Scott Henderson

Scott Henderson is a jazz fusion guitarist from the United States¹. His pedalboard history runs from Analog Man modified Tube Screamers in the early 2000s to a Maxon SD-9 Sonic Distortion that stayed on his live board for around 20 years, and it has since produced two signature pedals: the TWA SH9 distortion and the Vertex Scott Henderson Signature Volume Pedal.

The trio years with Kirk Covington and John Humphrey

In the late 1990s Henderson toured and recorded with a trio: Kirk Covington on drums and vocals, and John Humphrey on bass⁶. A LunaStone artist feature on Henderson pairs his gear discussion with a performance of "Devil Boy," a fusion-blues piece from that trio⁶.

The same feature points to something central to how he plays: he rides the volume knob on the guitar a lot to clean up the drive tone⁶. Rather than stepping on a pedal to drop from distortion to a cleaner sound, he works the guitar's own volume control.

Tube Screamers on Well to the Bone

Henderson's overdrive sound in the early 2000s came from Analog Man modified Tube Screamers. He started using Analog Man's CLASSIC mod in very early 2001, after selling his original TS9 and TS808 pedals⁷. In February 2001 he praised the TS9/808 he had received:

In July 2002 a friend brought him one of Analog Man's SILVER mods, and by late November 2002 he was still using the silver TS9/808⁹⁷. That pedal made it onto record: he used the TS9/808 on his August 2002 album Well to the Bone, on tracks 1, 5, 6 and 9, and on tracks 1 and 9 he ran it into a Roger Mayer Voodoo-1⁸. Analog Man also notes that Tube Screamers work well for stacking into other pedals to add thickness and sustain, which is exactly how Henderson used it on those two tracks⁸.

Why he moved to a modified Maxon SD9

For many years Henderson's live distortion was the stock Maxon SD-9 Sonic Distortion, and he did not hold back about it:

He described it as having "the clarity and punch you get from a pedal, while retaining the low bass you get with amp distortion," and as one of the rare pedals that sound equally great on both neck and bridge pickups, humbucking or single coil¹⁰. He had the pedal on his board for about 20 years⁴⁵.

Even so, the SD-9 had shortcomings he and others recognized: a loss of low end on high notes, and a Tone control that was basically unusable past the 9 o'clock setting⁵. Vintage Guitar's reviewer, comparing the SD-9 with the OD-9, found it colored the tone more and worked better as a straight distortion pedal than as an overdrive boost¹¹.

Henderson also used Analog Man's modified SD9 for a while, and Analog Man notes he liked the Maxon SD9 more than the Ibanez⁸. In 2007 Analog Man developed an SD9 mod with guitarist Roger Filgate that added a midrange trim pot to the board, to help the pedal cut through with a band live⁸.

The SD-9's place in Henderson's rig reached further than his own board. Maxon designer Susumu Tamura analyzed Henderson's tone from recordings and researched his rig to work out how the pedal interacted with the rest of the signal chain¹². That work led to the Maxon SSD-9 Super Sonic Distortion: Guitar World reported that SSD-9 development began when Tamura dove into Henderson's rig to see how the SD-9 interacted with his pedalboard, a process Tamura described as a happy accident¹³¹⁴.

The signature pedals

Henderson's long run with the SD-9 eventually produced two signature distortions. The Maxon SD-9SH, announced in early 2020, built his suggested tweaks into a pedal he had described in his own words as "the best distortion pedal EVER made, period"¹⁵¹⁶. Then came the TWA SH9 Scott Henderson Signature Distortion, a pedal inspired by the classic SD-9 circuit with a redesigned tone stack, its center frequency shifted for more focus in the lows and lower-mids²¹⁷.

The SH9's stated improvements over the SD-9 address exactly the shortcomings Henderson had lived with²⁵:

• Improved bass and lower midrange response
• Increased girth on high-register notes
• Increased output level
• JRC4558 op amp
• Optional 18V operation for more headroom
• True bypass switching
• Construction in the USA

Henderson's own verdict on the finished pedal:

Guitar World's Paul Riario reviewed the SH9 and called it "the best Sonic Distortion you will find, and is up there as one of the best distortion pedals you can put on your 'board right now"¹⁹.

His other signature pedal is the Vertex Scott Henderson Signature Volume Pedal, a passive design built for low impedance signals from a buffered board, rack or amp effects loop. Vertex's modification simplifies the Boss FV-500 volume pedal circuit to the fewest components, which the maker says allows the organic tone and dynamics of the instrument to flow through³.

Boosters on the board

Henderson has also used Xotic boosters. He is named among players known to use the original RC Booster²⁰, and Xotic quotes him calling the RC Booster Classic "my dessert island pedal"²¹. His signature pick is included in the RC Booster's 20th Anniversary packaging, alongside those of other RC Booster superfans²². He loved using the AC Booster with his humbucker-loaded guitar and wanted a similar sound for his stock single-coil signature guitar, which led to the BB Preamp²³. He has also used the Lovepedal COT 50, saying he planned to record with it after seeing Michael Landau play one²⁴.

For a player tracing Henderson's sound, the thread is consistent: a midrange-forward distortion that holds its low end, Tube Screamers stacked into other drives, and the guitar's volume knob doing much of the cleanup work.

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