Favorite pedal brand

[matmosphere]

Gotta go with Earthquaker stuff personally. They're the brand I have the most of both production pedals and DIY clones. EHX would be a close second.

I used to be big on earthquaker, I had a ton of their stuff but I ended up selling most of them. I often found I preferred the original circuits many of their pedals are based on. I appreciate the effort they put into not being boring or run of the mill though.

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I really appreciate Earthquaker for their more crazy original stuff, like the Organizer and the Rainbow Machine. I always forget that they make stuff like the Hoof, and tone bender clones I just never bother to look at that stuff, because if I want a muff I'll just make one.

and Lovetone, yeah, I need to start building those too.

So many good makers, again why choose one? I mean, I love Fender best, but I have other guitars too.

[Thewintersoldier]

Lovetone pedals are awesome, and I wanted them SO BADLY when I first saw them. Until I got a few clones and realized way too many knobs. It's like going to the store to get peanut butter and finding 50 different brands, types and flavors. 4 is about my max with knobs these days, less is more, especially with mod pedals. LOVE the one knob MXR and EHX phasers.

This is a huge problem for me. I have some pedals with too many knobs. Not every parameter needs a dedicated knob. Having  too many knobs can make it harder to dial in a good sound. I have got rid of pedals that I could just not dial in a good sound from. Thats how I am with amps as well, give me the most basic control set, if the fundemantal sound of the amp is good then I have fewer knobs to screw it up. Lovetone looks and sounds great but a lot of features are based on stereo operation as well and most times I just play thru a single amp.

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[Aentons]

I really like the Maxon designed Ibanez stuff.

[alanp]

Lovetone pedals are awesome, and I wanted them SO BADLY when I first saw them. Until I got a few clones and realized way too many knobs. It's like going to the store to get peanut butter and finding 50 different brands, types and flavors. 4 is about my max with knobs these days, less is more, especially with mod pedals. LOVE the one knob MXR and EHX phasers.

(looks behind him at the synth-cable-palooza)

I have no idea what you mean by this 

As for favourite -- I'd give this two options. If we're talking reliability, grab'n'go, I've-got-to-play-in-five-minutes!, I'd say Boss. They aren't the world's trendiest, but they're built like brick sh!thouses and are nearly always pretty decent. If we're talking bedroom, I'm-having-fun, then Lovetone. The more time you have to mess around with them, the better they get.

[LaceSensor]

Lovetone pedals are awesome, and I wanted them SO BADLY when I first saw them. Until I got a few clones and realized way too many knobs. It's like going to the store to get peanut butter and finding 50 different brands, types and flavors. 4 is about my max with knobs these days, less is more, especially with mod pedals. LOVE the one knob MXR and EHX phasers.

This is a huge problem for me. I have some pedals with too many knobs. Not every parameter needs a dedicated knob. Having  too many knobs can make it harder to dial in a good sound. I have got rid of pedals that I could just not dial in a good sound from. Thats how I am with amps as well, give me the most basic control set, if the fundemantal sound of the amp is good then I have fewer knobs to screw it up. Lovetone looks and sounds great but a lot of features are based on stereo operation as well and most times I just play thru a single amp.

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Only two of the lovetone pedals are actually stereo, and in both cases they sum to mono

[TeleCrunch]

My favorite pedal brand came out of nowhere after building a few clones - Barber Electronics.

Way Huge and EHX would tie for second place :-)

[Scruffie]

I... don't like lovetone... at all...

I've tried them, there seems to be so much superfluous range and the actual core designs really don't wow me, I always just think of them as pedals with all the mods rather than being designed from the ground to have a huge range of useful sounds.

Respect what they were but I just don't get 'em.

[Muadzin]

Lovetone pedals are awesome, and I wanted them SO BADLY when I first saw them. Until I got a few clones and realized way too many knobs. It's like going to the store to get peanut butter and finding 50 different brands, types and flavors. 4 is about my max with knobs these days, less is more, especially with mod pedals. LOVE the one knob MXR and EHX phasers.

(looks behind him at the synth-cable-palooza)

I have no idea what you mean by this 

As for favourite -- I'd give this two options. If we're talking reliability, grab'n'go, I've-got-to-play-in-five-minutes!, I'd say Boss. They aren't the world's trendiest, but they're built like brick sh!thouses and are nearly always pretty decent. If we're talking bedroom, I'm-having-fun, then Lovetone. The more time you have to mess around with them, the better they get.

Thing is, maybe this is just me, ultimately after all that experimentation you gravitate towards a single sound, in which case all those knobs and switches might as well be set and forget trimpots and dipswitches. Unless you're Radiohead and you need a ton of weird noises. Although even they seem to have ditched their Lovetone pedals. Ed used to have a Big Cheese, Ringstinger and Meatball on his board(s).

[TFZ]

To me there is a difference between pedals for playing live, and pedals for messing around at home or recording. I would never take any Lovetone on a stage, too much nuance is wasted there anyway. They are just fun toys to play with by myself or for a recording situation. That is where I want all the possibilities they can offer.

[gordo]

Well put.  I think in those terms especially with the L6 MM4.  It doesn't do anything particularly exceptional except it's really easy to use, sounds really good, and is is repeatable so a minimum of screwing around with it to get good live sounds.  Even if I need to start from scratch.

[Invertiguy]

I'm gonna go with Spaceman Effects. I really dig their aesthetic, their circuit designs are all fairly unique and interesting, and their boards are a work of art with all those funky vintage components they're designed around- not that I buy into any 'mojo' aspect of such components, nor would I ever design a board for a production pedal around such a funky mishmash of weird old junk, but you gotta admit it definitely adds to the 'cool' factor!

[thesmokingman]

I think Earthquaker is probably my favorite of the newer makers out there ... EHX has been around so long and done so much that it is impossible for anyone else to compete with them short of outlasting them ... I do have a soft spot for DOD before they got consumed by digitech ... and I do respect the mythos surrounding lovetone and remember being just fascinated by them when I'd see them in catalogues

[lars]

Thing is, maybe this is just me, ultimately after all that experimentation you gravitate towards a single sound, in which case all those knobs and switches might as well be set and forget trimpots and dipswitches.

I agree with what you've been saying about too many knobs. I think there is something really nice about the Blackstone Appliances approach...flush mount pots that are set and forget. The old Maestro PS1A was pretty cool too. Three options that were all great, and you basically just turn them on or off...no fiddling.