I was born a synthesist. I didn’t know it until long after I had given up playing keyboards and spent years learning how to play bass and then guitar, but it’s true. My calling is not to be John Entwistle or Jimmy Page, but to be Suzanne Ciani or Edgar Froese. That probably explains why I’ve spent my entire musical life goofing around with funny little boxes on the floors of practice spaces. Being a huge fan of 70’s prog rock, I’ve spent a fair bit of my life listening to Hammond Organs, and I’ve owned more of them than any of us wants to talk about. Additionally, something about octave pedals caught my attention in a big way when I played bass, so I’ve gone through a ton of them over the years, including Electro-Harmonix’s mothership of harmonic sculpting, the HOG, and a POG 2. I love and loved them, but I never quite got into using them for organ sounds.

Then the B9 showed up, and I was immediately in love with the concept, if not all of the sounds. The Cathedral is super rad, but a lot of the other ones just don’t nail the organ sounds I’ve grown up loving. The C9, however, has presets for 4 of my favorite organ sounds of all time (Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, The Beatles’ Let It Be, and Thank You by Led Zeppelin). From that alone I knew I was going to be a big fan. Throw in Mellotron Flutes, a Clavioline and Shimmer and it’s a strong contender for Pedal of the Year.

I’ll go through each of the modes, and add commentary based on how much I like/love/hate/am indifferent towards them:
1. Tonewheel-classic Hammond sound. A little boring, but perfectly serviceable.
2. Prog-This one is supposedly based on Keith Emerson’s Hammond sound. In my opinion it could use a lot more bass and key click overall, but it’s still a great sound, and having the Click knob control how much lower fifth and sub octave there is in the sound is an excellent touch. This->light, bass heavy overdrive is bliss.
3. Compact-Vox Continental style sound. Perfect for indulging your inner 60’s garage band desires without finding a keyboard player, or nailing that Barrett era Pink Floyd cover your band trots out every third gig. Combo organs make for great sound sources in weirder effects chains, and this quasi-combo organ is no exception.
4. Shimmer-This mode is sheer perfection. Since the majority of the C9’s modes work best (for me) near the front of my effects chain, Shimmer is always a trip to mess with. Cranking the Attack and Sustain (controlled by the Mod and Click knobs) all the way up into distortions and other reverbs/delays/modulation is soundscaping heaven. I have every intention of abusing this mode for an excessive number of epic intros, spacey bridges between songs, and overdubs.
5. Lord Purple-Do yourself a favor and distort this mode. Get the distorted signal in parallel with the clean and go to town. On it’s own this mode is just too pristine for it’s namesake. Click knob gives you control over a second, independent organ sound that’s great for giving the aforementioned distortion more to play with.
6. Mello Flutes-Hands down my favorite mode. If they had released just this mode in a single pedal I still would have bought it. Mellotrons are awesome, but I’ve played them and the keyboards feel like ultra stiff MXR stomp switches. The C9 flutes sound great, and capture just enough of the Mellotron character to be a great in a pinch substitute. But honestly, I love this mode above all else because it’s the first time I’ve played anything that turned my guitar into a completely new instrument and did so with almost no forced compromise. Playing the C9 on Mello Flute is so natural that I can tell already I’ve gotta be careful to not overuse it. Hit it with a compressor and it gets this wooly edge to it that cuts through anything.
7. Blimp-Based on Thank You by Led Zeppelin. Cool mode, kind of overlapping with the other Hammond based modes a good bit, but it’s just different enough in all the right ways that it doesn’t need any distortion.
8. Press Tone-Billy Preston was a musical treasure. If you don’t believe me, shut up and listen to Let It Be by the Beatles’ or I Got The Blues by the Rolling Stones and tell me that that isn’t some of the finest Hammond playing on any rock record you’ve ever heard. I’m glad this sound exists on this pedal if for nothing other than it is a quintessentially perfect Hammond tone.
9. Telstar-It’s kitschy, it’s stupid, it’s awesome. Much like Mello Flutes, this one is just so natural to play that it’s easy to forget you’re playing a guitar pedal. Probably my second favorite mode, and the one that has forced me to add Telstar to my sets. It’s awesome for soloing, and will slice through the densest mixes by virtue of it being raw, bright and nasty.

I love this pedal, and you should go buy it so Electro-Harmonix keeps making really sweet stuff like it.

Submitted by Bubba A, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES, CONTEST INFO, SEE OUR LATEST DEMO VIDEOS AND MORE:

More info at: