Crowther Audio Hotcake

It's a regular distortion pedal with three knobs, level (volume), presence (treble) and drive (distortion). Real easy to use, you can get that typical SRV "sweet blues" boost in few minutes. Manual? Who needs a stinking manual? Experiment, my friends!!

My setup goes like this: Les Paul or Telecaster -> Wah -> HOTCAKE -> Phase -> Delay -> Fender Deluxe Reverb. So far I didn't notice any unwanted noise. It covers the entire blues, rock, pop, jazz repertoire and still adds personality. I really like it.

Thick as a brick!! Yes, I will gig without a backup... if it fails, chances are, I forget to change the battery!

Mr.Crowther was extremely helpful and kind. I bought the Hotcake directly from him in New Zealand. He answered promptly to all of my e-mails. The pedal took less than 2 weeks to arrive to my country. I'm sure that if the Hotcake ever needs some kind of repair or upgrade, he will take care of it.

I'm a young guitar player living in Portugal, I play since I was 10 and now I'm 22. I love to play blues and rock and try to gig as much as possible. The Hotcake wasn't my first distortion unit but it's certainly the best, I really like it! In the future I consider to buy another one, not for backup but, to use simultaneously the both of them, one as a slight drive boost and the other for a more powerful distortion. I really advise you to try the Hotcake and deal personally with Mr. Crowther, I'm sure you will not regret.

Three knobs. Straight forward, easy to use. When drive gets to about 2:00 O'clock it is way too fuzzy. You can get a nice natural like drive sound out of this pedal but it is limited to the lower settings. My pedal is a newer model with a presence knob.

I play blues , hard blues, soul and some rock. I use a 1952 reissue Fender Telecaster with a Gibson humbucker in the neck position, a Duncan Hot Rails in the middle and a Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge position. My playing out rig is a 1964 Fender Bandmaster head through a Marshall 2x12 cabinet (model 1936). I use a Guyatone MR2 reverb pedal, a Dunlop Cry Baby wah, Ibanez CP-9 compressor and a Nobels ODR-1 overdrive pedal.Before I bought the Nobels ODR-1 the Hot Cake was my overdrive pedal. I have heard just about every pedal out there, since I have been playing guitar for thirty eight years. This includes vintage pedals (heck, I was a kid when the vintage high dollar collectables were new on the market) and modern pedals (including so called boutique pedals). I now use the Hot Cake as a clean boost because the Nobels, which costs about a third as much as the Hot Cake, is a way better sounding overdrive. I have not heard a more natural sounding overdrive, regardless of price, than the Nobels ODR-1. Don't get me wrong the Hot Cake is real nice but the Nobels is just much more natural sounding. The Hot Cake gives you a very sweet clean boost which is a must for traditional blues and soul music. I use it to push my amp just over the line from clean to slight overdrive.

Crowther Audio is known for customer satisfaction. I have never had a problem yet but I am confident that if I did Crowther Audio would repair it fast.

If it were stolen I would get a Nobels ODR-1 as a replacement, because it does a nice clean boost too and is the more natural sounding overdrive. This might not be what some of you would like to hear but it is the truth as I see it and (more importantly) as I hear it.

So simple to use. Start with a clean, loud tube amp, level set to noon, add drive and presence to taste.

Use with either a Tele or Gibson through Victoria 35210, DR, or old Supro. Not noisy as ODs go. Transparent and rich, rich tone with just the right amount of grit. It really sounds as if the amp is at the threshold, which is the sound I want. I've owned and used a Klon, Maxon 820, reissue 808, Sparkle Drive, Z-vex SHO, TS-10, Ts-7...and none of these did the job that this little pedal does. Not even close. I don't know why some below rated this poorly, I've been playing since 1975 and finally feel that I'm hearing what I want to hear at levels that will let me hear the difference.

Too early to tell. A peek inside reveals that it's made by one guy and not a machine.

E-mails to Mr Crowther, who lives on the other side of the world, were promptly answered same day. Wisconsin to New Zealand, yo.

If lost I would track another down asap. Perfer to play blues, don't play out anymore but that could well change this year...if for no other reason than to hear this thing sing. This pedal is so reasonably priced and excells to well that if my listing of previous OD pedals is any consideration, well, save yourself some time and $$$. Get one if you can find them. I got mine through bizland.com in Canada. Scott took good care of me.

It,s real easy to get a "good" sound from this pedal (there is only a couple of potentiometers that specife)

I tried Jackson PS-3T Guitar (and Yamaha ST-400 electric) -> Hot Cake ->Rec Bear MK 120 -> Voodoo Lab Cap Tone -> THD Hot Plate

Sound quality sucked! I get much more better sound (I mean the SOUND, not only bass) from my Red Bear tube amp (or Marchall JM-800) without this pedal.

