After years of playing a guitar synth, I traded it for the EHX set of pedals: Synth9, C9, and Mel9.
The EHX Synth9 and C9 pedals give a synth or organ tone without a MIDI pickup or special wiring. They track really well, even on the lower E and A strings – something that a MIDI pickup just does not do well.
The Synth9 is my favorite. It can do synth pads, synth leads – similar to a monophonic synth like the classic EHX Mini Synth, or a Mini Moog-like tone. Plus it shines with a String synth pad that is great for filling in your sound on solo gigs.
How I use the Synth9 pedal
I include the Synth9 early in my signal chain, eventually feeding into a Ditto Looper X2.
I may play a synth pad with a long Attack. Then lock it into the looper and switch and play a guitar lead over the top of it.
I mix in the String Synth to add a light pad to fill in the gaps playing acoustic guitar in a solo gig at a coffee shop or in a church worship band.
I also use the Mood Bass for a synth bass while recording.
The pedal blends really well. The Ctrl1 and Ctrl2 buttons control the wide range of variation in the synth sounds, especially on Mini Mood and EHX Mini. The only downside is that sometimes this is too much variation and is hard to duplicate at the next gig.
Check out the demo on YouTube:
Hearing him play “Subdivisions” by Rush on here is amazing.
Get the EHX Synth9 pedal here:
