Crowther Audio Hotcake

Standard three knobs: Gain, Level, and Presence. Presence does not add or subtract highs or lows. It adds upper mids, the Marshall frequencies. It's very useful for seasoning to taste.

I aready wrote a review of this for guitar many years ago. I'm writing this now because I have stared using it with my Fender Bass, and it is fantastic, better than any bass pedal I have ever used. Because the Hotcake preserves and boosts an undistorted signal, and then adds its distorted component over that, bass cuts, rips, sustains, and compresses without fuzzing out the fat bottom. It gives a great organic "SVT working hard" rock sound. If you have one, ask your bass player to try it out.

Once it broke. Crowther fixed it for $10 and it hasn't broken again.

See above.

Rock, Blues, Country. I play Fender basses through vintage Ampeg and Traynor all tube amps. At my regular amp settings, with the guitar's volume low, it add a little punch and presence, perfect for stepping out for head riffs and solos and stepping back into the pocket. With the guitar's volume higher, it rocks out.

Right so as you've heard there are 3 knobs, level, presence and drive, pretty simple. need to play with them to get a good sound though. Also no manual, but the only thing you really have to think about is the presence, which is kinda like a tone knob, sorta.

It's got a pretty wide spectrum, but doesn't do really heavy stuff, pretty good grunge tones though. However, with the drive at about 1 o'clock and playing it through my amp on clean, it gives the most amazing bluesy, smooth tone that makes me want to cream my pants. Add it to my od on the amp and you get a bit of a boost, with more grit to make it stand out. Never really used it as a clean boost, but when i first plugged it in and set it up as one, i could get an unaltered sound.

It's fairly quite, get a bit of hum, but this might be my set up, which is; Fender mexican telecaster (modded with seymour duncan pickups)>crybaby>big muff>hotcake>boss super chorus>Deluxe memory man>orange ad30 tc.

Use it regularly at church, has never failed me. probably never will, solid construction, good switch. Only problem i've ever had was with the pots crackling.

Had to replace the pots, so i emailed paul. he got back the same day with advice and stuff. Then when it transpired i needed new pots he offered to send them out free as it was christmas :-).

This pedal doesn't do all styles, but it's amazing at what it does. Never heard a pedal like it. I would definately replace it, although its a fair amount f money its defo worth it. The pedal has become an essential part of my sound.

I must start by saying this is not your usual hotcake. This is a vintage one. Dates BEFORE 1985. It only has 2 control noobs, and 1 switch which changes from "normal" ato "midlift".

I also had to modify it with a 9volt power input, LED light, ture bybass switch and the voloume control was wired wrongly which I fixed. Also it didnt work when I first got it, and took some very cleaver solidering to get this thing working properly.

Its important to note that I own both this VINTAGE and NEW 2006 model Hotcake, and I perfer this vintage hotcake. It leave the new one for dust, for my taste.

It is not the easiest pedal to use. The volume control is very sensitive, and the switch changes tone quite dramatically. Though once you get the hang of it is much easier.

OK, this pedal has about 4 amazing tones that I love.

My favourite is when I turn the drive 5oclock and the volume at 12oclock and the swtich on normal. Play it thorugh my Gretsch White Falcon and it sounds amazing! It breaks up into drive/distortion sound with a nice crackly, and then almost sounds like its going to feedback for a second and then the tone drops away!! I have never heard anything like this before, and it is truely an amazing sounds.

It has many more awsome tones too, you can get a great boost with small amount of drive comming from it, or with the MID LIFT you can get a shallow phat sounds comming from it. Too hard to describe the tones. But this is definitly a vintage players pedal dream. I just wish I could find anther one!

I'm giving it a 10 because of the amazing, one of a kind tones you can get from it. Perfect for stuido, or someone with very high quality gear (mine goes way past the $10,000 mark).

Have had some trouble with it, especially before it was working, and fixed, and the mods done (true bypass, 9volt switch, drive pot resoliderd, LED light). Also had some trouble with it live one time. But any problem is worth it for the tone it gets. Also its considerable for a 30 year old pedal.

