Maxon AD-999

3 knobs-a no nonsense pedal. Big knobs too so that you can turn them with your foot if you are carefull.

I wanted to submit this review to address a couple of problems noticed by other people on this page and for those considering the ad-900. First, someone mentioned a clicking sound from the switch, I have not noticed this problem and am confident, having owned a couple of other Maxon effects, that the switches used are top quality. A pop from a switch could mean a bad switch or a power supply problem. I think it was the person with the bad switch who also had a noticable volume boost when the pedal was engaged- this also I have not noticed and would suggest he return it as I suspect it is faulty all over. I got my ad-999 from a guy on ebay and upon recieving it I compared it to a vintage Ibanez ad-80 (same chip as ad-900) that has the warmest punchiest analog sound you could find. The ad-999 sounded a bit thinner and not as punchy and defined. Now here is the interesting thing; if you open up the pedal there are 2 or 3 rows of trim pots that you can adjust with a screwdriver. With just a minor amount of adjusting I was able to get the sound to be almost identical to the ad-80 and in fact a little better (the ad-80 gets a bit grainy sounding on the longer delay times). You have to adjust all of the trim pots the same or you run into problems. You can also adjust it to feedback a lot easier than the factory setting.

I've always liked fooling around with delay but even my ad-80 rarely got used because I don't like short delay times and I'm not into slapback echo so if you are trying to decide between the ad-900 with 600ms and the ad-999 with 900ms I can tell you if there is any sound quality differance the extra delay time more than makes up for it. And it runs on a standard 9v power supply.

Rock solid so far.

I have this on a pedal board with some other high quality effects by Zvex, Fulltone, Teese wah and some other vintage stuff all powered by a Dunlop DC Brick which has 3 18v power outs (nice touch) as well as the 9v. This pedal works great in real life live playing situations where you need reliable low noise effects that are easy to adjust. I'm basing my ratings on the price-quality index and given that I only paid $212 this is a GREAT delay pedal. If I paid full price I might pull a point off but maybe not after all I think I would miss the delay more than the money. If you are considering a ad-900 I watched a couple of ebay auctions go to $400 which IMHO is way too much but I've not had the opportunity to do a direct comparison between the two. Another reviewer did and I would say that with a couple of internal adjustments you could get it sounding the same.

It doesn't get any easier than this.... Delay Speed, Repeats, and Delay Level. An input, output and dry out and the included adapter.

The manual gives a brief description of this product plus the others in the vintage series plus some sample settings. Not that I need it really.

No firmware at all. Pure Vintage Analog and true bypass baby!

The pedal gets used with the following guitars...

ESP Eclipse II Standard with EMG Zakk Wylde Active Pickups
Music Man Custom Shop Axis
Peavey USA Wolfgang Special
Fender US American Deluxe Fat Strat

Marshall Triple Super Lead TSL 100 Three Channel Head
Marshall 1960A Stereo Capable 4/12 Cabinet Loaded With Celestion G12T-75 Speakers

Radial Boneyard Pedalboard with this delay and also a Boss DD-6 Digital Delay in the loop and the following other effect pedals hitting the front of the amp...

Dunlop DC Brick
Sennheiser g2 Evolution Wireless
Peterson Strobo Stomp Strobe Tuner
Dunlop Rotovibe
Dunlop Crybaby Wylde Wah
MXR Wylde Overdrive
MXR EVH Phase 90
MXR Reissue Model 117 Analog Flanger
MXR Smart Gate
MXR Reissue Model 134 Stereo Chorus

There are alot of positives about this pedal and for the money you spend on it there should be. For one it is actually quieter than my DD-6 and that's no joke. Second, I use the DD-6 only when I need to set the delay speed using the DD-6's tap tempo on the fly. Other than that, I feel it plays with the tone of my TSL 100 too much. The AD999 is a pedal that gives you the warm tone of an analog delay at its best, but will not weaken or play with your amps tone. It works really well with my other effects as well and does not muddy up the tone with the other pedals. I have my repeat and overall output levels set sparingly at best which tails off nice. It doesn't take much to get this puppy going. The best Analog Delay I ever owned hands down.

It's built like a brick shithouse!

