Ibanez CP9 Compressor

Well it has three knobs...attack time, level, and threshold...so it takes a few rehearsals at your normal playing volume to find what you need, but other than that its just a pedal...you have to be smarter! This is from the original 9 series pedals so its pretty old, and getting harder to find. Oh...I never got a manual so...you don't really need one to figure this baby out!! Plenty of tweaking to it

Well my setup is> Fender/Rivera concert tube 83'=volume=wah=TS-9=CP-9=phase shifter=whammy II=boomerang=black cat univibe=guitar.

I think its where you put it with regards to your pedal setup. It can get noisy when it is working with the ts9, but its not too bad when your playing..only when you stop, but if you tweak it right you can fix that easily...at least I did with mine. Also, it is a great compressor and I will always keep it, but it sligthly alters your tone. It adds a little color if you know what I mean. Not as transparent as some can be, but like I said if you tweak it just right you can fix these problems easily. Lastly, it sounds better with tube amps, don't ask why, but when I used a solid state it was much more difficult to get a nice sound out of it. With a good tube amp it give great sustain and really does the job of putting balance to your solos. I use it on almost all of my songs. Its a must have for any guitarist while soloing.

Well, its 20 years old, so I would say the reliability is extremely high on this one. I have taken good care of mine though. It has no paint chips or anything, so this helps if you take care of it. I don't use a backup.

Nevery dealt with them, so don't know, but if it breaks down I don't think I would use Ibanez, thats what you find a local tech for anyway. Besides this thing is discontinued...good luck

I play jazz, funk, rock, and reggae so the versatility is fine for me, but can't speak for everyone. I have been playing for about 8 years so I don't know everything, but I know good quality when I see it. It sounds great and costs much less than an overpriced Ross, so you do the math for yourself, your ears will know whats best. If I lost it I would try to find it again, but they are getting harder to find, so I hope its not stolen. I love this pedal a lot, and I don't use a backup so I have much confidence in it. I have used Ross, Carl Martin, DOD, etc...and they are all noisy and sometimes a bit overpriced, except the DOD and dynacomp, but its much cheaper and works just as good. I don't think of playing without this thing on gigs anymore so....I give it a high rating, and because it fits my style perfectly.

3 knobs, if you don't know how a compressor works you might find this a bit tricky otherwise quite easy. Didn't get a manual bought this used.

Noisy i fyou set threshold to max then again if you know how to use a compressor you shouldn't be doing that in the first place.I used it with bass and a tele and regular H-S-H ibanez sounded good with all. Helps get a good clean sound, you can get really close to a Andy Summers sound with it and a whammy II in detune mode(wich is what i use for all chorus sounds) add a delay to that and you can have lots of Andy' sound dial in without much effort. I didn't bought this to get a Andy Summers sound tho this is nice since I'm compared to his solo style from time to time(when I'm not rocking hehe)

I'd use it without a backup as I prefer getting different pedals instead of 2 of each... again I don't really gig but this is pretty solid stuff (ibanez most reliable serie if you ask me) the switch issue some people get with this pedal is beyond me... might be because they're used to Boss wich doesn't switch in the same manner. If it breaks it's an easy fix parts are easy to get and to replace... some might be harder to find but still it's already "vintage" and still working

no more email service so...

It's a good match when I feel like playing some texturing (wich I do a lot) great on clean sounds, usefull on distorted one. Been playing for 10+yrs gear I own: http://www.angelfire.com/pq/glorbz/BunkerStudio.html If lost or stolen I'd try to replace it... they're getting harder to find. I love its sound, I only hate the non true bypass but I'll live. Favorite feature it sounds great on many guitars and good on bass. I bought this mainly cus I got a disease about collecting Ibanez pedals :) but I needed a comp in a pedal format so that was an obvious thing to hunt for. This pedal has been seen on various artists pedalboards over the years one of them being David Gilmour(not really a favorite of mine...) I suspect many other of having one of these in their setup at one point or another... as mentioned earlier by others different than a dynacomp and better in some ways depending on your taste.

Two knobs, level and sustain.

