Crowther Audio Prunes And Custard

Simple,3 Controls and 2 switches (Level,Mix,Drive knobs and Guitar/Bass & Lo Switches) , but alot of sounds depending on how they are set. Every sound is usable and great sounding.From overdrive/Distortion to Moog like Synth.

I am a Bass player and use this pedal as my primary effect(I use other stuff:EHX Micro Pog, Dunlop Bass Wah with the Prunes & Custard). I use Fender Presision Bass's with the P&C through a 1972 Ampeg V4-b most of the time. I have so far detected no backround noise. The effect Chain I use is as Follows: Boss Tuner, Korg Compressor, P&C, Micro Pog, Dunlop Bass Wah, Mxr Pre Amp into the Vintage Ampeg. I always have the Switches set on the Bass Setting and the Lo Setting. With the Mix off and the Drive between 3:00 to 5:00 you get great mild Over Drive too a gritty Distortion. With the Mix at 10:00 and the Drive at 1:00 You get a great Fuzzy Synth Tone, and With The Mix at 12:00 and the Drive at 3:00 you get a heavy Fuzzed out Synth with a mild Filter Sweep. This setting really cuts through the mix and in a Power Trio situation when you hit a single note progression ( Like the intro to Can't Get Enough of Your Love by Bad Co.) It sounds like a Guitar cord. This pedal can make it sound like there is a 2nd Guitarist in the band, but still keeps the Bass intact.

Built with high Quality parts very well made. Have had it for over a year, it's my primary effect at home, at practice, and at gigs. No Problems so far.

I've heard /Read that Mr. Crowther will stand by his products. I hope to never have to find this out but it's good to know.

Can't say enough good stuff about this pedal. I use it an all ddifferent types of bands and it fits in all of them because there are so many sound choices. Rock music, (any thing between 1955-1980).is what I do, but this pedal could be used with almost any type of music.

Three Knobs and two switches. Easy.

I use this on my keyboards and it sounds incredible. Putting my Rhodes '73 Stage through this thing is a beautiful thing indeed. So too my Nord Electro, Roland Sh3a and Juno 106. This pedal adds some odd harmonics inot my keyboard sounds. They sound bigger, dirtier and stranger with this genius of a pedal. The Rhodes especially sounds great through this.
This is like a Big Muff on the best drugs it's ever had in it's life.

I have battered and bruised this pedal. Thrown it around. Made it go on long bumpy rides in loosely packed gear cases on planes, trucks and vans. It is solidly built and takes the knocks. The knobs get a bit scratchy sometimes but ...a bit of CRC and things are fine again.

Paul Crowther is a gentleman. He has repaired both my Prunes and Custard and my Hotcake ( his other overdrive pedal ...which is incredible!) a couple of times. He is a one man show so sometimes things can take a wee while to get back to you but it's worth the wait.

I play a wide variety of styles: Soundtrack, electronic improvisation, pop, rock and dub. This pedal has always been with me over the last 4 years since I purchased it. If it was lost or stolen I would not hesitate to get a new one. I love the fact that it sounds like nothing else I have ever tried in the realm of distortion. It allows my synths and keyboards to sit better in the mix along side electric guitars. It is a simple, easy to use brilliant and unusual device. Genius. It's almost like having another synthesiser in a box.....almost that good.
In fact I wish it a stereo in/out option!

Very straight forward controls. level knob, mix knob, and drive knob as well as a bass/guitar switch and a mid cut switch. I use two different sounds from this pedal one is a nice fuzz and then i crank up the drive for a thick fuzz/distortion i always have it set for bass and the mid cut is the way to go i believe. Just make sure you match the pedal level to the volume you are playing at because it can give a serious kick.

Can get a very similar sound to the bass from muse but this pedal is very versatile, can give a gentle fuzz or an almost synth distortion when the mix is turned up to high. I use this pedal with a fender jazz going to a Gallien Krueger 1001RBII and GK SBX410 cab when pedal is switched on there is no pop (kudos) but when drive is pushed right up a little bit of bottom end is lost but nothing i would complain about i'm just going to mention it. overall i have found two sounds that i use on stage and constantly experiment with it more when writing a a truly unique sounding pedal

I have given this pedal a damn good thrashing i play in a hard rock/prog band and use this pedal to give my bass some real bite in songs, which means i JUMP on the thing with my whole weight and it has never failed. it has also passed the beer spill test on two occasions. Due to my excitedness i have managed to bend the two toggle switches but these dont look to hard to replace. all in all its TOUGH
dont ever think i would need a backup

Haven't needed it don't think i will need too.