Never dealt with em' but I live 10 miles from Godlyke so if there ever was a problem I know where to take it.

This is a very simple pedal to use. Three knobs: Level, Delay (time), and Repeats. Easy to dial in Sun Studio slapback elays. Two outs provided for James Gang, U2, and Queen type delays. Crank the Repeats to three o'clock and twist the Delay knob for Hendrix era spaceship landings.

I use this with both a noiseless Strat and a Les Paul Classic into a vintage Bassman head and Celestion Vintage 30 loaded Ampeg cab. It does not hum, and accepts distortion pedals well. Finally, a bucket brigade analog delay with long delay times. Hands down, this is the next best thing to a Tape Tube Echo, which I also own. I would say this is more user friendly, as it can fit on a pedal board. The highs decay nicely with each repeat, the same way natural echo does. The Repeat knob offers very controllable feedback. True bypass switching means this is the perfect mate for Fulltone and Way Huge users.

Too new to say. I will use it without a backup.

I ordered it and it came in quickly. No other opinion at this time.

I play most American and British styles from the 1920's to the present. I have been playing since 1989, and have owned and played every type of delay ever made. I do not care for digital devices where music is concerned, except the inevitable CD. I have spent a large amount of money training my ears with regards to tone, and I can hear a difference between analog and digital devices. I must admit digital dither is getting better, but there is not yet a substitute for a real analog sound wave. Unfortunately, bucket brigade devices usually only yield a 1/3 second delay time ( Electro Harmonix Memory Man and vintage Boss delays). This thing offers almost a full second of delay, which finally lets bucket brigade users have access to Roland Space Echo type delays. If you're upset that Way Huge never finished the Galactic Swankulator, grab a couple of amps and add a Fulltone Choralflange to the wet output of this puppy.

It's just three knobs, but there are thousands of possible sounds in there, and all of them are very good. I had a Boss dd3 and tried some other delays, and I was looking for a very simple effect but with a nice sound. Think I've found it.

I use this pedal with several other effects, and I got to say that it actually makes my overdrive and solo tone a little bit brighter. I use a maxon od808 and boost it with a mxr double distortion for solos)Apart from that the souynd quality is excellent, very natural sounding effect.

I just got it a week ago.

I play rock-blues and also some kind of psychedelic rock, this unit is perfect for both the bands I'm playing with. From Jimmy Page short-delay solos, to crazy outer-space sounds.

fairly straight forward. three knobs - delay time, repeat, and mix. unlike most digital pedals there is no separate knob to set the delay delay range - 50-100, 100-250, etc. because of this the delay knob is more sensitive to slight changes.

i use this with a 56 les paul into a carr rambler. the noise floor of the ad-999 is very low. but for some, the sound may take getting used to. analog delay is darker than digital. compared to a boss dd-3, there is maybe less clarity to the repeats but they sound much more organic - more like my guitar. you should be aware of this before buying. if you like to do a lot of clean doubling of lines, and harmony stuff - this may not be your cup of tea. after playing with the ad-999 for a few days, i can't even listen to the boss anymore.

seems to be very well built. ac only, so no battery issues. comes with its own power adaptor.

No idea.

so far it seems like a really great pedal. i keep it on most of the time. i'm doing a lot of singer songwriter stuff and having a good delay is key. i was not sure weather i should get the ad-99 which has less delay time but has the panasonic chips which are no longer being made. but retailers were asking for a fortune for these and the reports i heard before i made my purchase is that the ad-999 sounds just as good. i also liked the fact that this unit has an extra 300ms of delay time over the ad-99 and is true bypass. true bypass is not always an issue. but i hate what those boss pedals do to my tone - even when they're off. this is a great pedal. if you like the analog sound you wont be disappointed.

Three knobs:delay-time, repeat and level. Speaks for itself. The knobs are very sensitive, especially delal-time as it has a huge range (up tp 900 msecs). It is very easy to get a good sound; I didn't find a bad one!

