Analog Man SM-9/808 Mod

The "eq" controls are pretty simple after you figure out they aren't quite highs mids and lows (but i will refer to them as such). Punch is low bass, and there is PLENTY to dial in! Edge controls the upper-mids or lower-treble part of the tone; I like "edge" rolled about all the way off as it adds harshness very quicky. The "Attack" knob subtlely makes the attack softer or sharper. The Level (volume) knob does NOT OFFER ENOUGH VOLUME for practicle use! It seems the treble and bass knobs control more volume than the level knob does. NOT GOOD.

P-90 SG> Peavey Delta Blues 2x10. General sound is super saturated, sustainy 80s metal. Very full, super bassy, and smooth (with treble down, as i reccommend); you can easily hear the notes through it's heavy distortion; it is very musical. The amount of low bass available is stunning. It can shake the ground like a bass guitar should! Gain has an excellent range as well. It sounds like the mids are scooped, mainly because it has so much bass, and the true treble stays intact even with the knob all the way down. I wouldn't say it could quite duplicate the TS-808 sound as it doesn't have enough mids, but it can clean up considerably well with the gain rolled back a bit and my guitar volume control will clean it up well if the gain is on a lower setting. For the amount of gain possible, noise is very little/ negligeble.

Volume problem: With the treble turned down, as I think is the only way to go with this pedal, the effect can only get about as loud as the bypassed sound. Playing with a band, you loose too much volume when you turn the effect on, and can't be heard over the rest of the band. After I got Howard Davis to mod it for more volume, there was a small improvement. I think this is the only real problem with the effect. Everything else is pretty amazing sounding. I'm giving it an 8 just because the volume is unacceptable for my taste (with the treble turned down).

Yeah, the switch will probably need to be replaced someday, as all 9 series switches eventually fail. Even though it's from the 80s, I trust it'll hold together for quite a while longer.

Analog man delivers excellent support. Even though he is obviously VERY BUSY, he always responds quickly to e-mails, and is very communicative when need be. He referred me to Howard Davis for the volume mod. Howard is very good as well. Very friendly.

I play classic rock to 80s rock-metal to 90s modern. It can be used for any kind of rock, I'd say. As long as it's kinda' scooped middy. I love the bass and smoothness of the distortion... it sounds so perfect... like a synthesizer! I wouldn't say it's the end-all, be-all to distortion pedals, as it lacks the kind of bite and shred other pedals have. But I love it. It's very much the sound I've been looking for.

The SM-9 is a Tubescreamer on steroids. Same Drive and Level knobs but with the Tone knob split into 3 seperate dials (Edge-pre distortion highs, Attack-post distortion highs, and Punch-post distortion lows). Its hard not to dial in a good tone but you have to understand what each tone knob does to get what you want from the pedal.

10+ if used in the right situations. Setup is a Les Paul Standard Deluxe thru the SM-9 into a Fender Twin Reverb. There is no unwanted noise or feedback using this pedal. Anything is possible from transparent background fuzz to in your face heavy metal tone. Boston, Zep, Jimi, Santana... this pedal does it all -- including an incredible basic blues tone.

Had it about 3 weeks. Used it on 5 gigs. Havent had a problem yet. Dont expect any problems as it is built by Ibanez like a US Army Tank.

See other reviews for Analog Man (Mike). I cannot say anything bad about the service or quality of the work. Very fast turn around time. I got it there and had it back in about 10-12 days.

I play mostly blues. this is the perfect pedal for what I do. I would love to find another SM-9 in a pawn shop for cheap. I would have Mike mod it immediately.
This pedal is actually 2 TS-9 tubescreamers in series (stock from Ibanez). It has a very unique tone and it is unfortunate that they discontinued the model. I think that some guitar players found it was more difficult to work with 3 tone knobs rather than just one like on the TS-9. But the SM-9 is much more versatile and will give your sound something that is not often heard on stage... Studio quality creamy distortion. Dont pass one up if you can find it.