Like i said i play hard rock/prog this pedal has become indispensable to me, it has a huge range of tones from gentle fuzz to weird f#@ked up distortion. If stolen i would hunt down the bastard and tape the pedal to him and then lay him on the stage as my pedal board and jump on him. the only thing i would note is to match the level to the volume you play and let your sound mixer hear it at sound check so they know whats coming. Due to its unique tones and thrashability i give it overall a 10/10

I posted a review earlier about this pedal. While it is AWESOME-sounding, mine broke after only three months on the board. I'm pretty light on my equipment, too. It's really a shame 'cause this pedal sounded hot through my bass rig.

I tried countless times to get in touch with Paul (who was very communicative with me in the past), but he never got back to me.

I guess if you don't need to worry about the switch, I would still recommend this pedal for use in the studio I suppose.

Turn knobs, work it out in your signal chain, check interactivity between this one vs. other pedals in the chain, interactivity between this and the amp.

Every pedal takes time, but yest, you can get a great sound right out of the box.

This is a very cool fuzz. Ultra gritty, Albini sound. Sounds great on guitar, even better on bass. Very great for thick rhythm parts, like a nice fat, gritty big muff. Go get some campbells soup cause this pedal is CHUNKY!
=)

Seems solid to me.

Why in the world would you write a review about a pedal you don't own????

That clip sounds like a guy who plugged the pedal directly into the console.

THIS PEDAL IS AWESOME AND I'M GLAD YOU DON'T LIKE IT BECAUSE THERE'S MORE FOR ME AND OTHER PEOPLE WHO ENJOY A THING CALLED 'TONE.'

The pedal is pretty straight-forward. You just have to futz with the knobs until you find your sweet spot(s).

I'm a fuzz and filter junkie when it comes to my bass sounds, and this pedal has become completely indispensable to me. I will not play a gig without it. My band's sound now depends on this pedal, it's that good IMO. Those guitar players who are trashing it are probably doing so because this pedal is designed primarily for use with bass and drum sounds. That is where it shines. This pedal has just the perfect amount of swoosh and grit for rhythmic applications.

The thing is built into a steel casing, which looks pretty durable. The only issue I've had is with the switch... it makes some pretty god-awful noise at times if you don't step on it hard enough. I would have put a Fulltone true bypass switch into it if I were the one making this pedal. As a matter of fact, that is my next step with this pedal.

Paul Crowther seems like a nice enough guy. He was happy to answer my myriad of questions before I eventually caved in and bought it from him.

10 out of 10, hands down. Again, I wouldn't play a gig without it. I keep a spare on hand at shows just in case it ever goes down on me.

my most simple pedal to operate so far three knobs, Level (self-explanitory), mix (dry to wet sounds, its the weird side of the pedal), gain (again self explanitory), no instructions included came in a white box with a battery. needs a screwdriver or other tool shaped like a screwdriver to open and replace battery. wont turn on without a lead in the input such a simple pedal

i use a epiphone dot with humbuckers i only use the bridge pickup and a fender hotrod duluxe with a celestion greenback speaker. this is such a stange pedal, with level at twelve and mix and gain at full this pedal is at its weirdest strange wet sounding distortion that can't really be explained at all. should be constantly experimented with sounds good over the top of blues distortion gives it that extra creamy sound this pedal sounds like its name it sounds like prunes and custard

this is one solid pedal definitly use it without a pedal of course its made in NZ so its rugged like most of the stuff that comes from our country.

mr crowther is excelent and will help you with any query or any repairs.

well i play a very specific type of music, if you dont live in auckland or if you've never been at a gig on k'road you wouldn't get it its a strange pedal for strange music, if it were stolen i would definitly maim the person who took it cause i like my pedal i dont want a new one. if you want a listen to the pedal listen to a song by NZ group the datsuns called harmonic-generator it has a solo in it using the pedal. this is one pedal i will always use and tresure it was my first pedal and it won't ever leave my side, if you are looking for that special boutique pedal to go in ur little collection with all you're other "boutique" stuff then this is the pedal for you mr fancy pants

3 knobs, couple of switches but it will take you some time to achieve the sound you want. This is not because it is dificult to use, it's because there is such a variation in sounds you can get from this beast.

