Ibanez SM9 Super Metal

The Ibanez SM9 Super Metal is a vintage distortion pedal from Ibanez's 9 Series, aimed at players chasing hard, metal-oriented gain. Ibanez produced it from 1982 to 1984, and it has not been re-issued since. TONEHOME, the independent reference for vintage effects, rates its availability on the used market as good and its collectibility as high¹. It belongs to the wider family of Ibanez distortion designs covered on our Distortion Pedals page.

What it does

The SM9 is a dedicated high-gain distortion: it takes a guitar signal and adds the saturated, aggressive clipping that metal playing calls for, in the same general territory as other Ibanez metal pedals of the era such as the MS10 Metal Charger and the SML Super Metal. TONEHOME classifies it simply as "SM9 Super Metal" within the 9 Series of Ibanez pedals¹.

The circuit's approach to tone shaping carried forward into later versions of the design. The Maxon SM-9 Pro+ Super Metal, distributed by Godlyke, forgoes conventional tone controls: "Forgoing the use of conventional tone controls, the SM-9 instead features Scoop and Edge knobs to dial in the riffage," according to the maker's product page. The Scoop and Edge knobs work much like a parametric equalizer, giving the player direct control over the midrange scoop and the treble edge that define the pedal's metal voicing².

Buying one today

Because production ended in 1984, every SM9 on the market is a vintage unit. TONEHOME describes availability as good, meaning examples surface regularly enough that a patient player can find one, and collectibility as high, which is worth keeping in mind when comparing prices against other 1980s Ibanez distortion pedals¹. The original owner's manual is available as a PDF from TONEHOME for players who want the factory documentation on controls and operation¹.

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