The Tilt control is an active EQ where when set at 12 o’clock you have a flat EQ, while turning clockwise boosts highs and cuts bass, and turning counterclockwise boosts bass and cuts highs. These controls work together to create a ton of colorful tones that are extremely useful. The Master volume controls the overall volume of the unit, while the Pre-Vol acts as a gain control to go from a gritty preamp drive to over-the-top gated fuzz. The Crayon has controls for Master, Pre-Vol, Tilt, and a Hi-Pass toggle. The Crayon is just that, a powerful little box that has all the color and characteristics of a vintage studio preamp when cranked. Thus we decided it was time to pare it down and give guitar players and bass players a simplified version that gives you the distinct compressed overdrive and fuzz sounds you’ve heard on so many classic recordings. Well, the Colour Box became much more as we got into designing it. The JHS Pedals Colour Box began with a simple idea: create a pedal that sounds like plugging directly into a vintage preamp and cranking it. The Big Cheese was Lovetone’s most popular pedal and has been used by ton of notable artists including U2, Radiohead, Wilco, Pavement, and others.CRAYON preamp / distortion / fuzz $199 Little brother to the Colour Box That legacy of taking their work seriously while not themselves seriously still is praised from many boutique builders they influenced.Īsked about the unique aesthetics of Lovetone, Dan credits Vlad with the visual design of the pedals as well as originally coming up with the Lovetone company name.Īfter Lovetone, Dan went on to found Dinosaural and is now the Analogue Design Engineer at Thorpy FX, makers of the Field Marshal. The company is noted for bringing both originality and fun to the guitar pedal market. The company manufactured guitar pedals from 1995 until 2001, and through 2007 intermittently. Lovetone is an English company that was cofounded by Dan Coggins and Vlad Naslas in 1995. Hear it in action on U2’s Discothèque, Pavement’s Cream of Gold, and Wilco’s live performances of At Least That's What You Said. It was a train-wreck of a prototype, but it sounded good. It’s little wonder this is one of the quintessential sounds of the ‘90s.ĭan Coggins, designer of the Big Cheese, has said The Big Cheese was his.Īttempt to make something as chaotic as the Fuzz Face because the Fuzz Face is a chaos pedal, isn’t it? But it’s very controllable off the guitar because of its low input impedance and I decided to make a mashup of a Big Muff and a Fuzz Face because the Big Muff was the iconic pedal of the ‘90s because of all the grunge bands… so I bought a Big Muff and thought it was uncontrollable and unusable, so I really wanted to make a fuzz pedal that had some bite and some character to it that would stand out and you could hear what was going on. From glitchy sputtering fuzz to creamy sustain, this pedal can dial it in. The sounds it produces are legendary and fuzz heads revere it for its versatility. The ergonomics are due to the designers’ large foot size, so the pedal has plenty of real estate for the controls and doesn’t feel restricted.īut despite all those great attributes, when the novelty wears off the real reason this pedal is special is its sound. The knobs are labeled for controlling “Curds” and “Whey”. After all, it is a bright orange and purple box that is cheesed theme. It’s also just crazy in all the right ways.
It has a high-quality PCB and the expert soldering that you’d expect from Lovetone.
What makes the Lovetone Big Cheese notable? Well, it was extremely well made.
Also, if you have a penchant for DIY, this pedal deserves a look since it is available as a kit.Ī handmade reproduction made in Poland, the Little Big Tone Cheddar is a great way to get Big Cheese tones in an affordable pedal. If you want a Big Cheese clone in the larger pedal format, the Chunky Cheese is a great reproduction. Officially Licensed Circuits Chunky Cheese The Thorpy Field Marshall is designed by original Lovetone cofounder Dan Coggins and bills itself as a "MKII version" of the Big Cheese that boasts lower noise, higher output, and additional tonal shaping options and is made with premium components. From the boutique brand JHS Pedals, this Big Cheese clone is widely available and reproduces the circuit in a pedalboard friendly format with a color scheme that pays tribute to the original Lovetone.
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