Re: Lovetone Meatball

[MIvanBerk <MIvanBerk@aol.com>]

I have one, and it's a great piece of equipment.  If you're looking for the
"right" sound, a la the Mutron III, this may not necessarily be your best
choice for the money.  It gets a LOT more extreme than Mutrons I've heard, 
and
offers a few more options (6 knobs, 4 rotary switches, and there's a 
effects
loop , parallel to the envelope follower, in which you can place other 
boxes
that might disturb the triggering -- fuzzes, octavers -- but which you 
still
want filtered.  Some nifty Microsynth like tones are available this way.  
You
get pedal inputs to control decay time (which can result in very long 
decays,
good for long filtersweeps) and for intensity, which'll give you a 
quasi-wah-
wah effect).  Ohhh -- and it sounds fantastic, like all the other Lovetone
products.  Basically, it is the "Cadillac of Envelope Filters," but it is
pricey (don't forget the import duty), and if you're just looking for 
autowah,
you might want to save yourself $100 and take a look at the Mutron.  If 
you're
not opposed to rack gear, you might also want to look at the MAM RS-3
Resonator, which offers 3 bandpass filters controllable via an envelope
follower (for the autowah stuff) or 2 LFOs (for really out Univibe and 
phaser
effects).  They're around $300 US, and are in stores.

-Mike