Artisanal Effects
Meathead envelope filter
Meathead envelope filter
5.0 / 5.0
(8) 8 total reviews
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Introducing Artisanal Effects Meathead, a replica of the famous, expensive, coveted and long out of production Lovetone® Meatball® envelope filter. If you're looking at this listing, you know what this is, a heavyweight from the 90's-early 2000's and used by a who's who of famous musicians, from the Edge to Kevin Shields to Kirk Hammett.
The original was itself a heavily modified revision of a Mutron III. The audio path of this replica is exactly the same as the original, in a more pedal board friendly size of 5.5" x 4.8", built by hand with high quality parts. The only thing that's been added is a switchable filter, a common mod that makes it work as frequency variable Q like a Moog rather than the constant Q of the original. This really only has an effect with bass, and gives you a wider palette of sounds to use and of course can be turned off to stay stock. This is certainly not a subtle effect, and is equally at home on guitar, bass and keys. Like the original, it also has an effects loop to insert a fuzz or other pedal into the envelope path, a common Lovetone® setup was to put a Big Cheese® in the loop.
Save a ton of money and get all the original sounds today...
Disclaimer: Artisanal Effects' products are independent recreations based on classic circuits such as the Lovetone® Meatball™. Artisanal Effects is not affiliated with, authorized by, or endorsed by Lovetone®, ThorpyFX®, or any related entities. Names of original products are used solely for identification of circuit heritage and comparison purposes. All trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.
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Im a big Phish fan and I love Mike Gordon’s bass tone with the modulus bass and the “Meatball”. Check out Destiny unbound rosemont 2018. I have a ‘92 modulus and was looking for that tone. I came across Artisinal Effects and the Meathead, after some debate I just got it. I’m very pleased. High quality build, helpful instructions and the meatball tone is frankly ridiculous. I’m blowing minds (mostly mine) with this setup. 5 stars
Phish fans seem to be unanimous on the Meathead nailing the sound...thanks again for the review, enjoy the pedal and I hope you continue blowing minds. My understanding is Mike Gordon placed a graphic EQ pedal after his Meatball to tame some of the extreme bass craziness that the pedal can generate in some settings, which I found to be a cool idea. Of course, he's playing through massive PAs in giant venues... :-)
This is one sick envelope filter. The controls are intuitive, the sounds range from subtle resonant pops to PHAT & PHUNKY wet rubberband SLAPS, and the quality is impeccable. If you've made it far enough in your filter search to be reading this review, then I'll confidently say yes, you absolutely want this pedal.
I've owned quite a few Meatball clones over the years and never really gelled with them. I picked this up based on some recommendations, and I was absolutely blown away. This thing is everything that you want it to be - thick, juicy, and full of booty! Very responsive and chewy, and flexible as well! I'm looking fwd to pairing it with an Artisanal Cheese (Big Cheese clone) very soon!
I've owned over 50 envelope filters in my time, and this one is one of the best!
Also, FWIW the owner/builder is outstanding to work with, super nice and extremely respnsive and helpful! All and all a great experience and a great pedal!
As someone that owned the original Lovetone Meatball I can say that this captures everything that I remember from the original pedal. Shipped super fast, well packaged, and in a box with printed info.,
Communication was the absolute best!! Going to likely pick up an another pedal for my collection.
Thanks a lot John, happy the pedal has brought you back in time to owning the original, that's what I'm aiming for!
Sounds great! A little understanding of analog synthesis might be helpful in understanding this pedal, but fear not, a PDF manual was sent with the pedal with some good settings to get you started.
Thank you! They are complicated pedals, but worth spending some time with. Enjoy!