Ibanez AD-9 Analog Delay

So easy how can it not be a 10

Here we go. Oh please! this pedal is ok, it is not perfect, it is not as good as newer some digital pedals. ie: Guyatone MD2 and 3, Ibanez DE7 are two excellent new pedals. I know everyone talks about "the warm analog sound". Well try a digital with a little distortion/overdrive added and you will have the "warm analog sound".
I have owned the following Ibanez AD9,AD99,BossDM2,DM3,,My favorite still is the Ibanez DE7, DODfx96, DOD505, Electro Harmonix deluxe memory man what a big box of dissapointment. Anyway, I know I am peeing on all you golden eared AD9 fans but this pedal, just like the Boss DM2 is over rated over priced and talked up way to much. It is very limited in it's length of delay times and settings. Don't get me wrong it is an ok pedal and will do the job for most things. but it is not any better than a lot of other delays and is actually not as good as some. But it does look cool on a pedal board.

I guess so mine was over 20years old and still working

Vintage 60's and 70's Rock and Rockabilly Baby!!!!

If you cant figure it out you shouldnt be using it. Three controls, Rate, Depth, and Level.

If you appreciate the anolog delays you will like the AD9, It is very warm and creamy with nice decay. I bought this unit used off Ebay along with a Ibanez CS9 stereo chorus for $135.00 for both. Which i thought was an awesome deal. I had to tweak the trim pots inside. apparetnly someone tried the same and had it all funked up. After about 10 minutes of trying different settings i got is sounding very pleasent. I still have and like my digital delays also they have there advantages. Im dont favor either more than the other they all have there own place ya know.

Well being that it is like 21 years old and looks like hell. but sounds like heaven. i would have to say its reliable. The footswitch is still very functional. which is surprising as these are one of the first things to go on the 9 series pedals.

I used to work for ibanez a few years back and must say i thought our customer service sucked. Eithere you get and answer or no answer at all. JMHO

I defintly will recommend this delay to all. But if you are looking for delay times that are long then look elsewhere. i belive it maxes at like 300ms or so. but you can tweak it a bit further with the trimpots.

This pedal has only (3) knobs - Rate, Depth, and Level, so basic operation was a no brainer. It also has some internal trim pots - one of which controls the Delay time. If you leave the trim pots alone, then this pedal is "easy as pie".
..if you want to play around with the trim pots (which you may want to do as these pedals are no longer manufactered and there is a possibility that previous owners tweaked it) it may be a little bit more difficult/time consuming...but well worth the effort.

If you have never experienced an analog delay, then you are missing out on a true tonal tool. Oh so delicious...

My set up is as follows:
Tele (w/ SD HB's) > Boss TU2 > Fulltone Fulldrive II > Vox Wah > Boss DD3 > Ibanez AD9 > Marshall 50w JMP w/ 4x12. Cables are George L's.

This pedal DEFINATELY, without a doubt, lives up to the hype.

Perfect for any kind of delay under 300ms. Not a hint of "ping", unlike ALL digital delays set to 300ms or below.

If you play with the internal trim pots and max the delay time (see review below for more detailed instruction) you will sacrifice some sound quality...I adjusted my internal pot (for Delay time) to just under half travel.

I like the Depth at 3 o'clock, Rate at 9 o'clock, and Level at 9 o'clock - this setting allows me to thicken up my tone very nicely with some very sublte, shallow echos/repeats...like reverb, only better.

This pedal is great with both "clean" and "dirty" amp settings. Does not add or take away anything from your tone while bypassed.

I cannot say enough good things about this pedal. Just beautiful.

Well condiering mine is over 22 years old, seen who knows how many stages, and passed thru who knows how many hands, it seems to work

Well, the pedal isn't manufactered anymore...and I haven't tried contacting Ibanez for any help. No opinion.

I bought mine from eBay without trying one out and was a bit skeptical of what the hype surrounding this vintage, analog pedal suggested...The AD9 definatley lives up to the hype.

If you are serious about tone, and want to add a smidge of delay (under 300ms), then get your hands on one of these.

These things are the real deal. If you can scoop one up, I suggest you do. It may cost a lot for a used pedal, but you get what you pay for. Very sweet indeed.

The AD-9 analog delay has 3 knobs: delay time, repeat, and delay level. Unlike the Boss DM-2 each knob does what you think it would. (I have heard DM-2s have the d level and d time functions switched.) It also has a second output, labeled "dry output" which apparently seperates your dry signal from the delay signal so that you can do a ping-pong kind of effect in stereo set-ups. But this pedal isn't as easy to use as you'd think: because the pedal only has 300 milliseconds of delay time it was confusing at first when I tried to find the delay time I wanted. In addition, where a specific setting is on each knob seems to change every time I turn the AD-9 on after not using it for a while. The changes aren't huge of course; they are small enough for me to not be sure if I'm imagining it or not but I think they do change a bit.

