Paul
Crowther is actually a drummer and he hand makes these pedals in New
Zealand. The original Hotcake was made during his tenure with Split Enz
in their early days and has been steadily building up an enviable roster
of users ever since - Noel Gallagher, The Lemonheads, Sonic Youth, The
Melvins, Stevie Ray Vaughan etc all use the pedal.
All prices include UK delivery.
HOTCAKE £135
The Hotcake is one of the most 'natural' sounding distortion pedals that we have quite simply. This just adds to the sound of your amp - there is no loss of your tone when you switch this in. The pedal can also give your amp a bit of a kick once the level goes beyond the 12 o'clock mark. The top end in your sound will vary depending on whether the amp is being driven or the pedal and the presence control is nicely voiced to get just the right sound depending on your balance between amp and pedal.
Not a metal pedal perhaps - but for anything else this gives a great range of sounds from the subtle to the full on and should be on your short list if you want the best.
Also available as a Bluesberry version which has a 'throatier' sound according to Paul Crowther and we would tend to agree. This is often well suited to amps that have a very bright treble.
PRUNES AND CUSTARD £165
What does it do you may well ask. Well, until you start fiddling with the controls sometimes not a lot. The pedal produces what can only be described as a different type of distortion with more emphasis on odd harmonics with a bit of ring modulation thrown in. This definitely gives you a 'nastier' sound, a metallic kind of distortion with a a kind of slight filter sweep on the bass strings. With everything full up you can end up with just harmonics and very little of the source signal. The effect has a Guitar/Bass switch which optimises the treble roll-off between preamp and the distortion. This effect works very well with bass guitars as well. Not an effect for the faint hearted, but if you need something different this could be just what you are after.
A great idea from Paul Crowther - 2 Hotcakes in one package with a neat control for varying the amount that the first circuit drives the second. The box contains two standard Hotcakes with all the transparent tone and bite that we have come to know and love - this enables you to set one for rhythm and one for lead or simply use one as a transparent boost with the added option of both on together for serious sonic mayhem! The third drive control really adds to the flexibility by allowing the third sound to be something different from simply two pedals chained together (although you can get this sound as well). All in all a suitable advance on the original and well worth considering for adding some serious flexibility to your setup. See the review in Guitar and Bass Magazine March 2007 issue.