Brilliantly explained 🙂 The very first setting with Vol up, Tone way down and Dist below 12 - is that one setting which makes this extremely pleasing with a clean Amp setting (which I used it with) and yes the All 12 setting is what puts people off 🙂
This really is the best video on the SD9 I have ever seen. It shows how you really have to think your chain though. I have tried my SD9 so many times because I am a Landau fanboy and put it back in the drawer after ten minutes. This has taught me otherwise 😂
Thanks Warren. This video has helped so much. I think this video has one of the most detailed explanations about the SD9. You can clean up so easily with just the volume Knob. Stacked mine with the Jan Ray. Don't need anything else. Just the guitar volume Knob. 🙂
Great vid and playing! This has to be the best overview of the SD9 I have seen. Especially, since you used other guitars.I subscribed instantaneously !
Wow, I'd like to say thanks for the in depth explanation of the values of tweaking pedals. Ive never been one to change pedal settings, so I was missing alot of good tone, by being impatient. ..Like you, I was soooo inspired by Landau's awesome tone, that I started looking into his rig. I bought a set of ML pickups and a Fender ML Deville. and couldnt get the sounds that ML got. So I bought a RAT pedal, and didnt like that either UNTIL I decided to try it into the power amp in jack..Wow what a difference. Anyways, I appreciate your in depth explanation of how these things work together. You covered alot of ground. Thanks!
In addition to the different EQ properties between the SD-9 and TS, the SD-9 is a hard clipping circuit with diode clippers after the opamp stage, and TS is a soft clipping circuit with diodes in the feedback loop of the opamp. The SD is more akin to the MXR D+ and ProCo Rat in this regard.
Very informative and helpful, thank you! Great playing also! I have the SD9 and I really like it, its open and articulate and does not cut the bass. I use the tubescreamer as well in the same board : to me, it seems that the TS9 is a bit more compressed and I can get more sustain from it than the SD9. Both are very useful and stack well together. I use the SD9 sometimes as an overdrive with the gain super low, its a very versatile pedal.
I remember having a Maxon SD9 as a backup distortion but after someone spilled beer on my pedalboard. I had to come up with a new pedalboard. So there goes the Maxon SD9 as my main distortion and still continues to be. Now I have the vintage Ibanez SD9, Maxon SD9 and the Custom Shop Maxon SSD9.
To be honest I bought it a year ago and it has been sitting in a box with a bunch of other pedals. I have been busy that I haven’t had the time to actually try it. I have been gigging with the SD9.
@@drippinglass The reason I bought the Maxon SSD9 was cuz of a video of Scott Henderson demoing his TWA SH9 pedal vs the SD9. Right now there is a Maxon SSD9 on Reverb for $250. You can probably get it for cheaper if you send an offer.
You're playing makes me think you are Jeff Beck's long lost brother. Fantastic!! Super useful video even though I'm using a version of this on the HX Stomp. Your SG sound was massive!
Thanks! The HX Hedgehog version of the SD9 is pretty damn good, even though the knob positions do not correlate. Try 4.5 Drive, 1.5 Tone and 7.5 Level.
Definitely the most comprehensive dive into the SD9 I've come across, super helpful insights! A couple of questions, I saw your response to another comment that the cab/speaker was from the UAD SE100 plugin, but what particular cab/speaker/mic combo within the SE100 were you running? Also, how does the Helix's Hedgehog drive model hold up vs the original, and how do you dial it in to match your real SD9 settings?
I was using Recording Chain #23 which is a Suhr 4x12 with Vintage 30s, mic'd with a Shure SM57 & Royer R121. The Helix model compares favorurably, but the knob positions do not correspond. The real thing on level 10 is 7.5 on the model, and the tone knobs vary a bit too. Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions :)
Nice tones. I got an original sd9 from a swap meet 2 years ago for $100! Love it! I do have to fix the switch tho as its stuck on. Ive been using it with a bypass loop pedal but i have been thinking about sending it out to analog man to get it freshened up. It looks really cool with the paint all chipped off and beat up.
