boomy, and generated a lot
of unusable low-end noise.
On SD mode, with the
cutoff turned all the way to
the left (“off” essentially),
it still suffered from
boominess and that low-end
annoyance. I found having
it at a little over 9 o’clock
helped alleviate some of
those boomier artifacts, but
there was still a little too
much low end disturbance
for my taste. The Tone
control is a filter, which gives
you a high end cutoff, useful
for taming the more shrill
frequencies.
Plugging this pedal in, I set
the pedal to SD mode and
began to play. It is in the
same ballpark as a Tube
Screamer (as one would
expect), but I find it was lot
clearer and more balanced.
Tube Screamers suffer from
midrange congestion, as
they are built for cutting
through the mix. They do
it well, but they can sound
boxy at times. The DS-9
took away everything
I dislike about a Tube
Screamer, and brought to
the forefront a beautiful,
articulate, and very tubelike grit.
I know, I succumbed to the
buzzword, but hear me out
before you tar-and-feather
me through the digital
streets of TGP. The DS-9 is
extremely open sounding,
and very rounded. It’s got
that mellow, hollow drive
that I lay awake at night
pining for. It has thick
bottom end, clear and open
mids, and a very crisp and
clear top that to me defines
what makes an overdrive
great. The whole point of
an overdrive is to make
your amp sound like it’s on
the edge of breakup, and
the DS-9 really sounded
like my amp on the verge
of grit, without deafening
me in the process. This
pedal was so tube-like, that
I decided to A/B it against
a real tube overdrive. The
DS-9 was utterly tubeless,
and utterly glorious. While
this unnamed tube pedal
still sounded great in its
own right, it just didn’t have
the same warm and clear
character the DS-9 had. My
favorite setting was on the
SD mode; diming the level
all the way, keeping the
distortion a little over noon,
the tone around 9 o’clock
and the cutoff between 9
and 10 o’clock. On the neck
pickup of a Strat, these are
the blues and fusion tones
you dream of. I busted out
Steely Dan and Jeff Beck
numbers (in both SD and DS
modes respectively), and
the DS-9 completely nailed
them. Slowing down with
a bit of David Gilmour or
Stevie Ray Vaughn, the
DS-9 handled them wi