I have only just begun buying pedals, so it's straight from my Hohner B-Bass, through the P&C and into the amp. Using the bass's preamp gives more extreme effects, so I would like to get some kind of volume/tone booster in the chain soon.

The sound is somewhere between a fuzz and a fat analog synth. I bought the pedal with a view to using it as an odd distortion for my post rock band, but I hardly use it. In my funk band however, I barely turn it off! It sounds like the crazy noise from the "rhubarb and custard" kids TV show if you remeber that (coincidence - I think not...), for tunes like Herbie Hancocks "cameleon" it sounds amazing. I play in a three piece (keys, bass and drums) and it fills out the sound beatifully.

I can't detect any noise from the pedal, I think it is just overpowered by the crazy sounds.

One thing I would say is DONT BUY THIS TO PLAY GUITAR WITH. Guitars just can't get the best out of this pedal as it sounds shit with chords, and single notes are just weak and warbly. Bassists only (although keyboards and drums would sound pretty cool too...)

Been playing it about 6 months now with no problems. Its pretty solid and is well (hand) built - Paul has signed the circuit board!
No problems gigging without backup, seems fairly light on batteries too.

Never dealt with the company - but I have never read a bad word about Paul or his pedals which speaks for itself.

I would say that for most styles of music you could find a use for this badboy, be it dirty fuzz or monster fat funk tones or anything in between. For the price you pay, you get a unique sound that really gets you noticed, not just some generic boring noise everyone has heard before. I couldn't be without it now, it's such an important part of my sound. I love it to death.

It takes a bit of juggling to find the proper setting, but once you have, you're home free.

At first, you wanna go, "god that's an ugly sound". But after a bit of juggling, you begin to realize that this is a pedal that no one has thought up before - pretty much everything that guitarists use is just a variation on stuff that has been available for the past 25 years. If you set it just right, you can get filter sweeps on single note picking and strange distortion effects that are dynamically dependent on your picking.

just got it

Paul C"rowther has been great with me via email and most of my pestering was done before I put the money down - I was able to buy direct from him at croth@clear.net.nz for $150. He also sell two versions of the Hotcakes.

I was looking for something to delve into bizarre effects with - this box can do that. But it is also capable of good tone. There are not many pedals that can tread water of both lakes simultaneously! I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to set it to not distort, but go into intermodulation when more than one note was played. Also at higher drive settings you can get it to do filter sweeps. This pedal is not for everybody, but it is very unique.

It is a little tricky to achieve the right blend of everything, although the flexibility means that you can have the knobs/switches in all manner of directions and still somehow end up with a good result.

I am undecided whether I like the guitar or bass setting. I am using some LF retention, running the mix at between 10-12 o'clock as per previous reviews. Any more than that and things become messy (a good messy by the way). I usually run the drive about 1-2 o'clock and match the level to my live sound.

I am using both fretted bass (modded Epiphone Ripper with twin Bartolinis) and a fretless (P/J tuned BEAD). The pedal sounds great with both, maybe more so with the fretless, as you can achieve some nice smooth synth sounds, it definitely likes the lower frequencies.

My friend tried it on his guitar and the effect was not as strong, although this was noted in some reviews. What I discovered on low mix/high drive settings was a wonderfully swirly CHUNKY distortion. My mate loved it so much he is considering a Hotcake, or one of these.

Another thing that baffled me was the difference in sound between guitar and bass for a given note. Playing the exact same notes (octaves and all) was very effective on bass, yet for the same pedal settings the guitar did little. An effort was made to match the sounds of guitar and bass at specific intervals, backing off the bass' output made no difference. Is there something here I don't understand about the difference in waveforms between bass and guitar?

