Electro-Harmonix SYNTH9 Synthesizer Machine Pedal Reviews

Love it great add to my collection.

I am a home songwriting/recording hobbyist and decided that I'd like to add synth sounds to my recordings. I have a keyboard but realized after messing around with it for a few years that I'll never be much of a keyboard player so decided to look for another solution. They Synth 9 fills that need and doesn't require a dedicated pickup so I decided to try one out. I'm pleased with the sounds I'm getting and looking forward to some indoor time and digging into it beyond a few brief test sessions. I especially like the dry signal out that I can run through other effects simultaneously and produce some interesting results. The gear works as advertised and delivered promptly which is why I make most of my purchases through Sweetwater.

I like this. Some great sounds are possible. Tracking is surprisingly good...maybe not quite like other units that cost 3 to 5 times as much, but still very good. For the price, it's hard to go wrong with the Synth9!

No keys in our band till now this thing adds what you need for any funk or key backgrounds

Oh yeah I have the sound of the 80s synthesizers at my feet I'm a one-man band and this is absolutely icing on the cake I highly highly recommend this product to those of you who love that 80s sound oh yeah baby

Works as advertised. Great Synth Sounds coming out of your Guitar. Still figuring it out but many Tonal possibilities. I did want something to sustain indefinately and it does eventually fade out, another pedal would do the trick. But even one note plucked gives you that full sound. Im going to try it on my keyboard as well. I believe it will really enhance that as well.

Very cool addition to my collection of toys. Amazing effects. Love it.

I ve had the Synth 9 for a while. It s fantastic!!! I own all of the EHX "9" pedals and this is my fav by far. I ve "nailed" the intro to "Mr. Crowley," all of Van Halen s "1984" and "Jump." The tracking, especially the "Solo Synth" setting, is excellent. I play Keyboards pretty well but how cool to have the Synth 9 for a gig that requires a Keyboard part

Without needing a special pickup or MIDI guitar, and using only your 1/4-inch guitar cable, this synth rocks. It's always great to have a guitar synth handy for those special songs. Some of the settings work find with hammer ons, pull-offs, and slides (from my experience), but others require meticulous playing of single notes as with a monophonic synth. The "Vibe Synth" is great with it's delayed vibrato and adjustable intensity. A great pedal that will come in very handy in certain situations. The adjustable and mixable dry and synth signals is also great so you can blend the synth sound with your dry then processed guitar signal--like having a synth doubling with your guitar licks (a great sound especially when separately panned left and right in a stereo field)!

Very impressive sounds - you are still using your guitar to play a synth so it is not perfect, but it beats buying a synth and learning to play it and you don't need a midi guitar either. I would recommend to add to almost any pedalboard as it is a very fair price for what you get.

This is the best synth pedal for a bassist. It claims to track to a low A but using my stingray it tracks all the way down to low E. Perfect Oberheim sound. For us old school players the obx sound is just like Mothers Finest funk keyboard without a keyboard player!

I had always been skeptical regarding guitar synth effects, but after seeing the demo I couldn't wait for the release of it. Great sound! Very easy learning curve. Very intuitive functions. I use it to add fullness and subtle background effects over both rhythm as well as lead riffs. I am completely satisfied with it, as are all of my band mates! This opens up many possibilities to expand and explore your music.

Once again, EH has a home run. The whole "9" series is setting a new standard for guitar synths.
Not only are the sounds perfect emulations of the synths they represent, but the interaction with the guitar is new and different from a typical GR-55 or similar guitar synth.
These devices behave differently if you're playing chords from playing single notes. So there's a level of surprise that comes into play as you learn it's response.
And the subtle variations that "control 1 & 2" offer give each of the 9 voices individuality.
These things go beyond making sounds to being an inspiration to new compositions...
All I can say is: "MORE, PLEASE!"

First: Kudos to my Sweetwater rep, Ben Porter!

The Electro-Harmonix Synth 9 is absolutely amazing. I have been a fan and a customer of Electro-harmonix since the 1970's, and their products have always been fantastic, and great value for the money, too.

The first thing I did, was plug the Synth 9 into an acoustic guitar with a bridge pickup. It worked, but I was a little disappointed - so, be advised, if you're using the Synth 9 with an acoustic guitar, you may need to add a preamp between it and the acoustic guitar.

HOWEVER: The next thing I did was plug it into one of my electric guitars. HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY! This thing tracks perfectly with an electric guitar - especially when, as the instructions say, you turn up the volume on your guitar all the way, and use the bridge pickup. I noticed that the settings of the tone knob on the guitar affects the timbre, just SLIGHTLY, so experiment around with that for an extra fun dimension.