You think i should? I read into the Analog Man page pretty deep and it seems like he does like to keep the OG pedals untainted so i probably will just get the switch and the jacks replaced.
My favorite drive and have been using one from the 80s for 10 years now. I run mine with VOLUME all the way up, TONE at about 9 or 10 o'clock depending on the guitar and GAIN set at 9. I love it as a beefy TS style pedal. I've tried a lot of variations like Vertex Dynamic Drive and the XTS Tonic Distortion. They come close but just aren't the same as the one I use. I also stack the SD9 with a J. Rockett Allan Holdsworth pedal and a Wampler Ego mini. A ton of different flavors to add to a great pedal. Did you see that TWA came out with SH-9 pedal? Been waiting for it to ship and hoping it'll be great. GREAT VIDEO, I subscribed.
Hey Warren! Thanks so much for the video. I got the SD-9 after watching this and I am super happy with the sound. I have a question, I remember seeing Suhr Riot and an Eclipse on ur pedalboard a while back. How would u describe that sound compared to the SD-9??
Brilliant video. Maxon OD-9 into SD-9 has been my go-to stack for years now. If you’re like me and need a clean amp for gigs, this is the only way you do it. By the way if you go full Landau mode and use a volume pedal after SD-9 (I use FV500H), it takes all of these tones to another dimension because you can compensate for turning down on guitar, so you can have any gain level at any volume level without having to switch anything on or off. I think also worth mentioning is that SD-9 is very picky about power source - it sounds awful on almost any power supply and it sounds almost as bad on alkaline battery. So if you haven’t already, try your SD-9 with carbon-zinc battery (preferably Eveready) and you’ll never think it sounds shrill again. Also any buffer further down the chain will make it sound fizzy. It’s an absolute brat of a pedal but it’s worth it.
Awesome Video, man! Appreciate that after all these years a video came and share the HOW TO equalize this pedal, as without the proper context ( guitar knobs and amp settings), the resulting audio is a jar of mosquitos. Thank you for sharing! I have kept this pedal with me just for this reason (if Henderson & Landau made it work, then there is a hack) despite the hours put trying to find the right audio for me without the desired results. I have found the approximate audio you suggest in the video in the past( with base clean tone, just for ref), but have not been able to nail the bass eq yet, thus keep up with my amp drive and odr1... In my use case, in order to find that base sweetspot (balance), I end up rolling the bass knob in my mesa f50 combo clean channel, but when I switch the pedal off back to my clean channel, my audio gets sort of baseless (sterile)... I would like to get your thoughts on this and know if you have faced the issue, particularly with humbucker guitars, which is what I play. Thank you and again, awesome video!
Try putting the SD9 and a RC Booster in a loop switcher, use the RC Booster for your clean and you can use the EQ to dial in how much bass and treble you need.
So with the SD9 level all the way up, doesn’t it throw off how you’d have to set any other gain pedals level? Cause if I’m using several other gain pedals on their own, and I’ve set their levels to how I like them then this one sd9 pedal is likely to be overly hot. I get the tone is best that way but kind of a drag that it’ll throw level settings off or require different level settings on my other pedals. Nice playing and video regardless
Have you tried the XTS Tonic Distortion? I don’t have an SD9 to compare the settings with. Just thinking through how to apply what I’m learning here. Great video, great tones!
I haven't come across one here in NZ, but I'm guessing you should be able to get close once you learn where the stock SD9 settings are on the 3 band EQ?
You got all the landau gear. Can i come over and hang out ha ha.. i had a pedal board made by dave phillips who does landaus. I was able to get a voodoo1 and live wire reverb pedal from landau. Needless to say i have the voodoo1 and sd9 .. play it through my 58 super tweed. Sounds fuzzy kranked. Just love it.
@@blackstratblues i mean, the noise from single coil on the guitar. Mine makes so much noise, because its single coil strat + fender amp. What is your secret? :)
@@ghgim9987 I've got an aluminum backplate behinf the pickguard for shielding, other than that I just roll my guitar volume down when I'm not playing :)
What do you think about the output of the pedal, I’ve been using it for months but at my ears it has much less volume than a standard boss pedal. Do you agree with me?
