about love pedal
Lovepedal has been a very popular name in boutique guitar effects pedals for several years now, due in no small part to designer Sean Michael’s dedication to quality and the “less is more” aesthetic of guitar tone.
Sean began designing guitar pedal circuits in the early nineties in a quest for classic tones that he just couldn’t seem to get out of the mass-produced rack units that dominated the market at the time. After several years of trial and error the Love Pedal FAB 50 was born, a one-knob masterpiece that beautifully simulated a cranked Marshall at the lower gain settings and a nasty fuzz tone at the upper end. This success led to more pedals and the extensive line of Lovepedal tone tools available today.
One of the standards of the Love Pedal lineup is the COT 50 Boost / Overdrive, or “Church of Tone”. This pedal nails the early Hendrix and Billy Gibbons tones. It’s a must for lovers of articulate, raw guitar sounds with no compression artifacts. The COT only features one knob, a bias control, that controls the overall gain of the pedal. All other controlling is done from the guitar. The Lovepedal COT 50 is a pedal you can leave on all the time and get a diverse range of tones just by varying your guitar volume knob. Set this thing for “stun”, proceed to rock out, and then when you roll off your guitar volume it will clean up like a drunk before Sunday Mass.
The Lovepedal Eternity delivers fantastic, tubey overdrive at every setting. You just can’t make this pedal sound bad. The extremely interactive controls offer you three knob options for sculpting overdrive sounds; Drive, Level (clean boost), and Glass which functions as a treble booster. Through variation of the Drive and Level knobs you can alter the mix of pedal distortion sound and your amp’s natural overdrive characteristics, giving you a myriad of tone options. Through manipulation of the Glass knob you can dial in some sweet Brian May style tones, or roll it off for some dark, warm goodness. The Love Pedal Eternity has developed a huge following and is currently played by Andy Summers of The Police and Richard Fortus of Guns N’ Roses, among others.
In 2009 Sean introduced the “Mini Line”. These ultra compact effects from Lovepedal were a big hit among professional guitarists worldwide. Echo Baby Delay, Pickle Vibe Vibrato, Amp 50 Overdrive and The BABY FACE TREM solved a big problem many guitar players struggle with. The need for more space on their pedal boards.
what are customers are saying
“I really like this LovePedal, but I don’t remember which model it is. It’s got a real nice, almost kind of ’60s fuzz sound. It gives me that kind of liquidy kind of solo sound that I like.”
Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins
Grunge Report May 2010
“Finally someone figured out you only need one knob for an effect, I love the simplicity and sound of these pedals, great work.”
Sean at Lovepedal is far and away making the best effect pedals currently available in the world. I have never in my life used any pedals that sound or feel as good. I felt an instant connection to the pedals and to Sean. He is a great guy and a great builder who truly has great ears and the mindset to always be pushing the envelope. He never rests on his laurels, it can always be better in his mind. Of the over 20 plus Lovepedals I own, there is not a single bad pedal. There are honestly no other pedals that feel this good. They are truly the ultimate tools for professional musicians. I use them all, all the time! I’ll be a friend of Sean’s and a Lovepedal user for life.
“While I was geeking over Andy Summers The Police custom stage rig during my interview with him for GP’s June 2007 cover story, I noticed a stompbox I had never seen before, the Lovepedal Eternity Overdrive. “That’s an amazing distortion pedal,” enthused the Police’s harmonic overlord. “You must try one.”
Summers put me in touch with Sean Michael, who makes these boutique beauties by hand in his White Lake, Michigan shop, and, within a week, I had an Eternity sitting on my desk at GP Central. It was a great day.
The most mind-blowing aspect of the Eternity is that its organic, tube-like overdrive can be simultaneously warm, sexy, aggressive, punchy, articulate, creamy, and nasty. The previous sentence may sound slightly insane, but the pedal’s sensitivity to picking dynamics lets you play its fundamentally awesome tone through as many moods as your fingers and/or plectrum can manage.”
Michael Molenda
Guitar Player Magazine
“Jimi Hendrix invented the Church of Tone. He had monster technique and soul to spare.”
Jimi may have invented that particular house of worship, but Sean Michael of Lovepedal has gone a long way towards putting it in a box. No, he hasn’t developed a circuit for “monster technique” or “soul to spare” but, in the COT 50 “Church of Tone” pedal, he has aimed to capture the response of a late ’60s plexi loaded with 6550 power tubes, and he’s succeeded admirably.”
Douglas Baldwin
Premier Guitar Magazine
“Sean, I’ve got to tell you that this pedal is the most amazing octavia pedal I’ve tried, period. It made me write such an amazing riff for our next record. This pedal is just completely fantastic. What a great pedal.”
Jeff Stinco
Simple Plan
“Hi Sean, great to talk to you today. i have heard so much great stuff about your pedals, it’s nice to know there is a passionate guy behind them. i’d love to get a magicboy vibe pedal. thanks for making great stuff!!”
Tom Anderson
Tom Anderson Guitarworks
“Wow! These pedals are truly awesome man. I’ve been using them for an hour or so, and this Cot 50 is going to be insane with my Vox, the overdrive s very smooth and amp enhancing, that is EXACTLY what I was needing, the Vibe is icing on the cake, a killer effect. I will use them today in the studio and tonight with Chris Robinson. You rock! Love these pedals man.
Jonathan Wilson
Songs of Jonathan Wilson
“Hey Sean, We got the pedals yesterday. Last night we tried out about 20 different overdrives with my rig. The Eternity Overdrive is the one. Very, very cool. The second we plugged it in, my tech and I looked at each other with huge grins on our faces. We were instantly knocked out and it only got better as we started dialing tones in. After about 10 overdrives, they all sort of begin to sound the same, but as soon as we plugged the Eternity in, we all looked at each other beaming. Heads and tails above everything else. Thanks man, you are a god amongst men!”
Richard Fortus
Guns and Roses
“Hi Sean, Got the the COT 50 and it sounds great! THANKS SO MUCH! I’m gonna record with it next time I’m in the studio. I saw Landau play the other night and he was using it – sounded awesome! Thanks Sean!”
Scott Henderson
Finest fusion guitarist PEROID!
“Sean, i accidentally played an eternity pedal through the (not particularly) clean channel of my vht pittbull45; holy flippin’ wow, dude! sounded amazing… gorgeous apocalyptic meltdown tones: *right* up my alley!”
David Torn
Davidtorn.net