-- LOVETONE effects clones thread. Schematics, layouts, building info...

[Gus]

is lovetone out of business?  The web site is still up.
http://www.lovetone.com/

[stopstopsmile]

lovetone is on hiatus, but still makes the cheese source so you can still get your cheese and brown tones. 

[Dave_B]

lovetone is on hiatus, but still makes the cheese source so you can still get your cheese and brown tones. 

That's interesting.  The general consensus is that Lovetone is gone, but somebody is paying to keep the URL registered as well as the hosting fees. 

[GREEN FUZ]

Quoting from the Wikipedia.

In 2003 the company announced that they would again be making the Meatball and Cheese Source pedals, to be sold through Daniel Coggins's newly formed company Dinosaural, which became the primary point of contact for Lovetone technical support and repairs. As of 7/27/2007, Dinosaural is no longer selling the Lovetone Meatball and they claim to be selling the last remaining Cheese Sources.

[Gus]

Yes I saw the wikipedia page

Has anyone contacted them to check?

[c101aviojet]

Has anyone contacted them to check?

From the dinosarual page: "ONLY THE LOVETONE CHEESE SOURCE IS CURRENTLY FOR SALE FROM DINOSAURAL - THESE ARE OUR LAST UNITS AND ARE THE ONLY ONES AVAILABLE - ALL DISCOUNTED (OWING TO VERY MINOR COSMETIC FLAWS) AT THE LOWER PRICE OF £247.00 GBP - WARRANTED FOR 12 MONTHS. "

By the way, I'm working on a wiki of this thread. I hope to be able to say "it's done" in some days. It will have all the info you have here, plus some other I haven't added, with links, pictures an such. 

[Gus]

again has anyone contacted them?  Not read something on the web.

[aron]

I wrote them. Lets see.

[GREEN FUZ]

Dinosaural have no intentions, for the foreseeable future, of manufacturing any more Meatballs, Cheese Sources, or any other pedals in the Lovetone range.

Yes, I contacted them.

[96ecss]

I wrote them. Lets see.

Aron, I have a question. If Lovetone does decide to produce these pedals again, will they be added to the forbidden list?

Dave

[aron]

No, it's too late I think. The "forbidden" list is pretty darn small if you've looked recently.

[stopstopsmile]

dan the owner and designer told me that they have no plans either, but that there is still many cheese sources built and ready for sale.  So its still functioning.

Also remember vlad the other owner, has closed down shop several times only to reopen when the prices inflated and the demand built.

There is a reason he keeps the page going likes its a still a alive business. 

Its so he can at any moment resume production.  He has done this a few times before. 

[96ecss]

No, it's too late I think. The "forbidden" list is pretty darn small if you've looked recently.

I know the forbidden list. It seemed like a few people here wanted to add the Lovetone pedals to it. I was just asking if they would be added that's all.

Dave

[The Tone God]

It seemed like a few people here wanted to add the Lovetone pedals to it.

I think what we had/have here is a case of misunderstanding between member generations. Back in the time when the first Lovetones were being produced the members had a policy amongst themselves that they would not publicly post information on current production products. This was not an official rule of the forum, just respect on the member's part. The idea was to protect small starting companies like Lovetone. If they stopped production or got big enough that we felt that our sharing of info would not affect their sales drastically we went ahead and posted info.

Andrew

[96ecss]

Thanks for clearing that up Andrew.

Dave

[stopstopsmile]

by the way guys I have
to agree with analogmike on this one
the only pedal from lovetone that really
sounds good is the big cheese.

the brown source is a very fake bland pedal.
I even heard one modified, no good.

I think a rat with some slight tweaks adding in diodes gets you a much better brown marshall rock kind of sound. 

[playon]

by the way guys I have
to agree with analogmike on this one
the only pedal from lovetone that really
sounds good is the big cheese.

I have tried most of the Lovetone pedals and I can assure you that the ? Flanger sounds very, very good.

I'm so happy that the info for this pedal has been put online, since Dan will not take my Lovetone Flanger back for repair    & Vlad is useless except for as a salesman.  (Where is the Love in Lovetone?)

[gez]

I'm so happy that the info for this pedal has been put online, since Dan will not take my Lovetone Flanger back for repair

Presumably it's analogue, in which case this board could probably help you get it up and running (or repair it for you).

[c101aviojet]

by the way guys I have to agree with analogmike on this one the only pedal from lovetone that really sounds good is the big cheese.

I must say I've heard similar views on the Brown Source (= very subtle sounding, average tone). From what I've read, and the few sounds I've heard of them, it seems to me like most pedals are unnecessarily too complex for the average musician. In other words, if you're the kind of guy that sets two knobs in a position and forgets them, then you are wasting money buying a pedal that requires you to master how each of the many knobs affects the others, or what kind of tone you can get by plugging another effect on the pedal's loop. If you are not willing to do that, you'll hardly find any "sweet" spot, and so it will be the "pedal's fault". You just can't buy something with your eyes closed and then criticise the product becase it doesn't meet the specifications you thought it had.
Of course, this is just my opinion regarding a certain group of customers. 

Playon, gez is right. So far, there's a component list and board pictures (and I think a layout, too) for the "? flanger", so with the forum's help and that you should be able to make it work again.

By the way, just in case there was some interest, this is the Lovetone wiki. It has all the info of this thread, plus many more. 

[beatnik]

Hello guys, this is my first post here !
I would try to build a Brown Source, but I don't know what is the best schematic. Is the one by Paul Nelson ok?
I also found in the gallery a mod. version by Doug Hammond. Is it better?

Giacomo