Maxon SD-9 Sonic Distortion

The SD-9 is a high gain overdrive and distortion pedal. It can also be used nicely as a boost because it has plenty of output. it has a big fat midrange and will work well in a number of applications. I have run it with great results in front of Fender and Marshall amps and it is very versatile. It's definitely not a transparent OD as it firmly puts it's tonal footprint down but it sounds great so who cares! Oh yeah, these are build like a brick!

UTILIZATION

The SD-9 looks straight forward but it's a bit different. On the stock models, the useable range for the tone control is limit as it tends to get pretty bright, pretty quick. So you have to be carefull with the tone control. A lot of people simple turn it all the way down. I owned a stock model and now have an analogman modded version. The AM-modded version make the range of the tone control more useable and I run mine around 9:00

SOUND QUALITY

For me, the SD-9 and definitely the AM-modded version is one of the best pedals you can have. Not only does it sound killer, it also can be used with pretty much any amp and can do a killer boost, od or distortion sound.

I have used mine for so many things, you wouldn't believe it. Even if I don't have it on my board or rack-shelf, I have it with me as it can be a live-safer. I have yet to find an application where it did not sound killer. Most of the time I'm either using it to get a big fat boost on a crunch channel or as an OD/Distortion into a Marshall set clean-ish. It works great in combination with a tubescreamer and boost pedals in front of it.

OVERALL OPINION

Fantastic pedal, very versatile, even with the limited range on the tone control. If they could fix the range of the tone control, it would get a 10 all around from me but maybe the tone control is what gives it it's mojo.

It's the perfect overdrive when a Tube Screamer, where it's a TS-808, TS-9, or modded to TS-808 re-issue is too mid range heavy.
Found mine at Musik Messe years ago and remembered how much I dug the original SD-9 or the TS-9. Grabbed it, and been using it since. I have used it on the floor, mounted on a pedal shelf in the rack. On a pedal board. By itself, together with other overdrives, it's one of those desert island pedals for me.

UTILIZATION

Most of the time when used with amps that have a bid of crunch I use it by itself. For example an old Marshall with this in front and a good Strat or Tele is where I live. Also cranking the snot out of a Twin Reverb with this in front with a guitar with humbucker is a pretty rocking set-up.
When using loud clean amps I usually end up adding a second over drive for over the top stuff. This pedal is not something that will turn the clean channel of your amp into a Dual Recto like say a Emma Reezafratzitz does.
Also alternatively when using an amp and needing a volume boost running the amp clean with the SD9 before the clean boost will compress the signal and then you can bring up the actual volume with the clean boost thus having a useable solo volume boost.

SOUND QUALITY

Here's the deal, the tone control in this box has a higher center frequency than say a Tube Screamer who to me always sounds like a quacking duck. The down side is that when you run the tone on the SD-9 above 10 o'clock it gets way brighter than I like. Actually I seldom use it above 9 o'clock, most of the time have the tone actually completely off. But hey, it gets exactly the results I need.

OVERALL OPINION

My favorite overdrive...period. Not balls out distortion but overdrive. The down side...the switches are horrible, every Ibanez or Maxon pedal I have ever had with those switches fail, rather sooner than later.
Also the pots are of questionable quality I replaced both of them after they failed.
But since I love the sound of it enough I deal with.

The PDAL is able to provide its wide range of lightweight and varies a good crunch distortion.
It possde potentiomtres 3:
-One for the gain (distortion).
One-for Treble (tone)
-One for the volume (level)
The switch seems solid: it is not yet a year since I have but it is stronger than my DOD FX 86: has it on!

UTILIZATION

The use of the pedals in itself is childish: you turn the pots!
But the o began to be interesting is when the couple in the clean and distorted sounds or distorted to the amp.
L can spend hours finding and playing sounds DIFFERENT trs

SOUND QUALITY

This gives sound trs Varis:
Its light-saturated lgrement on using only the acute knob level, the others as zero by turning the amp clean sound (crunch trslger).
-Saturated from the blues to rock (overdrive).
-Distorted sound by coupling the pedals overdrive or distortion of the amp. In this case the distortion is heavy or dirty with admittedly a blast when you push the gain back of the amp and pedals: in short rglage extreme.
Finally I use the SD-9 with a combo and a Marshall VS100 guitar brian moore i9p.

OVERALL OPINION

In short, if I compare it with the DOD FX 86, although qu'tant metal, it must be recognized that the Maxon sounds brings much more numerous and more versatile.
The DOD "grinds and transforms" the sound of the amp and guitar of a sudden she enlve lot of heat as well as the special sound of the amp and the guitar while Maxon boosts sound ( rather in the mids and trebles) but respecting its spcificits.
For me it's a good product that can rev to rev match many styles of music as a given that it does not transform the signal of disproportionate Manir.