New Pedal arrived yesterday...Les Lius

bought it based on youtube videos.........sounded interesting......the videos dont fully do it justice.........the sounds they got ARE there,but it can do alot more.....really lends itself to my rig......only played around with it a couple hrs.....stacks nicely with the Ts9 silver mod from analogman.......very cool pedal.....lookn fwd to more experiments..lol

Cool, enjoy.

I'm gonna play with mine today in front of a Catalinbread DLS.

It is a great pedal for slide guitar as well

Awesome! I've been thinking about getting one too.

I'd like to ask two questions if you don't mind:

1) Is it substantially different sounding from the typical tubescreamer-type pedal? (meaning if I had two stacked TS-type pedals could I basically get the same sound?)

2) What type of music do you usually play?

I do not believe, that nobody still did side-by-side with catalinbread Formula no5

Congrats. If it sounds anything like the No 5, you'll love it. Time to bust out some Rolling Stones. :smile:

oh great...another pedal I have to google.

1) Is it substantially different sounding from the typical tubescreamer-type pedal? (meaning if I had two stacked TS-type pedals could I basically get the same sound?)


Substantially! I'd say it gives more of a speaker cone type distortion rather than a OD distortion. But think Tweed distortion / breakup / OD to qualify that...

Def not like tubescreamer....adds some glass and sparkle to the drive...stones approved for sure.i play mostly blues and classic rock and this is awesome

This has been my go to tool to tame a 40-60 watt amp when it is too big for the job. I have said and typed this a bunch times here already; "Can take the bark off a 60 watt amp" and get it usable where a 15-20 watter might/would be a better choice.

Regarding the Stones approved, the only time I really use the 5E3 setting is doing that tone. It usually sits in the other modes. The second button/setting make for a nice secondary amount of twastyness at the click of the 2nd switch... Handy. ;)

I do not believe, that nobody still did side-by-side with catalinbread Formula no5

I have done one. I actually had the Lovepedal "Les Lius", the CB "Formula No5" and the Machine Head Pedals "72 Degrees".

This was my second go around with the "Les Lius". The amazing Catalinbread video of "Cinnamon Girl" sold me on picking up the "Formula No5". I purchased the MHP "72 Degrees" on endorsement of a somewhat well known guitar builder/marketer/player.

Kept the MHP "72 Degrees" as it just had a fuller and more rich tweedy grind and it is very tweakable. Great pedal and deserves more recognition.

Sorry, I probably should have done a video of it...

"Formula No5". .


I sold my Les with a bunch of other stuff to finance the move to PDX. Really wanted to replace it with the F-5, but the $120.00 sale on the Les popped up and I went with it again. Really works well IMO with cleaner voiced speakers for me... YMMV

I A-B'ed mine against a Hot Wired last night. They are not in the same league at all, so not a fair comparison.

I won't be selling the Lius any time soon, but there's only one transistor in the thing. It's not a true 2-stage unit like the HW. It's also a little dark in my book. The boost is only a little nudge in volume, but if you crank it's pot some more high end comes out. Otherwise, no tone pot. Just Gain and Drive. That's how I see it anyway - the two pots and one switch are not labelled.

I think "Stones" whenever I plug it in. I just wish it had more top end that I could cut, rather than wanting top end and not having any. I think now I remember there is an output filter that maybe I could screw with. Anyone have similar thoughts?

As to the Hot Wired - only one IC in it. I'll take it apart this weekend and draw a schematic. I gotta build one of those...Nice pedal too.

I found it to have plenty of top end which I really like. I love the twin setting and the tchulas cool.....havent messed with the deluxe side.....boost is usable to....just the right breakup

oh great...another pedal I have to google.

Plus one :)

I've had one for quite a while for great Stones and Neil Young tone. As mentioned it is much different than the usual Tube Screamer type or Rat tones. More gritty than smooth. A good pedal for sure.

Works good as an "always on" pedal too........experiments continue

Works good as an "always on" pedal too........experiments continue


For sure, with the BMR I used to keep it in tchula @ 1/4 throttle on the left, and the right on 3/4 for when full on blister/tweed was wanted.

Tuned down 1/2 step...straight into les lius..deluxe mode....got some excellent texas blues tones.....lotta sounds in that lil gold box.....

I have done one. I actually had the Lovepedal "Les Lius", the CB "Formula No5" and the Machine Head Pedals "72 Degrees".

This was my second go around with the "Les Lius". The amazing Catalinbread video of "Cinnamon Girl" sold me on picking up the "Formula No5". I purchased the MHP "72 Degrees" on endorsement of a somewhat well known guitar builder/marketer/player.

Kept the MHP "72 Degrees" as it just had a fuller and more rich tweedy grind and it is very tweakable. Great pedal and deserves more recognition.

Sorry, I probably should have done a video of it...

I've been eyeing the Les Lius, but never had the spare funds when they popped up. I got a killer deal on a MHP 72 Degrees last year and love it. Nice to know I'm not necessarily missing much.