Maxon AD-9

I could not find a nice tone/sound while using this product.

Being that this was the first analog delay I bought, I must say that analog delays are really overrated! For the people that think digital delays are too ???cold??? and prefer the ???warmth??? of analog delays, your taste and preference for tone SUCKS! Now I know when analog-buffs say ???warmth??? then mean muddy and ???cold??? means clear.

Seriously, this pedal is not worth the price. I could not get good sounding repeats or any other delay-type tone/sound from this pedal. I know tone is really subjective, but I am really surprised that my Boss digital delay sounded so much better and at a fraction of the price. If you want long and clear sounding repeats, do not buy this pedal. The only good use I found for this pedal was to use it for ambience. But that sucked, too.

This pedal completely sucked the volume and tone from my amp & guitar! Even at low volumes, I noticed a big difference in volume and tone. I even tested it by itself (without any other effects in the chain) and I same result ??? loss of tone and volume (while the effect was on).

Also, I???m not sure about that Maxon???s claim that their nine series has true-bypass, considering they do not have a 3PDT switch. It is my understanding that for an effect to be truly bypassed, it should not need power to continue the signal through the chain. However, Maxon???s nine series needs power to continue the signal through. However, the effect was very quiet while the effect was on & off!

My guitars include: Fender EJ Strat, Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus, Gibson SG Standard, PRS Custom 22, and PRS Custom 24. I use a Fender Twin Reverb RI, and a bunch of effects: Boss RV-3, TS808-Keeley Mod Plus (True Bypass), Analog.man Bi-Chorus, Metal Muff, and bunch of other effects.

It seemed solid (for the short period of time I had it).

Maxon was nice about me returning it! I bought this over-priced box from Maxon directly and I returned it after an hour of using it. Thank goodness, I was able to return it.

Verdict ???

If you want a muddy sounding ???warm??? analog delay that this really overpriced, while sucking away tone and volume, buy this pedal. For anyone else who likes clear and transparent effects, look elsewhere.

Also, no wonder why this pedal was discontinued ??? terrible at any price! (J/K it was because the ???superior??? Panasonic BBD is no longer available.)

I don???t think I will be interested in Maxon???s overpriced effects anymore.

The switch is "different". You have to actually take your foot off of
the switch in order to engage or disengage the effect -- which takes some getting used to. Not like the boss switches which are silent and with a smooth transition between engaging and disengaging the effect. There are a couple of other issues I will go into that make this pedal a little less user friendly than it could have been.

Let me say that the ciruit in this pedal is stellar. The true bypass works extremely well. My guitar sounds richer and has more sustain and sensitivity with this pedal in my chain. On that alone this pedal deserves an 11. Rarely will you find a pedal that accomplishes this feat. So...fantasitic, stellar signal and tone in bypass.
Now, there's no doubt -- NO DOUBT - of the volume and tone loss in the effected signal. And it is bothersome, regardless whether you are in your bedroom or playing live. This is unacceptable for Maxon. You can actually hear the volume loss on the Maxon web site. Listen closely. I e-mailed Godlyke and they told me that it is an inherent trait of analog delays. Well, it's not. I tried my buddies Boss DM-2 clone analog delay from the eighties -- CLONE, MIND YOU -- and there's no volume or tone loss; so Godlyke's claim is BS. I'm not sure if I can actually give a proper review here because of this problem. On the one hand, it's a flaw. On the other hand, because the unaffected signal is so rich you can imagine how it can sound with a little volume and tone tweaking (which should have been done by the company). I just don't get why they didn't. It's just odd. You go out of your way to reissue a classic pedal with all the right components and you overlook something as important as the volume loss; NOT COOL!
The repeats are rich and audible given that the chips are authentic.
But damn it! You know there's a problem if there's already a volume mod being done out there and I have no choice but to get it done therefore voiding my warrenty and possibly devalueing the pedal.
So as it goes I have to give 10 points for the unaffected signal and take 3 out for the volume loss. Sorry, Maxon, but your goof up.

It better be reliable for the money.

