Eventide H9 - Your thoughts?

WindmillGuitars

Thinking of buying an H9 - any thoughts?

Ro_S

It's not a format that appeals to me - nor the cost.

simonk

Didn't really bond with mine. The sounds are OK although everything had a digital sheen to my ears. I tried gigging with it and it did my head in usability wise.

jamiexsilver

Really like mine. I'd definitely recommend a midi switcher for changed presets and the aux switch, they make it so much easier to use.

kjdowd

simonk said:

Didn't really bond with mine. The sounds are OK although everything had a digital sheen to my ears. I tried gigging with it and it did my head in usability wise.

Seconded all round. Think I just don't like the eventide sound

BintyTwanger77

I think they're fantastic, the Max is one of the most versatile pedals ever made. You could get away with using an H9 and a drive pedal for a whole gig.

hotpickups

I've been tempted for some time but the max, which is the one I'd interested in, is soooo pricey. I'll be sticking to my mobius for the time being as that's easy to tweak during a gig etc

Drew_TNBD

Great pedal, but yes I concur with the others... the usability leaves a lot to be desired. I didn't like scrolling through all the parameters.

menamestom

The Max, £650 for a pedal that can only really have one effect on at a time is a bit steep, considering the Helix LT is not much more.  I appreciate you are paying for the Eventide crafted algorithms but at that price they should update the hardware to be able to run 3 or 4 simultaneous effects.    Also with other manufacturers adding additional effects with free firmware updates ( Neaunaber, Fractal, Line 6, etc), the H9 looks particularily esoteric against the competition.   Plus you can buy the Zoom version for £75  

All that said, I would love one for my mini board!

BintyTwanger77

menamestom said:

The Max, £650 for a pedal that can only really have one effect on at a time is a bit steep, considering the Helix LT is not much more.  I appreciate you are paying for the Eventide crafted algorithms but at that price they should update the hardware to be able to run 3 or 4 simultaneous effects.    Also with other manufacturers adding additional effects with free firmware updates ( Neaunaber, Fractal, Line 6, etc), the H9 looks particularily esoteric against the competition.   Plus you can buy the Zoom version for £75  

All that said, I would love one for my mini board!

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but the H9 is really not a case of "one effect at a time" when so many of its algorithms use more than one effect. Spring reverb has a built in trem, ModEchoVerb has (obviously) 3, the latest algorithm has fuzz, three pitchshifters and two delays working simultaneously!

sgosden

BintyTwanger77 said:

menamestom said:

The Max, £650 for a pedal that can only really have one effect on at a time is a bit steep, considering the Helix LT is not much more.  I appreciate you are paying for the Eventide crafted algorithms but at that price they should update the hardware to be able to run 3 or 4 simultaneous effects.    Also with other manufacturers adding additional effects with free firmware updates ( Neaunaber, Fractal, Line 6, etc), the H9 looks particularily esoteric against the competition.   Plus you can buy the Zoom version for £75  

All that said, I would love one for my mini board!

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but the H9 is really not a case of "one effect at a time" when so many of its algorithms use more than one effect. Spring reverb has a built in trem, ModEchoVerb has (obviously) 3, the latest algorithm has fuzz, three pitchshifters and two delays working simultaneously!

obviously eventide know what they're doing with their algos, and know what to combine for some great sounds.
But it'd agree the lack of user options to simply run two existing algos at the same time (series or parallel) seems short sighted, and almost too pushy to get a second unit.

peteri

I had a H9 for a while, I found many of the sounds very good.

In the end I sold it and went down the Strymon route - few reasons:

1. I had a core and the price of the algorithms went up to £19.99 each, for that price - the Mobius actually worked out cheaper used!

2. Interface - I just found the Mobius easier to programme

3. Interface - switching presets is a pain without an add-on pedal, problem is if you do that you lose the expression input (unless you pay a lot more for a midi controller pedal)

4. Sounds - I found the Mobius better for the bread and butter modulations. The H9 wins because you can do more with it, the wah was great for example, as was the fuzz. But for chorus/phaser/flanger - I preferred the Mobius

hubobulous

I love mine. Using the app makes programming extremely simple, especially for using an expression pedal to change any of the parameters. I'd never use it without the app when forming a patch, but that's not really an issue.

So much more than a mod, delay and reverb pedal.

GavRichList

On point one; if you go to the store via a desktop version of the H9 controller, you're offered PayPal as a payment option. It then converts the USD price (also 19.99) to pounds. 

As such, you pay about £14 for an algorithm. Imagine my delight when I found that out. 

