Guitar Tricks Insider February/March Digital Edition | Page 61

GEAR REVIEW

Right out of the box, I played through all
99 presets and found myself immediately
entertained, intrigued, and hypnotized. It’s sound
architecture at its finest! Deep cathedral reverbs,
edgy style delays, dreamy choruses, lower
octave baritone harmonies, and wacky echo/
delays bouncing in different pitch and rhythm
configurations engulfed the room. While the
possibilities of sounds are far reaching, H9 Max is
also quite capable of producing bread and butter
effects like vintage rockabilly style slap-back
echo, authentic vintage sounding echo, and ‘70s
phase shifting. I was pleased with the distortion
and overdrive presets, which sounded best in a
rock and metal context. But I thought most of
the effects sounded superior with a cleaner tone.

VERDICT

For both gigging and studio guitarists,
the H9 Max might be the only effects
pedal you’ll ever need. No more hauling
around a bag or pedal board of effects
and spaghetti mess of chords. I haven’t
found a pedal out there yet that offers
more, and predict many effects boxes
will be collecting dust as guitarists catch
wind of the massive power, versatility, and
imaginative sounds the H9 Max offers. It
won the 2016 Winter NAMM TEC Award
for Outstanding Technical Achievement.
But simply put – it’s a multifaceted artistic
tool that all styles of guitarists will dig.
Loaded with plenty of yummy ear candy,
this little pedal will not disappoint! But
don’t take my word for it. Go check it out
for yourself.

FEB/MAR

DIGITAL EDITION

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