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TWA

SH9™ Scott Henderson signature distortion

SH9™ Scott Henderson signature distortion

Regular price $299.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $299.00 USD
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ORDER NOW! Please allow up to 10 business days for us to build and test your SH9™.


TWA SH9™ Scott Henderson Signature Distortion

"The SH9 is the best distortion pedal I’ve heard for live playing, and sounds equally great on the bridge and neck pickups. It has all the compression and punchiness needed for legato playing, plus a versatile tone knob, a low, clear bass frequency, and an overall fat and musical tone. This pedal rocks!"
-Scott Henderson

  • Signature distortion pedal inspired by classic SD-9 circuit
  • Thick, compressed, amp-like tone
  • Improved Bass and lower Midrange response
  • Increased “girth” on high-register notes
  • Allows notes to “speak” properly
  • Increased output level
  • JRC4558 OpAmp
  • Optional 18vdc operation for increased headroom, less compression and alternate drive signature
  • True Bypass switching
  • Die cast zinc enclosure with custom powder coat
  • Made in USA

    Guitar Player Editors' Pick Award goes to TWA SH9 Scott Henderson Signature Distortion Pedal Review
    Click to read the GP Review.

For the past 20 years, Jazz Fusion guitar great Scott Henderson has had a Maxon SD-9 Sonic Distortion parked on his pedalboard.  He’s even gone so far as to call it “…the best distortion pedal ever made.

Yet for all his praises, there were several shortcomings to the SD-9 that many players –Scott included– had discovered.  Chief among these were a loss of low-end on high notes and a Tone control that was basically unusable past the 9 o’clock setting.

Over the years, many boutique pedal builders have modified the SD-9 in hopes of improving its performance, but they have all missed the mark—Until now.

TWA is very excited to announce our first signature model, as well as our first collaboration with Tube Screamer creator Susumu Tamura – the Scott Henderson SH9 Signature Distortion.

With the SH9, Mr. Tamura has taken the basic SD-9 circuit architecture that he invented in 1981 and re-worked it to meet Scott Henderson’s exacting performance standards.

Mr. Tamura has shifted the center frequency of the SH9’s Tone control and focused it in the lows and lower-mids.  Even as the Tone control is turned up, there is no loss of the bass frequencies that Scott considers essential for allowing notes to speak properly in the higher registers on the guitar.

This increased note girth combined with the SH9’s inherently compressed sound allows Scott to effortlessly articulate the fluid, horn-like lead tones that he is known for.

Another useful improvement to the SH9 circuit is an increased output level that helps the pedal to be heard clearly in a full band context.

Mr. Tamura also designed the SH9 to operate with 9-or 18-volt power.  Although Scott only uses the pedal with 9-volts, powering it with 18 VDC will allow for increased headroom with less compression and a slightly different character to the distortion.

The SH9 is housed in a die-cast zinc chassis and coated with a beautiful and durable metallic purple powder coating that was chosen by Scott (we love it too!).

Only the highest quality components such as ALPS potentiometers, Marushin Jacks, KOA/Speer resistors and WIMA, Nichicon & Kemet capacitors are used in the SH9 circuit in order to maintain the highest standards of tonal reproduction.

The SH9 is available with two different faceplate screens:  The first version highlights the SH9 logo in the same trademark lime-green color as the original SD-9, while the second, all-white screen features a replication of Scott’s signature.

We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to both Scott Henderson and Susumu Tamura for their involvement in this project and their willingness to go above and beyond the norm.  We have learned many invaluable lessons during our interactions with these two Masters of their crafts. 

We are deeply honored to have been a part of the SH9 development.  We had been knocking this one about for the better part of three years, and there were several times that we didn’t think it would get off the ground – we’re very pleased that the SH9 has finally taken flight.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the limited nature of this pedal, long lead-times, and non-refundable transaction fees a 20% restocking fee will be charged on all canceled orders.


CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL BACKSTORY

 

 

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Customer Reviews

Based on 6 reviews
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B
Bill F
Serious Ferrari

When I couldn’t play with the level past 8 o’clock without the neighbors calling the police, I had to accept the brutal truth that a Toyota is more my style. Scott has always been an inspiration to me, but as an official senior citizen (74) I’m going to have to fall back and preserve what hearing I have left.
All hail Scott Henderson!

M
Mark B
A League of Its Own

The SH9 is voiced so very musically. The amount of harmonic detail and tonal color is truly inspiring. The SH9 is incredibly responsive to the nuances of a player's touch. For me, the sign of a great pedal is revealed in how many usable tones exist as you move along the volume (knob) spectrum. The SH9 doesn't make me play like Scott Henderson but it does allow me to be the best I can be.

J
John Galvez
Fantastic sound

I love the new pedal. great tone and dynamic response. Great job !

R
Ryan Swing
SH9

Great pedal! Killer low end keeping the guitar full sounding no matter if your playing lead or rhythm! Best OD Ive ever played!

K
Kevin S. Kuhagen
SH9 is the Best

Scott Henderson has very developed hearing, and he pinpointed subtle nuances that Susumu Tamura tailored to improve the pedal’s tone to where responsiveness seems to have been optimized. I could tell a little from the initial video, but it’s even moe apparent playing through it. It’s open and airy highs complement the warm, thick upper-mids, rounding the spectrum off with a rich low end. This is exactly what I hoped it would be.