Maxon Sd - 9, just like Boss Ds-1, really shines when in front of an already overdriven pedal or amp channel. On dead clean channel it sounds pretty rubbish.
I would beg to disagree, if you watch the whole video you'll hear some nice tones into the clean channel of the OD100. of course it always sounds better with the amp driving a bit.
Yeah, you can actually get a decent sound with SD-9 on a clean channel with quite a smooth tone, and it sounds somewhat better than ds -1, but at the cost of rolling the tone off significantly, so that the low end prevails too much unless you have a bright amp or a guitar.
@@blackstratblues Sure, design-wise - absolutely. Tonally, they aren't a million miles apart. The bass response shows some similarities, at least to my ears. Both lack that TS "pokey" mid-hump, and both are highly interactive with the guitar's volume and tone controls.
@@mattgilbert7347 You're right on those counts yeah. In terms of distortion texture the SD9 has more of that 'borderline fuzz' thing going on though...
As mentioned in the description "I plug the pedal into a Custom Audio Amplifiers OD100 Classic Plus - an amp that excels at Fender blackface cleans and Marshall style crunch"
Brilliantly explained 🙂 The very first setting with Vol up, Tone way down and Dist below 12 - is that one setting which makes this extremely pleasing with a clean Amp setting (which I used it with) and yes the All 12 setting is what puts people off 🙂
Great, intelligent review. It makes such a difference adjusting guitar and tone levels too.
Easily the best comparison review between these two Maxon's I've seen & on the strength of it, I've a Sonic Distortion on the way. So many thanks :)
Excellent thorough review and great playing! Thanks!
superb playing mate.
This really is the best video on the SD9 I have ever seen. It shows how you really have to think your chain though. I have tried my SD9 so many times because I am a Landau fanboy and put it back in the drawer after ten minutes. This has taught me otherwise 😂
Glad to help! Once you get used to it there's no turning back ;-)
To be fair though you are not going to sound like this guy with the pedal he's a freakish good player
Great video! I've loved and used the SD-9 for a long while and this video NAILS the experience.
Haha thanks man, you of all people definitely know the SD9 sound well!
Thanks Warren. This video has helped so much. I think this video has one of the most detailed explanations about the SD9. You can clean up so easily with just the volume Knob. Stacked mine with the Jan Ray. Don't need anything else. Just the guitar volume Knob. 🙂
Scott henderson style 🎸🎶👍👏
Thanks Warren for this world of information you provide us with. It is absolutely cherished.
Great video thank you. Very interesting the stacking with the OD9 and the hairy sound produced by the humbukers.
Thanks you!
Great vid and playing! This has to be the best overview of the SD9 I have seen. Especially, since you used other guitars.I subscribed instantaneously !
Thank you! Check out this playlist for more gear fun :) ua-cam.com/play/PL8T4EfkrTmILG69SdUP_0Fj0RhO6Oh4cC.html
A really terrific video, great explanations and walk throughs and great playing! Thanks!
Best! Thank you very much! Much love!
Bro! What a great video. Thanks a lot for sharing
Well done demo and great playing!
very nice video! thanks for the detail on the explanation
Wow, I'd like to say thanks for the in depth explanation of the values of tweaking pedals. Ive never been one to change pedal settings, so I was missing alot of good tone, by being impatient. ..Like you, I was soooo inspired by Landau's awesome tone, that I started looking into his rig. I bought a set of ML pickups and a Fender ML Deville. and couldnt get the sounds that ML got. So I bought a RAT pedal, and didnt like that either UNTIL I decided to try it into the power amp in jack..Wow what a difference. Anyways, I appreciate your in depth explanation of how these things work together. You covered alot of ground. Thanks!
Thanks Jeff, glad you found this video useful!
Great video, thanks for sharing!
Thank you for that amazing demo and explanation, i'm considering buying one to use with my Marshall Origin 20.
I think that should work really nicely, if you're used to riding your guitar volume control.
@@blackstratblues Thanks. Yes, i'm used to that.