I rang Crowther personally to get this pedal aged and he was very helpful and no problems there. Enough said

I give it a 9. 10 for sound, but had some reasonbly trouble with it at first. Nothing a good electronic nerd cant fix tho.

My one hope though, is that no one reads this review, and finds any for themselves, because I would be very happy buying everyone that is still alive and adding them to my rig. Best pedal I own, or have ever owned, or will ever one. And on a funny note I only paid $5 for it. It is probaby worth around $400+ though, I kinda feel sorry for getting it so cheap!

This allows me to unlock the classic tone from within my JCM 900 with my classic Stratocaster (what a classic guitar).

This pedal is so classic in its tone. It allows me to rip out some face melting licks and really express my guitar with my fingers. I feel like a guitar god when I stomp this baby on and rip out a wicked Vai lick! It's like Vai is in me... putting his soul into my fingers as I pluck the strings of my axe... Hot stuff... Hot cake.

It's so reliable and gives me classic tone every time. I can rely on this baby to melt some faces every gig... Even with my rough stage antics and my big leather boots stomping this baby like I need to goto 11 with my tone. This baby is so hot.

I rung the guy up to ask for his secrets to classic tone for fat leads and ripping solos... but they didn't get my lingo... So I suppose they're not REAL guitarists... You know what I mean fellas!!! ROCK ON. This baby has some classic tone.

Classic tone in a box... or... in a cake!! This baby is hot!! Classic tone ALL the way... from your fingers to the amp baby...

Simple straight forward experimentation

I've been searching for the right smoothe fluidy distortion for some time and have used big muffs,tubescreamers, fulltone, emma, line 6. This is what I've been searching for. Unlike some reviews I'm using it mostly for long lead sustainy stuff, and a zen drive for crunch/boost. The two pedals interact well and if I need a bit more, I can switch on both. My rig is custom shop strats>buddah wah>barber tone press, dunlop univibe, zendrive (crunch/blues), hotcake, ibanez flanger, boss accoustic pedal>matchless chieftain 2x12. I'm happy with this rig - very quiet. check out www.doonicans.com

too soon to say

too soon to say

Great, glad I found it

Here's how to dial it in: Turn the presence and drive all the way off, and turn the level to about 2:00. That should be unison, the setting where, on or off, it sounds the same. If you turn the level up higher, you get a clean boost without coloration. Turn drive up and you add distortion to your clean signal. Turn up the presence, and you add upper midrange (the Marshall band of frequencies) to your output. Add is the key word here. The clean signal is always coming through, mixed with the drive and equalized by the presence, then the whole mosh is boosted or cut by the level.

The magic happens when this is put into a tube amp. First, the Hotcake is great for getting that "edge of breakup" sound out of a clean powerful amp at lower levels. Then, when you turn up your guitar, it isn't over-compressed, you do get louder, and you can push your amp into its own overdrive, adding that to the Hotcake's drive, and getting a great interaction between your guitar and amp. For hot, liquid leads, I still use a TS-9/Analog Man because that cuts the lows and lets me turn up louder without woofing out. The Hotcake is too transparent for that job

Looks solid, and I've never heard of one breaking. We all have one, we have to mark them to tell them apart.

I play Classic Rock, Electric Blues and Country. I have Teles, Strats, an Anderson Cobra, an Explorer and an ES-335. My amps are a Deluxe Reverb, a Twin Reverb, a Marshall Master Volume 2X12 Combo, a Traynor YRM and a Sound City Mark 3 L100. My effects are only the Hotcake and a TS-9 modified by Analog Man. Needless to say, I rely on the Hotcake every time I play.

As easy to use as it gets. 3 controls, Level, Drive and Presence, just how I like it nice and simple.

I use a Gibson Les Paul 98 Standard with SD 59 pickups into a Marshall 1962 reissue Bluesbreaker amp. Let me tell you the Hot Cake is the perfect pedal for this amp. It drives it wonderfully and doesn't colour the sound at all. Even though the amp is 30 watts, it's loud and for the times when you can't crank it to get your overdriven sound this pedal does the job.
You have to bear in mind the Hot Cake was designed to be used with a valve amp, and sounds better when at gigging volume. I first tried out the pedal when I got it at home on my Line 6 spider practice amp and it sounded pretty bad (bad amp, bad sound). So you have to have a good sounding amp in the first place, this pedal can't perform magic! But I guess at this price, most people who buy it are going to own valve amps!

