Barber Electronics Direct Drive SS Katrina Relief Model

Outside 3 knobs - Drive, Tone, Volume - I think, there is nothing to explain. Inside 4 Trimpotis - Harmonics, Bass, Presence and an additional one for Mids (mine is the Katrina DD-SS) - very helpful for adjusting the sound to your equipment. The pain is, you have to open the box to adjust the 4 Trimpotis - but usually, if the sound is settled, you would leave it close.

I had the regular new DD first and was curious about the DD SS, cause I only heard great things about it. Now that I could try it, I have to say, I like it more than the normal DD, cause it has more gain and leans more toward a rocking sound.
It has a very good sound for rhythm-work and lead. It has lots of gain to get a fluid lead sound, but gets clean when you roll back your volume-knob at the guitar. I play it with a 74 Strat and a PRS CE. This pedal rocks! Since you could adjust the pedal in various ways and even the harmonics, you have all the variaty of sounds you need. You even can dial in the sound of the normal DD.

Like all Barber pedals built like tanks.

I asked Dave Barber about the chip and the response was fast.

This overdrive is very dynamic and versatile. For my matter of taste it is much better than the legendary Tubescreamer. I love it in combination with the regular Dirct Drive ??? but I have to admit, I???m a Barber-addictet. I haven???t checked out all of his Pedals, but the ones I tried, I love them all. I play in a Rockband ??? we do stuff from blues to hardrock ??? covered and own stuff.

having internal trim pots allows for a much greater flexibility in dialing in the sound 'just right'.
they are a pain, but in the big scheme of things, the best way to do it, in my opinion.
i'd hate it if this pedal had 7 knobs on top of it!

it's dirt simple, though. turn the pot til you get what you want!

i play a Carvin dc200 koa with a duncan Custom Custom in the bridge, carvin original humbucker in the neck, through a mesa boogie mark2b 60 watt head, into a pair of 1x12 cabs loaded with 30 watt celestions.
i also have a custom strat, that has bill lawrence L280s in it...

i love this pedal.

it does bring in a certain level of noise with the higher gain settings, but i haven't seen any pedal that does not do this to some degree. a little less noise at a given drive level, than most other pedals at the same drive level.

-with the internal harmonics, bass, midrange and presence trimpots, you can obtain a lot of shades and tones of overdrive, used in conjunction with the level, drive and tone knobs on top. i really dig the harmonics trim pot...for me, my rig, it works.

What I love abut this pedal is that it took the basic sound of my rig, as i've tried to optimize it for full range tone, and added a level of touch sensitivity and another level of hot preamplification....and allowed me to really dial in the sweet spot and the amount of distortion i really want. It has a decidely 'marshally' sounding grind. no fuzz, just grind. perfect for me. it has the capability to go really crunchy, but i have set it up right now for a slightly smoother sound, with a touch of the crunch... i've got the harmonic trim pot set up at about 3:00 on the clock dial, i have yet to experiment with running the harmonic trim all the way to the minimum setting, just to see how that would sound.

it's very harmonic, very flexible. i finally have the touch sensitivity thing going on, that i could't quite dial in with any other combination of my rig before. and i've been through, or demo'd a lot of od's and distortions.

this is the best one i've tried to date.

it's not a modern gain type of sound at all, more like a hot rodded vintage marshall.

in combination with the smooth grind of the boogie, it's a perfect combination.

it made me completely re-think my gain structure on my boogie face....
true bypass rules.

i haven't had this pedal long enough to vouch for longevity.

but in comparing it with my other pedals, it's build quality is high.
i would suspect this would last for ages, it's solid. the wiring looks really clean, only the switch itself, would ever be the thing that would wear out, and that'd take quite some time.
i'd gig with it and no backup.

David Barber seems like such a nice guy. when i called him to talk about the idea of his coughing up every penny of the purchase of 30 DDSS's, towards katrina relief, he seemed very heartfelt about the relief effort, and it was this conversation with him that clenched the deal for me.

i've emailed him several times with questions, and posted on the BBS, and he is quick to repond, and basically is completely open with information and a helpful attitude.

you just don't get that level of committment in many places, these days.

This is a Fantastic Pedal. An even better Value. And it's so versatile, i set it up as a clean boost, worked great! i have a lot more experimentation to do, to completely dial it in..
but after several hours on saturday, a few more on sunday, i've got a good feel for this thing already.

i've played rock, fusion, other styles, for 30 years, as a full time road musician for 7 of those.

i've played through most every type of classic tube amp, and a few of the more modern high gain models.
i've gone through pedals like imelda marcos through shoes!

i have a high level of conviction that this is a keeper.

i'd get another one if it was lost or stolen.

i'll be looking at the Barber Tone press next.....