EHX Hot wax review

[Crystalman85]

Okay this is my personal review on the electro-harmonix hot wax dual overdrive pedal. I've recently purchased an electro-harmonix hot wax and I have to say this is a great sounding overdrive pedal. it's quite versatile and each overdrive section has a unique sound of it's own. the hot tubes has kind of a bright, but punchy tube sound while the crayon has a warm but heavy sounding overdrive. and using them both creates a heavy distortion that can be suitable for bass solos or if you play in a drum and bass band. it also has a bass and treble control so that you can shape up the overdrive sounds. best of all, it has a blend control which makes it useful for bass. it sounds great for both active and passive basses and it's suitable for blues, rock, metal, and pretty much any genre that requires an overdriven or distorted sounds for bass.

Final thought: I enjoy this pedal for it's overdrive options and versatility. it sounded great with my active and passive bass guitars. while testing out this pedal with my schecter stiletto (which is active) and my yamaha bb235(which is passive), I've find myself favoring the crayon side because of how warm and heavy it sounded. it kinda reminds me of the darkglass vintage deluxe in some ways. the hot tubes sounded pretty good too. I personally find it to be a little bright sounding, but at a low gain setting, it sounds great for a modern tube sound. all in all, this is a great overdrive pedal for bass. if you're looking for a good overdrive pedal for your bass and only have $100 to spend, this is a good pedal to go with. a good recommendation when it comes to buying an overdrive pedal for bass.

 

[Daniel Piper]

Awesome review!

You haven't noticed too much low end loss then?

 

[Crystalman85]

Awesome review!

You haven't noticed too much low end loss then?

Thanks, dude. there's no low-end losses what so ever. since it has a blend control and a 2-band eq, it's easy to get a killer overdriven bass sound without obliterating lows.

 

[Daniel Piper]

Mean bro!

They are really well priced too.

There goes a few more $$

 

[Crystalman85]

Mean bro!

They are really well priced too.

There goes a few more $$

Indeed it is priced well. I did an experiment with this pedal with my darkglass vintage microtubes the other day and had some pretty amazing results. I've used my vmt with the crayon side of the hot wax and I got myself a pretty killer sound. it creates a smooth distorted sound that's not over the top but heavy enough for metal music. this combination can also work well on other genres like blues and rock.

Another experiment I've done with this pedal is when I use both the hot tubes and the crayon at a high gain setting along with my t.c electronics vortex flanger and though my rig, I was able to duplicate the distorted bass intro of orion by metallica. I can disengage the hot tubes side to play the rhythm parts of the song and then engage it to do the solo part once more. I would have to say kudos to ehx for creating a unique overdrive pedal. it can go from a warm or bright overdrive sound to a stacked distortion sound. it's definitely worth checking out.

 

[DDXdesign]

Thanks, dude. there's no low-end losses what so ever. since it has a blend control and a 2-band eq, it's easy to get a killer overdriven bass sound without obliterating lows.

Man, I'd love to get somebody with a scope to check this out - when I tried that pedal I loved each side alone, but combined it sounded like everything below like 1k was just completely gone.

 

[Crystalman85]

Man, I'd love to get somebody with a scope to check this out - when I tried that pedal I loved each side alone, but combined it sounded like everything below like 1k was just completely gone.

Well yeah, when using both the hot tubes and the crayon, it creates a heavy distortion that seems to obliterate lows. but if you set the blend control at about 9 or 10 'o clock and turn up the bass and turn the treble at about 10 'o clock, then there should be some solid lows. Personally, I only use the crayon side of the hot wax because it's warm and heavy. I mean I have tried both drives on and it's interesting for bass solos, but not really the sound I was looking for. if I wanted a heavy distortion, I would rely on another pedal like the darkglass alpha omnicron or the source audio after shock. personally, I would use the hot wax as a stand alone overdrive.

 

[2010P]

I just got my Hot Wax and I'd like to add to the chorus of people saying what an amazing pedal it is. Super heavy sounds on the Crayon side. The Hot Tubes side seems a lot more scooped and not as much gain.

This pedal to me though misses one mark. Like most people, I don't really find using both sides stacked sounds all that great, and to get the best sound one can stacked it requires quite a bit of eq'ing. This, of course, then sort of ruins the sound of each individual side. So, IMHO, EH would have been better to make it a single toggle that toggles both sides from one to another rather than two individual switches for each side. This way one can find a good general eq for each side and have a nice warm Hot Tubes side and then a quick foot hit then gets you the Crayon side and toe tapping is kept to a minimum. Of course, this is a minor gripe. I plan on using each side individually, and probably will end up favoring the Crayon side much more. For me, the price was worth it regardless because of the blend.

