Electro-Harmonix B9 Organ Machine - Get it simply for the Cathedral synth

B9 Organ Machine by Electro-Harmonix

Castlevania in the palm of your hand

This is a synthesizer pedal, which means you can make your guitar sound like an organ - a B series tone wheel organ. In particular, this organ:

Guitarists don't hold down more than four or five notes at a time to play a chord, whilst organ players hold down seven or eight. Those keyboard chords take two hands! You'll be able to play House of the Rising Sun just like the Animals. The types of configurations you can get with the Dry, Organ, Mod, and Click knobs enables you to mimic well, and transform your own tone well. This pedal allows for you to have a dynamic take on what you're playing. The Dry knob is the tone of your guitar going into the stompbox. The Organ is, of course, the volume of the organ synth that's being added on top.

The Dry knob means you can add an organ underneath the tone of your guitar, which will play alongside of it. This is very useful, if you're wanting to be a versatile rhythm guitarist. This pedal might jump out at the indie rocker kids, which might seem distasteful; don't be fooled. This pedal is for a guitarist who's related to a pianist. There's a certain spot this pedal hits in the brain where, when you close your eyes and focus, you can truly emulate the instrument you're synthesizing. When the Dry knob's all the way to the left, you are simply playing an organ. Keep this in mind.

The Organ knob's the volume knob, really. This controls the computerized synth program running off of which voice you've selected. Since these synths are computerized, you'll have to give it about half a second response time; don't try to shred out the notes. This is the center of your new addition to your tone, so get comfortable with how this knob impacts your amp. 

The Mod knob will modulate the particular voice you've got selected. Each program has its own impact with this knob, but what I've gotten out of the Fat and Full is you can change the harmonics from lower to higher. Basically, where you are getting a seventh out of the chord you're playing, you can mod it into a ninth. Each preset has a distinctive tone, with ample time to be had trying out different levels of Mod for each one. What I started noticing is how having a lot of modulation on the octave voice enabled me to have a very chorus-like sustain effect. 

The Click knob is the coolest part. The older electric organs' clicks would usually get recorded. There wasn't a way to cancel out the sound of the keys being pressed, so this pedal includes an entire knob for that percussive aspect. It's cool. With a little bit of this knob, and the right kind of approach, you really will sound exactly like an organ. This click feature, from what I was experiencing first hand, put a lot of emphasis on your downstroke. For a really elusively written lead, the amount of click you'd want would really sell the piece as being for an organist. Finally, there's separate channels for the Dry and the Organ on the left side of the B9 Organ Machine. This means you can have the Organ synth coming out of its own amp. 

This is a newer pedal, and therefore it's in the $200 range. Definitely worth it. 

1. You'll need a 9 volt power adapter
2. You'll need additional guitar cable