Well this is my first foray into the world of analog effects so I can't really say how great it is compared to other analog delays. But I have owned a Boss DD-3 which does not deserve the high rating it has on HC; it is very metallic sounding and unnatural. I have also owned a Dan-Echo and I liked it a lot but both the ones I bought did not seem to work right in my effects loop (on both the volume would just die). I have to say I was a bit dissappointed due to the great reviews for the AD-9. It is very reverby--especially through headphones--and I don't like reverb much. The top-end roll-off is also much more than I though it would be.
Nonetheless I am finding myself to have a style very rock/countryish in a "Honky Tonk Women" kind of way so this thing grew on me very fast as it complements my style a lot. It also adds a dimension to your sound that is much better than reverb and also doesn't compete with your playing. My best explanation for the sound of this pedal is that the repeats come in the form of short-decay reverberations with a small upper-peak/echo that has slightly more definition/treble than the reverb quality of the repeats. I hope that made sense. In addition, this pedal is totally silent. No noise whatsoever even with humbuckers. (This noiselessness seems to be an anamoly because many other reviews say analog effects are noisy.)

21 years old and it works perfectly. The footswitch functions like the best Boss pedal. Apparently this isn't the case with many individual pedals in the 9 series but I have had no problems. Even if you do have a problem, there is always a replacement footswitch on eBay.
To figure out the age of your 9 series pedal: the first digit in the serial # is the last digit in the year of its manufacturing. By the way, the 9 series were only manufactured between '81 and '84 or '85. They had black back labels until around late '82/early '83 and then the labels were changed to white/silver.

CS for a pedal made in the early '80s? Yeah right!

A very cool looking pedal but I'm going to sell it because it's not quite what I'm looking for. And for $122.50 a delay pedal better be exactly what I'm looking for! I think I'll try a Boss DM-3 next because it apparently has less high-end roll-off and it has 450 milliseconds of delay time. Not that I'm complaining about 300 milliseconds because I usually only use about 115. But DM-3s have skyrocketed in price on eBay over night for some reason (all the high bidders were new to eBay too--weird huh?). But so it goes in the vintage market. (Take out the "NO SPAM" in my email address if you want to email me. It took me a while to realize you had to do that!)
Cheers and Good Guitar Playing! --Matt

three knobs, very easy to use

the sound quality is great. i turned it on and it sounded just like scotty moore off of old elvis recordings. i don't think i've ever played an analog delay before (maybe), but this sounds like no delay i've ever heard. if you turn up the repeat knob all the way and turn down the delay time, you can sort of hear the quality of the tone, and it's very,very warm...it's beautiful. It sounds kind of like it's breaking up somehow, it's great. every setting is useful. I seriously did not know delay good sound this good. i don't know if it's analog or just this pedal, maybe both. the other very very cool thing about this pedal is that by fooling around with the delay knob you can get the pedal to squeal or hum, or to do string bends... if you turn the repeat up all the way, you can get a pure pitch and just modulate it as you wish, playing different notes by adjusting the delay time. if you lower the repeat setting and then strike a note then turn the delay time knob, the note will bend up and then back down to the original. This is the coolest pedal I've ever had, except for maybe my buzz box.

just got it today

Ha HA! these are going for 130 on ebay, and I traded my friend a skateboard for this! and he threw in a ts-10 tubescreamer! and two more pedals! I'm in guitar bargain heaven. I played this delay through a japanese squier bullet i bought today, plugged into my 6 watt (?) fender tube amp. this is one of the most beautiful tones i've ever heard, and i've been playing 10 years. i'm in tone heaven. my dad heard me playing through this, he's not a guitarist, but he kept saying how pretty it sounded, and he's never commented on guitar tones, and knows nothing about them. my mome heard me fooling with the delay time and was wondering what those weird noises were. she thought aliens were invading.

I have nothing to say. this pedal is so easy to use

Are you a tone freak? I can tell this is the 2nd best delay pedal.
I used Boss, DD2,DD3,LINE 6 DL4, WAY HUGE DELAY. I will say way huge is the first. AD9 is the second.
There is my pedal setting.

parker nitefly
Keeley Comp-Crybaby535c-Mt2-London fuzz-Hot cake-
Tc electronic scf-ad9-
Fender twin reverb


sound so good.

oK

Good delay pedal. If i have money i will buy way huge.

i just wanted to add some notes to the last reviewers after using his "tweak" for trimming the delay. on my box i had to remove the bottom plate to actually see the trimming pot. also others might like to know there are two pots, the one to the right adjusting the delay time and the one in the middle adjusting the feedback (or repeat as it says on the front knob of the device). i played around with the trimmers a bit, and it felt like it released potential to this little box i never thought possible. adjusting the delay and feedback to bigger values (turning counterclockwise) made the ibanez add even more warmth and dirt to the sound. and thats the beauty of this box.

about a year ago i had a digital ibanez delay, can't remember the name but it was a plastic black stomp box... anyways, comparing these two i found the digital delay giving a flat, clean and boring sound. the ad-9 on the other side actually added something new, as other reviewers also has stated. perhaps this is not for everyone, but i can see this delay coming handy when used for experimental or grungy sounds. myself i use it mostly with synthesizers, playing and turning the knobs at the same time creates some really nice sound effects.