The pedal can get slightly noisy on higher drive settings, but hey it is what it is, and the noise only adds to the vibe. I am using a 4x10 and 1x15 live with a Crown K2. My effects board is as follows:
Big Muff -> Bass Whammy -> MXR BlueBox -> MXR M-80 DI -> Prunes + Custard -> Morley Wah -> Chorus

I experimented with pedal placement, and this is about the best so far. Placing the wah before the P+C did little, whilst afterwards allowed another level of filtering. The MXR M-80 is my EQ in a box with distortion, which pumps the signal somewhat. Using the Whammy on octave down and harmonies is pleasant, as is the Big Muff: Phat and Wooly are two words.

I ordered the pedal unheard, I had a sound in my head I hoped it would produce. Funnily enough it isn't far off the mark! It actually exceeds my expectations mainly because it is so damn tactile and responsive to playing style. In some ways it is forcing me to be cleaner and more precise, that way I can get short staccato synth sounds.

I think I can depend on it. I am light on my gear (although the Epi takes a beating) so I can't imagine stomping too hard in bare feet. I will persist without a backup, I have been running cheaper pedals for longer with no failures, so I wouldn't expect a hand crafted work of art such as this to fail.

Paul is very helpful and geniune, a pleasure to deal with.

I play mostly covers at present, which encompasses a very wide range of songs and styles. This baby cops Dub tones through to wild buzzing sweeps, it is not hard to find it a place in quite a few songs.

I love it!

A bit of a brain squeeze but you'll figure it out with a little work. Here is what Paul mailed me as a sort of manual:
The P&C has two stages: A preamp stage followed by a special distortion
stage.

The Drive control adjusts the gain of the preamp stage from unity to around
100x (0 to +40 db). Of course with sufficient input/drive, the preamp stage
can be overdriven.

The Mix control acts as a balance between the preamp output and the
distortion stage output. For "normal" use for bass guitar, this would be set
at around a 1/3rd to 2/3rd. ("10 O'clock to 2 o'clock")

If the P&C is operated with a lot of Drive and with the Mix all the way up,
the harmonics produced by the distortion stage tend to override the
fundamental sound, and the resulting sound can become a little "thin".
There is an "LF retain" switch, which takes some low frequency from the
preamp
stage output (left side of the Mix control), and mixes it back in with the
distortion stage.

The Level control, as the name suggests, is the overall output volume.
This should always be checked to ensure that there is good good level
balance, or even a bit a boost, when switching in the P&C.

When using the P&C inconjunction with a mixer, as in Live Mixing or for
mixing a recording, the P&C may be patched in to an auxiliary send, and
returned to a spare channel.
In this situation, you would usually set the Mix to full, and the LF retain
off.
Returning the P&C to a channel allows for further EQ'ing .

Sometimes the results from P&C can benefit by having the signal to it
compressed a bit.

If you are using the P&C (or any distortion type device) for drums or other
sounds which have lot of ambient sound in the background, it may be a good
idea to gate the P&C output / return channel, and key the gate from the
original signal.
Got That?

I am so in love with this box. It is like no other you will find. Sort of a crunchy, buzzy OD with something seriously subharmonic going on. You can do that Laswell thing where you turn it up quite high, then play very softly for a fantasticly HUGE dub tone. Maybe not so good for agressive quick stuff, this box definitely likes the slow, fat bass tones; drums do sound good. Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake need one of these for sure. I use it on my Warwick 5 strings for my prog-dub punk-jazz band. This honestly sounds like no other box you will ever hear, sort of a "wave-shaping" rather than a regular clipping. Does that make sense? I can get a lovely large moog tone with this. Great on bass guitar. Then there is this wacky "harmonic intermodulating" thing!? What is it, I don't know but it sho' is way coo. It ends up like a sort of envelope following sweep which is very touch sensitive; the main thing I love most of this box. You play softly and its very clear, dig in and the sweep builds and the buzzy OD kicks in. Very fun. I could use this box in lieu of my octaver, mutron and OD. It seems to cover that many bases IMO. interactive and fun.

knobs are cheap plastic but the box is all metal; thank you Paul. I would like to see more durable rubber knobs but just don't step on it like I did and I'm sure you won't have a problem. I can't see how this box would ever stop working. Obligatory tank comparisons here.