All of the patches are polyphonic. Patch #4, "Mini Mood," has another oscillator that is monophonic (the level of which is set by CTRL 1) to which a portamento effect can be applied, using CTRL 2 - a GREAT patch for lead playing. All the patches sound great for chords and for soloing, depending on how you set it up.

The knobs marked "CTRL 1" and "CTRL 2" have different functions, depending upon the patch number you're using. The instructions come with a sheet that has "suggested settings," which are good starting points - on patches where CTRL 1 is acting as a tone / filter cutoff control, I tend to prefer the it set to a less resonant setting - in other words, rotated a bit more counter-clockwise, for a mellower, woodier tone - I just think it sounds a bit more organic, vintage, and analog, but that's a matter of personal preference.

On the back of the "Suggested Settings" sheet, you'll find a sheet of blank settings diagrams, so you can record your own settings - don't forget to make a ton of copies of the patch sheet, so you can keep your original for future copying.

The sounds created by the oscillators are big, sophisticated, and convincing, and the filters sound rich, lush, and big. There have been many attempts in the past, by a host of companies, to create guitar synthesis in small pedals, as well as big rack-mounted units - mostly, unsuccessfully, and the few successful attempts have usually resulted in very expensive units. The Synth 9 hits the nail on the head.

The bottom line is, if you want to add synth sound to your arsenal of sounds, this is a SUPER affordable way to do it.

Get one of these, and add a Mel 9 (Mellotron emulator, available at Sweetwater), and you'll have most of the sounds of the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's. (Incidentally, the Mel 9 DOES work well with acoustic guitars, according to some professional reviews.)

My next purchases, because of how well the Synth 9 works, will be a Mel 9, and an Electro-Harmonix C9 keyboard emulator, both available at Sweetwater.

Thanks again, Electro-Harmonix, for creating such great products at so affordable of a price point!

Just got my pedal today and am putting it down for the first time. Need to let the power supply cool off! This thing really is amazing, just need to play with the settings. Haven't hooked it up to my board yet to see how nice it plays with other effects, but that will happen in due time. Already picked up synth lines on Xanadu. Subdivisions is next on a very long list of tunes to try and tackle. Shout out to my rep, Stewart Hisey...He kept me updated every week. I was thinking I wasn't getting this until first week of April, but got my email from Stew that it shipped yesterday and it came today. I shall be immersed in synthful bliss all weekend long! Thanks so much Stewart!!!

I got away from FX Pedals .Just used a good gitar,pickup and Amp.. Kept it simple in the day. This is quite the Jem. Does all as Described. Plus Quite a Bit More. Tweeking Tonality on receiving Amp. The Blank Templates Are A Plus. How long it will go for? we'll see,Let you know

I II am really enjoying the Synth 9
I am really enjoying the Synth 9. The videos are an accurate representation of how the unit sounds. It takes a little getting used to to get the sounds right (depending on what you want) but it is worth taking the time to get to know its intricacies. It has a lot to offer, a great sound palate that tracks really well in polyphonic (chording) goodness. I would have gotten it for the string synth alone!
The only improvement I can think of would be expression pedal capabilities so it could be controlled in real time for LFO, filter sweeps, depth and intensity, octave choice on the fly,...Even without that, it stands on its own as an effective guitar synthesizer with a lot of options for a very reasonable price and simple to use, something I've looked for for a long time.
As always, great and prompt service from Sweetwater and my sales pro Nick Huskins. Thank you!

I am running a second channel and doing side loops for my three piece band with a ditto as well as filling out a lot of my work.
I am getting the extra sound I want to avoid 'dead space' so problematic in trios at low volume.
There is a learning curve but I am quite happy with it.
It is what it is and it does what it is supposed to do.
I like it!

The Synth9 joins my B9 and C9 in the keyboard section here at Wino City Studio. This is by far the most fun of the three. Some reviews I read complained that it changes the tone of their guitar. Isn't that the whole point? These are convincing models of the great synths of the past. Pretty easy to dial in tones. It has even prompted me to break out my cheap keyboard as the controller. Lots of fun here, the folks at EHX hit this one out of the park!