I use this beautifull device with a 1973 Marshall Super Lead, which has been wonderfully wired point to point and hot-rodded by Peter van Weelden here in the Netherlands. My effects are: RMC3 wah,Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe,Fulltone 69, Fultone Ultimate Octave, Analog Man KOT and Maxon AD999. Everything is true bypass and I have almost no noise. The sound of the maxon is the best I ever experienced. It blows away my Carl Martin and Boss dd2. Sure it is a little bit dark sounding but I must say that for a kind of Thin Lizzy-big-sound it is the best. It makes the sound big and ballsy. It oscillates into wild frenzy very easy when all the knobs are maxed. I rate it a 9 as a tape-echo is probably the best. On the other hand it is the best purchase this year (and I'm quite spending).

Had it for half a year, so far no problems.

Never had to deal with them.

I play in a three man band and it is very good at making my sound big. We play classic rock. Especially usefull for soloing. Would definately buy another when lost.

Super easy to use. Only an idiot could fail to get a good sound out of it. I especially like that wide, gradual sweep of the "delay level" knob.. very easy to get the right level.

It's an analog delay, so it's pretty murky sounding. But this one is very very smooth and there seems to be very little deterioration from echo to echo, as they repeat. I was actually a titch disappointed that it didn't degrade more, but overall I'm so impressed with the sound of this thing that I don't care much.

I DO NOT like the switch, however. It looks nice & durable, and it feels great to step on. But people, it makes a really loudass click. I'm often using this pedal in conjunction with a downstream digital delay. When I forget about the click, I end up stepping on this thing, then hearing the damn click repeated a zillion times. Not impressive. ESPECIALLY FOR THE PRICE.

This pedal fattens up and spaces out solos nicely. It may be a little dark for some players, esp those who grew up in the late 80s with all that digital stuff. But I love the sound. I use it with a Fender Jazzmaster guitar and a '69 Marshall Super Lead 100W. Because of that setup, the pedal probably sounds a bit darker for me than it could for some other people. If you used a Gibson guitar and a Fender amp, for instance, it would probably sound a lot more clear.

Just got it really, but seems tough as a brick.

no contact

This thing was ridiculously expensive. I only bought it because I'm an idiot when it comes to boutique-ish rare stuff. Supposedly these are being discontinued because they ran out of the chips for good. ?? That's what the guy at the guitar shop said anyways. Whatever. It's a very cool effect. You pay for the smooth & (relatively for an analogy delay) clear sound quality, and for the long delay time of 900ms. Really because of the delay time, it's in a class by itself. There's really nothing else that does the same thing, except for maybe some digital modeled delay by Line 6 or whatever. But if you're a purist like me and you appreciate the classic technology and can really hear the difference, this is a good choice. If an expensive one. Yikes.

I'm giving it an 8 because of the switch noise and because it doesn't degrade from echo to echo quite like it would in my fantasy.

No recordings of it yet, but if you want to check out my tripped out & rocking style of music, go to http://www.richardbitch.com

Exactly the same setup as the AD-900 Analog Delay, which I also own and have reviewed. Three knob configuration: Delay Time, Repeat, Delay Level.

This is why I am posting this review: I now have both the AD-900 and the AD-999, and although the AD-999 does indeed sound terrific, there is a small but noticable difference in sound quality between the two units. I have tested them side by side under the exact same paramaters and conditions, with the same input signal at exactly the same volume, and have found that the AD-999 has very slightly reduced dynamics and generates a little more noise than the AD-900. It is remotely possible that the difference is because of the Maxon bucket brigade chips being used in this unit(Panasonic has long since ceased production of these chips, the last of which were used in the AD-900, and Maxon in now producing their own chips). However, to me it is much more likely that these differences are due to the reduction in power that now drives this cicuit. (the AD-900 runs on a 12 volt power supply, while the AD-999 uses a 9 volt supply). The drop in dynamics is very small, but the noise floor difference is more noticeable. I have not put the signal through test equipment but I would venture to say that there is at least a couple db reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio of the AD-999 as opposed to the AD-900. HOWEVER, please note that I am NOT trashing the AD-999 for these small shortcomings. All things considered, this is still a great pedal in it's own right, it delivers close to the same warm, creamy, hard to find true vintage tones as it's older brother, plus an additional 300ms of delay time, so it has it's plusses and it's minuses.

Same as the AD-900 in my opinion. Very well built. Very dependable.

Great customer support. Other companies should take note.

