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EHX C9 Organ Machine

Electro-Harmonix releases another organ effect pedal for guitar, the C9 Organ Machine, featuring organ sounds from the late ’60s and ’70s.

EHX C9 Organ Machine

Related Feature:
EHX B9 Organ Machine

This pedal follows up on the success of the B9 Organ Machine, featuring the same technology but with 9 new organ presets that pay homage to tones popularized by artists like the Beatles, Ray Manzarek, Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, Led Zeppelin and more.

The C9 is essentially the same as the previously released B9, featuring the same interface and control set but with a different circuit that produces distinct set of sounds. Ironically these new sounds are actually modern recreation of old and familiar organ sounds.

The pedal is tweaked to morph your guitar signal into sounds that mimic particular organ tones as used on popular tracks from the late ’60s and 70s era. Familiar tracks were featured on the demo video of the pedal, and I must say many of them were no less than convincing if not totally impressive. Organ riffs from timeless songs like Strawberry Fields, Let it Be, Smoke on the Water and more were featured on the demo video. Check out the demo video below:

The C9’s layout follows the same format as the other Organ Machine, easy to use and straightforward, with all important controls directly accessible at the front fascia. The most important control of the pedal however is its the 9-position rotary switch that lets you select between 9 different popular organ types. This will let you select between various tone wheel organ sounds, mellotron flutes, electric organs, shimmer effect and a clavioline emulation.

To give you a better idea of what the various Presets are, the manual says:

  • Tone Wheel – Classic tone wheel-esque organ sound. MOD type: Chorus. CLICK sets level of click sound.
  • Prog – Homage to Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer. MOD type: Chorus. CLICK adjusts the level of two intervals: a fifth above and an octave below.
  • Compact – Imitates Ray Manzarek’s tone on the Door’s “Light My Fire.” MOD type: Vibrato. CLICK adjusts the level of upper harmonics.
  • Shimmer – Based on an effect popularized by Brain Eno and Daniel Lanois. MOD adjusts the attack time. CLICK controls the sustain amount.
  • Lord Purple – Jon Lord style organ sound of Deep Purple. Organ level controls the level of one set of 3 drawbars. MOD Type: Chorus. CLICK adjusts the level of a second set of 3 drawbars.
  • Mello Flutes – Mimics the Mellotron flute tape sound of The Beatles’ song “Strawberry Fields Forever.” MOD Type: Vibrato. CLICK adjusts the depth of the vibrato.
  • Blimp – Led Zeppelin type sound. MOD Type: Chorus. CLICK adjusts the level of upper harmonics.
  • Press Tone – Based on the organ sound as heard on The Beatles’ song “Let It Be.” MOD type: Chorus. CLICK sets level of click sound.
  • Telstar – Based on the Clavioline as used on The Tornadoes song “Telstar.” MOD Type: Vibrato. CLICK adjusts the level of upper harmonics.

Just like the B9 pedal, the Organ volume knob adjusts the volume of the effected sound while the Dry volume knob lets you adjust the volume of the uneffected instrument sound at the Organ Output jack. You can play with these settings to blend your original guitar signal with the organ sound, allowing for multiple sonic layers. Ofcourse you can set it to mute the guitar sound entirely for a truly organ like tone.

Other controls include the Mod knob that adjusts modulation speed and the Click knob that lets you tweak the percussive click level of your sound. In certain presets, the Click knob controls a special parameter unique to the preset such as upper harmonic level or modulation depth. EHX says that these controllable parameters were selected for each preset to optimize the tonal flexibility of each organ sound.

The company concludes: “The EHX C9 Organ Machine picks up where the B9 left off and delivers even more flavors of classic organ tone in a rugged, affordable package.”

The new EHX C9 Organ Machine pedal is bundled with a 9.6-Volt/DC200mA AC adapter and is expected to sell for just under $294. You can visit EHX for more information.

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