THE DISCONTINUED LOVETONE Meatball (Soundroom, Feb. ’96 and Sept. ’04) has achieved collectible/cult status among bass players, typically selling for over $500 on eBay. Its reputation is due in large part to its unusually flexible approach to envelope-controlled filtering and its widely lauded liquid tone. Seattle’s 3Leaf audio aims to bring the essential sound and feel of the Lovetone circuit to a realistic price point.
Like the Meatball, the Groove Regulator offers a good amount of tweaking, although it does without some of the Meatball’s less immediately useful parameters. The 3Leaf offers control over SENSITIVITY, ATTACK, DECAY, and INTENSITY, with switches controlling RANGE, FEEDBACK, and SWEEP. Adjusting SENSITIVITY helps even out the levels from active and passive basses and even responds well to piezos from an electric upright. The INTENSITY control functions similar to a tone knob, adding treble response as its turned up, while engaging the LO position of the RANGE switch boost the lowend output.
One of the pedal’s most welcome features is its effects loop. Putting a fuzz pedal in the loop was gleeful; the resulting wall of analog-synth-style hugeness was euphoric. Plus, the effect loop allows external control of the filter sweep (go to bassplayer. tv for a demo).
There are tons of great envelope filter pedals on the market but many aren’t as versatile and consistently useful as the Groove Regulator. It’s tough to get a bad sound out of it, and it offers enough personality, interactivity, and flexibility to reward thorough tweaking. 3Leaf successfully distilled the best of the Meatball, without cluttering the resulting pedal with confusing, potentially sound-sabotaging stuff.
3LEAF AUDIO GROOVE REGULATOR
STREET $199
PROS Fantastic funkiness with excellent versatility.
CONS None
CONTACT www.3leafaudio.com
Alternate Opinion
The Groove Regulator is tough to beat. It does all the wonderfully funky stuff I love about envelope filters with inimitable style. Right on! —JONATHAN HERRERA