Because this pedal requires a "volume" mod, for crying out loud, one can not fully endorse this pedal. Stock, you have to prefer the Boss analog delays (why are people selling these on e-bay. I came across a mint DM-2 the owner kept pure just to auction it some day. In my opinion, hold on to it. It's a piece of history, man!)
Suffice to say my Maxon is being modded as we speak. One last word of advice to all you guitar players out there.

FIND YOUR OWN CONTROLABLE TONE!

If you have to fight your sound you got nothing. Playing won't even pleasureable.

Very simple to use and get a great sound from it. Just twiddle the knobs until you get a sound you like.

I have to comment on "anonymous's" comments below, he raises some interesting points....I own and use both the AD-9 and the ad-900 in my rig.....i think they are both excellent delay's. I have gone through a multitude of delays over the last few years chasing tones, searching for ease of use and feel I can speak from some experience. I also have been playing for 25+ years and currently play out regulary in a classic rock/GB band. I too bought and sold the Ibanez re-issue ad9 ( distorted to easily ), I've used every digital delay out there...I've had the Yamaha UD stomp,rack units, the line 6 dl4 you name it...but I always come back to the warmth of analog and the wonderful sound of these two pedals. I tried the ad 999 as well.....but returned it. I just did'nt like it. It just distorts much to easily and had a fuzzy sound and does not have the warmth and clarity of the ad 900 and ad 9. Maybe the newer chips aren't as sweet or something.

In my rig I set the ad 900 for longer delays and the ad9 for shorter slapback sounds. I agree that the volume drop is a non issue on the ad 9..........it's so negligible that it's just not a problem at all in my opinion....i feel that there's more of a volume drop with the line 6 dl4 than with this. If your sitting in your bedroom every night with your ear next to the speaker you may notice it...but trust me it's a non issue, very, very neglibible. Also the shutter effect on the on/off switch is alleviated by just stomping quickley....non issue as well. Where I completly disagree with the review below is relative to the sound quality of the ad 900....If i had to choose just one delay to take to a gig it would be the ad900 not the ad9.....overall it's a better sounding delay.....for one simple reason, the increased headroom provided by the use of 12volts rather than the 9 volts used in the ad 9. It's clearer to my ears,can handle hot pickups and strong distort boxes or loud compressors better, it's warmer and more intangibly musical, and more versitile because of the longer delay times........now of course there are many varibles...guitar, amp, other pedals, your ears..........belive me I love the ad9, it sounds great for analog delay up to 300ml.....it's warm clear and articulate for an analog chip..........but the ad 900 is just a bit better in all categories......perhaps the person below got a bum ad 900 or something.

For the record I use american deluxe strats with SCN pickups and a gibson johnny a signature hollowbody into a mesa lonestar with other high end "boutique" effects and all George L cables.

Maxon seems to make reliable products........no problem thus far. I'm not worried.

see comments above.

Very easy to get a good sound out of it, especially if you use it in the effects loop of your amp. Three knobs, pretty self-explanatory.

Used with Gibson Les Paul Standard, high-end Crate tube amp. Other Maxon 9-series effects (SD-9, CS9Pro) and an MXR EVH Phase 90. I carefully try lots of pedals before buying. The AD-9 makes the cut.

Contrary to the hype, the Maxon AD-9 completely blows the AD-900 out of the water. I A/B'd the two directly. Yes, I did hear what the other reviewer was talking about with the switch cutting out and the volume loss. But the volume loss is TINY, and I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been listening for it. As another reviewer said, you step on it quickly and therefore the interruption is practically non-existant. Far more series are the charges that Analogman levels against it: the dry signal is, well, dry compared to the bypassed signal. This is, to me, more noticeable. But I like the sound of it. It doesn't change the sound of my guitar so much that it's weaker. I may break down and get Analogman to mod mine. But I'm very happy with the stock version.