FreddieVanHalen

I have a H9 Max and bought a cheap b-stock core to go with it so I could share the max algos across both units.

The pedal interface is a PITA so I use an iPad to setup sounds and then use a midi switcher to recall those presets. Works for me but it's obviously very far from tweak on the board on the fly like a more traditional setup.

Having the iPad interface means it's quite nice not to have to bend down to the board to tweak things and I'm getting old these days :-)

So I'm a fanboi, but I probably wouldn't be without the iOS interface being available.

menamestom

BintyTwanger77 said:

menamestom said:

The Max, £650 for a pedal that can only really have one effect on at a time is a bit steep, considering the Helix LT is not much more.  I appreciate you are paying for the Eventide crafted algorithms but at that price they should update the hardware to be able to run 3 or 4 simultaneous effects.    Also with other manufacturers adding additional effects with free firmware updates ( Neaunaber, Fractal, Line 6, etc), the H9 looks particularily esoteric against the competition.   Plus you can buy the Zoom version for £75  

All that said, I would love one for my mini board!

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but the H9 is really not a case of "one effect at a time" when so many of its algorithms use more than one effect. Spring reverb has a built in trem, ModEchoVerb has (obviously) 3, the latest algorithm has fuzz, three pitchshifters and two delays working simultaneously!

Yeah I've seen that, which is fair enough, but most MFX have combined effects.  The Zoom G3 has similar slots.  I'm not saying they are of the same quality, but it still would be nice at Eventide prices to give a little more for the $$$

professorben

It entirely depends on what you want it for. 

I use use mine as @BintyTwanger77 suggested with just a dirt pedal, I have a loop switcher controlling midi signals to the H9 and Amp Switching. 

Its beautiful, I've never heard fx like it, admittedly I've not tried Helix/AxeFx but they are light years ahead of any other unit I've ever tried/owned. 

In many ways I relish the 'limitation' of running one Algorithm at once, as it forces me to use my fx more judiciously, otherwise EVERY preset would have wads of been, delay, modulation and pitch all over it. 

Having said that, I bought a 2nd hand Core that came with a few purchased
Algos:
Chorus
Flanger
Phaser
Tape Echo
Vintage Delay
UltraTap

and I recently bought SpaceTime which is Delay/Reverb/Chorus in one. 

I set up using Pre/Post so I can flip the h9 to be either in front of my amp or the loop, as an example of how versatile it is I can use it as a booster in the loop with verb and delay for my solo tone by pushing up the output on one preset, I pair my ancient IPad to it and I'm able to craft epic presets without even bending down in rehearsal. 

I love mine, but I'm very much using it as it's been designed, not trying to make it fit my existing work method, I'm just lucky that my style suits it so well. 

professorben

Oh and anytime I gas for a new pedal, I open up the app and buy one for £20!!!
Awesome. 

BintyTwanger77

professorben said:

Oh and anytime I gas for a new pedal, I open up the app and buy one for £20!!!
Awesome. 

Glad you're still getting on well with yours. I may put my money with my mouth is, lock the rest of my pedals away and make do with just the H9, Chase Bliss drive and comp (and the amp reverb & trem) for a while, as you suggest to use effects sparingly and focus on the playing.

As I've said, for what it does, the flexibility, the size, the incredible sounds, the H9 is a work of engineering genius.

rsvmark

Recommended. It does so much but can be in the back ground just as much or as little as you want. Infinitely flexible

professorben

BintyTwanger77 said:

professorben said:

Oh and anytime I gas for a new pedal, I open up the app and buy one for £20!!!
Awesome. 

Glad you're still getting on well with yours. I may put my money with my mouth is, lock the rest of my pedals away and make do with just the H9, Chase Bliss drive and comp (and the amp reverb & trem) for a while, as you suggest to use effects sparingly and focus on the playing.

As I've said, for what it does, the flexibility, the size, the incredible sounds, the H9 is a work of engineering genius.

I wouldn't say I use fx sparingly lol. 

I just have it flip flip flopping around the signal chain. 
For example one song. 

Intro) Octave up and down,in front
Verse) H9 bypassed 
PreChorus) Flanger, in front
Chorus) Phaser , in front
Middle8) SpaceTime huge verb and delay, in loop, using tap tempo

all from one unit all controlled by switcher so just one button tap for each option. 

A lot is is said about you can only use one effect at once, but how often do you use multiple fx on a song?

maybe it's just me, but I rarely find myself using Delay and Verb and Mod and Pitch.......how often do you need 2 delays? 

really the only time I stack fx is when I'm 'going ambient' then it's just SpaceTime or ModEchoVerb, or Ultratap.