Regarding low end retention. This thing pumps out lows like you wouldn't believe. First off, the eq's only affect the drive sound, so your clean side retains all it's lows. In fact, I find I lower the bass knob on the Hot Wax so the dirt sits on top of the clean a little better. But whatever I want, whether it be super pumped lows, lo-fi bass cut, or super trebly clang and bite, it's all there. And it's there in an affordable and somewhat flexible package that sounds great. I love the feel under my fingers. Regarding lows when both sides are stacked, yes, the perception is slight bass loss, but it can be compensated for by bumping up the low knob. This is sort of why I stated before that when using this thing stacked, you cannot really rely on either side sounding too good indivudually. You kind of have to think of it as another whole pedal altogether with a much higher gained voice.

Anyhow, for $95 shipped from Prymaxe, this pedal is a no brainer great all around bass overdrive/distortion and I truly believe that it is a wonderful addition to any dirt playing bassist's arsenal. Enjoy!

 

[2010P]

Spent a few more hours with the Hot Wax and it is impressing me more and more. The baked in voices are very different so it's super versatile. And the blend is implemented really well so it retains the punch.

I still am pretty sure that you should think of it as three pedals in one. The two sides individually and the stacked sound. I can dial in the two sides individually to sound fairly good when sharing eq points, but then the stacked sound lacked. Conversely, an amazing stacked sound then made each individual sound weaker. So in my opinion if you use this live, use it for the two sides individually, or throw it in a bypass looper with both sides engaged.

Wonderful pedal. I think if EH ever revisits this pedal format, they should separate the eq's from eachother. That would, imo, take it to the next level.

 

[birminghambass]

Love my Hot Wax. The HT side is my favorite low gain OD, and I've owned about 40 of them. The Crayon is ok too, nothing special.

 

[2010P]

Love my Hot Wax. The HT side is my favorite low gain OD, and I've owned about 40 of them. The Crayon is ok too, nothing special.

Starting to agree with you. Wasn't too juiced about the Hot Tubes side initially, but after a few hours of it in the mix I could see how well it makes the bass fit, and the more subtle gain is very touch sensitive and musical. I think the Hot Wax has the potential to be the sleeper bass pedal for 2018. More people need to get on the bandwagon. It's an amazing pedal.

 

[Mo Boogs]

Okay this is my personal review on the electro-harmonix hot wax dual overdrive pedal. I've recently purchased an electro-harmonix hot wax and I have to say this is a great sounding overdrive pedal. it's quite versatile and each overdrive section has a unique sound of it's own. the hot tubes has kind of a bright, but punchy tube sound while the crayon has a warm but heavy sounding overdrive. and using them both creates a heavy distortion that can be suitable for bass solos or if you play in a drum and bass band. it also has a bass and treble control so that you can shape up the overdrive sounds. best of all, it has a blend control which makes it useful for bass. it sounds great for both active and passive basses and it's suitable for blues, rock, metal, and pretty much any genre that requires an overdriven or distorted sounds for bass.

Final thought: I enjoy this pedal for it's overdrive options and versatility. it sounded great with my active and passive bass guitars. while testing out this pedal with my schecter stiletto (which is active) and my yamaha bb235(which is passive), I've find myself favoring the crayon side because of how warm and heavy it sounded. it kinda reminds me of the darkglass vintage deluxe in some ways. the hot tubes sounded pretty good too. it seems useful for more mellower tunes. all in all, this is a great overdrive pedal for bass. if you're looking for a good overdrive pedal for your bass and only have $100 to spend, this is a good pedal to go with. a good recommendation when it comes to buying an overdrive pedal for bass.

How do you think this pedal would do getting that Jack Bruce sound? I’m kinda between the Hot Wax and the new Green Russian Muff.

 

[headtrip762]

Running through the headphone jack on my subway, mostly flat, voicing 10oclock, deep and bright switches off. Also, shortscale bass with flats, I felt if I spent a little more time tweaking, Id have a tone reasonably close. I used the hot tubes side of the hotwax, sustain and tone knobs bumped up just above counter clockwise on the green Russian. Remember, this is through headphones. I wont be able to fool around with a band mix till wenesday.

