If you are a frequent visitor to this website you know by now I am a huge Eventide fanboy. I make no excuses nor apologies for my love of their products. Let’s put this in perspective Eddie VanHalen, John Petrucci, Peter Frampton and Jimmy Page all trust Eventide for their signature sounds. Now Eventide has packaged decades of domain knowledge in the arena of signal processing into one neat little package called the H9 Max.
Being a H9 user I get hit with the question often to explain the difference between the H9, H9 Core and H9 Max. The hardware is exactly the same with all three devices. In fact any H9 Core and H9 can become a H9 Max with a simple software upgrade. This is what I recently did myself.
So what does the H9 Max give me? Simply stated everything. The H9 Max includes effects, associated presets and algorithms from the TimeFactor, ModFactor, PitchFactor and Space Eventide stompboxes. From the TimeFactor 9 Delay algorithms + Looper, ModFactor 10 Modulation algorithms, PitchFactor 10 Pitch + Delay algorithms and from the Space 12 Reverb algorithms.
The H9 Max also has Eventide exclusives UltraTap, Resonator, EQ Compressor and CrushStation. CrushStation is the newest release from Eventide and may I say a mind blower. CrushStation is Eventide’s first foray into the world of overdrive and distortion boasting 10 fantastic presets. CrushStation will take you from the depths of molten metal to smooth creamy slightly overdriven tube tones. You also have the option to “sag” overdrive giving you the effect of an under powered pedal. Add to that the ability to drop pitch and dial in your mid frequencies. You can get the CrushStation to deliver thick blistering tones.
The real world applications for the H9 Max are unlimited. Being able to ditch my entire pedal board for a single stomp is amazing. I have the Space reverbs that I love so dearly for my leads, my ambient ModFactor patches and Via like PitchFactor presets all in one pedal. With my expression pedal plugged into the H9 Max I can also put my Wah and Whammy pedals in mothballs. The H9 Max is the answer for all of my live tones. If that wasn’t enough I was also able to put my pedal tuner in mothballs also. Yes, the H9 has a built in tuner. I am not alone with this. Vernon Reid, Brad Whitford and Bootsy Collins are all H9 Max devotees. The 99 presets are more than enough for even these superstars to play through vast catalogs of songs demanding a huge array of tones.
Making the H9 Max even more attractive is the Bluetooth iOS interface and interface for Windows. I can tweak my parameters on my iPad or directly on the pedal. Having multiple ways to manage your tones is a dream.
Here is where the H9 Max really makes sense. The H9 Max also includes all future algorithms created for the platform at no additional charge. After buying a H9 Max or by using Eventide’s Max Out program for your current H9 Core or H9 the algorithms keep on coming. This makes me feel like a member of an exclusive club for musicians with an exceptional ear.
You can learn more about the H9 Max, the Max Out program and all of Eventide’s phenomenal products on their website, FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
