Crowther Audio Hotcake

The unit is a 2009 with internal switches for Bass/Guitar and Hotcake/Bluesberry options. Easy to use but you must remove the four screws from the base to access the battery, this is only a big deal if you forgot to pack a phillips head screwdriver.

I have tried this pedal with Humbuckers, Single coils, Soapbars, EMG's and an active Ibanez bass into a Boogie Mk2 C+, Carvin Legacy head into sealed 2x12 and a Blonde Bassman head into a quad.

All these combinations left me downhearted and deflated with a searing case of buyer's remorse.
The basic tone of the pedal is quite nice, it has a snappy attack up to medium gain after which it gets a bit wooly and loses definition.

My first gripe is the fizzy/spitty overtone which is present even at minimum gain and turns your smile to a frown as you trail off with a little fart. Sansamp gear does this too but to a lesser degree.

Second gripe is the strange sustain characteristic which sounds great then suddenly dies as if you've rolled back the volume pot.

Third gripe is the bypass is very noticeably a tone sucker, leaving the signal brighter than the original.

Considering that it's been around since the early 70's I can't help thinking that this pedal has survived on sheer hype, which is incredible as Mr Crowther seems to do no marketing whatsoever.

So if you are a famous drummer you should probably consider making overdrives.

I compared it to TS, Rat, Std DS1, Std SD1, Sansamp, V-twin, Bad Monkey, GSP1101, Tube Driver, Purple Plexi, everything in the box but if you want to know which one really kicked it's arse out of the park then read on.

A short while ago I was lucky enough to meet the guy who does (amongst other things) the "Purple Dot" mods to the ubiquitous Boss DS-1 pedal. I say lucky because he rarely leaves his house up in the Adelaide Hills. Only a handful of these pedals exist and I managed to borrow one from him for a week. I have owned Keeley and Allums versions of this pedal and they are very good but they are still very much DS1's so I was doubtful to say the least. This version is very different - It made my eyes grow wide. No toggle switches or flashing lights. It was smooth, dynamic and clear even at maximum gain, no fizz or fartyness; even at gig volume. I couldn't fault it at all, it cleaned up with the guitar's volume backed off and responded beautifully to light and heavy picking. True bypass with a 3P3T stomp switch and of course a purple dot LED which seemed to have an unusual calming effect when I looked at it.

The kicker is he wouldn't sell me one. His eyesight is dwindling and he makes most of his money building amplifiers and something to do with the military which he wouldn't talk about.

If you ever get your hands on one these grab it and run like hell.

N/A

I believe Mr Crowther is a great guy and will answer emails and do repairs no problems.

Lately I've been moving away from hard rock and getting a bit subtle, playing jazz, blues and fingerstyle.
Got my first Strat in 1977 and my first Boogie in 1986. The Boogie is the nicest amp I've played and is still going strong.

Like most guitarists I'm always trying different gear, particularly overdrives, and I shudder to think how much money I've wasted over my lifetime but this purchase really made me feel like an idiot. The last time I felt this way was just after I bought a V-Twin.

This is the greatest drive pedal in existence, easy to use, easy to get a great sound out of and tonally superior to anything else out there in the OD stomp box range. It is everything people say it is. My faith is restored.

This pedal will not save your crappy solid state mmm kay. This pedal is built for tube amps. With a good clean tone, something my Hot Rod Deluxe is capable of, this pedal can do anything from pure clean volume boost, to shred box. With the drive pointing north this beast will give a smooth, creamy, dreamy blues tone that makes you want to swoon, particularily with a neck pickup. For gain, this pedal can produce your typical rocky Marshall stack distortion. With my US Strat this gets fantastic Blackmore, Page or Clapton sounds with drive at 8-9, even through my pretty averidge Hot Rod Deluxe. With my Korean Epi LP Std this pedal gives balls out hard rock tone with elements of Angus through to your Nicklebacks and Creeds. If you add a Boss GE7 like I do you can further shape your drive tones to generate everything but searing metal. This pedal is my rythem distortion, and my lead drive with the help of the Boss GE7 boost and eq. Since i don't like messing with pedal settings while on stage, a TS808 reissue does the lighter OD tone and blues, but in the near future this will be removed to make room for another Hot Cake. They really are that good.