 

[Mo Boogs]

Running through the headphone jack on my subway, mostly flat, voicing 10oclock, deep and bright switches off. Also, shortscale bass with flats, I felt if I spent a little more time tweaking, Id have a tone reasonably close. I used the hot tubes side of the hotwax, sustain and tone knobs bumped up just above counter clockwise on the green Russian. Remember, this is through headphones. I wont be able to fool around with a band mix till wenesday.

So you used both the hot wax and the green Russian together to get that sound? I probably won’t buy both at the same time but will probably Own both down the line. Which pedal gets more of that Jack Bruce tone by itself?

 

[Being and Bass]

Great review, friend!

I have a few thoughts to add, since you inspired me.

The Hot Wax is a lot of things to a lot of people, as long as you keep an open mind. The best way to think of it is a pedal that costs more than either the Hot Tubes or the Crayon (although less than both) but expands both pedals with the EQ/Blend. These features alone cement the pedal on my board as a replacement for the Darkglass VMT, which I find gets muddier than the Hot Wax. Treating it like an improved Hot Tubes or Crayon is a great start for this pedal: the Hot Tubes provides a warm, low-to-mid gain signal that sounds best blended about 2/3 wet and gain set around 1:00; the Crayon is a great, broad-range overdrive that can run the gambit of gain setting, from an almost-Klon-like clarity to single-pedal distortion, although on bass you will want to really push up the low-band on the EW and keep the blend 50/50.

Stacking these pedals is tricky, but there is kismet in there for the true experimenter. You will likely run into one (or more) of these problems: a) The gain you need for these pedals on their own is not ideal for stacking, especially the Hot Tubes which needs a lot of gain to overdrive but moderate on its own. b) The volume on the Canyon needs to be higher for stacking than for using it on its own. c) The pedal sounds way better with a high wet-to-dry ratio on its own, but when stacked you probably want about 40% wet or you lose tone quality. d) Setting the high-band between the Tubes, Crayon, and Hot Wax means you lose tone or lose gain. e) Wishing they were the other way around (push the Crayon!). You need to find your own solution, and it seems a lot of people treat it as a Hot Tubes + Crayon but give up on stacking. I've found some happy compromises that lets me use all three options, as well as some fun.

First, I have a germanium OD earlier in the signal I can use to stack the Hot Tubes or the Crayon, although all three turns to garbage. This combo allows me to get different levels of distortion depending on the circumstance without ever changing the settings on any of them (Tubes+Crayon=quasi-Mid-Scooped Distortion; Tubes+Germanium=Low-Freq Distortion; Crayon+Germanium=Death Metal Awful/Awesomeness) that changes my expectations for the pedal. The Germanium is medium-gain (no breakup on its own) with heavy bass boost; the Tubes is set to gain at 1:00 while the Crayon's is at 3:30, the bass and treble point at eachother perfectly (by chance!) at 2:00/10:00 with the blend moving between 40%-60% depending on the setting.

(And for the record, I also run all of this into a Green Russian Muff! The Muff seems to prefer a cleaner signal, but my Germanium is on most of the time anyways so the Muff gets even bassier. Between the two, I think the Wax goes further than the Muff unless you are looking for that EXACT sound.)

 

[headtrip762]

If I were to choose between the hotwax and the green Russian, Id get the hotwax first. To me, its more
useful and versatile. I play mostly classic rock covers and I seem to get more use out of overdrives than I do fuzz.
That being said, I think theyre both awesome usable pedals, you cant go wrong with either, its up to you to figure out
which one will quench your tonal pallet the most!

 

[Crystalman85]

How do you think this pedal would do getting that Jack Bruce sound? I’m kinda between the Hot Wax and the new Green Russian Muff.

You can get a jack bruce sound using the crayon side at a low gain setting. add a little bass boost and a little less treble boost and you should be able to get that vintage overdriven sound. the green russian big muff would be good if you want that cliff burton sound. other than that, the hot wax is actually a pretty good overdrive pedal to own.

 

[Crystalman85]

Great review, friend!

I have a few thoughts to add, since you inspired me.

The Hot Wax is a lot of things to a lot of people, as long as you keep an open mind. The best way to think of it is a pedal that costs more than either the Hot Tubes or the Crayon (although less than both) but expands both pedals with the EQ/Blend. These features alone cement the pedal on my board as a replacement for the Darkglass VMT, which I find gets muddier than the Hot Wax. Treating it like an improved Hot Tubes or Crayon is a great start for this pedal: the Hot Tubes provides a warm, low-to-mid gain signal that sounds best blended about 2/3 wet and gain set around 1:00; the Crayon is a great, broad-range overdrive that can run the gambit of gain setting, from an almost-Klon-like clarity to single-pedal distortion, although on bass you will want to really push up the low-band on the EW and keep the blend 50/50.

