Sonic green

It's one of those days when I just have to hear something in action, otherwise, I would not be at peace. Maybe.

But anyway, I nearly placed an order for this one a second time, forgetting I actually own it & it's misplaced inside one of the guitar cases. Ibanez is not about the Tube Screamer exclusively but the Tube Screamer is the most regurgitated pedal ever, even by the manufacturer. This one here isn't a TS per se, it's a modified version manifesting more gain & mids. Before the turn of the century, there was an SD9 in production but this version has a midrange spike to it.

The reason I wanted to hear it in action is a simple one; I wish to compare its drive & frequency performance against my Archer. It's obviously the wrong thing to do as this SD9M has more midrange but not more treble. The overall tone in question differed rather markedly. Coming from an Ibanez brand of drive, especially one which is TS related, there is this brand of smoothness unlike what other pedals would manifest. Knowing this presence, I attempted to polish a brash-sounding Marshall JCM800 which quite frankly, was not the right reference for the job. The SD9M made the aforementioned Marshall's midrange more pronounced, not excessive, just a little more outgoing & the smooth-ing effect wasn't convincing. It's a different story if one cascades a mild drive pedal into it, it's able to push things in a particular direction which does magnify smoothness to a certain degree. All in all, the SD9M is a worthy pedal to own.