This pedal will do ANY overdrive tones you want, unless Megadeath covers are your staple. Metal searing metal sounds are not here, this pedal is built for tone. If you want blunt force trauma, buy your Metal Zone and forget about tone.

The very minor weaknesses with this pedal are...

This pedal is best used in front of an amp, and will thus tinker with your tone when not on. It is not anything drastic, but without it in line, you can notice a slight difference in your clean tone, compared to having it in line. It's minor, so it doesn't bother me, i very rarely use a purely clean tone. Any pedal in front of an amp will do this.

Secondly... No quick access battery compartment, means changing batterys requires a screw driver and about 5 minutes. Not an issue if you use a power adapter like you should.

Lastly... The power supply jack is in a stupid spot, below the input jack. It will make you retink how you get power to it on a board if you run adapters and dolly chains. But again this is a minor fault. If you really want a beautiful drive tones, or indeed just an un-touched clean boost, this pedal is a must.

Built like a tank. Solid as a rock. Will not break unless your a tool and abuse it. Ultra reliable so far, but i never gig without a back up for anything. Have the TS808 reissue or the woeful Hot Rod Deluxe OD channel should this break down. Hopefully will get another Cake in the near future so they will back each other up.

Never needed it personally so i wont rate it with a number, but Crowther audio's reputation in this area is unmatched by anyone. This little companies reputation for customer service and repairs is first class.

I have searched far and wide to find a good overdrive stomp box. I had bought a heap of pedals but been unimpressed, tried everything my friends had, from the cheap to the expensive and the multi fx units. I had given up hope of finding a good drive box. But since my Hot Rod Deluxe has a crap od channel, i decieded to try just one more OD pedal before giving up completely and saving for an expensive Vox, Orange or Marshall. Lucky for me i bought this.

For awsome OD tones this pedal is the top of the class, it renewed my faith in stomp boxes. Don't bother with other OD pedals, i bought heaps of em, got crap sounds and wasted heaps of cash. I tried everything, and this was the only drive pedal worth its salt. You need to use it with a tube amp, solid states will not work with this pedal, but hey if you love tone you'll have a tube amp already. This pedal does everything you want it to, everything we've all dreamed about from a stomp box. It craps all over the Boss stuff, the Tube Screamers and the rest of the fuzz boxes out there.

They are hard to find, and quite pricey, i had to pay $300 Australian to get a hold of one. They are worth the effort and the cost. I'm currently saving for a second one to replace the TS808 on my board. They really are that good. If you really love your tone and like a bit of drive you owe it to yourself to get hold of one of these things are try it. Brilliant stuff Crowther Audio.

Very easy. Three controls for level, presence and drive.

This is an excellent sounding pedal that for me works best with EL84 and EL34 tube type amps. Mark Knopfler uses a hotcake and it was a favorite of Ken Fischer who designed the Trainwreck amplifier. At low drive levels it maintains the original tone of the amp extremely well. The slight color it does impart is musical and full of character. Pushing the drive to 12-2 O' Clock produces some great overdriven tones with a bit of compression and good harmonics. Beyond that it gets a bit fizzy for me. I prefer the presence between 12-1 O' Clock usually. It won't really do high gain very well, but stacks well with many pedals for gainier sounds.

My older hotcake developed a scratchy drive pot after many years of use. I emailed Paul Crowther and he immediately sent me a new pot for free.

Excellent. I received a reply straight away when I emailed Crowther Audio and he took care of the problem. He obviously stands behind his products one hundred percent.

This pedal is a classic and the only pedal I have two of. Highly recommended for low to medium gain overdrive. I have a lot of other overdrive and distortion pedals that I like: Fulltone, Cornish, Keeley etc. This pedal more than hangs with the best of them. Furthermore, Paul Crowther provides exceptional customer support.

As Straight forward as possible

Ive had my Hotcake for 3 years, and found it hugely versatile for a variety of tones. It works well for adding subtle boost and a little distortion through to hi gain dirty tones.
I play funk with a tele (Dirtys up my sound without affecting the tone at all) and also Jazz (subtle gain boost for solos with a tiny bit of breakup on the higher louder notes)

Very usable distortion

3 years no issues at all. Im in New Zealand so could easily get Paul Crowther to sort it out if anything broke im sure. ive seen old Hotcakes around with no paint left at all, just a silver case but still working perfectly!

perfect for my uses, Adding dirt to my guitar sounds without losing any tone at all.

