Hot Cake ?

[Mondy]

Hi there,

Well, you may or may not have seen my little panic thread where I was about to sell all of my guitar gear. Well, it turns out that the credit card company had screwed up big time, and as such, this is what induced the panic. I could go on about this, because it seriously [img]images/smilies/icon_mad.gif[/img] me, but I'll just explain it this way :

They come down on you like a tonne of bricks if you f**k up, but if it's there f**k up, there's not much you can do !

Anyway, I felt a bit guilty for very nearly selling all of the gear, but I decided to give my gear the present it needed. A decent Overdrive pedal !

I went to Chandler's Guitars here in London, and tried out numerous pedals. I tried, let me see now...
<ul type="square">[*] MXR M-133 Micro Amp - Looked pretty much like any other MXR pedal. Button to turn on and off, and a dial that does exactly what it says on the tin. About £99.[*] Ibanez Tube Screamer - About £75.[*] BOSS DS-1 Distortion Pedal - Around £39.[*] Crowther Audio Hot Cake - £125.[/list]Jeez, I was playing for like 2 hours through all of these pedals. They managed to get me through a Valvestate as well, so I knew what it would sound like with my own setup.

Here's a thought - Why is it that you forget everything you can play when you walk into a guitar shop ?

Anyway, they were all great pedals, but for what I wanted to play, I was undecided between the cheaper BOSS pedal, and this pedal. Then I played some heavier stuff, and the Hot Cake came out best, even thought it was more expensive. But as I am learning, if you want a good sound, you have to pay for it ! In the end, this pedal just seemed far more versatile.

I trust my judgement, and am happy with the pedal. Just wondering if you guys have ever heard of the pedal (I hadn't before I walked into the shop) and if so, how you rate it !

If you read the first review over at Harmony Central then it appears that he test drived the same pedals as I did, and came home with the Hot Cake.

After getting the pedal home, man this is what my setup needed. I just can't turn the f**king sound down ! It is awesome ! Really nice sounds come out of my amp now, even at low volumes ! I am very happy.

Next I will get myself an MXR M-102 Dyna Comp .

Cheers guys !

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[wahwah]

Can't say I've heard of it mate bu there is a VAST array of pedals out there. You did the right thing and listened with your ears and BOUGHT THE MOST EXPENSIVE ONE! Good work fella! Do what I do-keep all your gear under lock and key somewhere away from the house and, if you buy something new, bring it back under the cover of darkness wrapped in a sheet! The other half will be suspicious but if they can't prove it, they can't sue!!! [img]images/smilies/chucks.gif[/img] Oh yeah, and if all else fails, bring home a kitchen implement as a present so that you can say, 'But I bought this as well for you!@$%£ It goes down a treat! [img]images/smilies/icon_surprised.gif[/img]

[Mondy]

I did what I have been doing for a while now. Buy a pedal that looks like the other ones. That way, she will never know about it. Plus, I keep all the pedals in their boxes when I am not playing them, so everytime Jen walks in, she just sees a stack of brown boxes on my amp.

This way it allows me to say, "Oh no, I've had that one for AGES ! I just never usually turn it up as loud as the other ones !"

I seriously was gonna go for the BOSS pedal, it was mighty fine, but it did one thing, and one thing well. Whereas you can get numerous types of effects out of this baby !

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[wahwah]

hehe...for a young man, you've got it sorted! THROW AWAY ALL RECEIPTS! [img]images/smilies/chucks.gif[/img]

[Mondy]

To be honest, she really wouldn't give a toss about me buying it any way. I never tell her, because I know she won't be interested in it. Just like she never tells me when she's bought some new lipstick or something like that...

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[wahwah]

Yep...same here! And she's been seeing this shit since 1982!!! Our first date was to go and see a slab of ash that a guy was using to make a custom built explorer [img]images/smilies/icon_surprised.gif[/img]...it's gone downhill ever since! [img]images/smilies/icon_lol.gif[/img]

[Mondy]

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Classic ! Our first date Jen told me to bring the guitar and all my favourite albums up. Poor girl was subjected to a few acoustic classics (Every Rose Has It's Thorn, Bitter Wine, To Be With You, Give To Live), as well as being forced to listen to the lyrics from various songs off 5150 and Fair Warning.

Stupid girl was still interested !!! [img]images/smilies/dunno.gif[/img]

Anyway, she does now insist that my Stipey Kramer stays on display rather than the Wolfgang, and she used to hate the design. Maybe there's hope for me converting her yet.

Or could it have something to do with the fact that she keeps telling me, "Aww, honey, that's far too nice to play, just leave it on the stand !"

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[CanyonCarver]

Good stories, Mondola!
I have a modded DS-1pedal that I love.

My wife is not very supportive of my playing,doesn't take it as seriously as I do. She just doesn't get it. I guess it's a control thing, or jaleousy, go figure!I wish I got more support, as it probably help me to some extent.

About getting new gear and hiding it, I can relate. I've been doing that the whole time. I keep my pedals in the whole in the back of the amp, and get them out when I need them only...

[Mondy]

It's weird. I can see both sides of it. Usually, I am plinking away on thr guitar (unplugged of course) when the telly is on. So this is why she isn't overly keen on my playing at such times.

However, when talking to any of her friends, she is fiercly supportive of my playing and is an excellent advertisement for me. In fact, one of her firneds came round to get ready for somewhere one night, and my Wolfgang was on display. SO she said to me, "Oh yeah, you can play Summer Of '69 and Are You Gonna Go My Way, can't you ?"

So I picked up the guitar and played, and then Jen asked me to play Always, so I played and sang. This song always impresses the women, so it went down rather well. Fortunately, I have been able to live up to the reputation that Jen portrays to her firends. It's only a matter of time until she befriends a bloody guitar player though, and it'll all go tits up !!!

But she has good ears, so I always give her a listen to anything I record before I pop it up on here.

However, I have found that you guys are great support. I can't tell you how much it meant to have the awesome response from the last thing that I posted. Okay, it wasn't an awesome response as such, but personally, in terms of my progress, it was an awesome response with regards to how I rated the song, and what I was expecting.

Now, I'll stop whittering on and will get myself to record some of this new pedal for you to listen to...

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