When I tried Yamaha ST-400 -> Hot Cake -> Zoom 505 - > PA I get much better sound with this pedal than without Hot Cake, so I guess, If you are using tube Amp don't use this pedal, but with solid state amp this pedal is a GOD send to you.

So if you are with solid state amp it's 10 for your equipment but if you have tube equipment, for my opinion it's a waste of money. But anyway only your taste is what counts, so don't believe my words. Find your own sound and play style;-)

If I'd use it on gigs I'd rely on it. It seen good build and don't eat batteries too much (like Zoom effects;-)

Don't have any contacts with customer support, so can't rate this one. But because build with a quite little manufacturer, customer support should be good.

I usually play meavy metal, hard rock, rhythm blues and blues kind of music (and some hard rock ballads). I have been playing guitar about 10 years (first 5 years the distortion was most importand;-) and for the last 5 years I have learnt to respect good sound).

And because everything is up to your taste, this rate absolutelu depends on your taste and music playing style;-)

My suggest is that Check it out before buing.

Have good monents with your guitar!

It comes down to what you want to sound like, its not for everyone, as it brings out the true tones of you equipment. So if you have a thin weedy sounding guitar, it will deal with that sound appropriately, if you have a nice hollow body Gison or Gretsch it will sound AMAZING, I have tried it with most common guitars, and it really has different results which is the reason for buying it in the first place. I would use nothing else, end of story. It enables a very thick sound without compromising both volume, and richness of tone. It gets around that problem of stepping on a pedal and losing tones and depth.

I used a Gretsch Country Gent with a Holden 100 watt head (with 2x12 celestions) combined with a Jazz Chorus, sounded amazing. Now using Gibson Flying V with 2 x Ampeg 140 watts (each have 2x12's). This is the only distortion pedal that is as individual as your setup, it brings the tones of you guitar through, I cannot recommend it enough. I have used almost every possible analog distortion unit and nothing suits me more than the hotcake. But it comes down to what you want, it may not be very good for speed metal or other such thin digital sounds, but its great for balls out rock. It enables a very thick sound without compromising both volume, and richness of tone. It gets around that problem of stepping on a pedal and losing tones and depth.

nothing has ever gone wrong

Mr Crowther is a pleasure to deal with

Its a great match for Rock, Hard core, Blues, Country, solos, white noise, pop, violin etc. Most NZ bands that you have heard use one.

very easy to use. see previous reviews.

no matter what i tried, i could not get this pedal to sound good. it sounded a bit blurry and ragged.....didn't have that grunt that i look for in distortion pedals. i tried it with vox, marshall, fender and matchless amps....with high quality gibson and fender guitars. without a doubt, this was one of the biggest disappointments i have ever experienced with purchasing a pedal. after reading all of the hype, i expected so much more. perhaps i got a dud.(?)

seemed well built.

never contacted them. sold it after 4 weeks of trying to make it sound decent.

i wish i could have tried this pedal before buying it. i sold it at a loss, and couldn't be happier.

I use a Les Paul Standard or Fender American Standard Strat into the Hotcake into a Rivera M-60 combo. The Hotcake really kicks the amp in the ass. I use it mainly as a clean boost. LEVEL maxed out, PRESENCE about 12 o'clock and the DRIVE about 9 o'clock. I never turn it off even on the clean channel. The pedal doesn't color your sound like a Tube Screamer does and has a lot more balls. The hotcake just adds that something special to your tone that makes it a joy to play through. Cranking the Gain up for slide playing also gives a really ballsy slide tone. I just ordered another one can't wait to try the 2 of them together.

No problems so far and Paul is great to communicate with it you did ever have a problem.

The best! I have contact Paul several times and always get a quick response to my questions. He really cares about his products.

I play Classic Rock, 80's Hard Rock and Blues stuff and the Hotcake compliments everything I play.

My Hotcake is the slightly older model with the mid-lift switch. It's a pretty simple pedal. Volume and gain knobs, switch adds mids. Shouldn't be a problem for anybody.

For a raunchy, harmonically rich overdrive, I haven't found anything that I like better. Other overdrives that I've owned: orig TS9 w/ "good" chip, vintage dod overdrive/preamp 250, and a way huge red llama. The Crowther sounds like a cranked tube amp. I play a '57 reissue strat through either a fender pro jr. or a blackface pro rvb. and it sounds great through both at low gain settings. The hotcake can do high gain distortion, and it does a decent job, but it's a generic sound. Also, as the gain goes up, the mids get scooped which i don't particularly like. But I mostly use this for a low gain sound, and it does a great job at that (I leave the mid-lift switch off). The pedal is quiet, but there is a hint of trashy transistor sound that comes along with the distortion...a little like a blown speaker, but much more subtle. I personally like the sound--I think it's rock n' roll--but some people might not.

