Barber Electronics Tone Press

Pretty basic knobs and a bypass switch.

I'm playing a 96 American Strat through a 55wt 2x12 Mesa Boogie Nomad, with a few other pedals in front of the pre amp and after in the effects loop.

In my opinion this pedal is not a "true" compression pedal but more of a sustain pedal. It is very subtle and I barely notice a slightly compressed tone even with the sustain knob maxed out. The amount of sustain isn't crazy sustain for days... However I'm playing an American Strat which sucks for sustain anyway. I imagine a guitar that already has good sustain would have amazing sustain.

The biggest claim and benefit this pedal offers is light compression and more sustain without the "compression pedal pop" when you pick a string. The kind of sound you get from most compression pedals. The function of mixing in your dry and wet tone is really nice...

I gave it a nine cause I can barely notice a change in the amount of sustain... It's noticeable but not like it knocks you out. Other than that it doesn't effect your tone unless the volume knob is maxed out then I did notice a little more buzz and hum.

I just bought mine new. so I'll have to update later.

Not yet

I sold my Maxon CP101 Compressor Sustainer so that I could get his one. My only complaint with the Maxon was how it effected my pick attack. I made a slight pop sound with every pick, this is common across most all pedals. I was going to get the Keeley compressor but I've read it has the same "pop" effect and the Tone Press was cheaper. So I'm on the fence about how I feel about this pedal. I wasn't overwhelmed with the amount of sustain it added top my tone but it definitely doesn't pop like other compressors.... and it's pretty transparent in the signal path, no noticeable change in tone.

If you're looking for a compression pedal that will give you that distinct compressed sound. You probably don't want this pedal. If you're looking for a pedal that will add sustain and a slight compression without the "compression pop" when you pick a string then this pedal is for you.

Crazy easy to use.
Comes with a manual with sample settings that are helpful as well.
Only reason it is not a 10 is because you might spend a little time getting use to the fact that adding sustain requires bumping the vulume a bit to keep the sound level in the same place. But it is very intuitive.

Tremendous. I use this pedal with a strat and mostly on clean and legato or clean and crisp tracks. The first sample setting in the manual called "Magic Dust for Single Coils" is where this pedal stays every time it is on. It brinds out the best in my strat's Lindy Fralin's.

I ran this against my buddy's Keeley 4 knob compressor. I liked the Tone press for all the lighter compression and the Keeley for really compressed country stuff. Since that is not what I play, the Barber was the better fit for me. Plus it is $100 cheaper than the Keeley, and if I wanted it to do country spank it can do that really well - just not as well as the Keeley.

Great do far after 2 years of use.

Never had any interaction with the good folks at Barber Electronics. But I have heard they are quite friendly and helpful.

I think this is essential for adding that extra mojo to single coils, when you want clean and crisp sounds for alternative/indie music or whether you want your notes to have more sustain when you play some melodic cleans. I would buy this again if it was lost or stolen.

Once you get it set up, it's easy to use. But I definitely had to play with the color trim pot for awhile to get it sounding right. It would be easier if this pot had a dial on the outside.

My setup:

Am Strat w/ Lindy Fralin "real 54's">Tone Press->Analog mod TS-9>Big Muff Pi>Fender Blues Deluxe>Ibanez AD-9 in FX loop.

I wanted this for my clean signal. I like a big blooming strat sound from my bridge pickup. That buddy-guy bell-ringing type tone. The Tone Press does this, but had to crank the color trim pot all the way over.

I think this compressor is meant for people looking for a very transparent Compressor. I like my compressor effect a little exageratted, but was able to get that sound out of it eventually.

It sounds really good.

I also found that it works with my distorted tone as well, whereas my old Boss compressor would not.

I also tried it out as a "clean boost" as advertised, and it works for this application. All alone, it was able to kick my Blues Deluxe's drive channel into some pretty gritty territory.

It seems dependable. Time will tell.

I've never dealt with Mr. Barber, but his website has a forum where he seems to address questions frequently. I'm sure if I called I'd get the same kind of response.

I'm giving this a 9 for the following reasons:

1.) Great sounding compression effect, with a variety of tonal options
2.) True Bypass
3.) Reasonably priced (around $150)
4.) Doubles as a clean boost; a GOOD clean boost
5.) The BLEND option makes it easy to use
6.) Runs quiet

Very easy to get a good sound (read below).

