1981 Inventions debuts eagerly awaited second pedal, the LVL – but the first batch is already gone

Matt Hoopes, best known as the lead guitarist in the band Relient K, has announced the second pedal from his sought-after 1981 Inventions brand is an overdrive unit, dubbed the LVL.

The box has been described by Hoopes as a “non-transparent” overdrive pedal, which is designed to emphasize natural harmonics and dynamic range, with a light-clipping circuit and an op-amp boost.

The most famous existing example of an op-amp pedal would be the ProCo Rat, though that’s a distortion pedal (albeit one famed for its harmonics). An op-amp also features in the circuit of Crowther Audio’s Hot Cake – a pedal Hoopes praised on the 1981 Inventions Instagram a few weeks back.

“My new pedal is called LVL,” Hoopes told Spin last year. “It’s my quintessential sound from [Relient K’s album] Forget And Not Slow Down, which was 2009, and also probably Air For Free, which was 2016.

“It wasn’t intentional, but it’s just a lower gain overdrive, and as I was developing the circuit, I kept wanting more and more gain so that I could play our song, Forget and Not Slow Down. I don’t know why I wanted to play that song with this pedal, but I kept tweaking it and tweaking it in order to play that song from that album.”

Hoopes’ previous small batch pedal productions – which so far have been limited to different versions of his initial DRV build – have established an enviable reputation. Demand for the handmade units vastly exceeds supply and each drop quickly sells-out.

Indeed, dealers jokingly refer to 1981 Inventions productions as ‘unobtainium’. As a result they typically hold their value on the used market, too.

The initial LVL launch seems to have been no exception – the purchase link was made available solely to subscribers of the 1981 Inventions email newsletter. Hoopes then posted a clip on Instagram telling followers to check their inboxes and soon after the LVL had sold out.

“Many of you have been with me since the beginning, even before DRV was launched,” wrote Hoopes in the email. “I really wanted to do something special just for you. You’ve patiently waited through barrages of new colorways, and I hope that this will be a sort of payoff.”

For those that missed out this time, there is a new batch dropping on June 6, though this will also be limited to a supply of one per customer – presumably also priced at $229.

If you want to get on the email list for next time, head to 1981 Inventions.