Nothing to add here to previous reviews.

I think the sound quality is very nice, the unit is not very noisy, on the contrary I find it surprisingly quiet. As so many have stated the delay time is on the short side. Here's a tip: If you open the battery compartment and take out the battery holding the unit upside down you can see a trimmer on the right below the circuit board. This trimmer fine tunes the delay time. Time to find a small headed screw driver. If you turn it fully counterclockwise it maxes the delay to about 500ms (compared with by digital unit where you can set the delay ms.). Turning the other way will shorten it. I find that to achieve the specification delay time of (10ms-)300ms you will set the trimmer to about middle (/half of the travel). Maximizing the delay time with this trimmer is sometimes said to decrease the effect quality, but as always, experiment and use what you like.

I tried to match the sounds of this analog unit and my digital Boss GT-6 multieffect unit delay with this box in the effect loop and was able to get fairly close, or close enough, the Boss being much quieter :-) The key finding to get the sound similar was to set the high frequency cut in GT-6 as low as 700Hz! No wonder AD-9 sounds warm as much of the high frequency range is cut from the delayed signal.

This is a '81 unit - 21 years old and still going strong!! And it looks like it has got its share of the road and been through a beaten life. Reliable enough for me.

I have never ever needed any customer support with stomp boxes. Lucky me.

Overall I think this is a good, simple analog delay holding the Ibanez 9-series fame with honour.

Can't be much easier.
Manual is not needed, it's only three knobs -after all.

It's incredible. It's often compared to the Boss series DM2, DM3 -but I think all of these has their own personality.
I do prefer this pedal over the others though, but that's just me.

Now, I've read some reviews who complained about it being noisy and not enough delay time. And, yeah, it could have been quieter and had slightly more delay time- but this is a vintage analog pedal -which means it can be noisy and have a short delay time (300ms) by todays standards that is. And if you don't like the treble roll-off -go for a digital delay.

I've been using it with a 70's Fender Stratocaster and a Hagstrom Super Swede in pair with a Marshall amp- sounds just great.

Built like a tank-
Yes I would gig w/o backup. But like any other pedal it eats batteries so be sure to unplug it when you're not using it -or use an adapter.

The footswitch is not 100 -but that's a common problem. Just be careful.

Ibanez should reissue this series- not only the TS9. Many of the other ones in this series was really cool. Sounded great and looked wonderful.

I've never dealt with them and doubt that I ever will- at least regarding the 9 series. (not at all like the cheap plastic 'Soundtank' series which fall apart just by looking at it...)

It fits any style really.
You can fatten up the sound, have a slapback etc. Suitable for (and a must) to re-create the vintage sound- but 'modern' stuff could need this pedal too.
Digital delays simply don't give the 'right' sound. Too sterile and cold for my taste.

Maybe what I like most about it is the beautiful color...

Simple, self-explanatory knobs. Most basic delay pedals are the same...

I use lots of pedals, into the loop of my Carvin MTS3200 100 watt tube half-stack. Various guitars. I paid $150 for this on E-bay, and it was a gamble in my mind. BUT, know this, this is the best delay I've ever heard, and having heard it I have no desire to look further. I'd never give anything a "10", but this is a great pedal. I don't even think its a question of "analog vs. digital", there is just something so right about the way this particular pedal sounds. Overdriven but not offensive by any means. Even if you leave it on you don't mind it, it seems to compliment anything. Mine isn't noisy, plus if I turn the repeat all the way up I get a cool infinite repeat that eventually turns into beautiful noisy mush (think a jet plane crashing, definately cool). I am so surprised to hear how nice this thing sounds; this is the first time I've let the vintage tone nazis talk me into getting an old pedal, but I'm beginning to see their point. I like that the delay level doesn't suck the volume of my guitar to work (all my other delays have, even rack stuff). I like that the delay time isn't exorbitantly long, cause its not meant to be an instrument in itself, its meant to enhance your playing. This thing has NO ego.

It's old and still works, and I bet it will for some time. That's all I can say. I'm reckless so I'd gig without a backup, but I'm still gonna try to find a few more of these to grow old with.

Been playing 7 years or so now. As far as style, I'll go from blues to "Metal", whatever. This thing seems to just take what you give it and not really change the sound. I even had my distortion up all the way, playing chords, riffing, etc, and the delay didn't really affect the sound, but turn the metal off and there it is, sounding great. Like I said, I'm getting more of these, bottom line.