I usually don't like compression pedals because of the tone sucking and plastic pick attack sound, both of which I found in the Boss and Maxon comp pedals. Sometimes, I'll hear a guitar sample where there is a ton of compression and it sounds really bad to me. However, I needed compression because I play through a high wattage solid state (Fender Jazz King) amp and wanted to smooth out my clean work for pop and covers, etc. and give the amp a slightly more tubey feel. The amp sounds great w/o compression for traditional jazz, but when playing funk and rock, it can get a bit spikey like most SS amps at louder volumes. I use a Les Paul and the usual OD and distortion pedals. I'm very pleased with this pedal. It warms up the sound and controls the dynamics in a subtle way. The attack is preserved and tone is smoothed out, not cancelled. There is a color pot on the inside that lets you roll it back for more vintage tone. I tried this but it robbed a little of the upper mids and trebles, so I put it back to the default - all the way to the right for a more open, snappy sound. I leave the controls at 12:00 with the volume at 1:00p. It also really improved the control over my distortion - much more even string volume and better touch response and sustain. There ia a bit of noise if you crank the knobs too high, but I think this is inherent in compressors since they are preamps with gain. Same with the volume pump - slightly noticeably, but very even to maintain volume. In summary - the best compressor I've heard though I've only owned the two I mentioned previously. Highly recommended if you've been turned off to compression like I was.

Well, as always, crap in, crap out, you know. Although, its kind of the point for compression to make crap sound slightly better. Or good sound great, etc. The pedal is very easy and intuitive, just play around with it. Trickiest part is the blend control, which is really not that tricky.

Hasn't been noisy for me so far, and I just run it off a 1-Spot with a bunch of other pedals. Some people use compression post their OD section, which can definitely increase the noise floor, but I don't do that. I have 2 Barber pedals; this and the Small Fry. And I love both of their sound making capabilities.

The pedal gives good adjustable sustain, volume control, and control over the blending of clean signal with compressed signal. Its a genius pedal, works better than any compressor I've had yet. I've previously used a Marshall ED-1, Maxon CP-101, and a TC Classic Sustain & EQ. This one bests them all, no contest. The Maxon was good too, I just can't go without the blend capacity now that I have it. The Tone Press is the best combo of ease of use & sound quality I've used.

This will last if I treat it well. No problems so far, at all.

So far great.

What more to say? This isn't a weird noise-making pedal, its a sound sculpting, tone-shaping, foundation pedal. I use it to set my overall sound and then tweak other things around it - from the amps to my PUs to other pedals. Its the most dynamic element of my setup in terms of the pure tone of the guitar. When you crank it, sustain way up, blend half way or heavier on the compression, it will hold forever. Really just keep going and going. I've generally had to keep it on medium-ish settings for practicing. Haven't played a gig with it yet, but very excited to in the near future.

No need to describe here again. But you should use the the brown trim pod to colour / or not colour the the sound of the pedal.I prefer the
totally clockwise ( factory) setting.

This is my first review. To my opinion there are two main questions to be answered before you buy any equipment.1. how loud you are going to
play? 2. How skilfull is your playing? A certain Amp might be brilliant on stage but might be beaten by cheap digital rubish at home- you know what I mean?
But there are a lot of stages where your tube amp is still to loud, especially when you love soloing with a clean sound which is always
tending to be to thin as long as you do not play VERY LOUD.
At that point I tried some compression pedals years ago but was??t satisfied. I ended with an Overdrive pedal. But as I cultivated my playing I found the overdrive somehow limiting.
That way I came to the Barber Tone Press which is exactly what I was
looking for: It keeps your attack unchanged but gives you a bigger bell and of course a longer sustain. And its still your guitar that
is sounding not any pedal. I play a Strat with DiMarzio Area 58/61
and a Marshall 410H with a Framus 212 Cabinet(Celestion Vintage 30)
I only use the chrunch/green JTM 45/1959 Plexi mode.

It appears very reliable outside / inside. I will tell in 5 years...

No opinion

I would buy it again if it were stolen- the very next day. I wish I would have had it 20 years ago-it would have kept me from some aberrations.

Pretty easy to use and get a good sound. The manual is helpful in learning the controls and some sample settings. Everything from a nice fat clean boost to super squashed. There is a trim pot inside, so that makes it a little bit hard, but it isn't something that you probably will need to tweak constantly. Learning what the controls are, as they are different from other guitar compressors, will help make this pedal easy to use. Volume, Blend, Sustain. The BLEND knob is how you mix the dry unprocessed signal with the compressed signal, which is called parallel compression. Very nice feature, and is what makes this pedal sound musical. Mine is stock, unmodded.

I use it first thing in my signal chain, or after my volume pedal, or after the wah. It sounds great. My Fulltone Fulldrive II Mosfet loves this thing. So does my Pigtronix EP1, but I have to use the tuner out to go to the trigger input for the Pigtronix, because it changes the envelope slightly.

Seems noisy if I'm not careful with what kind of cables and where I place the audio cables in relation to any power cables. Just like any analog pedal is.

My main setup is Barber Tone Press > Dunlop Crybaby > Fulldrive II Mosfet > Pigtronix EP1 > Yamaha UD Stomp > AMP (Fender Hot Rod Deville or Pignose G40V or Marshall DSL 401).

You can definitely get a Gilmourish sound out of this thing, but I don't use it for that. Could get a great Telecaster chicken pickin thing if you wanted too also, but not what I'm going for.