Im sure they're great for a whole range of genres, definitely great for funk and jazz

Easy.

I can honestly say that at first- I was turned off by the compressed sound of the drive- but I love it now. This pedal is what everybody else has said.

Dependable

I'm almost embarrassed to write this- but, I really wanted one of these because Steve Malkmus swears by it. I have never bought a piece of equipment because someone whose work I admire had it- I'm just not that guy; however, I really enjoy SM's tone and this is definitely part of what he's got going on...

The sound is Amazing- I found one on ebay for a very reasonable price. I'm glad I took the leap for this. It has paid off.

Real simple, 3 knobs. The only thing is that if you're into using batteries you will need to unscrew it to get the batteries out.

Fantastic, perfect for led zeppelin type distortion. Great if you want to add a bit more to your already distorted sound. Not much noise either.
Theres nothing else like this sound!!

Nothing wrong at all. Good metal casing. would gig without backup.

Not dealt with, heard good things though!!

I play led zeppelin type rock and also heavy rock like van halen and guns and roses. Its great by it self for a zepplin tone. but add it to a distorted sound and it will make you sound like you have active pickups at the right setting!! I'm proud it was made in NEW ZEALAND

3 knobs, and one is for volume. pretty easy to use.

cool grindy low-medium gain OD. gets more throaty as you turn up gain, still fairly quiet all the gained out.

no worries so far.

Have not had the need to contact them.

very cool OD. sensitive to pick attack. clean low end, not muddy. tight highs along with warm breakup. great for rock and blues.

Very easy to use. Mine is the Mk II version. Has a drive control, presence control and output level.

Easy to dial up a clean volume boost (drive up to about 9o'clock) right up to a thick fuzzy distortion and everything in between - including a smooth overdrive which handles chords brilliantly. Add a bit more mid-range bite by increasing the presence control.

Sound quality is great. Basically completely silent whether run on battery or adapter up to about 2 o'clock on the drive. Gets a little noisy at extreme gain settings but show me a distortion pedal that doesn't.

I've read something about this pedal leaving the undistorted portion of the sound wave intact. I'm not quite sure how that works but basically, it sounds very transparent and there is almost no loss of low end.

I play a USA standard tele into a MXR supercomp, hotcake, hotcake, FuzzieBro Overdrive #4 (NZ made), MXR phase90 and Boss DD5 into a Jansen 645 combo (NZ made version of a Fender style amp).

The first Hotcake I use as a volume boost to drive the input of the Jansen (which has no gain control). The second I use as a high gain device for gobs of sustain and distortion. The hotcake will compress quite a lot at high gain settings.

The hotcake sounds great - I've not played better - and I'm proud to fly the NZ flag with a lot of my gear.

Exceptional reliability. Never had one break down. The first I bought new years ago and has been gigged constantly - never had a problem at all.

The second I bought second hand and it is actually older than the one I got first. Also a beige brick.

Indestructible.

I've never had to use it but I believe Paul Crowther will fix any problems should you have them. I believe he also actually answers emails!

I play rock music. Originals - sorta swaying between stoner math rock and loud folk rock with a bit of alt country thrown in - that's in one band. In another I play sorta guitar driven psychedelic pop in the "Dunedin sound" tradition.

This pedal rules for what I'm trying to do. I like the sound of overdriven tubes (who doesn't?) with the option to freak out my amp should the occasion arise (and it often does).

I believe these pedals are used by Oasis, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth and also by pretty much every NZ band that has/had any taste or style.

The only negative thing I'd have to say is that these things are a little pricey - even here in lil' ol' NZ selling for NZ$269!! at The Rockshop (NZ's biggest music retailer). But, The Rockshop is generally a complete ripoff. You can get them cheaper online. I bought mine for (I think) NZ$160 a couple of years ago - after that the price jumped massively - maybe due to overseas demand.

