Re: Lovetone Meatball

[Chris Chovit <cho@newdream.net>]

>Anybody have a Lovetone Meatball? This is the "Cadillac" of all envelope
>followers made in the UK. I use my QTron with my bass right now, but
>somehow can't seem to get the right sound. I was going to experiment with
>the Mutron III+ reissue, but thought it may just turn out to be like the
>Qtron. New Lovetone Meatballs go for about $360 direct since the exchange
>rate is terrible right now (they only sell direct!).

I have one and really like it.  The recent post was a good description.  I
would only add that, for me, the effect is something of a magic box...that
is, each time I use it, I seem to get a new sound,for which I have trouble
reproducing afterwards.  In this way, it is fun and exciting to use.  I use
it occasionally for the funky guitar and bootsy bass sounds (also sounds
great with a clav!).  But another feature of this unit is that you can turn
the trigger off, and just use it as a static filter.  I use it this way ,
with a EH deluxe big muff on the Meatball's fx loop.  This gives me a
wonderful smooth fuzz sound that cuts right thru the mix and sustains
forever.

Another note on the meatball, is that i find that low-output guitars (like
strats) don't have enough signal to fully trigger the filter sweep.  So, I
put a clean gain stage (currently using mxr micro-amp) before the meatball
so I have a LOT of range.  Thought it was worth the money.  My experience
with ALL of Lovetone's effects (although haven't yet heard the Big Cheese)
is that they are high-quality, low noise, and don't drastically alter your
original tone (unlike some of the EH stuff).

- chris


__________________________________________________
Chris Chovit                                          
avec@gomez.jpl.nasa.gov
 AVIRIS Experiment Coordinator      pager #: (888) 415-4547