Hot Wax Dual Overdrive Pedal Review

Hot Wax is Hot ****!

Another hit out of the park for Electro-Harmonix. As you probably know, this pedal offers the 'Crayons' and 'Hot Tubes' pedals together in a single unit. Both are very good on their own, and depending on the sound you're looking for, can be even better when used together. The gain does not not to be set to high levels to achieve some fantastic overdriven sounds. Set the Crayons… read more and have it drive the Hot Tubes for anything from a silky smooth overdrive to punchy, crunchy grit. The Hot Tubes may not emulate that classic tube sound perfectly (what pedal does?), but in my opinion it's about as close as you're going to get. Spend time tweaking the knobs; little adjustments can have a pretty significant impact. I've also used the 'Soul Food' pedal to drive through the Hot Tubes, and that also sounds great and presents many additional sonic possibilities. Another great pedal from Electro-Harmonix.

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Best distortion pedal I have every owned

I have had 9 distortion, fuzz, or overdrive pedals before this one. This one is considerably better than any of the other ones I have had. It has several useable settings that I have found so far, and I have only begone to use it. It will give a very nice distortion, yet still keep a clear definition of of the notes you are playing. Hard to explain, but If you ever get a chance… read more to try one don't pass up the opportunity. I would have to say this is one of the better pedals I have ever bought, brings my playing up to a whole new level. A friend of mine bought one and couldn't say enough good things about it, so I bought one from Taylor at Sweetwater, as usual they gave me a great price. This pedal is well worth the money. 2 thumbs up on this one.

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Monster

I've played mainly straight into my tube and for several years, but wanted to be able to take my sound to anything. This pedal going into my tube or solid state hives me that ability. Zero issues and much happiness ha e ensued. Going into my tube head with just the crayon yields grit and awesome response, click on my full tone boost and I'm at the border o hard rack and heavy metal.… read more Clicking on the hottest side pushes into completely chaotic fuzziness.

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My go-to overdrive for pretty much any application.

Out of all the overdrives that I have bought and tried over the years, this is the one I keep going back to. Being a metal player, the crayon drive is perfect for tightening up that tone on a high gain amp and give you that clean crunch attack that everyone loves. The added bonus for me is the hot tubes. I have my hot tubes side set up as a boost for when you go into a lead riff… read more and it just adds that extra sustain and gain you want when going into a solo. Getting both overdrives into one pedal for this price is a steal.

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Great for bass

I have a few overdrives I use for bass, including the Pigtronix Bass Fat drive, but this is my favorite. It has a lot of variability between choosing from the Hot Tubes or the Crayon, or both stacked. What I love is that this pedal can provide a very slight effect, with a lot of variation in that subtle mode - just a touch of Hot Tubes or Crayon, or even a clean boost. Pedals… read more that go to more extremes on the high gain side can be harder to adjust when only adding a little dirt. Not so with the Hot Wax. Even apart from the gain adjustment, there's also the mix adjustment as an alternative way to diminish the effect, which yields a different result from gain reduction. Yet for all the variability in the subtle effects, stacking the two sides (only option is feeding the Crayon into the Hot Tubes) can yield a large amount of overdrive, moving into the distortion realm. I use this pedal with both a passive and an active bass, and both sound good through it. This is likely one pedal I'd buy again if I were to lose it, even with all the drive pedals out there.

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