Incredible service always at Sweetwater ... Always get my product within the time period that they tell me ...
This new Synth 9 is a great unit for helping with string arrangements when you can't get the real thing! The synth part as far as moog goes is the next best thing ... I would recommend this to anyone for live or studio ...
Rickey Medlocke (Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist and record producer)

I use one on all my basses . Fretted, Fretless , 8 string, EUB,and Chapman stick. The toughest thing is getting it not to trigger with slight touches of strings you are not playing, especially with the stick. This can be done by lowering the signal from your instrument, but I usually have both sounds equal volume So I needed to work on that tequnique. But I'm getting better at it . . Other than that it's pretty cool . Many of the patches will track down to the low D on a 5 string. The one glitch that every one gets is that it will cut out occasionally . Usually from plugging or unplugging an instrument . The slight short that is created must cause this . It can be remedied by power cycling . My guitarist has the same problem with his Mel9. I use a mixer for the 6 or 7 instruments I use live ,so there is no plugging and unplugging so this usually does not happen, Pretty cool device.

I love the old synth sounds of the 70's and 80's. Being a bassist, there has not been a good alternative to actual keys until now. Overall, this delivers what it preaches, but with limitations. Some of the patches sound very close to one another and it's hard to control on the floor. The uniqueness that analog synths had was partially due do the manual wave controls you had while playing. This pedal is limited and really needs to be up so you can reach over and adjust what you can adjust on the fly. Other than that, it's a step in the right direction. Only reason this did not score higher is the switch. It not the smooth one like most of the pedals these days, it clicks and it went completely out on me 2 weeks after receiving it. Sweetwater customer service is 5 star, so it has been taken care of, but it should have been built better to begin with. Hopefully mine was just a fluke.

I love the strings settings
The rest not so much.
But it's worth it for the strings
Best part is the sales team at sweetwater.
Especially Kurt Cripe, the only person to respond question i had about the EHX Synth 9
Electro-Harmonix makes good stuff, but louise customer support
Thanks again Sweetwater

This is an awesome 80s synth pedal to have. Please watch the video of the product all the way through before purchase. It does 80s and funk like a champ but be warned if you are trying to get a modern synth sound it's just not gonna happen. I bought this pedal to add keys/synth to the band at church when the keys player was out. But this is just not the sound of any modern synth/pad. I also found that the string synth channel is about the only one I can half way use. Other than that it's 80s all day and it's just hard to get a good smooth soft pad synth effect. I would say the tone is very hard to get just right it's either way to bassy or way to trebley. If you are using this for a cool throwback band then please get one. I went with three stars though just because I feel like it only covers one era and for the price it should do more.

Great pedal for Synthesizer sounds... great triggering. Played through a Yamaha Magicstomp for Stereo imaging, then listened through headphones. Was captivated!

Now the bad news. I used it in a gig live situation with high hopes. Unfortunately the timbre range isn't great for guitar speakers. Too thin sounding... not thick and full as was expected.

The only solution, in my opinion, is to run it independently through a more Hi Fi amp setup.

Again, the potential is there. Its great for recording, but too thin when used live through guitar speaker cabs.

No worries, EHX, I am gonna keep this puppy. Its a masterstroke for its design intentions.

Some digital effects will work on bass guitar even if they don't mention it. I didn't find this pedal very effective with bass guitars or acoustic guitars. I suspect you need a guitar with a fairly hot humbucking signal and it might be better to record it directly in to a console or a computer interface instead of an amp. I think it works better if you put the character features around 1030 and 130 respectfully and have the guitar signal up around 8 o'clock. The best sound seem to be the ones that you might associate with the rock band rush.

So when I first saw the video I was like yeah, gotta have have it. I was having Sweetwater build me a pedalboard and I wanted the Synth 9 on it for sure! When I received the board everything was working great. Went to mess with it again the 2nd day and no sound from the Synth 9. Was basically acting like a kill switch. When activated it would kill all sound but when off everything else worked fine. Of course Sweetwaters awesome support got me a replacement the next day while I sent back the faulty unit. Got the 2nd one installed everything was peachy king. Worked fine for a few weeks then one day I get to the gig and boom no sound so I'll be sending it back again and I'll try one more time and hope for the best. Very disappointed with it so far was really diggin' this pedal but if 3 times isn't the charm then I guess it'll be a strike out. Also want to say that Mark Magdich is the man!! He's always on top of things and helping me with any issues I may have as well as the Tech Support team. That's why I never make any major purchases anywhere else because I know Sweetwater always has my back!

The Synth 9 works better on guitar than bass, which is a bit of a drag, because I mainly got it to use with a bass. It definitely does have it's charms, mainly when paired with a reverb pedal for some dreamy synth sounds. Due to some of the issues mentioned below, I almost returned it to Sweetwater 2 days after receiving it. Upon further review, it did open up a rush of creativity on some settings with reverb (and sometimes chorus) with my Squire Bass VI. It does make some really cool sounds...sometimes.

