I love Lovetones. Sure, other stuff has surpassed them in terms of functionality, but the charm is that they are big, colourful, and really characterful in their analog goodness.
My favourite is the Doppelganger, as its a really versatile and lovely thing - the dual LFO was ahead of its time, and the v4 with the slow and square does really make it shine.

My least favourite is the Wobulator, because of the interface (having to hit both footswitches - it would have been better with a "master" on for both channels. Also, this one is really a volume and maybe tone sucker. Put it in a True bypass loop and cry.

The Flanger and Ringstinger are super esoteric and for WAY more than just running a guitar with. If you want a flanger, to do a flanger sound, the ? is not the way forward.
The Ringstinger does some crazy ass stuff and its super versatile. Whether its musical, depends on your taste.

YMMV.
I got most of mine for really good prices as I waited and searched and dropped lucky on some stuff.

[Blackened Soul]

Whetstone

That one is on my list to, everyone said it was a deep slow phase.. it was not deep, and only kind'a slow.