jeffwhitfield
Well-known member
I kept seeing the EHX Hot Wax pedal popping up in various guitar related posts and articles. The Hot Tubes side is pretty well known and a solid circuit. The Crayon side is another pretty popular one too. So, the idea was to take the two pedals and combine them to make something that's better than the Hot Wax.
One of the biggest complaints about the Hot Wax is the inability to switch the order of the two circuits. So adding an order switch was definitely on the menu for this one.
From my understanding, the Crayon is basically just a Xotic BB Preamp circuit. As such, I chose the AionFX Perelandra Deluxe (a "custom shop" version of the BB Preamp) and the Hexeract. The interesting thing about the Hexeract is that, unlike the current EHX Hot Tubes, this one replicates the original circuit. The Perelandra differs from the Crayon in that it adds a Mid EQ and a few different clipping options.
The Hot Tubes side is pretty much what I expected: a solid drive with a nice amount of gain and tube-like distortion. The BB Preamp side is like the Crayon but has more gain on tap along with better EQ and tone options. But like many dual drives, it's the combination of the two that makes everything shine.
Driving the Hot Tubes with the BB Preamp works the best. The Hot Tubes has more of a bass-y, mid-range hump to it which you can tame a bit using the BB EQ. Flipping the order (Hot Tubes into BB Preamp) doesn't work quite as well...especially with the Hot Tubes EQ bypass. It's the mid-hump of the Hot Tubes that gets in the way. You have to really play with the EQ on the BB to make it work. Still results in some good tones...just not as easy to dial in is all.
The reason I call this one "Red Sharpie" is due to the fact that I use Sharpies for pretty much all my bare metal enclosure builds. Given that the original was called Hot Wax, I figure a play off that would be fun. So, Red Sharpie it is.
One of the biggest complaints about the Hot Wax is the inability to switch the order of the two circuits. So adding an order switch was definitely on the menu for this one.
From my understanding, the Crayon is basically just a Xotic BB Preamp circuit. As such, I chose the AionFX Perelandra Deluxe (a "custom shop" version of the BB Preamp) and the Hexeract. The interesting thing about the Hexeract is that, unlike the current EHX Hot Tubes, this one replicates the original circuit. The Perelandra differs from the Crayon in that it adds a Mid EQ and a few different clipping options.
The Hot Tubes side is pretty much what I expected: a solid drive with a nice amount of gain and tube-like distortion. The BB Preamp side is like the Crayon but has more gain on tap along with better EQ and tone options. But like many dual drives, it's the combination of the two that makes everything shine.
Driving the Hot Tubes with the BB Preamp works the best. The Hot Tubes has more of a bass-y, mid-range hump to it which you can tame a bit using the BB EQ. Flipping the order (Hot Tubes into BB Preamp) doesn't work quite as well...especially with the Hot Tubes EQ bypass. It's the mid-hump of the Hot Tubes that gets in the way. You have to really play with the EQ on the BB to make it work. Still results in some good tones...just not as easy to dial in is all.
The reason I call this one "Red Sharpie" is due to the fact that I use Sharpies for pretty much all my bare metal enclosure builds. Given that the original was called Hot Wax, I figure a play off that would be fun. So, Red Sharpie it is.