Let me tell you why. The echoes are, as Kevin from Godlyke describes them, "pristine". I think they've got a 3D sound to them that you just don't get from the AD-900. They are clear and bright. In my opinion, the AD-900 sounded lifeless and flat with my Gibson. The AD-9 sounded much more alive and resonant. It completely blows away the Ibanez AD-9 reissue, which uses much cheaper components and has a poor signal-to-noise ratio. Yes, I tried that one too, and returned it. Since I use this as a reverb-substitute (about 150ms delay, level way down) I could also compare this to Digitech and Boss reverb pedals, which were terrible. The Boss sucked too much tone, even in bypass, and the Digitech couldn't handle a distorted signal.

But that may be comparing apples to oranges. Compared to a digital delay, analog delays track very poorly. Play a 7-note fast pull-off and you won't hear all of the notes repeated. You get the first and maybe one or two others. That's probably why Andy Summers doesn't do very much with putting a lot of notes into his delay. I think this is actually very cool. Digital delay makes you pay too much attention to the repeats. This is more like a tuned echo. You yell "Hello" into the canyon, and get "Low" back. Listeners can focus more on what you're playing, than on what the delay is spitting back.

Maxon n9ne series features high-quality construction. I don't gig, I do studio stuff. There's always a delay built into something, so it's hard to gig without a backup.

Kevin from Godlyke.com is great. They are the US distributor of Maxon products.

I play rock and classic rock. This is a keeper. See above. Use it in the effects loop and it sounds incredible. Inline, it sounds pretty good if you've got a distortion pedal in front of it. We all know not to put delay thing before distortion. The distortion cranks up the gain of the repeats and the device is no longer subtle. Still fun, but no longer subtle. This is made to be subtle. You get what you pay for.

3 knobs are simple to operate although it takes a little getting used to realize exactly what the different settings will get you.

The AD-9 and AD-80 don't offer the same atmosphere and richness of the AD-900, but they are close enough for a portable pedal board, where smaller size and 9V battery power might be appreciated.

Compared to other delay pedals I have tried, I prefer the Maxons. I like the way the echoes gradually lose clarity.

I have a few Maxon delay pedals, including the AD-9, AD-80, and AD-900. My theory is that Maxon seems to have dedicated themselves more than anyone else towards using the defunct Panasonic 'bucket brigade chip', which is often credit with producing some of the best analog echo sounds.

Compared to the other echoes I have tried, besides tape echoes, Maxon's are my favorite. My most recent experiment was with the T-Rex echo, which uses 28 bit analog emulation for its 'brown sound' setting, but I thought it wasn't similar at all to the thicker, distorted sound of the Maxon pedals.

There were a couple bad reviews of the AD-9 here which seem to have weighted it down relative to the other Maxon delays, but in my opinion the sound quality here is comparable to the AD-80.

If you know how to use a 3 knob analog delay, then this is no problem.

PRS CST 22 > Boss FT-2 > Java Boost > CE-2 > Phase 100 > BD-2 Keeley Mod > AD-9 > Boogie F30 or Fender Deluxe

Not remotely Noisy. AS for M's comments about the shutter effect. It is true, but this pedal was designed as a stmop box. If you stomp it, the shutter is negligible. As for the anonomous guy that judged this pedal poorly, then said it's not appropriate for their type of music. . .Get a life you moron. If your not an analog delay type of guy then you would rate any AD poorly. the idea behind this forum to to rate the item compared to similar items. Jesus.

This is hands down the best Bucket Brigade out there. It contains the original panasonic chips that the older ad-80's ad-9's DM-2's and 3's have while having good solid new components, and accurate factory settings

I have tried over a dozen of these models and they all had issues related to their age and treatment. It is rare to get NOS versions and mistreated items sound poor. Many of these older models have had their internal setting tweaked which are not supposed to be tweaked.

Better grab one soon, because Maxon just bought out all these chips and when their gone that's it baby.

Built like a tank.

This delay is the best one out there. Period. I know. I am always right and I never lie.

If you know how to use a 3 knob analog delay, then this is no problem.

Got this at the prospect of having a True Bypass analog delay with the classic bucket brigade chip. If it was perfect for $250 plus dollars I would be happy as a clam. But it is NOT perfect. Please read on if you are serious about tone:

Note: I am a collector of vintage analog delays. I currently own this (Maxon AD-9), Maxon AD-80, a few Boss DM-2's (see my review on this site), Boss DM-3's, Arion SAD-1's, DOD 585, and have tried numerous other BBD analog delay units.