They're often available secondhand and due to their reliability and sonic consistency second hand is a pretty decent option.

very very easy to use great sounds

great sounds from this pedal - i agree with sir_les on this 1.ive just git this pedal today & am aiming to use it in front pof a 59 bassman ltd, as of yet only had chance to try it in the front end of a 70's fender champ

seems dependable - the knobs are quite stiff - not a bad thing !as i say only got this today & generally never take a back up with me

not hade rise to as yet

i play in a soul blues band - have tried millions of pedals - most of them dont hit the mark. ab'd this with a voodoo labs sparkle drive - the hotcake has something ekse - not quite shure what that is as yet - it seems to sustain very well indeed & has more clout than the sparkle drive- cant wait to use this in earnest !

Very easy pedal to work with, level, presence, drive. Many tones available from this pedal. I think my best result was putting in front of a clean spanky tube amp.

This is a top piece of gear definately enhanced my playing style, I like the blues, with this pedal if i wanted to sound like BB King, Clapton's early tones, Mark Knopfler early stuff, this thing can help in getting very close
Gear that I use Stock Fender Stratocaster - Hotcake - Fender Dual Showman
No noise, this thing is sweet, even when driven hard

I respect my gear and look after it, if i dropped it I think that it could handle it.
Fresh battery every gig, rely on it, yep.

The fact of the matter is I followed a link from a stombox diy site and sent an email to Crowther Audio and asked them a few thing about the pedal, all good, very helpful took the time to help me, and I respect that about Crowther Audio.

Bluesy sooped up jazzy riffs is what i try, been playing about 26 years.
Amps - Fender, Marshall, Vox. Guitars - Fender, Epiphone.
I like using this pedal, inspiring tone to it, ie enjoy playing with a nice sound.

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..

I play a 78 Stratocaster to Wah to Hot cake to Analog delay Carl martin to Twin Amp.
This little baby gimme since a TS9 to Big Muff sounds...Fantastic.
Great as simply Clean Bosster too !

Mr. Paul Crowther is the guy, bro'
I needed help and imediately he solved my problem.

I play Old Rock'n'Roll and i've a Deep Purple Cover band too.
The Hot Cake is the THING man...

Easy as hell. Three knobs, great sounds! No extra tweak-pots or any of that silliness. Volume makes it louder. Presence adds some super-high mids/low highs that really pop it out in the mix. Gain is what it's all about.

Incredible gain effect! One of the best I've ever played. I use a Fernandes Decade Elite with DiMarzio pickups and a Les Paul Custom with Duncan pickups.

I originally bought the Hot Cake to serve as a medium-gain overdrive pedal, to replace my SD-1. If this is what you're after, you won't find it here. I found its gain sounds from 9:00 to 12:00 to be pretty useless. Kind of fizzy and buzzy, but very clear. Might be useful into an amp that's already in overdrive to really kick it over the edge into distortion.

The Hot Cake does three things really well. Thick, juicy distortion with lots of nice harmonics. Not as harmonically active as my original Rat Mk 1 or my older Rat II. This happens around 12:00-2:00, and the Presence knob set around 1:00.

Next is, surprisingly, clean boost. Between 7:00-9:00 you can get nice clean to dirty boosts, with the Presence knob set between 7:00 - 9:00 for a little bit of mid-boost.

Last is beastly thick fuzz. Max out the gain knob, and set the Presence anywhere. You can go from scooped-out, wooly tones (tend to get lost in the mix) or to punchy sounds that are paradoxically transparent. With the gain dimed, it sounds like a super-articulate Big Muff with a "punchiness" control. Perfect for that Dinosaur Jr. sound.

The pedal is super-transparent: it cleans up effortlessly and is very, very sensitive to different pickups. Super Distortion made it really fuzzy, JB made it really thick and clear, single coils make it clean up.

P.S. This pedal has MASSIVE bass response! It will really interact with some pedals like the Blackstone and Zakk Wylde overdrive when you put it up front!

Doesn't do everything, and doesn't do quite what I wanted it for, but it's become a mainstay on my pedal board, kicking off the Rat I (despite its sweeter mids and harmonics) because of its great tone! Neat distortion pedal that may not be everyone's optimum sound, but every player can find a use for it!

Reliable as all hell. I baby it and keep it in a Boss case to keep it from getting smashed while moving amps around. Definitely would gig without a backup, but I'm not sure what quality jacks he uses. The knobs seem a little weak, but the footswitch looks durable. Not a Boss, but definitely not a wimp.

