Crowther Effects is a pedals company based in the UK. Created by drummer Paul Crowther, all of these pedals are hand made. Crowther actually created all of his pedals in New Zealand, but they are shipped throughout the UK and the world. Today, the number of Crowther pedal users has grown to include such names as Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Melvins, and the Lemonheads. Crowther Audio has three major pedals: the Hotcake, the Prunes and Custard, and the Double Hotcake.
The Hotcake was Crowther’s first pedal, and it’s the most natural sounding of all the distortion pedals. It adds sound to your amp, but it doesn’t touch the tone. It gives you a great range of sounds, going from subtle disturbance to full warping. The Hotcake also comes in a Bluesberry version that features a throatier sound and works very well with bright treble amps.
The Prunes and Custard pedal may have a very strange name, but it creates a very interesting distortion that has a lot of odd harmonics and some interesting modulation. It’s more of a metallic kind of distortion than the Hotcakes provides, and it can actually wipe out almost all of your original sound and leave just the harmonics if you like. It works quite well with a number of instruments, including bass guitars.
Finally, the Double Hotcake provides two Hotcakes pedals in one. It gives players the ability to decide how much distortion comes from the first and the second pedal. You can set one for boost, one for rhythm, or one for lead…the options are endless. This gives you a great amount of flexibility and the ability to make some very interesting sounds.
Singing Jazz looks at the ups and downs of this tough profession through the eyes of legendary jazz singers, well-established performers, and some newcomers. Drawing on accounts from vocalists of yesterday and today in all major jazz styles, the book explores the musical influences of jazz singing; the learning process, whether on the road or in training; the challenges of building a repertoire, getting gigs, traveling, and performing under sometimes difficult circumstances; and the ongoing struggle for artistic recognition and financial security in the competitive world of popular music. To reveal the roots and evolution of this unique art form, authors Crother and Pinfold revisit the lives, words, and stylistic innovations of great singers in jazz history, including Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington, Mel Torme, Shirley Horn, Ethel Waters, Anita OÕDay, and many more. Plus - interviewed especially for Singing Jazz - some of todayÕs best performers illustrate the contemporary view of jazz singing. Kitty Margolis, Mark Murphy, Helen Merrill, Mark Porter, Christine Tyrrell, and many others discuss the influences and experiences that have shaped their singing careers, and share insights on how their art is still evolving today.
The Double Hotcake has two Hotcakes 'A' and 'B' in one box. The A is a Bluesberry version, and the B a normal version (the "Bluesberry" voicing of the Hotcake has a slightly less buzzy edge at the onset of distortion, and often works well when guitarists have amplifiers with extra extreme treble boost, like some Marshalls for instance). Both have three knobs and a footswitch as with regular Hotcakes.
If both Hotcakes are switched on together, the A Hotcake drives the B, and its controls are bypassed, but an extra Drive control is switched in to adjust the its gain. There is also an extra clipping stage and a reduction in low frequencies to make for a better lead sound in the high gain situation. The A Hotcake has the usual buffered bypass (the circuit becomes a buffer in bypass mode), while the B Hotcake is hard bypassed using gold plated contacts.
The Double Hotcake has two Hotcakes 'A' and 'B' in one box. The A is a Bluesberry version, and the B a normal version (the "Bluesberry" voicing of the Hotcake has a slightly less buzzy edge at the onset of distortion, and often works well when guitarists have amplifiers with extra extreme treble boost, like some Marshalls for instance). Both have three knobs and a footswitch as with regular Hotcakes.
If both Hotcakes are switched on together, the A Hotcake drives the B, and its controls are bypassed, but an extra Drive control is switched in to adjust the its gain. There is also an extra clipping stage and a reduction in low frequencies to make for a better lead sound in the high gain situation. The A Hotcake has the usual buffered bypass (the circuit becomes a buffer in bypass mode), while the B Hotcake is hard bypassed using gold plated contacts.
The Crowther Audio Prunes and Custard is a unique distortion device made up of two stages. The first is a preamp stage with its own gain control. This allows you to dial in some overdrive before hitting the second stage. This stage is a wave shaping distortion circuit that produces strong harmonic overtones, mostly odd. As the Drive control is increased, even order harmonics are introduced to the signal as well. The Prunes and Custard has a slight treble roll off between the two circuits, the frequency of which can be changed using the Guitar/Bass switch. There is also a Mix control to blend the signals from the two circuits. As the Blend and Drive controls are set in the higher range, you will notice less and less of the fundamental tone and more of the harmonic distortion. The Crowther Audio Prunes and Custard is unique and damned skippy. This is the distortion your Mama warned you about.
