TWA SH9 Scott Henderson Signature Distortion review

I might be in the minority, but I’ll take a great distortion pedal any day over an overdrive. Why? For one, I love the sustain and saturation, and furthermore, by simply rolling back the gain or my guitar’s volume knob – voilà, I have overdrive. It’s not that complicated. 

What seems complicated, though, is that it took nearly three years to create the TWA SH9 Scott Henderson signature distortion pedal. The intensive collaboration between jazz/blues fusion guitar giant Scott Henderson and creator of the legendary Tube Screamer, Susumu Tamura, has yielded the TWA SH9 – a massive improvement and pronounced mod of the classic Ibanez SD-9 Sonic Distortion (also a Tamura original) and reissue Maxon SD-9 Sonic Distortion pedals. 

If you’ve been following the meticulous work of Tamura, you’ll find he’s spent a great deal of time updating his Screamer creations with the likes of the impeccable Apex 808 Overdrive, among a few other notable Tamura-Mod Screamers. 

Now, Tamura’s cloistered focus to build a better mousetrap is undeniable with the arrival of the TWA SH-9, Henderson’s newly minted signature pedal. And while Henderson declared the former SD-9 “the best distortion pedal ever made” – you are entitled to debate that – I can soundly say, as someone who owns the reissue, this new iteration is the finest Sonic Distortion available. 

Henderson had laid out a litany of shortcomings from the original pedal (from the narrow range of the tone control to the lack of low end), all of which Tamura addressed by redesigning the tone stack, shifting the center frequency of the Tone control to emphasize the lower-mids, increasing output level, and allowing the SH9 to operate with 9- or 18-volt power (for increased headroom with less compression and a slightly different distortion character). 

Also, premium components such as ALPS potentiometers, Marushin jacks, KOA/Speer resistors and WIMA, Nichicon, and Kemet capacitors are used throughout the SH9 circuit in order to maintain the utmost fidelity. Gone is the sickly lime green paint job for a traditional die-cast zinc chassis in a metallic purple powder coating (with a choice of faceplate logo colors), and true-bypass operation. 

I still hold fast that the SD-9 is a great pedal with a distinct distortion unlike any other, despite its limitations. If anything, its smooth character can be pinpointed as warmly overdriven with scooped mids and borderline fuzzy at its peak. But now it’s impossible to dispute the SH9’s renewed vitality as a Sonic Distortion on steroids. 

Here, the saturation is sonically animated and richly layered, and just like Tamura’s other mods, every frequency detail is widely enhanced and boldly accentuated with clarity. Single notes sound thick, with just the right amount of compression to make guitar solos sing with fluid warmth. 

It’s no surprise Henderson is smitten with his upgraded signature pedal, and you’d be too if you dig a distortion with unparalleled responsiveness. The pedal is indeed costly, but Tamura seems to have nailed the tonal recipe for discriminating players who demand their gain pedals to be second to none.

Specs

• PRICE: $299
• ORIGIN: USA
• TYPE: Distortion pedal
• CONTROLS: Distortion, Level Tone
• FEATURES: RC4558 OpAmp, ALPS potentiometers, Marushin jacks, KOA/Speer resistors and WIMA, Nichicon and Kemet capacitors
• POWER: 9-18V DC
• BYPASS: True bypass
• CONTACT: TWA, godlyke.com