Awesome stuff... As a Landau Fanboy I loved seeing the SD-9 and the Voodoo-1 together in action!
Thanks Alex, fellow fanboy here!
By far the best video on any effects unit I’ve seen, the tasty playing is just the fucking cherry on top :)
Thank you :)
This cleared up so much for me on the SD9. Thank you for such an insightful demo and explaining!
Glad to be of help, thanks for watching!
In addition to the different EQ properties between the SD-9 and TS, the SD-9 is a hard clipping circuit with diode clippers after the opamp stage, and TS is a soft clipping circuit with diodes in the feedback loop of the opamp. The SD is more akin to the MXR D+ and ProCo Rat in this regard.
Amazing video, thank you so much!
Gonna have to buy one of these. Love the emulations on the Helix and Axe FX 3.
Wonderful video and lovely playing 🤩 Everyone should experience SD9!
Very informative and helpful, thank you! Great playing also! I have the SD9 and I really like it, its open and articulate and does not cut the bass. I use the tubescreamer as well in the same board : to me, it seems that the TS9 is a bit more compressed and I can get more sustain from it than the SD9. Both are very useful and stack well together. I use the SD9 sometimes as an overdrive with the gain super low, its a very versatile pedal.
Awesome playing and superb tone man!
Fantastic video, thanks for this Warren!!
I remember having a Maxon SD9 as a backup distortion but after someone spilled beer on my pedalboard. I had to come up with a new pedalboard. So there goes the Maxon SD9 as my main distortion and still continues to be. Now I have the vintage Ibanez SD9, Maxon SD9 and the Custom Shop Maxon SSD9.
How do you like the SSD-9?
To be honest I bought it a year ago and it has been sitting in a box with a bunch of other pedals. I have been busy that I haven’t had the time to actually try it. I have been gigging with the SD9.
@@RJ_HTx Thanks! I was thinking of buying one. But I have an ‘81 and an ‘84, and they sound great!
@@drippinglass The reason I bought the Maxon SSD9 was cuz of a video of Scott Henderson demoing his TWA SH9 pedal vs the SD9. Right now there is a Maxon SSD9 on Reverb for $250. You can probably get it for cheaper if you send an offer.
@@RJ_HTx Thanks… that’s the one I was looking at! And then asked your opinion of it. I really don’t need it. That is a decent price.
Awesome demo
I have the rare maxon sd-01, an sd9 in the 01 series in the eighties by maxon. Its probably the best distortion pedal out there.
very cool video !!
super useful !
You're playing makes me think you are Jeff Beck's long lost brother. Fantastic!! Super useful video even though I'm using a version of this on the HX Stomp. Your SG sound was massive!
Thanks! The HX Hedgehog version of the SD9 is pretty damn good, even though the knob positions do not correlate. Try 4.5 Drive, 1.5 Tone and 7.5 Level.
Mine is autographed by Warren and has some extra mojo to it 😁
Definitely the most comprehensive dive into the SD9 I've come across, super helpful insights!
A couple of questions, I saw your response to another comment that the cab/speaker was from the UAD SE100 plugin, but what particular cab/speaker/mic combo within the SE100 were you running?
Also, how does the Helix's Hedgehog drive model hold up vs the original, and how do you dial it in to match your real SD9 settings?
I was using Recording Chain #23 which is a Suhr 4x12 with Vintage 30s, mic'd with a Shure SM57 & Royer R121.
The Helix model compares favorurably, but the knob positions do not correspond. The real thing on level 10 is 7.5 on the model, and the tone knobs vary a bit too.
Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions :)
Great video !
Great Lukather style sound
So helpful
Nice tones. I got an original sd9 from a swap meet 2 years ago for $100! Love it! I do have to fix the switch tho as its stuck on. Ive been using it with a bypass loop pedal but i have been thinking about sending it out to analog man to get it freshened up. It looks really cool with the paint all chipped off and beat up.
Get the switch fixed and leave it stock ;-)
You think i should? I read into the Analog Man page pretty deep and it seems like he does like to keep the OG pedals untainted so i probably will just get the switch and the jacks replaced.
@@GabeHelma Good call!
