Allpedal Love Machine - the octave fuzz you've been waiting for?

bad_alice · April 28

Octave fuzz.
<pours a strong coffee>

I adore octave fuzz, and especially octave "up" fuzz pedals but...truth be told, it can feel a bit like I'm stuck in an abusive relationship where this particular slice of guitar effect is concerned. Because, in all honesty, as much as I enjoy the effect itself, it's one that I find very limited use for as it tends to be #YMMV pretty harsh sounding and, much like a tired toddler, can be unpredictable and not always play well with others.
It's also one of those effects where you, and everyone within a 100 metres knows immediately when it's on. There's not much subtlety built into an octave fuzz and, while in some ways that's one of joys of these pedals, it can also bring a lot of anxiety if it's not set just "so".
It's also worth mentioning that they tend to be usable for a very specific set of circumstances. Those being when I'm on the neck pickup of a Strat and playing lead in a particular area of the fretboard aka between the 9th and 15th fret - for context, I run a digital Helix type rig so it's relatively unusual for me to buy pedals nowadays and that set up offers some excellent models of classic Octave Fuzz pedals.
But then? Then I found a pedal that has, in short...Blown. My. Fucking. MIND.

Let me back up a sec...I decided to go pedal hunting with a particular goal in mind: an octave fuzz that would allow me to dial in and out BOTH the fuzz and the octave. This, I felt, would make the effect way more musical and open up its usability too. While there are a few other contenders out there, here's the pedal I landed on - the Allpedal Love Machine - and it's got me more excited than any pedal I've tried over the last 7 years, hence why I'm writing and posting this review. Because, in short, it's PHENOMENAL!
(More info can be found at the Allpedal website: https://allpedal.com/collections/pedals/products/lovemachine)

Positives:
Somehow this aptly named pedal manages to add sustain and an enormously pleasing harmonic "special sauce" that I'm struggling to define across the entirety of the fretboard, plus delivering on its main job: an octave fuzz, yes, but one that offers up a much more controllable fuzz tone and octave too.
This is a pedal that is so, so, sooo much fun to play and comes packed with an array of usable and rewarding tones. It stacks beautifully with other gain pedals - I have the Love Pedal sitting at first in my chain - and it provides complete silence eg no background hiss when it's powered up and your hands are off the fretboard. The EQ switch ads in or scoops away a chunk of mids, which becomes a feature that's super helpful when you want to add a Tubescreamer but don't want your sound to get all honky and nasally. Oh, and using modulation and filters with it? MMMWAAAH! <kisses fingers >

The fabulous 70s style graphics are a wonderful additional bonus, as is the soft touch foot switch. The build quality of the Love Machine (lol, a sentence I never thought I'd ever find myself writing on this forum...

) is top notch and rear mounted jacks really help where pedalboard arranging is concerned. I'm running mine of a 9V from my Strymon Ojai but it does offer a battery compartment too, should you so prefer.

Negatives:
<scratches head>
Not much tbh.
I guess the Level knob could offer a bit more in terms of boost but that's not a factor that bothers me as I can provide that from elsewhere in my chain. I'd be remiss in not mentioning it in this review though, just in case it is a deal breaker for someone.
Speaking of knobs, the indicator lines are white against the gold of the knobs themselves. It's fine and they're visible but, if I was to nitpick, either a darker or more contrasting colour might make them stand out more than they do right now.

Conclusion:
This single effect has added so much to my playing by widening the spectrum of gain tones I have available and it's thoroughly addictive too! Yes, it can absolutely delivers that wince-inducing-crashingly-nasty snarl that octave fuzzes are famed for but, my word, it also offers so much more. Highly recommended.
(And yes, OF COURSE it has a purple LED.)

And here's a couple of demos to assuage your curiosity:
Brett Kingman:

Sasha Ivantic: https://youtu.be/F757NRxtT0g?si=SvGKK5vlyNYPo9Yn