This is where it shines. Imagine an MXR dynacomp but without the additional bass boost. Works very smoothly and musically. Excellent for bread-and-butter usage.

Very sturdy. It doesn't get top ratings though since the knobs are exposed.

I was recently told this is Ibanez second ever compressor. Obviously very rare though I didn't buy out of it's collectibility but rather because it sounds downright awesome. I would definitly try and replace it if it was ever lost.

Three dials, doesn't get much harder than that.

Gives bright, punchy sound even to my Boss OC-2! Definitely gets a chicken-plucker sound regardless of what quality your amp is, I have a Fender Frontman 15, so I know what crap is :) On my effects chain,
Mexi strat w/ EMG DG20 pickups -> Boss CS-2 -> Ibanez CP-9 -> Boss MZ-2 -> Big Muff Pi reissue -> ProCo RAT II -> Hendrix Dunlop Crybaby Wah -> Electroharmonix Electric Mistress Flanger -> Boss OC-2 -> Boss CE-2 Chorus -> MXR Digital Time Delay rack unit. It definitely brings out the bright tones regardless of the length of the chain. Warm gain, much more pristine than the Ibanez CP10 which I used to have, (could hardly tell I had that thing on). Almost an extreme in punchiness (is that a word?) to the CS-2 Boss used to make.

I've found batteries last much longer on this than on my Boss pedals, but then again I've had to spend $15 each on the damn adapters for the Boss stuff. Its made of weighted metal, superior to the CP10.

Never had to deal with them.

I play Pink Floyd primarily and this definitely gives the kick I need for almost anything off The Wall. I wish Ibanez would continue to make rugged, quality pedals the way they used to! If stolen, I'd take my ass to eBay ASAP and start buying!

I think it's pretty easy...

I think this pedal is great! I use it for Jazz, Funk, and Blues. I think it gets a nice punch and even things out very well. With a good Tube Amp at the end, the tone is just what I am looking for...

I'd say so.

don't know

I think this pedal is great and well worth it (even though compared to these other users I suppose I didn't get a great deal)

I've tried every other compressor save DynaComp and CarlMartin. I've heard good things about the DynaComp but I don't know.. and the CarlMartin is really expensive and hard to find..

If you know how compressors should be used, this is a piece of cake. There's only 3 knobs; level, treshold and attack time. Set that treshold to desired comp/limit level and same goes for level (volume). I prefer that attack knob is almost off, because it sounds unnatural if every sound you get, sounds the same. You know, always very sharp. Allthough, I found that CP-9s attack knob does have very small range in sound.

Not noisy if used right. If you turn level and treshold all the way up, noise is very bad. I assume that readers know how compressors work, so i'll make this short. CP-9 does comp/limit work very nicely, BUT there is one major thing that bothers me. CP-9 changes the TONE very much! At least mine does. It changes the tone lot brighter than the original tone is. This sucks, because there's no tone knob. If there are pedals without tone knobs, in my opinion they should keep the original tone! Because of this tone problem, I'll give 5, but otherwise this deserves 8.

Attack knob broke once and it had to be replaced. Took a lot of money.

Boss CS-3 does the same thing and it doesn't have that tone problem. I recommend newer pedals (even if I like old, beaten gear better).

You need to know how a compressor/limiter works in order to use it correctly. 3 knobs, attack time, level and threshold.
I can't comment on the manual though, because I bought this unit used (it was produced in ~1984).
I give it a 6 but not because this special unit is hard to use,but all compressors kind of are.

Once I found a good setting it helped my tone a lot. Especially clean sounds get much clearer and balanced. But it's also nice with distortion. I have it turned on all the time now.
Wouldn't wanna miss it.

Well,it's already lived for about 15 years without having been damaged,so,yeah, I can depend on it.

Sucks,they don't reply to emails, the Ibanez website sucks big time too.

Damn,the price I paid is a joke !
I've been playing for 5-6 years now, though I've never thought I'd ever really use a compressor I am now. The CP9 is just a great unit.

