Which Lovepedal Overdrive?

[MarkF786]

I must admit, I'm confused by the many Lovepedal overdrives - but I've heard so many good things about them that I'd like to try one. I'm looking for something in the medium drive range with a fairly even response. I'd primarily be playing it through an Allen Sweetspot (Princeton Reverb clone) and Swart STR-Tweed (Princeton Tweed... kinda).

What would be the best Lovepedal overdrive to try first? And to refine the question a bit:
- What would be the best of the ones currently manufactured?
- What would be the best including discontinued models?

Thanks!

Mark

[jrjones]

Even the guys at Lovepedals will say the handwired eternity burst is the best one. Of course, it's all personal preference, but if I were to buy one from lovepedals, that's what it would be...though they're high dollar when they pop up around here...as far as current production...I'm not sure as I've only played one eternity and thought it was okay, but I don't get along with tubescreamer type pedals anyway (they say the eternity is basically a tubescreamer minus the blanket it put on your tone if you can imagine that)

[wareagle]

kalamazoo now

burst overall, howerver the e6 is up there. great pedals, and they all have that signature lovepedal sound.

[masayako]

Kanji Eternity is what I love and use. It stacks with compressor, TS type OD really well.

[jpagey]

K'azoo, White E, Balance

[jcd122]

eternity for nice smooth lead tone

[aaronblues]

A Kalamzoo or Eternity first, but also for low gain a COT sounds great with Swarts. Totally different then the Eternity's tho.

cheers

[Rex Nomad]

I like the Roadhouse over the Burst.

[MarkF786]

How does the Kalamazoo compare to an OCD? I keep reading about OD pedals, and those two interest me a lot.

I'm kind of a newbie to OD. Surprisingly to some, in the 20+ years I've been playing, I mostly have played either clean or full-on distorted (for a Fripp-like sound). The first OD pedal I bought (only a few years ago) was a Jacques Tube Blower (TS clone) and had mixed feelings about it. A few months ago I bought a Barber Direct Drive and have been enjoying it, but I'd like to experiment more other OD pedals. I have a Tim on order, but it won't be ready for a few months. So in the meanwhile, I'm looking for a second OD pedal. The Rockbox Boiling Point also interests me, but I'm not ready to spend $350 on an OD pedal; $200 is more my maximum.

Thanks,

Mark

[YETI]

Try a standard Barber LTD...great pedal.

[melven62]

I like the kanji eternity or kalamazoo.

[Hangfire]

Another vote for:
Kalamazoo - now
Kanji Eternity - then

:JAM

[jb1911]

I like the Roadhouse over the Burst.

Me too. The RH and the Fuse are by far my favorites. The K'zoo is really the only Lovepedal that I don't like. Just my opinion, of course.

[JimmyR]

I can't really say I'd vote for any of 'em. I find Lovepedal ODs to be kinda specialised. I haven't found one that I could use as an all-round OD. I do still have an Eternity that I hardly ever use but keep for sentimental reasons, an Amp 50 that I should probably sell because it sounds awful unless plugged straight into a loud plexi and a Les Lius that sounds awful unless plugged into a 5E3 Deluxe. They have issues with being placed after some pedals that I have never experienced with any other pedals and generally just aren't very usable in my pretty basic setup.

For $200 there are a ton of way more versatile pedals out there. The Rockett Animal (just for example) is way more versatile for me - it works with all my amps and all my quite varied guitars. I haven't found any Lovepedal that will do that.

[BillyK]

I've held on to my 'burst E since they first came out, and honestly it's spent more time in storage then on my board. I find it so highly dependent upon the buffer you put after it, that I've never really put up with the hassle. But now, it's currently my #1 OD.

For me, the buffer needs to be right after the E. I use a BadgerPlex after it and it's simply awesome. I typically use Strats and Fender amps.

While I love my collection of OD's the E is totally unique. Without question, it's the most responsive to pick attack. I can go from almost clean to fat clipping without altering anything but attack. The gain structure is beautiful and totally natural.

The E has probably garnered the most love/hate/don't care comments at TGP. IMO, it's totally worth the price and it's deserving of the "Mojo" crown many players give it. Plus, I've bought from Lovepedal for years and Sean is great to do business with. Hope this helps.

[slopeshoulder]

Start with an Eternity.
Consider ending there too. Save your sanity and step AWAY from rabbit hole.

