Lovetone Big Cheese

[TheEchomaker]

i told my friend guitarist to turn up the curds

[monkeyxx]

"number three is the CHEESE settin', indicated by a little drawing of a piece of CHEESE, in keeping with the CHEESE theme" oh man that cracked me up!!

[RedSandStudios]

I love the versatility of this fuzz pedal. Also, if anyone wants one, you can get the Chunky Cheese which is a clone.

[caste0]

Very good demo! Love the pedal (i'm thinking of buying it) and love your playing, keep rocking!

[nubbinnoob]

you're a great player. i'm favoriting this just to try out what you played.

[xylophonografi]

I'm amazed how you can make fuzzes sound so great and sustained. No matter what fuzz I play through, I can't make it sing.

And boy, do I love this big cheese!

[blondegraemey]

Thanks! G

[alejo210]

The way you say cheese is so sexy man, also, nice video.

[ForzaU2]

Amazing Discotheque ! I'm looking for The Edge gear, I've allready have the 76 gibson explorer and the memory man from elctro harmonix, i'm looking for a fuzz, I don't how to choose between dunlop fuzzface and this one, this one is great but the fuzzface rocks too ...

[MrRedrays]

Nice "Summer Breeze" at 4:01. Made me smile!

[metalcore929]

Great sounding fuzz!

[PimpBrovasTV]

from 4:21 ... AWESOME PLAYING!!!!

[dompascarella]

totally random..where did you get that strap lock holder thing?

[blondegraemey]

It's a rubber washer from the lid of a bottle of Grolsch lager. G

[Horjan]

I recognized "Rusty Cage" in there right? Nice...

[zebedee3333]

what guitar is that your playing?

Doesn't say fender on the head stock.

[blondegraemey]

It's an old Tokai Strat with Fender Texas Special pick ups. G

[zebedee3333]

i just checked out their web site, nice guitars.

Looks like they don't make the strat's anymore.

[bonjovifan89]

they stopped making them in 1987 or something like that

[bonjovifan89]

holy crud that's the same guitar i have, only i put laces on it. It's a nice guitar, but the stock pickups are crap.

[AirHendrix91]

So If I want a Pavement sound, would this be the pedal I'm after?

Look up Pavement on Youtube. They're a 90's band. The sound I'm looking for is from the songs Kris Kraft and Fillmore Jive.

Lemme know if you can help me with this one.

[vetzaaak]

I remember Stephen Malkmus's main distortion/booster was (is?) a Crowther HotCake. Which impo is a very nice but slightly overpriced dirt box. Not that impressive compaired to a boss pedal that costs less then half of what the Hot Cake goes for. But again, that's just mpo.

[AirHendrix91]

You sure Boss makes alright ones? I've seen Ikey Owens from The Mars Volta hook it up to his synth to get cool distortion but I didn't know if its good or not.

Its not like a digital sound, right? Just wondering.

[vetzaaak]

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I'd say the best way to find out is to gou out and give a couple pedals a test drive. Reviews and clips on the internet can't always tell you everyting you need to know...

[doogdoogdoog]

Malkmus used a Big Cheese a fair bit, but not exclusively in the studio.

Any big fuzzy sound he used live is probably the Cheese, and it's all over his last few solo albums.

[thelatedavidsmith]

pavement were infamous lovetone users, not just the big cheese but the meatball, doppleganger, and ?. malkmus im sure uses the big cheese and fuzz factory, still not sure what spiral stairs setup is like...

[AirHendrix91]

So my dream of somehow constructing their sound but with waveform qualities is impossible because Lovetone has discontinued their products?

[thelatedavidsmith]

not really. prices on the used market recently are as low as ive ever seen them in terms of lovetone, real weird. i scored my meatball dead mint with box and everything for $400 and im getting a doppleganger very soon for $350

but if youve got patience and know where to look, you can grab them with paying a very little premium. if not, youll be paying out the ass. the meatball and big cheese have been cloned ALOT so you can make one yourself for real cheap if your handy with a soldering iron.

[AirHendrix91]

How exactly do you develop the soldiering iron technique? I've always wanted to learn electronics like that but don't want to spend money on a degree learning it lol.

[TUBEMAN192]

one word: NASTY!

[LSFXGuitarFX]

Been hunting for this for ages! Don't suppose you've got any gut shot's of the actual circuit?

