Guitarist Joe Satriani’s 1987 breakthrough record, Surfing with the Alien, was the first guitar instrumental album to sell significantly since Jeff Beck’s 1975 Blow by Blow. Its success catapulted Satch to the level of international guitar hero.

Satriani has always taken a proactive interest in his gear, first creating a line of guitars with Ibanez (complete with self-drawn graphics), and later through associations with classic amp manufacturers like Peavey. His latest project has been a pedal line designed in conjunction with Vox.

Vox is perhaps not the most obvious choice for collaboration. Their wah-wah long ago entered the realm of classic effects, but their more recent pedals, though solid, haven’t exactly set the gear world on fire. Still, Satriani has marketed a number of Vox units bearing his name to much acclaim. His Satchurator distortion (great name), Time Machine Delay, and Big Bad Wah have all found fans—and not merely among admirers of the man.

The guitarist obviously does not simply slap his signature on anything that engineers place in front of him. All of his pedals are the fruit of some serious collaboration and attention to detail. Some of these details may be more obvious to the professional musician than the bedroom punter, but they are what set his line apart from some other artist products.

Ice Ice Baby
“Ice-9” is a mythical substance in the famous Kurt Vonnegut novel, Cat’s Cradle. This fictional ice melts at 114.4 degrees Fahrenheit instead of the regular 32 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, it causes any water that comes in contact with it to freeze—global catastrophe ensues. It also happens to be the title of a Satriani song. What it has to do with overdrive is anybody’s guess, but it does sound, er, cool.

As with the other Satriani pedals, the Vox Ice 9 ($129 street) comes in a solid metal housing, this time finished in a snowy pearl sparkle. The controls include four blue chicken-head knobs (Gain, Tone, Bass, Volume), a mode switch (Modern and Vintage), and two footswitches (On and More) with accompanying LEDs. On the sides are 1/4-inch in and out jacks and an power adaptor input, and on the bottom is an easily accessible battery compartment. Satch’s signature appears discreetly on the front, under a printed Vox logo and the words “Designed in partnership with Joe Satriani.”

I tested the pedal with a Fernandes S-type guitar sporting DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups, and a Fender Blacktop-series Jazzmaster with its stock humbucker in the bridge and a Schroeder humbucking replacement in the neck. I plugged the pedal into Egnater Rebel 30 and Orange Tiny Terror amps.

Number 9, Number 9…
From the moment I stepped on the left footswitch, engaging the effect, the dynamic feel left little doubt that Ice 9 is an overdrive pedal rather than a distortion—though it offered a fair amount of gain. Unlike some overdrives, setting this Gain control at zero does not turn it into a completely clean boost—even here a bit of grit is in evidence. This is especially the case with the Bass turned up rather than down, as this control precedes the drive stage.

Engaging the Modern voicing, with its Germanium diode, tightened up the low end and kept the boost cleaner. There was plenty of level available from the Volume control, and the More switch added an extra 14dB without changing the character of the tone. Together they made this a great pedal for goosing the clean Rebel or slightly distorted Tiny Terror into two different stages of overdrive territory.

Gradually increasing the drive added more and more dirt. At every setting the distortion was amazingly amp-like and musical, with the pedal remaining dynamically reactive up to some of the higher reaches of overdrive.

A la Mode
The Vintage mode’s op amp and diode drive sounds warmer and feels looser than the Modern setting. I found that each had it uses—for blues-rock and classic fusion, the Vintage mode ruled. If I was purveying metal-style chunky rhythms, or if my amp was already warm and loose enough and I wanted to add some tight edge to the solos, the Modern mode prevailed.

I found the knobs and modes to be quite interactive. Some settings required the Tone to be almost full on to achieve presence, while others needed it backed off to avoid shrill highs. But overall I was able to dial in whatever tone I needed among these relatively few controls.

The Definition of Cool
Being truly cool is never about following the pack. It requires being an individual and being true to that individuality. Despite the glut of overdrives on the market, Ice 9 manages to sit in its own sonic space—it is not a Tube Screamer clone, nor a Rat reproduction. If you like Joe Satriani’s sound you will definitely find part of it here (the rest, of course, is in his guitars, amps, fingers, brain, and talent). But this Vox pedal is not just for Satch worshippers.

Ice 9 might not be for straight blues players—this is definitively a rock sound. But if your bag is any other kind of music that requires a versatile, musical, well-constructed overdrive, capable of creating everything from subtle natural breakup to screaming sustaining solos, this pedal is mos def worth checking out.

Pros: Wide range of overdrive and boost effects. Dynamic response. Unique sound.

Cons: None

Michael Ross in a New York City-based guitarist/producer/music journalist. He contributes articles to Guitar Player, Premier Guitar, Guitar Edge, EQ, Sound On Sound, and Gearwire.com. He is the author of the Hal Leonard books Getting Great Guitar Sounds and All About Effects.