Reviews of all the Barber Pedals

Finally tried the Burn unit enough with humbuckers, too, so I'll give a short review.

It works great with both humbuckers and single coils. Some single coil users may not think there's enough drive, but it works great for me. Others may think there's too much drive, though...who knows?

It's very smooth and, yet, articulate. There are tons of useful tones in here, but I set it and forget it 'cause I love the sound I get. I love the fact that the bass trim pot is internal, because I always match the bass to my amp and leave it anyway. Between it, the tone knob being very wide and responsive, and the perfect amount of present midrange it works awesome. The pedal is voiced very well. There's plenty of tweakablility for all situations. The burn and dynamics controls alone offer a slough of drive options and touch response.

With a great tube amp it really can get the Dumble vibe happening, as well as Santana, Gary Moore and other tones. I just set it to what MY ear wants to hear, but it's able to cop tones to inspire any moment. No shrillness or flabbyness to be found. I love the sustain and the way it sets in the mix on stage. For sessions it works like a charm, too, at any volume. The tone is very liquid and dynamic, for lack of better terms.

The 2 channel operation works great. This makes a great platform for blues(lighter and hot-rodded), rock(crunch and scream), modern country(lightly overdriven and singing) or whatever. There's even jazz tones to be had. You can set it for a clean boost type, and then hit the 2nd channel for more drive for legato playing as in fusion and such. Many uses.

The build quality is top-notch, as well, and I have no worries. A very well thought out pedal, and I think of it as a "must own" pedal.

Tone Pump 2

Top-notch pedal. I'm still trying to get used to it, but it does sound awesome. I'm just trying to figure out if it's not overkill for me. It does sound 'somewhat' TS-like...it's a little different, though. It's great for light blues and country stuff. Very natural sounding pedal. I'll report more when I've tried it longer.

First off, I hope I am not out of line asking a follow-up question here as I am not sure if this is strictly for reviews, or an open dialogue is okay.

Second, Telepicker- Your reviews have been great. Very nice detail and description.

Now, the reason for my reply. I have read the Burn unit gets the player into "Dumble" territory, but in which mode? also, what sound does the other channel or mode seem to emulate?

If I could find a double pedal like the Burn unit, or Fulldrive, that would give me Marshall and Dumble sounds, I would be one happy camper.

DoobieK....I assume dialogue is OK, too, so:

The 2 channels, to my ears, seem to be identical. The key is that you can set them for different drive levels and volume levels. It won't do the Dumble and Marshall thing at the same time, but I think that most people that love both sounds will find this unit very cool. I don't think it sounds like a Dumble, but it captures some of that vibe. (it's a very clean and smooth overdrive at high gain levels...plenty of drive and sustain, but cleaner than most=GOOD!) The cool thing is that it sounds awesome and when you add a compressor to the mix it brings on a more Marshall/Boogie-ish thing...so you can get many of the flavors you'd want. In my opinion, of course.

Tone Pump II - 6 knob version: The nicest thing about all the Barber pedals is the individual gain and output levels on BOTH channels. I've had damn near every two function OD there is and this is my favorite for that reason.(I think they all sound good). I use this beast primarily with an 'oldies' cover band, some type of Fender amp, and a G&L ASAT. I use the volume knob on the guitar a lot so the way I look at - I've got 2 tones on each channel of the TP II. As Telepicker said, it's in TS territory but with better bass, a bit more gain if you want it, and less mids emphasis - I repeat "less", not zero. I like the mids of a TS so it doesn't bug me at all. Essentially both channels are the same. I set one for light OD at just above unity and the other channel for more OD and louder solos. with my volume rolled back, both channels clean up nicely. Ive also used this pedal with an EBS multi comp in front of it. With the comp set for above unity output, and the gain just below half, I'm able to get a good "singing" sustain if one of the TP channels has it's gain way up. This is my 2nd TP - I had the 3 knob version prior and loved it.

Direct Drive

over rated, considering the reviews, and GP award.

test: G & L Legacy through Fender amps:
Although this is advertised as not coloring the basic guitar tone, I could not get it to be "transparent". Throughout the sweep of the tone knob, which is quite a small sweep, the tone was brighter than switched off. Thin sounding.
Sorry, sent it back.

I own the Tone Pump, Burn Unit, Direct Drive, Edge Hog, Deep Fryer, and Tone Press. To review tham all in detail would be too much.