It's sturdy. I think the idea of backup pedals is pretty lame, so the second part of the question doesn't really apply to me.

Never had to deal with Crowther.

If you're looking for a natural overdrive with a little bit of grit, this is the best pedal I know of. The TS9 sounded boxy with too much emphasis on the mids (not at all transparent), the dod was too bass heavy, the red llama was just too fuzzy. This pedal usually goes for $100-130 used, and sounds a lot better than other overdrives that cost a lot more. I went through a pretty extensive process to find a overdrive that I liked and I'm happy with the Hotcake.

A truly amazing O/D pedal. Easy to use,but the only thing that will take a little twiddlin and fine tuning is the presence dial.This one can change your sonic result rather alot!! This is due to,that it also alters the midrange boost/cut area of your tone. Generally though, an easy pedal to use, and get a fantastic tone result from

Apart from everything i have tried sounding great with this pedal,ive noticed that a Mesa BlueAngel,Vox AC30 T/Boost or other Class A Amplifier,like a Laney to all sound just amazing harmonically with this little Hotcake.They seem to complement each other perfectly. I would imagine that a Matchless,Tophat or Bruno would sound unreal with a Hotcake driving it. The truly amazing thing about this pedal is the amount of 2nd and 3rd order harmonics that it will pull,and this is where class A amps shine anyway.The best tone i have heard to date is my Hotcake that had a L/Paul Junior with P90 Pickups in it, these were then both put through a Fender Reissue Reverb unit, and then into a Vox AC30 TopBoost Reissue with the blue Alnico Celestion speakers. WOW!!!!! The amp belongs to a friend and he also changed the GZ34 Rectifier Tube for a 5Y3,which he states gives this amp a nicer feel and sound,and at a lower volume too. Also,apparantly the amp doesnt run as hot with this little mod.

So far so good. Had it 6 months.

Sounds bloody amazing to me. Try one for yourself. The best pedal ive heard yet,especally with those harmonically rich class A amps.

I hate pedals. I didn't switch from bass to guitar so I could spend my time fiddling around on the floor with annoying little coloured boxes. The HC is great, it's simple to use and solves a number of problems for me. Currently I don't need anything else.

I play a Rickenbacker 'Tom Petty' 660/12 12-string through a Laney VC30 (VC = Vox Clone) A-Class tube amp. I bought the amp to match the Rick, the clean channel is superb and really hits that Rick chime and jangle.Tons of tone, tone to burn. I also use a '91 Les Paul Standard and '96 Strat Plus through the amp which is where the problem started. The Laney overdrive channel is pathetic, 'piss-weak', anaemic. No grit, bite or punch. Just a muffled 'smothered in cotton' foggy kind of sound. I tried a few things: EQ as a pre-amp to cut through the muffle etc, but no real success. Then I came across the Hotcake on EBay and read the reviews here. Then I tracked down Paul Crowther and bought one direct (cheaper than the EBay one sold for). I plugged it in and the difference was absolutely staggering, incredible, sensational. It fits the Laney like nothing else.

I hate the dials on guitars. I set everything at 10 and play. This is the first time I've used the volume pot on my Les Paul. I can use it to go from great bluesy rhythm guitar (about 7) and push it to 10 for leads that harden up the overdrive.

Tried this with my Strat Plus: Turn your guitar volume down to zero, then set the HC volume and presence to 12 oclock and the drive all the way up, now roll your guitar volume back and you can go from bluesy crisp harmonics to full on blatt-splatt, and stop at any point you like on the way. I can dial in EXACTLY the same sound of my amp unboosted (no colour or tone lost), and from there up to 'blatt-splatt Black Sabbath' by turning one dial.

I'm no longer looking for a boost pedal to drive lead riffs, I just use the volume dial on the guitar. The HC really responds to variation in attack, stroke and subtle picking. As somebody said before 'the harmonics that this pedal helps put out front is phenomenal. Your touch is all it takes.'

Too soon to know, but looks built to last.

Paul Crowther is great to deal with. Email him at:

croth@clear.net.nz
-and buy direct from:

Crowther Audio
PO Box 96 104,
Balmoral,
Auckland 1030,
New Zealand.

Overall Rating: For a Laney VC30 rig - 11+++

If you have a Laney VC30 (or even a VC50) the Hotcake is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. If you have any knid of A Class valve amp you NEED this pedal. Without it you just ain't in the game.