If you're looking for a pedal that will give you a reliable tracking experience over faster runs (and I'm only talking Devo fast, which these days doesn't seem to be very fast at all), particularly on the Mood Bass setting, you might be disappointed.

As another reviewer mentioned, this pedal can be very noisy on some settings. You'll hear random scratchy notes while muting the strings, which is maddening. I've never used a noise gate before on bass, but I may need to pick one up just to use this pedal live. If I had to describe this pedal's performance in one word, that word would be "moody." This issue occurs with both passive and active basses.

One thing I really, really dislike about this pedal (that I wish I discovered before I removed the feet and 3M Dual Locked it to my pedal board) is this weird design flaw that forces you to unplug the power cord from the pedal, just to pop it back in, before you start playing. If you don't, stomping on the switch will give you a big fat zero. Again, as someone mentioned in another review (wish I'd noticed these reviews before I bought the pedal), it acts like a kill switch if you don't do this. Unplugging the power supply from the wall doesn't remedy the situation (and possibly has some way of causing it), so be prepared for that extra minor, yet annoying step. Every. Time. You. Use. It.

Another unfortunate design element involves the locations of the stomp button and selector switch. It's very easy to knock the selector switch to another setting when stomping on the button. I've done it enough times in rehearsals and home use that I'm a tad hesitant to use it in a live situation, which is what I bought it for.

I'm still putting it through it's paces in rehearsals, and unless I decide to pitch it off the Space Needle in a fit of rage first, I do plan to use it at my next show. Bearing all of this in mind, right now I can see myself using this pedal only sparingly live, and maybe in the studio. But it sure can be fun to screw around with at home.

When the video said "vintage", I underestimated how "vintage" this pedal would sound! It's the "Night Rider" soundtrack!! I may keep it but. man, it will take time and patience to get any usable sounds for today's music. So far I've massaged two sounds out of this thing. $ is a lot for two sounds...oh and violins!

I'm talking myself into returning it...

I enjoyed using this pedal but it barely outlasted the warranty. It got noisy and started generating distorted tones of its own. EH accused me of using "dirty cables" which is utterly ridiculous since I'd purchased a new pedalboard, cabling, and power supply along with it.

I had hopes but mine did not last very far past its first birthday. It is a roll of the dice when buying outsourced products these days. I did not use it that much and it began making a lot of other noise before it died. Electro Harmonics claimed I was using dirty cables. I bought new cables with the unit. Never again.

I don't care how good a pedal sounds, if the dry knob don't work, and the manufacturer ignores my support request, then I have no use for it. I am not happy with the pedal or EHX support.

Hello EHX,

How do I get the dry knob on the syth9, and the C9 as well, to do anything?, while using the correct adapter that came with these pedals, with output at the effect plug, and wearing headphones, I turned down the effects knob all the way and the dry knob does nothing to the signal, I still hear dry guitar even with the dry knob all the way down, and when the effect knob is brought back up, even all the way, I can still hear the dry signal, again even when the dry knob is turned all the way down, the only way I am able to control the amount of dry signal I am hearing is by turning the effects knob up trying to mask the dry guitar, but even with the effect knob all the way up I'm still hearing some dry guitar coming through.

Another customer of EHX asked this same question and was told to change a DIP switch setting inside the pedal, to me that's an odd suggestion to make a pedal work as you would expect when you buy it, and from what I am reading online that DIP switch setting has nothing to do with the issue being reported.

I actually ordered the B9 and Bass 9 yesterday morning from Sweetwater, because I was so happy when I initially played with the C9 and synth9, but after playing around with the pedals further and seeing no effect with the dry knob, and seeing other users online, and here at the EHX site, reporting the same issue I had to cancel the order, and will send these pedals back to Sweetwater as well, along with my reviews, If I can't get some guidance on how to get these dry knobs to act as I expect.

ONE BUSINESS WEEK LATER AND STLL NO REPLY FROM EHX

The tracking is quite terrible, signal falloff sounds like the amp is shorting (It isn't), it barely works on guitar, it works less on bass, it randomly cuts out killing all signal to your rig which then the only remedy is unplugging and plugging it back for a reboot.

This thing has been treated like a princess since day one living on nothing but clean, isolated power. It's just awful quality, at an awful price.

This is so bad that I will likely not buy another ehx pedal for a very, very, VERY long time, if ever again. $ for a brick I can't return anymore and is too light to be a door-stop. I leave it on my desk now to remind me I paid my 'Stupid Tax' for the year. Spare yourself the pain, save your cash and get an envelope filter. You'll likely be happier.