Behringer meatball

[Quatschmacher]

10 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

When you say the original maker, do you mean of the Mu-Tron III that Lovetone based the Meatball on?

No, in this instance I meant Dan Coggins of Lovetone. If your question is meant to imply that Lovetone ripped off the Mu-Tron I’II, I’d add that the Meatball was far from a straight-up copy as it added lots of extra functionality not present on the Mu-Tron III. 
 

(I have also supported Mike Beigel by buying his own later incarnations (QTron, Micro-tron III and IV, and I’ll probably get the latest Mu-Tron III when funds allow).)

Edited December 13, 2025 by Quatschmacher

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, ped said:

In a sense, every env filter is based on the Mutron. But the Meatball is a different circuit altogether. It’s not a ‘copy’ like the Behringer.
 

Same goes for the 3leaf Chromatron. It takes inspiration from the Meatball but it’s a different design. 

 

Aionfx's description of the PCB says "Unlike Lovetone’s later offerings, the Meatball was not a fully original circuit, but rather a heavily tweaked version of the very first commercial envelope filter pedal, the Mu-tron III. While the core circuit is the very similar, the Meatball adds several new features including a clean blend, attack/decay controls, two extra range modes in between Hi and Lo, two expression controls, and an effects loop."

[LukeFRC]

21 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

Aionfx's description of the PCB says "Unlike Lovetone’s later offerings, the Meatball was not a fully original circuit, but rather a heavily tweaked version of the very first commercial envelope filter pedal, the Mu-tron III. While the core circuit is the very similar, the Meatball adds several new features including a clean blend, attack/decay controls, two extra range modes in between Hi and Lo, two expression controls, and an effects loop."

Given there’s not much new in analogue electronics, and given we are in a topic about behringer …. I think that counts for lovetone as an original adaptation of an existing topology! Something like the 3leaf Photon is similarly a refined version to the point it becomes its own thing 

[Beer of the Bass]

I'm guessing Behringer aren't going to do the Lovetone flanger with the question mark on, that thing was nuts, a lot of fun. 

[LukeFRC]

7 minutes ago, Beer of the Bass said:

I'm guessing Behringer aren't going to do the Lovetone flanger with the question mark on, that thing was nuts, a lot of fun. 

Irony being if Lovetone bring it back they will probably be buying the bbd chips from … behringer! 

[Beer of the Bass]

49 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Irony being if Lovetone bring it back they will probably be buying the bbd chips from … behringer! 

 

Indeed, probably the case with anything that uses vactrols too these days. 

[sshorepunk]

In stock at Anderson’s! 😉

[sshorepunk]

Couldn’t help myself! 
 

All I can say at this point is, it’s a ‘weighty’ pedal, all pots turn with a reassuring smoothness, feels well made, not cheap, even though it is when compared to the original 

 

[Al Krow]

50 minutes ago, sshorepunk said:

Couldn’t help myself! 
 

All I can say at this point is, it’s a ‘weighty’ pedal, all pots turn with a reassuring smoothness, feels well made, not cheap, even though it is when compared to the original 

 

 

Nice one! Looking forward to your review and bass sound samples / YT clips if you're up for recording some for us?

 

If this really is as good a filter as it promises to be, there'll be a few more of us in the queue to get one, I suspect!

[Quatschmacher]

On 14/01/2026 at 13:32, sshorepunk said:

Couldn’t help myself! 
 

All I can say at this point is, it’s a ‘weighty’ pedal, all pots turn with a reassuring smoothness, feels well made, not cheap, even though it is when compared to the original 

 

Are the pots panel mounted with a nut?

[sshorepunk]

38 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

Are the pots panel mounted with a nut?

I’ll check later 

[Al Krow]

Now just £85 including P&P at Gear4Music!

[ped]

I'm tempted to get one to compare to the original but I'm scared it'll be as good which will be discombobulating

[Al Krow]

46 minutes ago, ped said:

I'm tempted to get one to compare to the original but I'm scared it'll be as good which will be discombobulating

 

You have an original one? Respect! 

 

Discombobulating - an excellent word. And very serendipitous that you had chance to use it in an a manner that wasn't obviously otiose.

 

The only clip so far I've seen is 13 seconds of the Andertons guy on their sales pitch for the pedal. It sounded "ok". I'm hoping that @sshorepunk will be able to provide us with something more fulsome! 

[sshorepunk]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Now just £85 including P&P at Gear4Music!

They were out of stock when I ordered and it looks to be like that now 

[Al Krow]

8 minutes ago, sshorepunk said:

They were out of stock when I ordered and it looks to be like that now 

 

True. But is it actually any/really good? Looking forward to your thoughts on it!

[sshorepunk]

36 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

True. But is it actually any/really good? Looking forward to your thoughts on it!

Had 10 minutes last night and there’s a lot to take in and adjust, I have 3 leaf GR to compare to and it didn’t seem as easy to dial in a good sound, but I need more time 

[Quatschmacher]

25 minutes ago, sshorepunk said:

Had 10 minutes last night and there’s a lot to take in and adjust, I have 3 leaf GR to compare to and it didn’t seem as easy to dial in a good sound, but I need more time 

Try these:

 

[krispn]

The meatball was so iconic. A local

chap in the area has and may still have the love tone Four pedal pedalboard which he loaned me years ago. Brown Source, Big Cheese Fuzz, Meatball and I think the Doppleganger. It was mental!!!

 

The meatball is such an iconic sounding pedal you just know its signature sound on recordings. 

Edited 48 minutes ago by krispn

[ped]

This is the only clip I’ve recorded of mine. I’ll do some more!

 

It’s used very subtly here, just a very smooth and wide envelope. 

I turn it on at about 1:15

 

 

[Beer of the Bass]

I know Behringer don't always clone circuits as closely as the cosmetics suggest, some are only accurate to a block diagram level. So I wouldn't automatically expect it to sound identical, though it should certainly be in the ballpark.