[gpro34]

Even the guys at Lovepedals will say the handwired eternity burst is the best one. Of course, it's all personal preference, but if I were to buy one from lovepedals, that's what it would be...though they're high dollar when they pop up around here...as far as current production...I'm not sure as I've only played one eternity and thought it was okay, but I don't get along with tubescreamer type pedals anyway (they say the eternity is basically a tubescreamer minus the blanket it put on your tone if you can imagine that)

I was told by them that the HW cream with brown knobs was the best. The said the bass was finally perfect in that version. I have owned the Roadhouse, Burst, Kanji 9, and E6 and can tell you the cream version was my favorite.

[tdarian]

I've held on to my 'burst E since they first came out, and honestly it's spent more time in storage then on my board. I find it so highly dependent upon the buffer you put after it, that I've never really put up with the hassle. But now, it's currently my #1 OD.

For me, the buffer needs to be right after the E. I use a BadgerPlex after it and it's simply awesome. I typically use Strats and Fender amps.

While I love my collection of OD's the E is totally unique. Without question, it's the most responsive to pick attack. I can go from almost clean to fat clipping without altering anything but attack. The gain structure is beautiful and totally natural.

The E has probably garnered the most love/hate/don't care comments at TGP. IMO, it's totally worth the price and it's deserving of the "Mojo" crown many players give it. Plus, I've bought from Lovepedal for years and Sean is great to do business with. Hope this helps.

Pretty much my experience except that I caught on to the buffer thing immediately after reading that it had a relatively high output impedance.
Not sure if that applies only to the Eternity Burst or all Lovepedals/Eternitys.

This is a very good pedal with my DR Z MAZ18, and I'd have to think it would work well with either the Allen SS or the Swart.

[MarkF786]

I've gone a bit overdrive crazy today. First, I bought a used Visual Sound Open Road for $65 from the emporium; I've heard good things about it, and for 50% off the retail price, it was hard to resist. Then, I had a coupon for Guitar Center so I went and bought the Fulltone OCD; I will say, it sounds surprisingly better than my Barber Direct Drive. Even if I didn't like it, I could sell it for near what I paid. Next, I ordered a Lovepedal Kalamazoo from PGS. And finally, there is another overdrive pedal on eBay (model omitted to protect my bidding) that I'm bidding on; there seems a good chance that I could get it around 45% off retail, which is a good deal.

I realize that to find a few OD pedals worth keeping, I'll need to go through some buying and selling. Heck, I've done it with guitars; in the past year, I've even owned a few guitars in the $6k+ range but I found my favorites and they weren't the most expensive. Sure, there are other guitars still left to try (and I'm sure the same is true with ODs), but I'm pretty happy at the moment with my guitars. What other gear am I happy with?

Empress Super Delay - It does everything I need. I still have a Eventide Timefactor too, but I don't need it.

Visual Sound Liquid Chorus - I've been through a ton of multi-effects including a Nova System and their choruses all sounded like ass. Even with my Eventide Modfactor it's hard to get a good chorus. But the VS is great. I still want to try a Red Witch Empress sometime though.

Diceworks Muff Diver - There are probably better fuzzes out there, but this gets me close enough that I haven't thought about any other fuzzes. The only complaint about this pedal is with initial customer service; be prepare to wait and have unanswered emails.

Allen Sweet Spot - This is one of my best gear purchases I've ever made! I've had this amp for a couple of years, and only recently even thought about another amp. Recently I bought the Swart for a tweed-like sound, and someday I'd like to try a Marshall-like amp, but I'd be happy if the only amp I ever owned was my Sweet Spot.

Random thoughts...

Mark

[Salokin]

I have an HW Roadhouse Eternity and it is a great OD IMO. It stacks well with a lot of other od's too, and it's less expensive than the Burst,Kanji...

[dpanse]

Folks, by 'Eternity Cream', which one are you refering to? Can someone post a link to a picture of it? Thanks!

[DJ_61]

It is not merely an overdrive but I love the BBB07. Discontinued.

[teleclem]

I've only tried two Lovepedal overdrives, the E6 and a coupon burst. The E6 was really really cool. Sadly, I had to return it to the owner. It would have been nice to have. I haven't heard another overdrive that can do what it does exactly. The burst was good, but it was nothing special.

Among the current ones, I'd like to try the Kalamazoo.

[buddyrama]

I only have experience with two of them both good. First is the Englishman, which I think is in production. I have only used it set to max gain, nice kindaHenryKasier sound, nice pedal. The other is the 200#, I bought that to approximate/imitate the howling Fripp, and IMHO it does. Quality build on both.