The Lovepedal COT 50, short for "Church of Tone," is a boost and overdrive pedal from Lovepedal. It is built around a single control and an amp-style circuit aim: Lovepedal says that in the COT 50 it "has aimed to capture the response of a late '60s plexi loaded with 6550 power tubes"1. For a player, that puts it in the camp of touch-sensitive, amp-like overdrives rather than high-gain pedals, closer in spirit to the Lovepedal Purple Plexi than to a modern distortion box.
What it does
The pedal's control layout is about as simple as a pedal gets. According to Lovepedal, "The COT only features one knob, a bias control, that controls the overall gain of the pedal"1. There are no tone, level or switch controls to set: the bias knob sets how hard the pedal pushes, and the rest of the response comes from the guitar and the player's hands.
That single-knob approach pairs with a volume-knob response that Lovepedal describes in characterful terms: "when you roll off your guitar volume it will clean up like a drunk before Sunday Mass"1. In practical terms, the maker is saying the pedal cleans up when you roll back the guitar's volume knob, which is the behavior players usually look for in an amp-style overdrive.
Sound and who uses it
Lovepedal makes a direct claim about the tones the pedal covers: "This pedal nails the early Hendrix and Billy Gibbons tones"1. That places it as a period-flavored dirt pedal for players chasing late-'60s lead and rhythm sounds.
Guitarist Jonathan Wilson is documented as using the COT 50, saying of his Lovepedal pedals, "I will use them today in the studio and tonight with Chris Robinson"1.
Where it sits in the Lovepedal range
The COT 50 is one of several amp-inspired overdrives in the Lovepedal lineup. Others include the Lovepedal Eternity, the Lovepedal Amp Eleven, the Lovepedal Purple Plexi and the Lovepedal Tchula. Lovepedal has also combined the circuit with its other flagship in the Lovepedal COT50 Eternity Stack. For a wider view of the category, see the site's pages on Overdrive Pedals and Boost Pedals1.
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Sources (1)
- History | Love Pedal, Lovepedal
