Celebrating Electro-Harmonix' 9 Series Guitar Synth Pedals - Full Range Overview
There’s certainly no shortage of EHX 9 Series Guitar Synth Fans - where most of these have been a significant success over the years - in fact since the B9 was first launched in June of 2014. Each of these covers 9 different keyboard / synth / bass voicings - and while there is some degree of overlap (minor) each of these 7 pedals is a really cool genre selection within a defined theme. And where the latest covers String Ensemble types.
They have a fairly common control topology - 4 main controls plus a rotary 9-Mode selector. And were the first two are typically Dry and Wet signal volumes, while the second pair alternate between dedicated controls and more variable Ctrl 1 + Ctrl 2 controls.
So several readers and friends have recommended these to me, but my dilemma has always been which 2 or so to go for. I’m hoping EHX will eventually do a Boss SY-200 style exercise and combine all these voicings into one unit - with a screen and presets! So here we have approximately 7 x 9 algorithms (with a couple or so overlaps) or 63 in total - the Boss SY-200 has 171 voicings / algorithms by contrast. I’m sure some of those types may be better on the 9 Series - but the SY-200 has a huge advantage in its makeup and setup - with an additional variable control - 3 vs the 9 Series’ 2 - with Dry and Effects Level being common to both.
There are essentially 2 Organ Machines - sort of Traditional and more Modern but fairly mixed really, a Bass-centric edition, Electric Piano sounds, Mellotron, Strings and Synths. Each of these has some intrigue for me - but versus the Boss SY-200 proposition they’re not quite as neat. It will be interesting to see if EHX ever decides to load these into one device - needs to be the same enclosure format really to be competitive with the SY-200 and Meris Enzo.
I will of course be very interested to read your insights and recommendations on these - or if I’m just better off all-round sticking with the SY-200 - which really does have me mostly covered. Practicalities are always a significant criteria for me - in any case - I look forward to reading your comments.
Here follow some of the salient details per pedal :
B9 Organ Machine (2014 Jun) - $259.50
Controls - Dry Vol, Organ Vol, Modulation Speed, Click (Percussive Level), Mode : 1-9.
The very first 9 Series pedal from back in the middle of 2014 - this covers a lot of the more traditional Organ sounds while the follow-up C9 headed in a more classic rock direction. Funnily though this one does have a couple of rock organ voicings two - I guess C9 is really just an extension of the B9 - with Tone Wheel and other more specialist organs.
MODES
- Fat & Full (Extra Octave Above and Below Dry Signal)
- Jazz (Jimmy Smith style Sounds)
- Gospel (Soulful Organ Sounds)
- Classic Rock (Whiter Shade of Pale style Sounds)
- Bottom End (B3 Bass Sounds)
- Octaves (Octave Up)
- Cathedral (Heavy Reverb Organ)
- Continental (House of the Rising Sun style Sounds)
- Bell Organ (Electric Piano crossed with Organ)
BASS9 Bass Machine (2019) - $259.50
Controls - Dry Vol, Effect Vol, Ctrl 1, Ctrl 2, Mode : 1-9.
This very specifically handles lots of cool Bassline sounds - from still very popular P-Bass through Bowed and Sub-Octave variants.
MODES
- Precision (Fender Precision Bass)
- Longhorn (Danelectro Longhorn Bass)
- Fretless (Emulation of both Electric and Upright Fretless Basses)
- Synth (Classic Taurus Bass Synth)
- Virtual (Adjustable Body Density and Neck Length)
- Bowed (Bowed Bass Sound)
- Split Bass (Sub Octave Effect on Lower Frets)
- 3:03 (Polyphonic Emulation of Roland 303 Bass Sequencer)
- Flip-Flop (Inspired by Electro-Harmonix Octave Multiplexer - Sub Octave Generator)
Ctl 1 & 2 - Sub-Octave, Tone, Pitch, Tremolo Depth & Rate, Buzzy Growl, Jaco-Style Chorus / Intensity, Note Range, Envelope Filter Range / Sweep, Body Density, Neck Length, Sub-Octave / Octave Mix, Bow Attack Speed, Auto-Wah Intensity, Envelope Speed, Sub-Octaves Mix, LPF Frequency.
C9 Organ Machine (2014 Dec) - $259.50
Controls - Dry Vol, Organ Vol, Modulation Speed, Click (Percussive Level), Mode : 1-9.
Pretty much an extension to the B9 with some Tone Wheel and more specialist Organ Sounds - plenty of Classic Rock styles on this one.
