Crowther Hotcake
Ah yes, the proto-boutique ‘70s boosty
overdrive fuzz made by a drummer
from New Zealand that started it all.
The Hot Cake has been a staple for this
long for a reason—it magically adds
girth, grit and fatness to any signal
without changing the identity of the
guitar or the amp. It works much like
parallel processing—with the Presence
and Drive set to minimum, there is no
difference in tone when the pedal is
engaged. On this setting, one can go
past 2 o’clock on the Level control
for a preamp push either in front of
other pedals, or as a maintainingjuice-caboose at the end of the pedal
train. This functionality is due in part
to the excellent transparent buffer
the Hotcake is known for. Winding
the gain up brings in a hefty harmonic
distortion portion that sounds like a
Class-A amp’s power section melting
down. This is great for going into a
clean amp when one wants some Billy
Gibbons-style beef with the core tone
left alone and clear enough for complex
chords. The Crowther Hot Cake is
still loved—if a tad underappreciated
in my opinion — in this modern-day
overdrive overabundance. Though it is
capable of stellar overdrive and even
fuzz tones, my favorite use for my old
Hot Cake is as an always-on buffer and
signal sweetener.
“...it magically adds
girth, grit and fatness
to any signal without
changing the identity of the
guitar or the amp.”
ToneReport.com
11