The Maxon AD-9 would be perfect if it were not for two things:

1) The "True Bypass" switch that makes this pedal so desirable to begin with is flawed. No, this is not the old "questionable" Maxon switch that was replaced, this is the new 4PDT version.

When engaging and disengaging the effect there is a VERY audible silence when the effect is switching. This is NOT the normal static "click" that a Fulltone switch has that goes away if you switch the pedal a few times. This is like a "stutter". If you switch slowly and actually hold your foot in the place where the silence occurs you can get total silence for as long you hold your foot there. Boo. If you switch the effect during a musical phrase you will hear a "hickup" as the pedal kicks in or out. NONE of my other effects (either true bypass or buffered bypass) do this.

I actually went to Godlyke's warehouse in NJ and tried out a bunch of different AD9's. They ALL do this. It is part of the design. Maybe you can live with it. It annoyed me BIG time (enough to drive all the way out there to try different units).

2) This issue is MUCH more important: The effected signal is slightly LOWER IN VOLUME than the true bypassed signal. Yes, really.

Since the true bypass has no effect on your tone, you get a nice healthy signal going through. When you switch the effect on, there is a slight dip in volume, no doubt because the effect is now going through some circuitry.

This is not the case with ANY of my buffered bypass delays. If you turn the delay level (mix level - whatever) "off", there is no difference between effect on and effect off.

With the Maxon AD-9 the effect "on" is a very slightly weaker signal. Period. Again, I tried at LEAST ten or fifteen different brand new units at Godlyke, and they were ALL the same.

Why the engineers didn't just slightly boost the effected signal to match the dry signal is beyond me. Maybe Keeley or Analog Mike could mod it? Possibly, but that is not the point.

As far as the actual sound of the effect, above issues aside, it sounds great, like a classic BBD delay. The Ibanez/Maxon's are a bit warmer than the Boss DM series (again, see my review of the Boss DM-2). The Maxon AD-9 sounds just like the Maxon AD-80 to my ears. People say it sounds better, clearer, I don't hear that at all. They both sound great (and the same).

Maxon is the manufacturer for all the old Ibanez effects that have (sans footswitches) have been around forever. I don't anticipate anything breaking down.

The Godlyke guys were great, very accomodating. No complaints at all. They went above and beyond to make me happy letting me try so many different pedals. Thank you guys! I feel bad even posting this considering how well they treated me, but this is a review column. I have other Maxon effects that rule.

Well, I WISH I could say that is is the be all and end all Analog Delay. But the issues have made it unusable for me. Too bad. These things may or may not bother you. For me, I don't like any "coloring" or "ambience" effect that alters my signal strength or volume. Too bad. I REALLY wanted to replace my beloved Boss DM-2 with a true bypass unit, but, this ain't it.

It is easy to use, three knobs, use the manual and your ears. Try the foot button, it is a bit different when turning it off, you step on it and when you let up it goes off. Works ok but different.

This pedal is full disconnect. Take the battery out, unplug the power supply and it still passes a signal to the amp when turned off. THAT is full disconnect, hands down, no questions ask.

Well I had a digital Boss delay which was ok, but was not full disconnect, amd sucked a little tone even when not being used. I found I was taking it out of my signal path entirely so it was not there when I needed it.

I use this for Brian Setzer rockabilly type stuff. It sounds a bit more sterile than the digital delay, more pure. I like it. Both the Boss digital delay and this one don't really do the slapback on the bass notes, like the low E string on the guitar, so I am still looking for a better solution.

But this one is ok.

I play all sorts of classic rock, rockabilly even country with a Gibson SG and a Fender Strat. I give this a 9, its as good as any of the analog delays, I think. And it is full disconnect.

Three knobs, what could be easier?

