Maxon SD9, How does it compare?

[Melodic Dreamer]

Hey guys,
I played an SD-9 along time ago. It was pretty much when I was first coming out of my metal faze back in the 90's. I can't really remember what it sounds like now. I was curious how it compares to things like the BB Preamp, Eternity and so on?
I'm a huge Landau fan and I was wondering how much of his sound is an SD9.
What is your overall opinion of the pedal?

 

[Lucidology]

My SD-9 is much glassier (even with the tone at 0) then my BB was
& crunchier then my Eternity is ...

 

[LordRiffenstein]

Analogman modded Maxon SD9 user here, BIG Landau fan as well. Although the SD9 might seem a 1 trick pony, not the biggest usefull range on the tone control, it does sound equally well into clean amps and overdriven amps. It is HUGE sounding.

Not sure how big a part it is in Landau's tone but you can clearly hear the SD9 tone on several of his records.

 

[Red Suede]

He and Scott Henderson used them for the sounds I like. Scott uses the new Maxon with his single coil guitars but it sounds virtually like the regular SD9. I won't do without my Analogman modded SD9.

 

[Melodic Dreamer]

Thanx

 

[Atdi2000]

Has anyone tried the analogman version with the mids knob. Also can anyone give a brief comparison to a DS-1.

 

[AleAndre]

I own an SD9 and really LOVE it!!!
I've tried lots of boutique pedals, like BB Preamp, Okko Diablo, OCD, SRB808, Maxon VOP9 and others and nothing sound as good as the SD9!!!!It's my favourite overdrive/distortion ever...oh, mine is stock and works good without mods, BUT you have to turn the tone control to 0 or max 1!

I've owned even the Maxon VOP9 and to me it sounds completely different to the SD9, it's more TubeScreamerish, quite good but not as the SD9...i can't understand Scott Henderson toughts about this pedal...

 

[Ed Reed]

Stock Maxon SD9 with the tone control on 0. It's hard to beat.

 

[rotren]

I'm with jakeddy - tone control at 0 or maybe 1. Sounds very organic and smooth.

My SD-9 video.

/R

 

[jamison162]

So what does the Analogman mod do for the stock SD-9?

 

[vhollund]

He and Scott Henderson used them for the sounds I like. Scott uses the new Maxon with his single coil guitars but it sounds virtually like the regular SD9. I won't do without my Analogman modded SD9.

Landau uses maxon (stock) too


I have one myself btw

 

[Cary Chilton]

similar to the ds-1 but richer , imo

 

[JCM 800]

So what does the Analogman mod do for the stock SD-9?

He changes a couple of caps that help reduce some of the harshness.

 

[jamison162]

He changes a couple of caps that help reduce some of the harshness.

Is it unique to the SD-9 or just his standard "Silver Mod"?

 

[Franklin]

I too love my Analogman modded SD9. What his mod does is make it more high fidelity sounding, and makes the tone knob more useable. I too found the only usable setting on the stock pedal as CCW -as most of us do.

The only problem I have with it is I don't know whether to use it for leads or rythmn!! I currently have it set up for rythmn, and boost it for leads, but when dialed in for leads only, watch out!!
Damn, now I want to go tweak it again for leads only!!

 

[vhollund]

If you compare the old Boss DS-1 to SD9
Theres a huge difference
The DS-1 is great for heavy chord stuff but lacks mids for solo imo

The SD-9 is very tubescreamerlike in tone and has less mids but its still has plenty
+More drive
But I look at it more like an overdrive pedal , maybe i shouldnt
but a distortionpedal to me is a pedal you kan still play at extreem low volume and get a good distortion
almost ampsim
SD-9 does not do that

 

[geoangus]

If you compare the old Boss DS-1 to SD9
Theres a huge difference
The DS-1 is great for heavy chord stuff but lacks mids for solo imo

The SD-9 is very tubescreamerlike in tone and has less mids but its still has plenty
+More drive
But I look at it more like an overdrive pedal , maybe i shouldnt
but a distortionpedal to me is a pedal you kan still play at extreem low volume and get a good distortion
almost ampsim
SD-9 does not do that

Do others share this opinion? I'm looking at Analogman's modded SD-9 vs. his modded DS-1. I'm playing at low volume, but want that classic crunch (not 80's hair band), and am about to pull the trigger on his SD-9 with the external midrange control pot. If this won't cut it at low volume, maybe I should look at his DS-1 instead.

 

[vhollund]

Note , Im talking about the stock model from SD9 Maxon and the old original DS-1
The DS-1 is great for powerchords with lots of distortion

Crunch is close to dirty-clean in my vocabulary
Is that what you mean ?

 

[geoangus]

Crunch is close to dirty-clean in my vocabulary
Is that what you mean ?

I'd say that's a fair approximation. Definitely not that heavily compressed distortion tone.

 

[gwade]

The stock Maxon SD-9 has tons of gain. I've got a Maxon and an Ibanez. Not a ton of difference since I keep the tone all the way off and it doesn't come into play. The difference between the SD-9 and the BB is the SD-9 sounds great into any amp and the BB works better into a Marshall-y amp.

BTW - I'm a huge Landau fan as well and the SD-9 stacked into a Voodoo-1 is my go to sound.