My favorite drive and have been using one from the 80s for 10 years now. I run mine with VOLUME all the way up, TONE at about 9 or 10 o'clock depending on the guitar and GAIN set at 9. I love it as a beefy TS style pedal. I've tried a lot of variations like Vertex Dynamic Drive and the XTS Tonic Distortion. They come close but just aren't the same as the one I use. I also stack the SD9 with a J. Rockett Allan Holdsworth pedal and a Wampler Ego mini. A ton of different flavors to add to a great pedal. Did you see that TWA came out with SH-9 pedal? Been waiting for it to ship and hoping it'll be great. GREAT VIDEO, I subscribed.
Yeah I saw the new SH version but I have an aversion to purple pedals :-) Thanks for the subscribe!
Hey Warren! Thanks so much for the video. I got the SD-9 after watching this and I am super happy with the sound.
I have a question, I remember seeing Suhr Riot and an Eclipse on ur pedalboard a while back. How would u describe that sound compared to the SD-9??
Tighter with a stronger midrange emphasis, probably a better option into a clean mid scooped amp like a Fender black panel.
Brilliant video. Maxon OD-9 into SD-9 has been my go-to stack for years now. If you’re like me and need a clean amp for gigs, this is the only way you do it. By the way if you go full Landau mode and use a volume pedal after SD-9 (I use FV500H), it takes all of these tones to another dimension because you can compensate for turning down on guitar, so you can have any gain level at any volume level without having to switch anything on or off. I think also worth mentioning is that SD-9 is very picky about power source - it sounds awful on almost any power supply and it sounds almost as bad on alkaline battery. So if you haven’t already, try your SD-9 with carbon-zinc battery (preferably Eveready) and you’ll never think it sounds shrill again. Also any buffer further down the chain will make it sound fizzy. It’s an absolute brat of a pedal but it’s worth it.
Right on! I've used a Volume pedal after the SD9 before, it definitely increases the variations in tones you can get with a clean-ish amp!
Nice
Great phrasing! 🎸 😎 😮
Thanks!
Well thought
Great playing and tone Warren! What speakers and cab are you using? Thanks for your video!
The amp is running into a Suhr Reactive Load V1and the UAD SE100 plug-in (amp sim off, cab sim only)
Awesome Video, man!
Appreciate that after all these years a video came and share the HOW TO equalize this pedal, as without the proper context ( guitar knobs and amp settings), the resulting audio is a jar of mosquitos.
Thank you for sharing! I have kept this pedal with me just for this reason (if Henderson & Landau made it work, then there is a hack) despite the hours put trying to find the right audio for me without the desired results.
I have found the approximate audio you suggest in the video in the past( with base clean tone, just for ref), but have not been able to nail the bass eq yet, thus keep up with my amp drive and odr1...
In my use case, in order to find that base sweetspot (balance), I end up rolling the bass knob in my mesa f50 combo clean channel, but when I switch the pedal off back to my clean channel, my audio gets sort of baseless (sterile)...
I would like to get your thoughts on this and know if you have faced the issue, particularly with humbucker guitars, which is what I play.
Thank you and again, awesome video!
Try putting the SD9 and a RC Booster in a loop switcher, use the RC Booster for your clean and you can use the EQ to dial in how much bass and treble you need.
@@blackstratblues alright! Should I keep in mind that the rc shall play an always-on role?
@@mizraim5890 With the loop switcher you toggle between the SD9 and RC with a single click. When the SD9 is bypassed the Rc is on and vice versa.
@@blackstratblues Thank you for the lights!!
Great in depth details about the pedal Warren. I'm going to tweak mine after seeing your settings. Do you think it responds differently to batteries?
Yeah a bit, especially if the battery has lost some juice ;)
Lady P 🔥
Thx man
So with the SD9 level all the way up, doesn’t it throw off how you’d have to set any other gain pedals level? Cause if I’m using several other gain pedals on their own, and I’ve set their levels to how I like them then this one sd9 pedal is likely to be overly hot. I get the tone is best that way but kind of a drag that it’ll throw level settings off or require different level settings on my other pedals. Nice playing and video regardless
Try it, the SD9 doesn't have a ton of output level compared to most other drive pedals. Also watch the whole video, especially the latter half :)
Have you tried the XTS Tonic Distortion? I don’t have an SD9 to compare the settings with. Just thinking through how to apply what I’m learning here. Great video, great tones!