Crowther Audio Prunes and Custard Features:
Preamp Stage
Special Distortion Stage
Mix Control
1 Megohm Input Impedance
True Bypass (Latching Relay w/ Gold Contacts)
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us. Thanks for looking and ROCK ON!
The Diamond Pedals J-Drive MK3 Boost/Overdrive Pedal is one of Diamond Pedals most innovative designs. The plan was to create a pedal that would allow players to mix both a clean boost and an overdrive pedal and be able to use both functions together or individually. The result was much more than they expected. The J-Drive allows you to boost your rhythm tones for playing clean or ramp up your overdrive for your solos. You can also use the overdrive as the main source of your tone and add boost when needed. The J-Drive’s clean boost can also work as a classic treble booster, too. The J-Drive, like all the Diamond Pedals products, is made using only the highest quality components and equipment. (more...)
Need a very capable little pedal that’s going to give you more than a tube screamer clone? If so, you need the T-Rex Alberta Overdrive Pedal. This little pedal features only the highest quality of components, and the people at T-Rex have paid the utmost attention to every little detail and characteristic of the Alberta Overdrive. This means it doesn’t have any of the issues or annoyances that screamer pedals have. Your low end will keep intact, but you will be able to get better gain—more or less as you need—than the standard overdrive pedal.
This pedal is much more than just a tube screamer. Its gain can provide you with some creamy, thick overdrive that features just a bit of a mid-boost that will give you the kick you need without warping or distorting your sound in any way. The overdrive itself is very smooth and doesn’t get muddy at all. Your low end is going to sound dynamic and tight while your tone control offers up a wide range of sound without any tinny noises. It’s a great overdrive that stays true to your sound while still offering you a lot of options. It costs a bit more than some other pedals; the T-Rex Alberta Overdrive Pedal runs around $199.99. (more...)
The Carr Raleigh Boutique Amp is a very versatile amp that can be used for practice or in the studio. It can provide both clean and pristine tones and very heavily overdriven tones, but no matter which you want, the amp will deliver at any volume. The Carr Raleigh amp is somewhat based on the amps produced during the 50s and 60s. (more...)
The Carr Viceroy Boutique Amp, previously called the Vincent amp, is one of Carr’s classic American amps. To take care of one concern right away: if you have a Vincent amp, you don’t need to run out and buy a new one—the Viceroy is a change in name only. Everything else is still exactly the same. Just like the Vincent, the Viceroy is a 33/7 watt amp that features a number of great options. You’ll find controls for the volume, midrange, bass, treble, reverb, drive, and a switch to move between 33 watts and 7 watts. The treble and midrange controls give you many different tone possibilities, making this amp quite versatile. (more...)
The Carr Rambler 2x12 boutique amp produces some of the best, clean tones of any amp. In fact, some players have even gone on record as saying that they’ve never heard another amp produce such great tremolo or reverb. The Carr Rambler is one of Carr Amplifier’s most popular amps, even today, thanks to its ability to deliver some great, classic American tones, its clean headroom, and its solid bass response. (more...)
Created by drummer Paul Crowther, all of these pedals are hand made. Crowther actually created all of his pedals in New Zealand, but they are shipped throughout the UK and the world. Today, the number of Crowther pedal users has grown to include such names as Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Melvins, and the Lemonheads. Crowther Audio has three major pedals: the Hotcake, the Prunes and Custard, and the Double Hotcake.
The plan was to create a pedal that would allow players to mix both a clean boost and an overdrive pedal and be able to use both functions together or individually. The result was much more than they expected. The J-Drive allows you to boost your rhythm tones for playing clean or ramp up your overdrive for your solos. You can also use the overdrive as the main source of your tone and add boost when needed. The J-Drive’s clean boost can also work as a classic treble booster, too. The J-Drive, like all the Diamond Pedals products, is made using only the highest quality components and equipment. 
This means it doesn’t have any of the issues or annoyances that screamer pedals have. Your low end will keep intact, but you will be able to get better gain—more or less as you need—than the standard overdrive pedal.
The Carr Raleigh amp is somewhat based on the amps produced during the 50s and 60s. 
To take care of one concern right away: if you have a Vincent amp, you don’t need to run out and buy a new one—the Viceroy is a change in name only. Everything else is still exactly the same. Just like the Vincent, the Viceroy is a 33/7 watt amp that features a number of great options. You’ll find controls for the volume, midrange, bass, treble, reverb, drive, and a switch to move between 33 watts and 7 watts. The treble and midrange controls give you many different tone possibilities, making this amp quite versatile. 
The Carr Rambler is one of Carr Amplifier’s most popular amps, even today, thanks to its ability to deliver some great, classic American tones, its clean headroom, and its solid bass response.