TWA
SH9™ - Scott Henderson signature distortion
SH9™ - Scott Henderson signature distortion
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In stock - Please allow up to 10 business days for us to build, test, & ship your SH9.
Once your SH9 ships, you'll receive your tracking information.
"The SH9 is the best distortion pedal I’ve heard for live playing, and sounds equally great on the bridge and neck pickups. It has all the compression and punchiness needed for legato playing, plus a versatile tone knob, a low, clear bass frequency, and an overall fat and musical tone. This pedal rocks!" -Scott Henderson
TWA SH9™ Scott Henderson Signature Distortion
- Signature distortion pedal inspired by classic SD-9 circuit
- Thick, compressed, amp-like tone
- Improved Bass and lower Midrange response
- Increased “girth” on high-register notes
- Allows notes to “speak” properly
- Increased output level
- JRC4558 OpAmp
- Optional 18vdc operation for increased headroom, less compression and alternate drive signature
- True Bypass switching
- Made in USA
Click to read the GP Review
Dani Rabin (of Marbin) shows you how to get the perfect jazz fusion tone in Four Steps:
For the past 20 years, Jazz Fusion guitar great Scott Henderson has had a Maxon SD-9 Sonic Distortion parked on his pedalboard. He’s even gone so far as to call it “…the best distortion pedal ever made.”
Yet for all his praises, there were several shortcomings to the SD-9 that many players –Scott included– had discovered. Chief among these were a loss of low-end on high notes and a Tone control that was basically unusable past the 9 o’clock setting.
Over the years, many boutique pedal builders have modified the SD-9 in hopes of improving its performance, but they have all missed the mark—Until now.
TWA is very excited to announce our first signature model, as well as our first collaboration with Tube Screamer creator Susumu Tamura – the Scott Henderson SH9 Signature Distortion.
With the SH9, Mr. Tamura has taken the basic SD-9 circuit architecture that he invented in 1981 and re-worked it to meet Scott Henderson’s exacting performance standards.
Mr. Tamura has shifted the center frequency of the SH9’s Tone control and focused it in the lows and lower-mids. Even as the Tone control is turned up, there is no loss of the bass frequencies that Scott considers essential for allowing notes to speak properly in the higher registers on the guitar.
This increased note girth combined with the SH9’s inherently compressed sound allows Scott to effortlessly articulate the fluid, horn-like lead tones that he is known for.
Another useful improvement to the SH9 circuit is an increased output level that helps the pedal to be heard clearly in a full band context.
Mr. Tamura also designed the SH9 to operate with 9-or 18-volt power. Although Scott only uses the pedal with 9-volts, powering it with 18 VDC will allow for increased headroom with less compression and a slightly different character to the distortion.
The SH9 is housed in a die-cast zinc chassis and coated with a beautiful and durable metallic purple powder coating that was chosen by Scott (we love it too!).
Only the highest quality components such as ALPS potentiometers, Marushin Jacks, KOA/Speer resistors and WIMA, Nichicon & Kemet capacitors are used in the SH9 circuit in order to maintain the highest standards of tonal reproduction.
The SH9 is available with two different faceplate screens: The first version highlights the SH9 logo in the same trademark lime-green color as the original SD-9, while the second, all-white screen features a replication of Scott’s signature.
We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to both Scott Henderson and Susumu Tamura for their involvement in this project and their willingness to go above and beyond the norm. We have learned many invaluable lessons during our interactions with these two Masters of their crafts.
We are deeply honored to have been a part of the SH9 development. We had been knocking this one about for the better part of three years, and there were several times that we didn’t think it would get off the ground – we’re very pleased that the SH9 has finally taken flight.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the limited nature of this pedal, long lead-times, and non-refundable transaction fees a 20% restocking fee will be charged on all canceled orders.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL BACKSTORY
Un seul mot Génial...Scott et Shawn Lane sont mes héros...
de France ...Salutations...
Since live music returned, back in 2022, I've primarily used a tube screamer or variant with great success. However, I wanted a secondary sound and tried a whole bunch of stuff which I won't get into here. They sounded great at home but just didn't work live. Mostly because they would get lost in the mix (keyboard player in the band etc).
I already had a good feeling about the SH9, when I first tested it. To me, the way it's EQ'd, it's like a tube screamer with way more bottom. Thick (like a fuzz face) while maintaining clarity and definition. I'm just talking EQ here, not the quality of saturation. (Saturation is a different subject and it's not a tube screamer). When I compared it to the stock SD9, it sounded like there was a juicy frequency (or two) that was enhanced (that was missing with the SD9) which would help the sound pop in the live mix.
All of that ramble to say, this thing was brilliant live. I thought I would only use it for certain things, but I ended up putting it through its paces for pretty much everything I needed a dirt pedal for. (This is always a good sign to me: when I can't put the thing down.)
To give additional context, my band is not very loud. Because of this, I need more gain from the pedal. There was gobs of gain from the SH9 and I didn't even go past 3 o'clock. (I guess I should say I'm using a Carmen Ghia head with a single 12 cab and SG with vintage spec - low output - pickups.)
Also, plenty of volume. For a couple of the solos, I had my guitar on eight and the SH9 had a different sound than with the guitar on 10. So good.
The one thing I didn't try was lower gain settings (that's what I used the other pedal for). I will the next time because I have this feeling the SH9 is going to soar.
Finally, Kevin was a total pro in our interactions. Thanks to him and the entire team.
This pedal is so very musical sounding! There's a really nice clarity and note definition that I get no matter what amp I am using. The distortion is so sweet and creamy sounding! Note definition is remarkable! This pedal also works very well going from guitar to the SH-9, to my recording interface, then into my favorite amp sim for recording. I LOVE this pedal and I highly recommend it! It's built like a tank too! Well done Mr. Tamura, Kevin from Godlyke, and all of those involved in this pedal's creation!
I have chased the SD-9 tone for several months. Picked up a stock SD-9, enjoyed it, had Analogman mod it, liked it even more, but the SH-9 takes the circuit to a new level. The controls are intuitive, the feel is far more forgiving than the original, but the beautiful dynamic range remains.
When I couldn’t play with the level past 8 o’clock without the neighbors calling the police, I had to accept the brutal truth that a Toyota is more my style. Scott has always been an inspiration to me, but as an official senior citizen (74) I’m going to have to fall back and preserve what hearing I have left.
All hail Scott Henderson!