Anomaly kit

Bought for the uniqueness of how distorsion is achieved in the Crowther Hot Cake...
This kit seems faithful to the original design. Ive just changed the transistor for a BC557. Ive also mounted the 470pF C5.
Easy to build (even if I had initially forgotten an essential capacitor: human error).
Nice to play: lowering the volume on the guitar cleans up the tone of this pedal more than with most OD/dist units. And the Anomaly / Hot Cake can be used as a neutral clean boost with gain + presence @ 0 and volume set according to taste.
The XLF switch boosts the bass when UP but as implied by another review, its action is subtle: it promotes frequencies under approximatively 150hz and its maximum effect reaches 5dB @ 20hz, which is not a frequency supposed to be heard with most guitars and amps...
The MODE switch is subtle too and its action is more obvious with the presence pot full up: in this case, setting the MODE switch UP bumps of 3dB a large area between 500hz and 10khz while some fizzy frequencies disappear in the extreme high range.
The presence control boosts or flatten frequencies between 400hz and 4500hz. Its range is limited to 5dB or 6dB but it makes it useful from 0/10 to 10/10.
EQ wise, the gain has the same side effect than in many OD/dist pedals : it progressively diminishes the high range and boosts the bass. With Gain @ 0 and vol + presence @ noon, the response is not flat: it vaguely recalls the mid boost effect of a Tube Screamer, but flatter and centered @ 1khz. As explained above, the presence control must be set @ zero for a flatter frequency response, close to the tone once the pedal disabled.
A frequency analyzer has been used to draw these conclusions, for the record.
Id buy again this pedal and Id recommend it. :-)

Hubert D., 21.07.2022