Crowther Hot Cake
The Crowther Hot Cake: Designed by the
drummer of the New Zealand band Split
Enz, and rumored to have been prototyped
with Neil Finn’s Vox AC30. When people
ask the question “Which OD pedal for a
Vox AC,” it’s the first answer. As a result,
the Hot Cake is the victim of well-meaning
but unfortunate typecasting. Sure, if you
have a Vox (or Vox-like amp) you really,
really, really need to try the Hot Cake. But
it can sound good into a whole bunch of
other amps as well. Have a Fender Tweed
Deluxe and want to make it sound like Neil
Young without angering your family? Try
a Hot Cake. Want the most transparent
clean boost around, try a Hot Cake with
the Presence and Drive turned down (set
the pedal for unity and try to hear the
difference). You know where else the Hot
Cake shines? Stacking. There’s something
about the neutrality of its tone that makes
it pair with just about everything. And as
long as you don’t crank the Drive beyond
1 o’clock, it doesn’t over-compress or lose
definition. Crank the Drive up all of the way
and you get a wooly fuzztortion. There’s a
reason it’s been on the boards of players
as varied as Mark Knopfler, Nels Cline,
Neil Finn, Stephen Malkmus, and Noel
Gallagher. It’s freaking great.
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TONE TALK //
5 Cult Classic Overdrives for your Collection