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I really can't stand the sound of this pedal. This is more a comment on the AD-9's appropriateness for certain styles of music, rather than an indictment of the unit itself. It's probably a personal thing - it's just not appropriate for my style of music. I imagine it would be pretty cool if you play really clean sounds all the time, like surf rock, rockabilly, or folk. I tend to play a lot of thick, distorted hard rock tones, and for those it's just terrible. The soft, lo-fi analog echoes just produce muddiness in my sound. I want a delay that will add spaciousness to my sound rather than muddy goop. I guess I'm just not an analog delay guy.

Limited experience - practiced with it a lot, but only gigged with it once before returning it to the store. Construction seems very solid.

Didn't need them.

I play alternative rock (U2, Coldplay) up through hard rock (Van Halen, Aerosmith) and some blues rock. I would not recommend the AD-9 at all for these styles or anything other than very clean sounds where you want some nice, soft, warm echoes coming back. With any significant distorted levels coming through, it just sounds muddy. I've been playing through digital delays for nearly 20 years. This was my first analog delay. Maybe I should have given it more time to grow on me, but I want a 250 dollar pedal to blow me away. Best advice: before buying, play it through something approximating your rig at performance volume levels and make sure that it adds something other than a layer of goop to your sound.

3 control knobs: level(volume), repeat, & delay time.
dry out option for uncolored signal.
simple

i use it w/ analog effects, although best response comes most likely from a guitar. not bad w/ vinyl.
the best feature i find on this pedal is the modulation of time & pitch when manually tweaking the delay "time" knob... far smoother than a digital delay. "level" & "repeat" below mid-setting produce almost no noticeable effect... rather dark, dusty sound. watch out on full repeat... can be damaging to your amp

built solid..... havent owned long enough to rate it though

if you have never owned a delay unit, i would reccomend starting with a digital.. this unit has fairly limited options as well as range, but quite a unique sound quality & hands on modulation. i find the AD-999 is too high end... to much like a digital... & not built quite as solid as the 9

The way how the AD-9 operates is like so: you step on the switch and it turns on. There are three controls for delay time, repeats and delay level. You can get everything from almost reverb like sounds to slap back to crazy elongated tape delays. You can get the cool 'pool' of feedback and sound out if it as well. the manual is the exact same one as of the maxon chorus and flanger, so you can learn to operate those at the same time as the delay, but it's kind of unusual.

my setup for using the delay differs from time to time. For the most part when i use it it's goes like so: strat-->fender pt-10 tuner-->korg G3 processor-->MAXON AD-9-->Tech 21 Sansamp-->mxr micro amp-->Direct active box--> straight to the board.
it's only nisy when you do the pool of sound, which it's made to do, this occurs when the repeat level is all the way up.
The effect is perfect, it's an exact delay of what you play. You can get Hendrix "red house" sounds out of it.

reliable, built like a tank.

never had any problems, so i can't stae opinion.

best delay pedal ever made. clearer than the Ibanez ones made by maxon.

It is very easy to use. The manual is straight forward as is the pedal. Three knobs: one for delay time, one for number of repeats and one for dry vs. effect blend.

This is probably the pedal I am most blown away by. I play in a psychobilly band using a Gretsch reissue Duo Jet w/Bigsby and flatwound strings to the AD9 to a Guyatone VT3 to vintage Premier reverb tank to a blackface Fender Bassman head through a Sovtek 4 x 10 cab (two stock Eminences and two Jensen ceramic reissues). I need a big low end and a clear top and that's what I get with the AD9, but no digital grit or noise or squashing. I use it to get a slap back sound and some wilder long delays and Ufo noises for our more "psycho" songs. I know it's expensive...how did I pay for it? I sold my tube Echoplex! It's that good sounding! Also, I tried some vintage Ibanez analog delays (I guess made by Maxon in the 70's) because they were cheaper. They were noisier and more compressed...go figure.

I've only owned it for a couple of months, but so far no problems. Seems very solid.

Never talked to Maxon.

It's pricey and I guess I couldn't really tell a teenager that they have to own it...but if you are serious about your sound with an analog delay pedal, this is it. It is very warm and transparent in regard to tone and dynamics and easier to use and carry than an Echoplex. I guess the thing I like the least is the price, but if this is what it takes to get this level of quality, I'm buying.