It all depends on what you are looking for in an analog delay. If you need/want the extra 300ms of delay time, the AD-999 is for you. But if less noise and the maximum possible amount of warm, smooth, pure, to-die-for vintage analog tone are your thing, then the classic AD-900 is definitely the superior unit. Choose for yourself.

Classic, three knob delay controls: Level, Delay, and Repeats. There's a red LED to indicate when it's on. One stomp switch. There are wet and dry output jacks. One huge improvement over its predecessor, the AD-900, is that this pedla will run off of a standard 9V DC power supply, which means it can be used with any of the the pedalboard power supplies on the market (I use the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 and love it).

As far as analog delys go, and despite reviews below to the contrary, I found the repeats to be relatively clean. To my ears they are much clearer sounding than, say, an old Boss DM-2 or Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man. It still sounds "analog" and will kick any digital delay's ass for warmth. I found it difficult to make this pedal overload and distort, even with hot pick ups, so Maxon has done a good job here. This pedal features true bypass, so you can still hear the nuances of your pick attack when the effect is disengaged. What I didn't like about this pedal was the noticeable volume boost when the effect was engaged. This was accompanied by a loud, audible "click" each time I stepped on the switch. I also didn't like the fact that it tended to brighten the tone of my guitar slightly, adding a grainy quality to the original signal that I found unpleasing. This was especially noticeable with my germanium transistor Fulltone Soul-Bender fuzz pedal-- it basically destroyed the otherwise wonderfully thick tone of this pedal and made it unuseable. These negatives aside, compared to some other analog delay pedals I've owned in the past, I found the AD-999 to be somewhat less involving. The Deluxe Memory Man sounded much more organic and involving in my opinion, but had its own set of negatives (no true bypass, easy to overload, etc.).

Casing seems very sturdy. Pots are smooth, well damped, and feel to be of good quality. The switch, on the other hand, feels cheap. Compare this to the Fulltone 3PDT switch and you'll see what I mean. The Fulltone switch feels solid as a rock and actually inspires confidence. The switch on the Maxon feels weak and like it might not stand up to long term use. I returned the pedal right at the end of Musician's Friend's 45 day trial period, so I can't comment on its long-term durability.

Overall, not a bad pedal. I love the fact that it can be used with my Pedal Power 2. So many delays these days require bulky wall-warts that clutter up your pedalboard. The fact that it's true bypass is nice, but they need to adjust the volume level and get rid of that clicking noise in the switch. I hear the old version (AD-900) did not have these problems. I have some fairly high end gear and have come to expect a lot from my equipment. My other pedals are all Fulltone, and for amps I use a Clark Beaufort (Tweed Deluxe clone) and an Allen Sweet Spot (Princeton Reverb clone). As stated above, I thought this pedal was OK, but in the end it just didn't cut the mustard for me. To be fair, I've recently tried four other delay pedals (Boss DD-20, Line 6 DL-4, Danelectro Reel Echo, and T-Rex Replica) and did not find any of these to my liking, either. Of all of them, I found the DL-4 to sound the best, but it's very large, has a lot of features I don't need/want, and if you read the reviews here on HC it seems to have a lot of reliability problems. I'm still on my quest for the perfect delay. I had high hopes for the AD-999, and it's a decent pedal, but ultimately it wasn't my holy grail.

Easy to use-three knobs-turn one way for MORE effect-turn the other way for LESS effect.

Great sound but very dark on the repeats. Night and day in comparison to any digital pedal but that is what it is all about right? Decays rapidly. Using it with a Princeton Reverb and Carr Slant V6. Not noisey at all.

Been working fine for almost two months now...

Here's a hint for those who paid over $300 for these-look around for some Japanese online stores. I paid $235 for mine SHIPPED and it took less than a week to get to me. Forget about US dealers asking outrageous prices for Maxon pedals.

Excellent analog pedal. If you want clean repeats that go on endlessly without any decay buy something else. If you like warm organic sounds this is it. I don't think the stereo function is really useful on this unit given how dark the repeats sound if they are coming out of one amp. I only use it in mono. I don't think it is any better than the AD900 either so if you already have one of those and don't need an extra 1/3 second delay-kick back and be happy.