Only had it about a month, but I can't see it going wrong, it's very well built.

I play Rock and Blues mainly and as I said before through my Bluesbreaker this thing sounds God-like. I have been playing for 12 years now and have had many overdive pedals in the past, admittedly not boutique pedals before, just Boss. You really do get what you pay for with this baby. I compared it to the Maxon tubescreamer pedal in the shop and the Hot cake won hands down, no contest.
If you have the money and you can find one (sounds like the A-Team)and you own a good sounding valve amp then go and buy one. If you expect it to transform your bad sounding transistor amp into a monster then think again.
I don't believe in rating products with a 10 normally, but it really is that good.

The Hot Cake is extremely easy to use. With the Drive and Presence conrols zeroed you can use it as a clean boost. The sound stays exactly the same as your clean amp sound. And I mean very exactly!!! Then you can add some drive while the character of the sound remains pretty much the same. Then add some presence to let it cut through a bit more.

I use it together with an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal between my guitar and my Koch Twintone stack. In the FX loop is a Carl Martin Red Repeat (terrific delay!!!) and a Boss CE2 chorus. I only use the clean channel of the amp and use the Hot Cake to add some drive. It is very quiet. I became interested in the Hot Cake because of Mark Knopfler using it. Together with my Fender Mark Knopfler Strat the sound is pretty much his. It's bluesy but you can use it for screaming lead also. It's very subtile and interactive while playing. It reacts very different to a Les Paul. With both guitars it generates exactly the sound I want without turning any knob!

It's simple and very well made so I think there is not much to destroy! That's good because it is very difficult to get one here in the Netherlands so a backup is not an option.

I ordered one directly from Paul Crowther himself in New Zealand. It took a couple of weeks to get it but it was worth waiting! The pedal and the box are fully loaded with warnings and handwritten serial numbers. It seems personally handbuilt and packed by mister Crowther with great attention to detail. I love these kind of things! I will treasure this pedal for the rest of my life!

I play folk rock a lot and it suits that style very much! I play for about 30 years and own some other distortions. I don't like the preset flat sound of other pedals to let them sound good with lots of gain. I like to get a good clean sound and then add some drive to it. In my opinion the Hot Cake is the only pedal that can do this. I also love the clean boost when you leave the the Drive aside. The pedal is very inspiring! I can't stop telling I love it! Great companion together with a single channel amp!

This pedal is very easy to use - 3 knobs - presence, gain and level. No issues

I use USA telecaster with a Randall RH50T head. The sound ranges from a gentle overdrive, ideal for blues stuff to crunchy hard rock. I find that using this pedal in line with another gentle overdrive or booster pedal gives a great combination, allowing me to use the hot cake for some searing solos or crunchy rhythm stuff.

Great sound

I have had no issues at all with my pedal. Appears to be well built

Never had to deal with the company

This is a versatile pedal. I am going to buy the bluesberry variety now to add to my collection and to have as a back up.

Very easy to use.. 3 knobs

I use my hot cake with a 1961 fender bassman head and a marshall 4x12 (a THD hotplate in between).. I mainly use it with my Epi Les Paul (Gibson burstbucker pickups installed).. Only othe pedal i use in the chain is a Boss digital reverb / delay..

I have been playing 30 years and on the eternal tone quest like everybody else.. to my ears i have found it. I like classic rock and some new rock.. i have always admired Angus Young's tone.. and with this setup I think i get that.. It's a full, ballsy, awesome sound.. hit your favorite power cords (A, G, D) and you'll start drooling on yourself..

I keep my bassman pretty cranked around 7, and have the hot cake at 1:00 on the level, 11:00 on the presence, and 2:00 on the drive knob..

Beautiful harmonic distortion, controlled feedback, thick growl.. hard to describe..

owned it 5 years.. no issues.. i

Never had to deal with any problems

I love it with my setup.. it is a very warm sounding overdrive pedal.. nothing harsh about it.. very full bass response.. only OD pedal I use..