Mr. Paul Crowther went out of his way to answer each and everyone of my nattering stupid questions at great length. What a guy. I tell every person I can about the great product I got from him based not only on the unit itself but on his stellar service. I bought this box w/o even hearing it, based on his mailings alone! He mailed me over 10x in regards to my inquiries. I was one of those pain in the ass customers I am sure. Any one who can be as helpful and kind deserves my $$ for sure. He was also the drummer in the Split Enz, don'cha know.

If this item were stolen I would hunt down the scum who lifted it and beat them senseless with it. i would then plug it in and bring down the most lardaceous, corpulent, deepfried fat basslines you could ever imagine. Great for my progessive dub, good for your electronica, maybe fun for the studio too I don't know. Paul, if you read this...thanks a bunch.

as far as guitar or bass, it's ready and raring to go. turn the drive up, turn the mix up and you're in buisness. it's freaky from the get-go.

i'm using this with all sorts of things, as a guitar pedal, a bass pedal, a preamp for recording, keyboards, whatever. it's really really clean and as the other folks have said, its bypass is really good. the sound of the pedal is really unlike anything i've ever heard. the distortion has a really buzzy quality that i've never heard anything like. it likes a low-frequency sustained notes best, so keep that in mind when you can't figure out why it's not crazy on drum machines. first thing when i got it, i plugged a 606 into it, expecting a synth pedal type thing. while it can do that to guitars and especially basses, don't expect a roland syb-3. it does have a great envelope filter quality and sounds really cool with an e-bow. even plugging a mic into it and tapping on the mic got some great sounds (i jammed with a drummer friend, just hitting the mic on the floor while it was plugged into the pedal; made these awesome percussive "BWAAANG"s).

as far as versatility, it's pretty strong. the distortion can be a bit much sometimes, but turn the drive down and you can still get the envelope filter qualities without all the fuzz. acts as a great preamp to my ac30, giving it this sorta dynamic envelopy snarl.

gets a 9 only because i'd like to see more variation in the sound of the fuzz. but hell, who knows what makes the sound, maybe a "variation" control isn't possible with a "Harmonic Generator/Intermodulator ."

seems well built. i'd take it to a gig with no worries. i've only had it for a month or so but it hasn't shown any signs of stopping yet. the foam rubber strips on the bottom instead of feet are a weird touch, but i think i like them.

haven't dealt with the company. i bought it through gaspedal and i can't really reccomend the experience bt i don't live in ew zealand, how else am i going to get it?

when i first got it i was pretty dissapointed. like i say, i ran a 606 through it and it didn't do much. since then i've been finding all KINDS of uses for it. i'm really happy with it and think it's worth the money every day of the week. i've been making music for 12 years and as i go through gear, stuff like this stands out for how cool and different it is. this is secret weapon material cause it's a very distinctive unit that people have no clue about mostly. i picked it up cause it had a reputation for being weird and it didn't dissapoint, although it was a lot different from what i expected. keep working with it, if what you find initially isn't what you're looking for, keep plugging stuff into it cause it has a lot of uses for a lot of things. PRODUCERS/ENGINEERS TAKE NOTE: you know how tchad blake runs drums through a sansamp to do that really distinctive stuff like the latin playboys? this is one of those pedals. snares sound awesome through it.

bottom line, if you like weird boutique pedals WHATSOEVER, you need this pedal. i'd never sell it.

This pedal is very easy to use. 3 knobs and 1 switch. So getting a good sound is simple. To tweak the sound, you just turn the knob to hear the difference in real time. There are no manuals and no upgrades because they are not needed.

The sound quality is great. The only time you hear a bit of noise is when the Drive is fully cranked but this is to be expected. In bypass mode, the pedal does not colour the signal at all. I'm using this pedal for all sorts of things. My favourite use for it is on the bass and on keyboards. With the bass, it's great for dynamic playing because the pedal is very velocity sensitive(play softly, not much fx, hit hard and the fx are plentiful) and it's cool on the keyboards for dirtying up those clean sounds.

Regarding reliability, this pedal will not be a problem because it's built like a tank. And yes I would and do gig without a backup

Paul was very helpful in helping me aquire this unique pedal. No other contact has been needed.