Stacking these pedals is tricky, but there is kismet in there for the true experimenter. You will likely run into one (or more) of these problems: a) The gain you need for these pedals on their own is not ideal for stacking, especially the Hot Tubes which needs a lot of gain to overdrive but moderate on its own. b) The volume on the Canyon needs to be higher for stacking than for using it on its own. c) The pedal sounds way better with a high wet-to-dry ratio on its own, but when stacked you probably want about 40% wet or you lose tone quality. d) Setting the high-band between the Tubes, Crayon, and Hot Wax means you lose tone or lose gain. e) Wishing they were the other way around (push the Crayon!). You need to find your own solution, and it seems a lot of people treat it as a Hot Tubes + Crayon but give up on stacking. I've found some happy compromises that lets me use all three options, as well as some fun.

First, I have a germanium OD earlier in the signal I can use to stack the Hot Tubes or the Crayon, although all three turns to garbage. This combo allows me to get different levels of distortion depending on the circumstance without ever changing the settings on any of them (Tubes+Crayon=quasi-Mid-Scooped Distortion; Tubes+Germanium=Low-Freq Distortion; Crayon+Germanium=Death Metal Awful/Awesomeness) that changes my expectations for the pedal. The Germanium is medium-gain (no breakup on its own) with heavy bass boost; the Tubes is set to gain at 1:00 while the Crayon's is at 3:30, the bass and treble point at eachother perfectly (by chance!) at 2:00/10:00 with the blend moving between 40%-60% depending on the setting.

(And for the record, I also run all of this into a Green Russian Muff! The Muff seems to prefer a cleaner signal, but my Germanium is on most of the time anyways so the Muff gets even bassier. Between the two, I think the Wax goes further than the Muff unless you are looking for that EXACT sound.)

Thanks for the kind words. it's true that stacking drives can be a little tricky. but I happen to own a darkglass vmt myself and did a little experiment with this pedal with the hot wax. I used the vmt with the crayon side of the hot wax and I was able to get a nice tube distortion sound that's not over the top, but heavy enough for rock and metal music. the combination sounds great. personally, I favor the crayon side of the hot wax more than the hot tubes side because I find that the crayon side had a warm but heavy sound. it kinda reminds me of the darkglass vintage deluxe in some ways. the hot tubes side I find to be a little bright sounding, but does sound great for like a modern tube sound with the low gain setting. other than that, the hot wax is a pretty good overdrive pedal to own for bass.

 

[jcerio]

I love my Hot Wax. I don't bother stacking. I just use the Crayon side for a gnarly distortion with the gain cranked up to about 3 o'clock and the Hot Tubes side with the gain below 12 o'clock for a nice tubey grind. I have the blend roughly in the middle, the bass at about 3 o'clock, and the treble at about 11 o'clock. Add my Green Russian Reissue and I have pretty much everything covered. Unless I want something different - then I break out the rest of the pedals - DIY modded BOSS DS-1, DOD Boneshaker, Ampeg Scrambler OD, or the Donner Obsessive (OCD clone). Pretty sure I'e got the drive front covered!

 

[Crystalman85]

I love my Hot Wax. I don't bother stacking. I just use the Crayon side for a gnarly distortion with the gain cranked up to about 3 o'clock and the Hot Tubes side with the gain below 12 o'clock for a nice tubey grind. I have the blend roughly in the middle, the bass at about 3 o'clock, and the treble at about 11 o'clock. Add my Green Russian Reissue and I have pretty much everything covered. Unless I want something different - then I break out the rest of the pedals - DIY modded BOSS DS-1, DOD Boneshaker, Ampeg Scrambler OD, or the Donner Obsessive (OCD clone). Pretty sure I'e got the drive front covered!

Same here. I personally favor the crayon side of the hot wax. I like how warm and heavy it sounded. the hot tubes was a little bright sounding for my taste, but can make a great modern tube sound with the gain set at 9'o clock. I tried stacking it with both gain set at 3 'o clock and with the use of my flanger pedal, I was able to get that orion bass intro sound through my rig. stacking both sides can be good for bass solos, but for rhythm parts, I mainly use the crayon side. other than that, it's a great overdrive to own.