Fairly easy. You don't need to know much. I'm not much of an effects expert so I have no understanding of what Attack Time and Threshold are; all I know is turned all the way up with the neck pickup it sounds killer. Really, I'd be real happy if someone could email me and give me some 411 on what the knobs actually are.

I like it, not with distortion though. Clean, it almost fattens up the tone and is real transparent. Think Chili Peppers' "Under The Bridge" and "Scar Tissue." I'm really trying to find a good setting with distortion but when I think I find one it just sounds really weak compared to the straight TS-9 (what I'm using)Actually if you're soloing, it's fine. Better actually. Great sustain that resolves into awesome feedback. It's also noisy. Not by itself but with my tubescreamer there's a lot of hiss.

Seems real reliable. I love the whole Ibanez 9 series. Looking for a flanger. Really, it seems strong likes batteries; but don't all effects?

Never dealt with em. I should to get a manual though.

Overall it's a great pedal for clean sounds and it's actually good for soloing because you can get a rad sustain. I really want to try a carl martin compressor to see if it's better but for right now, this is great. +Mike+

Pretty easy. Has 3 knobs: Attack, Level, and Threshold. This looks like a TS-9 in a red case. For that reason I get a bit confused, as the level knob is where the TS-9's tone knob would be. Generally, I'm a DynaComp user. I bought this to have a comp with a quieter footswitch at live shows. I feel there is more control than my DynaComp, but it doesn't have quite the same tonal characteristics. On the other hand, it's not nearly as noisy as the DynaComp. No manual (used).

This is a fairly new purchase. I used it at a recent city festival in front of about 2000 people. I played a 40th Anniversary American Standard Strat through a Seymour Duncan Convertible 1 12" combo. I used an ME-X effects processor (has 3 slots for stompboxes) with the CP-9, TS-9, and a Boss Harmonist.
I like to use compressors for a combination of solo boosts and dynamic level control. I found the added control of the CP-9 worked better for the live setting than previous experiences with the DynaComp, though I like the DynaComp's sound better. Those differences are lost on a live crowd though. I thought the CP-9 responded more graciously. That is to say, the DynaComp would sometimes be too loud if my guitar volume was down, or squash too hard other times. The CP-9 might (?) be a little more natural or transparent. I'm still sorting this out. It seemed to push a little more articulated mid-brightness out of my guitar, which was not unpleasant, but surprising. Mild volume & tone adjustments on the guitar compensated for this.

It's the same design as a TS-9: 3 knobs, and electronic footswitch. I know the 9-series footswitches tend to go bad over time. This is an easy, cheap, and common replacement (had it done to my TS-9). Since they degrade over time, rather than break, you'll know it when it starts to go. Yeah. I'll use it without a backup. I think the 9-series pedals are pretty dependable.

N/A

I'm sort of a jack-of-all-trades player. Been at it for 19 years now. Other gear I own? Too much to list. Since this is a compressor review, I'll narrow it down to comps. I an MXR DynaComp (reissue) and/or the on-board compressor on my Boss ME-5 for live stuff. Oh, and now the CP-9.
I had heard that the old Ibanez comps were nearly as good as DynaComps, so I wanted to try one out. I just wanted something that would use a standard Boss 9v adaptor (unlike the DynaComp) when I was using stompboxes, and something that wouldn't make so much footswitch noise (like the DynaComp). The CP-9 is older. though not rare, and they're well-made. Yeah, I'd replace it if it went missing.
I think it's a pretty natural sounding comp. While I'll probably continue to use the DynaComp for studio work, the CP-9 has become my live comp choice.

Pretty easy to use, three knobs only: Attack Time, Threshold and Level.

Definitely noisey, but that's one of the reasons it sounds so great. I run my bass through it and there's no distortion or fuzziness. Works fabulously for guitar also.

It's solid.

Never needed it.

This is the BEST compressor known to mankind. My bass sounds fuller, more agressive and clearer when run through this thing. The harmonics leap out. It gives you so much sustain as well, without dulling your sound like almost all compressors do. It sharpens the sound of my bass so much. It's prettymuch amazing.