I probably said enough about the Crowther Hotcake (and New Zealanders) in the previous post - so I'll stop now. Short story - it’s straight op amp clipping with some filtering.
Although I should say that this has an unusual bypass system - it's not true bypass, note the switching. I’ve included a modded layout for standard true bypass switching.
Invented in the late seventies by Paul Crowther, the drummer from Split Enz (yes, the drummer).
As an Australian, I can only say that this was almost certainly invented by an Australian and then stolen by a crafty New Zealander - just like the Pavlova, ANZAC Biscuits, Lamingtons, the Flat White and Phar Lap. But not Russell Crowe... he's definitely one of yours.
It's an interesting design and sounds pretty good, with the drive running a decent amount (it definitely needs the reverse log pot). One thing bothers me - while it runs from very clean through to a thick drive, almost fuzz, distortion artefacts can be faintly heard in the background when running clean. Not a deal breaker by any means, as who wants to run a distortion pedal clean right?