Never dealt with it. But I hear Paul Crowther's a whiz at fixing them and he's a really reliable and understanding guy!

Great sound that runs the gamut from clean boost to breakup to kind of harsh O.D. to distortion, to thick-as-mud distortion to Big Muff-style fuzz.

Great sounds, all of them useable in a band -- the Presence control is the most useful knob on just about any pedal I've ever owned. A really unique feature that's great for a live situation where you can't cut through the mix.

Compared this with my Rat, and it just had better tone. It's different than my Emma Reezafratzitz, which sounds so tubey it could fool Jim Marshall. A great sound that I prefer live - single notes sound authoritative and thick, and chords are articulate but super-fat.

3 knobs, no worries here. No manual, but no manual required, or maybe I should've been given one, oh well, didnt need one.

Only hassle is changing battery requires a screwdriver.

The sound for me is simply unbeatable. I have been giggin with it for the last 2 years and everytime I stomp on it, it impresses me. Its just so warm and full. I also have a XXL by Tech 21 and a TS-9 Ibanez, and they're good pedals too, but they don't match up to the Hotcake in my eyes and I have found myself using the hotcake in place of them (especially the XXL) a lot! With the presence control it allows for a fair variety of sounds.

Simply the best, makes me proud to be a New Zealander (like Paul Crowther)*Tear comes to the eye*

I play in a covers band and I use the hotcake for songs by:
Green Day, Good Charlotte, Franz Ferdinand, Jet, Steve Vai and heaps more.

It can be a little bit noisy, nothing dramatic enough to change its rating to anything lower than a 10 though. If you dont GOT one.... GET ONE

Like I said earlier, 2 years giggin, 2-3 a week. No problems.

It is the best there is. A must have for any rocker.

Three knobs and no brain. I give it a nine because of the fact it actually has knobs, but really. . .

I use a jazzmaster through an Ampeg Reverbrocket reissue. The hotcake goes from lovely smooth overdrive to a nice distorted growl with a hint of fuzz. It's a little bit noisy on the higher gain settings but all great sounding overdrives are. I use a Bixonic Expandora over the top of the hotcake for the really maxed out bits, but for everything else the hotcake is king. With the drive control at a low setting it makes for lovely clipping on a clean guitar sound. No matter what you use, all you need is a guitar and an amp with a hotcake in between. It will make shitty amps and guitars sound good. Oh, and a good taste in music helps.

Built like a tank. I gig without a backup every time and it has never let me down.

Paul is a very reliable and polite fellow - and something of a legend! A pleasure to deal with.

I have tried and own far too many overdrive and distortion pedals to count and this is the one I keep coming back to. My only suggestion for improvement would be a bit of added range on the tone control, but I really do just love it the way it is. A true NZ classic!

This pedal requires a bit of tinkering with both your amp and the eq /drive on pedal.But there are many usable sounds to be got with a little patience.

My set up is as follows Fender voodoo strat with custom shop 69's- Vox Clyde McCoy reissue wah-Dunlop rotovibe-custom built fuzz face clone MXR micro amp-Crowther Hotcake-Arion delay- Marshall 1987x reissue throgh Marsahll 4x12" loaded with Celestion g/backs. The Hotcake is not as noisey as some overdrives out there, and what noise there is...is minimal.

I have not had the pedal long, but it is fixed to my pedalboard and I use a power adapter, so I cannot forsee any problems. However sods law dictates that something, somewhere, sometime, will let you down! so I carry a backup pedal/

When i purchased the pedal 2nd hand, I emailed Mr. Crowther to tell him how impressed i was, to my amazement he emailed me right back,and told me if I ever had any problems with the pedal, to get right back in touch with him. I am sure you would be hard pressed to find anyone else in the business of pedal making that would be so decent and accomodating.

I play in the UK's top Hendrix tribute, and this pedal helps me to get the sounds that I am after.I have used Ts9's Ts8's,Fulltone, Barber, Aramat,Keeley, the list is ensless. If you want a pedal that will do a nice boost through to thick overdriven fuzzy sounds that still responds to your picking and guitar vol dynamics, look no further. Every guitar player will find a use for this pedal.The one thing I dislike is the color!! But Hey ho!