The styles of music I play are from freaked out groove/funk bass to industrial/electronic mayhem. And I use this pedal in all the bands I play in. I've been playing for over 13 years on guitar and bass, and electronic stuff for about 4 years. I own a stupid amount of gear from guitar/bass stuff to digital setups to studio equipment.
I'd replace the P&C if it was stolen cause there's nothing quite like it.
What I like about this pedal is it's original just like music should be. There's nothing else you can really compare it too. It seems to be envelope based though (a bit like some of those Electro Harmonix pedals but doesn't sound like them at all)
The P&C has been great for finding new tones because of the harmonic content of this pedal (whatever it actuall does).
For those looking for something diffent, check it out. For those who crap on about their marshall stacks, forget it. Way too original for that. I just wish he'd make some more freaked out pedals.

This stompbox is easy to operate. Three knobs and one small Low frequency retain switch encased in a light beige box. Level, Mix and Drive and the three main parameters which are fairly self explanatory. The most interesting thing about this box is the different ways to combine these parameters to get different types of distortion and overdrive. It's official title is 'Harmonic Intermodulaor-Generator', so make of that what you will. It sounds very similar to an auto wah in combination with distortion. Very freaky indeed! Once you get your head around the parameters, it's quite fun to experiment with.
It will run on either a 9 volt battery or 9 volt power supply.

I am using the Prunes And Custard in conjunction with an Ibanez TS9, Crowther Audio Hotcake, Ibanez FL9 Flanger, MXR Dyna Comp, Electro Harmonix Small Stone, Digitech Whammy and a Boss Delay, through a Fender 1965 reissue Twin Reverb. A customised Telecaster is my main guitar. However, the Prunes and Custard really goes to town when you use it on low frequencies such as bass. I use it on my Fender jazz Bass when I get the opportunity too. Imagine a Moog on acid and you get the picture.
Of all my effects pedals (which are mostly analogue) this would have to be one of the quietest. You dont even hear the switching, and the tone of the guitar/bass is intact as it has true bypass.
This pedal has an extermely wide range of out there tones and should be abused with caution!

Like my Hotcake, this is very robust and dependable.

I rang Paul here in New Zealand to get a run down of the recently introduced Prunes and Custard and what its possible uses were. He was very helpful with my enquiries and questions. From experience of dealing with Paul with my Hotcake his customer service is excellent.

I play melodic pop-rock and while it may not be ideally suited for this as a guitarist, I still had to have one after buying my Hotcake off Paul. But if it's weird sounds you're after, this is great fun to use and also indispensable in a studio setting. I'd imagine it would be great for electronica Prodigy sounding synthesisers.

I had discovered this pedal, due to the fact that I had previously purchased Mr. Crowther's fantastic Hot Cake distortion, and I asked him about any other pedals that he might be working on. When Paul first described this unit, he called it a weird synthy-type effect, a ring-modulator of sorts. Three knobs: level (self-explanatory), mix (alternate between dry and wet signals), and drive (alternate between clean and a strange synth-type sound, kind of distorted). There is also a switch called 'LF Retain', which Paul described to me it's purpose, which I've since forgotten, since I always keep it switched to the right. At any rate, it's pretty straight forward.

Due to the fact that I'm not a recording tech engineer type of player, perhaps I'm not the best critic in this category. This thing is for making weird, spacey, psychedelic sounds. Probably better suited for bass and keyboards than for guitar, although it can be used for any sound signal that you want to boost and alter. Used alone with guitar, the sound can get old really fast, as there is not that much variation. Although, where this unit really shines, is when you combine it with other effects. I have tried this pedal in conjunction with an Electro-harmonix Q-tron (awesome!) and a Boss PN2 tremolo (outer space!). This pedal is definitely not for standard rock sounds, but more for the children of the Chemical Brothers generation.

Reliable so far, just like my Hot Cake.

I'm not worried about customer support, as Paul responds to every one of my stupid e-mails in which I inquire about basic questions he's heard a million times before

I am kind of a fan of strange sounding stompboxes, so this is a welcome addition. As I stated previously, this pedal sounds its best when combined with other effects. I wish it had more features on it to increase your options of altering the sound, but you can't be too picky; plus, I think I'm already using (abusing?) this effect in ways it wasn't meant to be used. For fans of strange effects, I recommend this one.