Maxon 9-Series Sonic Distortion

The Sonic Distortion is a modified Boss DS-1 circuit in its topology, but it has a unique tone that doesn't sound like a DS-1. The mids are less scooped/weird than a DS-1. Mids and bass are preserved. It's more like an overdrive than a distortion, sounding somewhere in between. It's usable as a mid-focused overdrive, but without the bass/treble roll-off of a Tubescreamer.The Tone control is very powerful. Many people start with the Tone all the way down (giving a warm bassy tone similar to "Cliffs of Dover") and then turn it up to where it's just clear enough. If you start with the Tone at noon or higher, it'll likely be as bright as an icepick. It's able to get VERY bright. With higher Tone settings, I turn the treble/tone down on my amp to compensate, which has a different tonal character than vice-versa. Higher/brighter Tone settings are also useful for darker amps that may also have a compressor/limiter engaged that further darkens the sound.This pedal is also fun to experiment with gain stacking. I sometimes use this to boost into a subsequent distortion/overdrive in the signal chain. In general, this pedal works best as a boost or overdrive rather than a primary distortion.

I would shop here again, and I appreciate the good all around fast service and truly great deal.The pedal? Tele into the SD-1, then the SD-1 into a '68 Deluxe Reverb RI (12" celestion v-type speaker). The SD-1 ... is ... my ... sound.In the vagueness of the this review's tone descriptors and the absence of adjectives, this pedal may be magic. Made in Japan by the masters of Maxon.The color is perfect, and the pedal housing is solid and strong.Highly recommended.

If you're a sloppy player skip this one because it's a very detailed distortion (which is good or bad depending on what you want) the tone knob needs to be turned DOWN unless your guitar is very dark sounding. There are boutique clones of this pedal that remedy this problem but they're all around $300 bucks. I have an OCD clone from Warm Audio (great pedal) and I like the Maxon better-but that's all subjective. All in all it's a great pedal with an over the top tone knob that you need to keep under control.Cleans up nice with your guitar's volume knob ( which is the only type of distortion that I can use)4 stars- if not for the tone control issue it would be 5 stars.

I use this in live performance. I have an embarrassingly large number of overdrive and distortion pedals, most of them "boutique" and expensive / hand-wired / manually produced with tight quality controls. They're all very good. For live performance I use a Fender Strat with replaced pickups (single, single, humbucker -- all by John Suhr) and I need a distortion that will retain the clarity of the neck single coil AND the crunch of the humbucker without needing on-the-fly adjustments.The Maxon SD-9 does this in spades, and additionally works well across the various brands, models, and states of repair found on house and rented backline amps in clubs and venues across NYC. This is something that the boutiques often can't do -- they may work well extremely with one type of amp, but sound like a cheap tin box with some other type of amp. Using the SD-9, it's great that I can just put one distortion unit on my pedalboard, instead of two or three. It preserves space on the board, allowing me to bring a wider range of sound effects. Win-win-win. I wish I'd discovered this gadget a couple of years ago. My large pedalboards now sit at home, unused. I don't have a dedicated road crew and technicians, and probably never will, so for me using the SD-9 has greatly simplified the entire process of live performance.In terms of settings, I usually configure the amps for a good clean sound, and adjust the SD-9 Level to "just above unity," Dist to about 1:30, and Tone to somewhere below 10:00. The secret to dialing in the SD-9 is the Tone setting -- you've got to keep it at the low end of the dial. Too high, and all of the magic in this effect completely evaporates.

Literally they talk about this pedal like it’s a secret weapon of the pros… but it’s a smoother DS1.If you like the DS1 and want a better version this is it. Definitely not worth the money.

This pedal is a fantastic more gain pedal in the TS vein. If you are looking for more drive than the classic TS while maintaing a fat sound, this is your pedal. If you have a clean tube amp and need more drive or just want to push an already overdriven amp over the top, it will do the job. Not a high gain pedal in the modern sense however.

Works great, sounds great!. I use it with a Ceriatone ODS and Tom Anderson strats, I have reduced my pedal board to one or two pedals and I always choose this one.

Fantastic distortion pedal, probably the best I’ve used over decades. Great versatility from mild to heavy distortion.Not a metal music pedal. Great rock, blues, ecc. pedal.