Top video! *****

Sounds great maxxed out!

[cumslutcrackwhore]

does the big cheese get close to tonebender tones?

[blondegraemey]

Actually, it does get reasonably close to a Tonebender in the tone bypass mode. G

[martinsmith006]

I just got to pick one of these up in a trade.. I've wanted the BC since the first time I'd ever seen one, and this one is absolutely mint.. box, manual... perfect... can't wait.

Also: blondegraemey your Ibanez AD80 demo broke me down and made me go out and buy one.. love it.. Keep rocking man, well done indeed.

[blondegraemey]

Great stuff, cheers man! G

[vendettawarcrime]

A friend of mine who trades lots of guitar gear has just told me that he has the lovetone produced pedal board with BS, BC, doppleganger and meatball on it and he's bringing it over today for me to check out and hang on to for a while!! Im so excited! I may now have to post my own video of the BC and the BS combined :o)

I might have my own selection of demo's up here sooner than later!

[Rambo29]

How does it react to humbuckers?

[blondegraemey]

Sounds fatter but the guitar vol control is less sensitive. G

[danceofthedruids]

Sorry ... my bad (oh snap) ... the off position cuts off the tone control as per your video. Thanks again!

[blondegraemey]

Yeah, 'Off' is a tone-bypass setting with more gain. You need to spend some time to really learn how to get the best out of this one. Good luck with it! G

[danceofthedruids]

OK ... stronger battery got me more signal on Cheese. I am charging up a NiCad to try and give this the benefit of the doubt. Now ... on the off knob position ... do you still get fuzz? That's what's happening with my unit. Possibly not true bypass?

[danceofthedruids]

Just received a Cheese Source ... the Cheese side cuts out with a Les Paul at a little over half on the curds setting ... funny, you are getting signal through the full rotation of the curds knob. I might try a newer battery ... have you run into this when the battery gets low?

[subinbar]

great sounding box. have you compared any clones to the original?

[blondegraemey]

Ive never played (or built) a clone. I might try to build one in the future. G

[insaneinthebrain1978]

hi there,

is this a tokai strat youre using?

thx and greetings from austria.....max

[blondegraemey]

Yes, it's a Tokai Goldstar Strat from the early 80's. I fitted Fender Texas Special pickups. G

[TheBlackCrayon77]

I love how well the tone knob responds, lots of pedals tend to be very shallow when it comes to tone knobs. My buddy offered to sell me his and I'm thinking I'll get it, this will be a collector no doubt.

[blondegraemey]

Yeah, get it if it's cheap!

[RogerMoron]

What's the opening song for your vids ?

[blondegraemey]

It's my old band Candleman Summer. A very old recording from the early 90's.

[RogerMoron]

Well I thought it sounded 90s (a compliment). Can you upload it ?

[blondegraemey]

I might post the video soon! Glad you like it!.

[franzthestampede]

Very nice review of the pedal!

And I loved the Discoteque riff playing with the cheese setting!

[robertgroove66]

the ultimate fuzz? you make it sound really good anyway!!

[blondegraemey]

Haha! Thanks!

[surrealdirector]

Wow! I want one. I like the over-the-top settings, where it's breaking-up, unstable.

[ChrisMartensson]

This video was a great inspiration and a great piece of work! Great jam! Is it possible that you might have a circuit diagram or scematics for the Big Cheese?

[blondegraemey]

Sorry no, but check the comment below from rowla. He may be able to offer advice?

[rowla]

g'day blondgraemey

Amazing pedal, lovely playing. And fooking marvellous to hear a geordie accent again. Top work all 'round

[blondegraemey]

Thanks mate! You an ex-pat then?

[rowla]

Live in Australia now, only been back home once but hoping to again this Xmas. I'd totally forgotten about the Big Cheese but after sein this am going to order to order a kit to build a clone from Officially Licence Circuits.

Very cool amp you've got there too.

Cheers and gan canny.

[karimkauak]

it's like a Big Muff

[bingefeller]

Great tones! It doesn't sound like a typical fuzzbox to my ears.

[Gfonzarelli3rd]

Your the real Big Cheese!

[dsotm321]

you are my hero

[wowurnotgood]

I sure hope Lovetone will go back into production sometime.

Any chance of a demo of the Meatball

[blondegraemey]

Will do soon!