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TONE REPORT
GEAR
REVIEW
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Electro Harmonix
B9 ORGAN MACHINE
REVIEW BY PHILLIP DODGE
STREET PRICE $220.30
Building on the goodness of
the HOG and POG, ElectroHarmonix recently released
the B9 Organ Machine. If
you’ve been interested in
getting organ sounds from
your guitar, you need to
check out the B9 ASAP. The
tracking is flawless, the
emulations are spot on, and
the tweakability strikes the
perfect balance between plugand-play and option overload.
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The B9 offers controls for
Dry Volume, Organ Volume,
Modulation, Click, and Preset.
Click controls the attack of
the note in most cases—
it adjusts the amount of
Rhodes-style chime added to
the sound of the Bell Organ
mode and in the Continental
mode it adjusts vibrato depth.
The available presets range
from classic Hammond B3
sounds and a cathedral
GEAR REVIEW // Electro Harmonix B9 Organ Machine
organ, to a Vox Continental
and a combination of an
organ layered with a Rhodes
or Wurlitzer electric piano.
The B9 tracked beautifully
no matter what I threw at
it. Distorted, lower register
close intervals (major and
minor 2nds) can confuse it
ever so slightly, but just about
everything else was perfect.
It’s even fine with fuzzed out
full chords.
I’m a sucker for the Vox
Continental organ tones that
Steve Nieve served up on the
early Elvis Costello and the
Attractions records. So of
course, the first thing I did
with the B9 was to put it on
the “Continental” setting.
I laid into the organ parts
from “Radio, Radio” and was
blown away at not only the
tracking of the notes, but also
just how convincing the B9
sounded. I then made a few
tweaks and played “Black
Coffee in Bed” by Squeeze. It
was just as awesome. For the
Continental mode, the Mod
knob controls the speed of the
vibrato and the Click knob
controls the depth.
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TONE REPORT
GEAR
REVIEW
Running the B9 on the
Continental setting into the
new EHX Deluxe Bass Big
Muff created instant Black
Keys tones. With the dry
and effected signals of the
B9 both at 1 o’clock, the Click
and Mod at noon and the dry
switch on the Bass Big Muff
engaged, I got a tone that
was perfect for “Gold on the
Ceiling” by The Black Keys.
Of course I also played “I’m a
Tone
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Believer” and “Light My Fire.”
Both sounded as awesome as
you imagine. And that’s all
just on one setting. We still
have eight more settings to
consider.
The B9 also excels as a pad
for filling out a band mix.
I gigged it with my band a
few days after I got it and
everyone loved it. I’ve been
using a POG2 and a Leslie
simulator for a few years and
the B9 allowed me to get the
same tones in a smaller and
simpler package.
For pad work, I preferred
the Classic Rock, Jazz,
and Continental (without
modulation). In all cases, I
set the dry signal for unity
gain and dialed the organ
tone in around 30–40 percent.
At this level, you hear the
organ, but it doesn’t jump out
of the mix. It sounds great
GEAR REVIEW // Electro Harmonix B9 Organ Machine
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under clean arpeggios and
slightly gritty power chords.
The Classic Rock setting is the
darkest of the bunch, which
is why it works so well laying
under your guitar signal.
It’s also great on its own,
though—I used it for some
Who-inspired organ work as
well as the intro for “Untitled”
by the Cure.
Fat & Full, Jazz, and Gospel
are the settings for classic
Hammond B3 tones. Jazz was
especially fun for playing the
organ parts from all of the
Beastie Boys instrumentals.
The B9 obviously tracks well
with a clean guitar signal.
What amazed me is how well
it tracks when fed a distorted
signal. The B9 had no
problems deciphering big five
and six string chords coming
through of my Fulltone ‘69
Fuzz. This means you can
create a giant, My Bloody
Valentine wall of fuzz and
build a bubbling organ tone
underneath. Layering this
kind of wall of fuzz with the
Cathedral setting is immense.
One word of caution: Be
careful if you are running
the B9 into speakers that are
rated closely to your amps
output. The extra bass in
the B9 could be enough to
blow a speaker. For example,
I wouldn’t run the B9 into
a cranked AC30 with two
Celestion Blues. It will be
fine at moderate levels, but
could get dangerous (for the
speakers) if you really crank
the amp.
Of course, the B9 offers a
separate “dry out” if you want
to route your guitar to your
amp and the organ tones to
the P.A. I found this option
especially cool for using the
B9 as a pad. I ran the effect
out into a volume pedal, then
into the EHX Superego, and on
to the P.A. This allowed me to
fade in sustaining chord pads
under my guitar part and
have even greater control over
the effects on my guitar and
those on the B9.
At my bassist’s request, I tried
the B9 with bass and achieved
admirable results. Anything
from the low C on the A string
and on up tracked perfectly,
and amazing two- and
three-note chords still came
through clear. I had a lot of
fun using the bass into the B9
to recreate the low organ part
on “Love Song” by the Cure.
WHAT WE LIKE
The term might be overused,
but the B9 lives up to the
moniker of game changer.
Never before have you
been able to so easily and
accurately get authentic organ
tones out of an electric guitar.
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CONCERNS
None.
BUILD QUALITY
The B9 Organ Machine looks
great and sounds great. The
build quality feels extremely
solid. I’ve said it before and
I’ll say it again, I don’t like
the visibility (or lack there
of) of the EHX knobs on a
dark stage, but that’s an easy
modification.
VALUE
The B9 would be a good
value at double this price.
Considering I’ve been using a
POG2 and a Leslie simulator to
get just a few of these tones,
it’s easier on the wallet and
pedalboard real estate.
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