I can get great sustain, even with clean. But with my Fulldrive II Mosfet, I can actually get endless sustain. Literally.

I love this pedal.

Looks solid. Don't know what could really go wrong, except for normal switch failure. True Bypass switches tend to fail at some point, though I've been lucky enough to not have that problem myself.

I would definitely use it on a gig without a backup. If I had two, I wouldn't use one as a backup. I'd use one for a nice big fat juicy clean boost, and the other for great guitar compression.

Never dealt with customer support. Can't rate it.

I play reggae, funk, rock, and a experimental mixes of latin groove and other world music. This pedal is great for all styles.

I've been playing for 20 years. I have lots of gear, but see above for my signal chain I typically use with this pedal.

If it was stolen, I DEFINITELY go buy TWO more.

I love the sound, the blend feature (favorite feature), and the compact size.

I don't like internal trim pots, or the power input jack on the side and near the front. Should be as much out of the way (in the back) and down low as possible, to keep EMI/EFI noise away from audio cables.

Compared to MXR Dynacomp, Diamond Compressor, Pale Green Compressor, Keeley Two Knob and Four Knob, and a Boss. Blew them all away, in my opinion. The blend knob seals the deal.

I wish it had two buttons, and could be both a Clean Boost and a Compressor separately, and at the same time. Sure it would cost a lot more, but might be well worth it. It's such an affordable pedal to begin with.

It helps make beautiful music, and doesn't get in the way. Except for noise, which isn't really the pedals fault, it's caused by lousy cables and carelessness of keeping audio cables away from power cables.

see below

see below

Although a good compressor is a nice tool to have, it is a sound finisher - my tone is heavily reliant on this working or not - so, yes, I would gig without a backup.

Here's the rub - I had sent an email to a rep at Barber regarding the ordering of a Tone Press and failed to get a response - I suppose after one month there is no hope of a response. I realize they are busy but sheesh!

This was money well-spent. I have used - to varying degrees of success - a number of pedal-based, 1/2 rack, and full rack-sized compressors. This is simply the first unit that I have been able to use that doesn't add an unreasonable degree of noise, or over-simply or over-complexify the search for a pleasing compression effect. Ones like the MXR DynaComp does what it does but allows for very little tweaking to nail the characteristics you want, yet rack effects require a lot of tweaking and is all too easy to hijack your sound due to inexperience. The Tone Press fits the guitar signal and the typical guitarist's needs for a "just enough options to sound great without screwing up the tone". True, I do not use this pedal all the time for every song my cover band does but to me that is more down to what/when I need this effect to do rather than any lack of quality on its part.

Why can't more pedals be as simple to use as this and sound so great? Plus, one does not need an extra adaptor for this - it runs off a Boss-type adaptor very well.
I can only hope that their support is usually better than what I experienced.

Fairly simple.

With the volume past 1:00 there is significant noise.

Love Barber, but I wish they would put a battery compartment in their pedals. I hate how it rattles around.

Always helpful.

Tips to Dave for finally inventing parallel compression (one of those things that everyone wonders why didn't anyone else think of that already?). besides the noise, this is a great compressor. A little confused as to whether the blend knob adds clean signal or removes it. It sounds like clockwise it adds but at the same time you hear more "squash" and compression.

Pretty straight forward. Three knobs, volume, blend, and sustain.

This is where I'm having issues. This pedal is extremely noisy compared to my Keeley compressor. I use a Voodoo Labs power supply and have no noise issues with other pedals. I've used this in front of three different amps; an Allen Old Flame 2x10 combo, my Two-Rock Custom Reverb Signature 2, and my Brown Note D'Lite 44 ODS, and it's equally noisy with either of them. A friend of mine bought one of these recently and sent it back because of noise issues. Having said that, I did an A/B test with another friend's Tone Press and my Keeley about 9 months ago, and I don't remember hearing any noise. I've had the pedal for about 5-6 weeks and keep trying it but keep getting disappointed. I waited too long to send mine back so I'm stuck with it. I've gone back to using the Keeley.

Haven't used it long enough to have an opinion. Seems like it's built well though.

Haven't had to call them.

I play blues, funk, rock and some jazz. Been playing seriously for 11 years. Gig 3-4 times a month. I play Warmoth guitars, use Fulltone and Two-Rock guitar cables, Voodoo Labs power supply, and try to not keep anything cheap, mass produced in my signal chain. Given the irritating noise mentioned earlier, I really don't like the Tone Press. I wouldn't buy another one if lost. Most compressors/sustain pedals add a little bit of noise, but this one is extreme. Maybe I got a lemon one since other people don't seem to complain about it. I have a few other pedals in my chain (Hermida Zen drive, Budda bud-wah, T-Rex Replica delay, and a Fulltone Fat Boost), and neither adds noise that even comes close to this one. I've tried it as the only pedal in the chain and it didn't make a difference.