Hot Cake With An HRD: Actually Pretty Cool

[Pastasauce]

I borrowed a Hot Cake from a mate and used it tonight in place of the Catalinbread DLS that I'm selling.

Now, the common wisdom is that Hot Cakes sound amazing into AC30's but crap into Fender amps, particularly the Hot Rod Deluxe. I certainly wasn't impressed when I borrowed it the first time, but then my tone knowledge was even smaller back then than it is now. Also, I tried Conway's Hot Cake (that is not a euphemism) into my HRD a few weeks ago and remember being taken aback that it actually sounded okay.

Tonight, I really liked it. I moved the DLS on because, even though it's great at what it does, for the kind of music I play I found it too bright and "stiff". The Hot Cake sounded more compressed, squishy... more fuzz-like in a way. I had the gain set at about 12 o'clock and the presence at 2 o'clock. It stacked fantastically with my Tim, too.

So, it's probably down to changing tastes (I am developing a love for less articulate, more forgiving, squishier overdrives), but I've become a Hot Cake convert. If the AC Plus that's heading my way c/o Unique doesn't work out (though it should - Conway's one sounded epic), I know where to go next on the GAS quest.

[Pastasauce]

...Oh, and this is probably worth mentioning too: I played through my rig in public tonight and came away totally satisfied. Partly this was because I enjoyed the song selection, and partly because the band were competent. But I also actually liked the sound of my rig, which is progress!

[mr_sooty]

We gave a few guys at church using hotcakes with HRD's and they sound great. Conversely I bought one myself at one point but really didn't like it through my el84 based amp. So there you go - conventional wisdom be damned.

[willow13]

wait until you plug it in at home tomorrow and start to think "it sounded better yesterday".......happens to me all the time

[alanp]

Doing things you're not supposed to is how you discover ALL the cool things in life

[MogwaiBoy]

Rueben from An Emerald City used my ex-Twin Reverb a few times. Les Paul on the neck pickup (I think) with the Twin bass dial almost completely off - Hotcake for dirt. The tone was really awesome. So I say the 'Hotcakes don't like 6L6 amps' myth is just that.

I have an AC30 but I'm reluctant to try a Hotcake into it.

[Slowy]

We gave a few guys at church using hotcakes with HRD's and they sound great. Conversely I bought one myself at one point but really didn't like it through my el84 based amp. So there you go - conventional wisdom be damned.

Agreed. I've tried several Hotcakes and I really like them; as long as someone else is playing.

[druz15]

Yeah I've played and heard them played them through a couple 6L6 amps and "past participle of get" various results from absolute shit to quite awesome. I think it depends on
A) the gain structure of the amp being played
and
B) the guitar driving the amp.
hotter pickups into a lower wattage amp that gets a bit of natural crunch they sound fantastic, but sound pants through certain models of Twin Reverb IMO

AND This:

Rueben from An Emerald City used my ex-Twin Reverb a few times. Les Paul on the neck pickup (I think) with the Twin bass dial almost completely off - Hotcake for dirt. The tone was really awesome.

Is an amazing tone too

[Cortez]

I use a Hot Cake with my HRD and I think it sounds pretty good; even for distorted open chords that can sound pretty bad with other stomp boxes. I had a TS10 Tube Screamer with it for a little while and much preferred the Hot Cake (not that the TS10 is necessarily indicative of a decent overdrive) . I'm thinking of getting a TS9 though to mix things up. I never bring the gain above 12 o clock on the Hot Cake as it seems to sound best just slightly below. It goes from pretty hard on the attack (think Rust Never Sleeps NY) to barely there depending on how you play.

I heard the Phoenix Foundation sound checking a while ago with a big old twin and as soon as the dirt came on I knew it was a Hot Cake as it sounded a lot like my HRD. I went and had a look and yep, there was the Hot Cake.

[MogwaiBoy]

Double Hotcake juicing 2 x cranked Hiwatt Custom 100s (EL34s?)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NALmAEQWOk[/youtube]

Jeff likes his delays feeding into the Hotcakes (put near end of chain before RV-5) rather than the other way around (the traditional dirt > modulation > amp thing).

[mr_sooty]

I find the hot cake a little too fizzy through an amp that's too bright. I'm guessing the 'no good with 6l6's thing comes from brighter blackface style amps. The warmer tone of the hrd's and the high headroom seems to work a bit better with it.

[handsoffmatt]

As always, the rules are there are no rules. However, my longstanding opinion on the remains....

Hot Cake into Fender-style amp: Really great at drive levels below 12:00, too fizzy and farty above 12:00

Hot Cake into Vox-style amp: Amazing at all drive levels

Hot Cake boosting an overdriven Marshall-style amp: Average to poo, depending on how you set it.


IMHO, YMMV, etc etc etc

[jimi]

I've been through a few hotcakes, they had been the one bit of gear that I've used constantly since I got my 1st one from Kiwi Music on Marion St about 15 years ago.

Hotcake driving / boosting the clean channel of my Marshall TSL (EL34?) is a great sound. Big and fat and cuts through the mix really well.

Into the Bellbird though (6V6?) has been quite "meh". Not awful, but just adding some grit and not much more, its like the magic has gone. Instead I'm now using a Rocky built Tubescreamer clone, or using the RAT and Tubescreamer models on the M13. Both are sounding pretty good.

[GrantB]

A mate of mine uses a 6L6 TopHat with a hotcake and it invariably sounds awesome. Low gain settings though.

[aliasceiza]

I didn't like my hotcake, had an el84 bassed amp at the time too, but as most have said in this thread, it seems to suit lower gain type sounds, and I like high gain mostly, so didn't really have much use for it, also, my neighbour used only a hotcake for years into a Marshall silver somethingorother, loved it to bits, then for some silly reason sold it, regretted it, recently bought another, and can't get the same kind of love for it going on...doesn't have the Marshall any more either, so that probably explains it!