For sound quality, value, and meeting expectations, Barber is the best. The DD for $99?! C'mon, it takes 3 expensive boutique pedals to approximate what the DD does! As for the Tone Press, no pedal can do "parallel compression/clean boost." You'll need a nice studio compressor to get that.

I use the Barber Direct Driveand feel that the tone is somewhat boxy and midrangy with noticable compression. It also shaves off some bottom end. The tone knob has an exceptionally small but usable sweep - open wide it's not too bright and fully attenuated it's still usable. I wouldn't describe it as transparent, it has it's own sound although it doesn't make my different guitars sound the same. Having said all that - I LIKE THIS BOX!
I am not much of a TS fan and this box soundsEXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of my favorite sound - a full richFender smile curve. Yet, that's the reason I am using it. In a band context it's got the right amount of"honk". At first I thought it sounded muted - it's not as open and bright as the Tech 21 Double Drive - which got knocked off my pedalboard by the Barber. At band volumes, it doesn't sound muted, but warmer. It blends more easily than the Double Drive did, rather than stick out. Even the noticable compression - which usually interferes - seems to work for me. It makes a difference that I'm the rhythm player and my job is to blend with the rhythm section.
I applaud Barber for offering on line modifications for this pedal. There is a bass contour mod/open air treble mod/Op Amp swapping/Compression and asymmetric clipping mod . How many manufacturers will encourage you to tweek their creations to your liking?

I use the Direct Drive as well. To me, it is cleaner than my modded TS-9 (808 specs, of course) and has a lot of bottom end. I get a pretty fat sound out of it, and I don't have any mods done to it. Not for hard rock. I would say that it sounds a little less natural than the TS-9 as far as overdrive goes, but not in a bad way. It's just a different animal, and I think that it took me a few gigs to really appreciate that I was getting a different sound than most guitar players try to get in the first place. I think that it's a great pedal, although it is not for everyone, it has it's own sound and like the other reviewer, for $99, it cannot be beat. The only bad thing about the pedal? Waiting for 8 weeks to get it! By the time you get it, you're too frustrated to enjoy it, but that is just how it goes. I still give it a 10 all the way as far as tone!

I had a six knob Burn Unit that I liked a lot, but found that another of Dave Barber's creations, the Nuance Habanero, sounded even better, with a more natural note decay. Barber gets high marks for building pedals that make you feel like a lot of time and attention went into them, as well as a lot of craftsmanship.

Greg Howe is the greatest living guitar player!

may have to try that nuance if it's still made. I know what you mean about the decay, but it's not noticeable at all with a cranked up amp on a gig and that's what I do with it. it sustains for days and I keep the first channel's drive at nearly off! the second one's up at about 10:00.

Forward mobility in life is fueled by the passion to which we must yield for existence.

Another Barber pedal worth checking out is the Nuance Chunkwagon, built specially for a dealer called The Perfect Note. It's a mild to medium strength OD w/ a vintage Fender-type tone that can be used to slam the amp and get a sweet, natural-sounding breakup and grind. Great w/ Strats and Teles. A rare, but worthy box.

I have 2 direct drive ss's. they are my new favorite pedals and are in my les paul's pedal board. I also have a burn unit II and 3 knob tone pump in my strat's pedal board. i also have the nuance chunk wagon whoch is a very nice overdrive, with nice bass reponse, nice gain and a throaty tone.

Barber Tone Press

I've had this pedal for about 2 months now and I use it everyday. here are my uses of it:

Clean boost - with the sustain not too high, the volume up, and the blend somewhere between 7 o'clock and 10 o'clock, it will bring out the tone, fatten it up a bit but without any squishiness and without rolling off the treble.

Liquid sustain - on my highest gain lead tone, I'll set the sustain and blend very high with a big volume boost.. it will kick my rhythm chunk channel into a sweet liquid sustaining lead tone.. all the legato and sweep picking rings clear, notes hold forever and although you lose a tiny bit of treble, it sounds wonderful!

Clean playing - sustain mid, blend mid, volume mid.. perfect for playing clean with some chorus and reverb to improve note clarity and let it really chime..

dirty blues - just over the top .. used in conjunction with my Analogman DS-1 (Distortion 0, Tone 0, Level 10).. I set the volume of it a bit over unity, with the blend a bit to the compressed side and the sustain about 3/4 of the way up.. notes sustain great and sound thick and beautiful.. everything rings clear and isn't driven too hard.. just great tone with good harmonic clarity..

my favourite compressor.. after using the Boss CS, Dynacomp, a ross clone and several multi effect compressors (not that they really count..)