MODES
- Tone Wheel (Tone Wheel Organ)
- Prog (EL&P Sound)
- Compact (Ray Manzarek / Doors Light My Fire)
- Shimmer (Eno & Lanois Sounds)
- Lord Purple (Deep Purple John Lord Sounds)
- Mello Flutes (Mellotron Flute)
- Blimp (Led Zip Sound)
- Press Tone (Beatles Let It Be Sounds)
- Telstar (Clavioline Telstar Sounds)
KEY9 Electric Piano Machine (2015) - $259.50
Controls - Dry Vol, Keys Vol, Ctrl 1, Ctrl 2, Mode : 1-9.
A fairly eclectic selection somewhat beyond electric piano - with Wurlitzer, Vibraphone and Steel Drum flavours even.
MODES
- Dynamo ('Dyno My' modified Fender Rhodes)
- Wurli (Wurlitzer)
- Suitcase (Fender Rhodes Electric Piano w/ Phase Shifter)
- Mallets (Room Marimba Emulation)
- Eighty Eight (Fender Rhodes 88 Electric Piano)
- Tri-Glorious (Dytronics / Dyno My CS-5 Tri Stereo Chorus)
- Vibes (Metal Vibraphone w/ motorized Tremolo
- Organ (Touch-Responsive Percussive Organ)
- Steel Drums
Ctl 1 & 2 - Add Bass, Tine (High Overtones), Tremolo Depth, Tremolo Speed, Phase Shifter Speed, Chorus Depth, Chorus Speed, Treble, Rotating Speaker Speed
MEL9 Tape Replay Machine / Mellotron (2016) - $259.50
Controls - Dry Vol, Effect Vol, Attach, Sustain, Mode : 1-9.
Sounds largely based on the Mellotron old-school Tape Sample Synth - various recorded and pitched instruments.
MODES
- Orchestra
- Cello
- Strings
- Flute
- Clarinet
- Saxophone
- Brass
- Low Choir
- High Choir
STRING9 String Ensemble Pedal (2022) - $259.50
Controls - Dry Vol, Effect Vol, Ctrl 1, Ctrl 2, Mode : 1-9.
The latest edition - covering those essential strings - both orchestral and more specialist - everyone loves strings - with a whole load of reverb for some significant atmospherics!
MODES
- Symphonic (Symphony Orchestra Emulation)
- June-O (Roland Juno)
- PCM (Pulse Code Modulation - Sample-based Synthesis)
- Floppy (Mechanical String Synths - e.g. Mellotron & Orchestron)
- AARP (Arp Solina String Synhesizer)
- Crewman (Crumar Performer Analog String and Brass Synthesizer)
- Orch Freeze (Orchestra Simulation with Freeze Effect)
- Synth Freeze (String Synthesizer with Freeze Effect)
- Vox Freeze (Mellotron Choir and Strings with Freeze Effect)
Ctl 1 & 2 - specific per Mode - Tone, Sustain, Octaves, Vibrato, Phase Shift Speed, Envelope Sweep, Auto Freeze / Manual Freeze.
SYNTH9 Synthesizer Machine (2017) - $259.50
Controls - Dry Vol, Synth Vol, Ctrl 1, Ctrl 2, Mode : 1-9.
Celebrating the 80's heyday of Synth largely with some key classic ElectroPop sounds!
- OBX (Oberheim OB-X)
- Profit V (Sequential Circuits Prophet 5)
- Vibe Synth (Polyphonic Synth with Vibrato)
- Mini Mood (Mini Moog)
- EHX Mini (Electro-Harmonix Mini Synth)
- Solo Synth (Square Wave Fuzz Synth)
- Mood Bass (Mini Moog / Taurus)
- String Synth (Arp String Synth)
- Poly VI (Korg Polysix)
Ctl 1 & 2 - Tone, Octaves, Envelop Sweep, Harmonics Sweep, Vibrato Rate / Depth, Portamento Volume, Portamento Time, Filter Sweep, Modulation Depth.
Final Thoughts
Each of these has some level of interest for me - I very much grew up on SynthPop and ElectroPop - so everything about those core sounds really resonates with me - I also love the use of organs and synths in rock - Animals, Doors, Pink Floyd, Procul Harum, The Who etc.
Even after doing the rundown here I really can't decide what to do here. I certainly don't want to have to get all 7 to keep switching them around - but I'm heavily conflicted as to which 2-3 I should get - or if I should just hold on in expectation that there will be a later EHX device that encompasses all these voicings. The Boss SY-200 has surely shown the way - I genuinely look forward to seeing EHX evolve something on a similar path at some stage in the future. It would be so much handier having all these voicing onboard one singular pedal!
What say all of you?