I haven't come across one here in NZ, but I'm guessing you should be able to get close once you learn where the stock SD9 settings are on the 3 band EQ?
You got all the landau gear. Can i come over and hang out ha ha.. i had a pedal board made by dave phillips who does landaus.
I was able to get a voodoo1 and live wire reverb pedal from landau. Needless to say i have the voodoo1 and sd9 .. play it through my 58 super tweed. Sounds fuzzy kranked. Just love it.
Haha if you're ever in Auckland you're welcome to hang out :)
In the intro sound, is it just SD9 or is there a bit of Octafuzz too ? Thank you for your time and for your sharing 👍
Just the SD9, no Octafuzzes were used for the making of this video :)
Good demo! The maxon sd9 can make fuzz??
Yup, if you pout an EQ in front and turn the lows up it can get very fuzzy indeed.
oh man.. i think you reached tone master level... how come there is no noise at all from single coil?
New Zealand is a quiet place :)
@@blackstratblues i mean, the noise from single coil on the guitar. Mine makes so much noise, because its single coil strat + fender amp. What is your secret? :)
@@ghgim9987 I've got an aluminum backplate behinf the pickguard for shielding, other than that I just roll my guitar volume down when I'm not playing :)
Someone's been listening to way too much Henderson :D
There's no such thing ;-)
@@blackstratblues That's the first sensible thing anyone has said to me all day!
Damn i want one but im wondering if i can pretty much get the same thing with one of my 6 rats lol
The only way to know is to try one ;-)
Maxon made the original tube screamer. Made it for ibanez
What do you think about the output of the pedal, I’ve been using it for months but at my ears it has much less volume than a standard boss pedal.
Do you agree with me?
The solution is simple - turn up the amp and turn the other pedals down. The SD9 can boost above unity gain, so it's not an issue for me.
Strasan ton😎
Maxon Sd - 9, just like Boss Ds-1, really shines when in front of an already overdriven pedal or amp channel. On dead clean channel it sounds pretty rubbish.
I would beg to disagree, if you watch the whole video you'll hear some nice tones into the clean channel of the OD100. of course it always sounds better with the amp driving a bit.
Yeah, you can actually get a decent sound with SD-9 on a clean channel with quite a smooth tone, and it sounds somewhat better than ds -1, but at the cost of rolling the tone off significantly, so that the low end prevails too much unless you have a bright amp or a guitar.
素晴らしいです
ありがとう
Alot of work to get a pedal to sound good. Many other pedals less finicky and sound just as good if not better.
Thanks for dropping by!
It reminds me a little bit of the Nobels ODR-1..
Very different pedals to be honest...
@@blackstratblues Sure, design-wise - absolutely. Tonally, they aren't a million miles apart. The bass response shows some similarities, at least to my ears. Both lack that TS "pokey" mid-hump, and both are highly interactive with the guitar's volume and tone controls.
@@mattgilbert7347 You're right on those counts yeah. In terms of distortion texture the SD9 has more of that 'borderline fuzz' thing going on though...
Agreed. The Nobels is definitely in the overdrive/almost distortion camp.
I have a Wampler Belle. It's a major improvement on the stock ODR
Btw, thank you for teaching me how to use my SD-9 *properly*
I had gotten the tone setting right, but the rest was a bit off. Cheers!!
Anyone know a good clone of this pedal?
Why would you need a clone if the original is still in production? :)
The Vemuram Butter Machine - fantastic homage with some extra dynamics. PS: great playing in this video.
What amp?
As mentioned in the description "I plug the pedal into a Custom Audio Amplifiers OD100 Classic Plus - an amp that excels at Fender blackface cleans and Marshall style crunch"
@@blackstratblues sorry, I"m Brazilian....my english is bad
@@cprotesta No worries, all good :)