Michael Landau spends two years redesigning and refining the Maxon SD-9 Sonic Distortion leading to the evolved and extended range Vemuram Butter Machine Distortion

I had meant to post this up earlier - but there’s just been so much going on of late - that I’m still kind of playing catch-up in some areas. This is a really interesting overlap with the recent TWA SH9 Scott Henderson Signature Smooth Sustaining Distortion review I featured on this site.

Michael and Scott are good friends, and have a similar appreciation for the Maxon SD-9 which has been a big part of both their signature sounds over the years. Both developed a similar theory about ’Note Gravity’ in terms of preserving the ’weight’ and sustain of notes higher up the fretboard. And seemingly both have collaborated with different companies / engineers to arrive at broadly similar solutions / resolutions - via their own respective signature Distortion pedals - one by Totally Wycked Audio, and the other by Vemuram.

Controls - Gain, Tone, Volume, Low-Mid, Sparkle.

I feel that the TWA version is a more straight-up refinement of the SD-9, while this Vemuram edition adds in 2 further controls on the reverse of the pedal - Low-Mid, and Sparkle - which surely help make that pedal more versatile / granular, and more suitable for different kinds of rigs - and guitars in particular.

The TWA SH9 is a highly specialist device - which is really honed for upper frets playing and note sustain / preservation. If you play that device on a humbucker guitar lower down the fretboard, and in a more conventional manner, then you soon run into challenges with slightly overloaded and booming low-end. Ideally for humbucker guitars you need some sort of low-end cut or tone-stack shift - to really make said pedal properly compatible with humbucker guitars.

I believe this is why we have extra Low-Mid and Sparkle controls on the Butter Machine! I’ve frequently talked about the specificity of some and certain artist signature pedals. It’s something that Thorpy is very careful with - for instance on the pedals he worked on for Victory Amps, and his own Dane and Scarlet Tunic pedals - several of those are proper artist signature pedals - but they’re designed with enough flexibility so that pretty much everyone can get something great out of those devices. If a signature pedal is too specific - it means that it’s kind of limited to the rig and playing preferences of just one artist.

You could say that the TWA SH9 somewhat has a foot in that particular category - while the two additional controls on the Vemuram Butter Machine - lift that out of said category. I recommended for the SH9 that there be some sort of SC / HB tone adjustment - but it’s a complicated process as it involves the artist endorsee - as well as the original Maxon engineer too - so buy-in and sign-off is needed from all parties. Vemuram and Michael Landau have made it very much part of their remit to make their take on the same sort of theme - a little more granular where it needs to be - to be more compatible with more rigs!

That said I’ve not had any hands-on with the Butter Machine yet. I’m still considering whether that’s something that needs to be in the reference collection. Because of their high pricing - Venuram pedals will typically always be ’nice-to-have’ rather than essential acquisitions for me. Of course it goes down on the wishlist - but I will bide my time, and If I decide I want one - I will of course play it somewhat opportunistically and wait for its price to drop slightly.

The Vemnuram Butter Machine Landau Distortion is available for order now from International dealers - where it goes for $395 | €469 | £419 and equivalent - definitely not an impulse buy!

There’s no official demo out yet - so I’ve used a Michael Landau rig rundown from around 8 years ago - in which the SD-9 features prominently - which should give some indication of the kinds of tones and dynamics Michael likes to get out of this sort of pedal. Think of the Butter Machine as a massively enhanced and honed version of that!