Barber Electronics Direct Drive

This pedal strikes a nice balance between simplicity and adequate tweakability. Volume, tone, drive (I have no need for cutesy or trendy names for controls... I'm generally confused enough already); everything is clearly labeled with ALL CAPS and nice big lettering. No time wasted trying to remember which jack is IN and which is OUT, even if I'm crosseyed-drunk at a raucous punk rock show. Love the push-pull tone control.

Absolutely astonishing. No, seriously.

I play a Soldano HR50 which I keep super-loud and mildly saturated for a nice "clean" (ha!) sound. Soldanos are known for their high-gain clarity but I personally don't like that Jerry Cantrell buzz. With the Barber and a sweet compressor (currently the little green Guyatone, which shall be mourned as soon as I accidentally stomp it to oblivion) I can get the heavy roar I am addicted to. Fantastic with both single-coil and humbucking pickups. The meaning of the term "transparency" became thoroughly apparent to me as soon as I A-B'd it with my Maxon SD-9. (Damn, I used to love that poor, now-neglected SD-9.)

When I run this pedal through my '65 Univox it gets that velvety sound that, especially when run through a single-coil neck pickup, makes my eyes get all misty.

I now control the gain almost exclusively with my guitar's volume knob - a concept I would've previously considered LAUGHABLE.

I imagine I could drop this thing into a tube sock and out-street-fight a bronze statue with it. Opened it up to put in a battery; the quality of the components and ruggedness of design were instantly apparent. I've never seen such thick leads on electronic parts! The pedal's guts look like a work of art. The switch could withstand any stomp-happy crack unicorn.

I'll take everyone's word for it. Have been tempted to call and say THANKS but anyone who's making products this good is liable to have a phone that never stops ringing anyway.

I play rock, metal, thrash, speed, punk, crossover, blues, funk, jazz, surf, rockabilly. I love "vintage" and "classic" tones; I love a good Fender chime as much as a hot-rodded Marshall crunch. I can't stand digital effects or amp-modeling! I will always love this pedal and will probably keep buying Barber electonics products until I've collected them all. I don't see how other companies have the gall to charge twice as much for inferior products. I've hardly ever felt my money was so well-spent.

Been useing the Barber pedals for over 5 years now. I have had the older DD's and the Blue model SS, and the newer black models. I found for me the very first DD with the green LED's are the king of the open plexi tones from god. I own 3 now and they all sound just a twinge different from one another.

I have run them in just about every boutique amp on the market with great success. Even my old blackface Fender sound great with the DD. I like to run a amp with just a small bit of crunch, then take it over the top with the DD for my lead work. Most setting for me are level at 11 oclock, tone at 2 oclock and gain at 4 oclock. I dont use many effects so I cant really say how it works with whatever, but for a Overdrive it is just better then any I have tried.

I still have my very first one, thats 5 years of stomping on it, and it still is in great shape. I have owned over 7 Barber pedals now, and all were awesome built. I am collecting the older green LED models now, as I really feel they sound better for what I play.

Only talked a few times years ago, dont really have much to ask, as the pedal does all the talking.

I play, Rock, Blues, & Jazz, and this pedal handles all of it with ease. I just love when I meet a new player, and he just loves his OD pedal, until he trys mine..thats all it takes he's hooked.
I work at a music store, and just did a pedal shoot out on a 4-10 tweed amp..Klon, reverend, Analogman, Keeley, Ibanez TS808, Maxon808, RT66, Yamaha OD, Buffalo fuzz, Brooklyn, Greenline, and the Barber Direct drive...the barber killed them all, on TONE, drive, and feel...

This pedal is extremely easy to use - Three knobs: Volume, tone and drive. The tone pot is push pull. When you pull up on it, it sounds slightly bigger. It's supposed to sound more modern, which I agree with. It accentuates certain harmonics which make it sound slightly fuller. VERY SLIGHTLY though. There is hardly a difference when this pot is pulled. There are also knobs inside the enclosure for fine tuning - Bass and prescence. Very easy to access with a screwdriver.

This thing really does sound fantastic. It's a pretty responsive box and cleans up fairly well with your guitar's volume knob. The clarity is OUTSTANDING, far better than any Boss overdrive. It's really quite stunning how pristine this thing is. It is true bypass so it doesn't color your tone and makes very little noise (as little noise as an overdrive could ever make). I usually use it with the drive all the way up. You can't really get a whole lot of drive with this thing. If you want SERIOUS crunch, go with something else. This thing will have you covered for slight overdrive to medium distortion, but don't expect anything else; it's not made for that. People have commented on my excellent tone; other guitarists and well as recording engineers.

You have to be trying in order to break this thing. Even then, it would be a challenge. SUPER hard metal chasis, USA made components, Alpha pots; everything is top of the line. And of course, it's handmade in the USA and signed and dated by the builder. I've never seen a pedal built better than this thing. I've gigged and gigged with this thing and never had any problems. But of course, I take care of it and don't jump off a 4 foot amp onto it or smash my guitar into it.

I've never had to contact Barber and probably never will unless it's to tell them how awesome the Direct Drive is.

I use a Les Paul with a DiMarzio Fred in the bridge, DiMarzio PAF in the neck and global coil splitting. The LP goes into a Dunlop standard wah then into the Barber, then into an original USA '93 Blues DeVille 2x12 (not to be confused with the modern Hot Rod DeVilles). I use the Barber instead of the drive channel on my amp. The Barber has more clarity and is more articulate; better dynamic response. It has as much or a little more drive. I wish it had more drive, that's my only complaint. I was under the impression that it would give a cranked up Marshally tone, which it does not really do. If someone stole it, God help them. They'd have really killer tone until I shot them. Anyway, this is the epitome of a 10 rating pedal. It's built well, and sounds even better. Real, real nice.

I picked this up for seventy bucks used from a friend of mine.3 knobs and an on/off switch.Never seen the manual for this thing,but it is one the earlier versions without the internal trim pots.The box is flat,black and handpainted,kinda like I like them.Got a push/pull tone control which fattens up the lower mids some,and engages a little more gain.So simple to operate,that even I can.

Is it noisy? No,not really.But is isnt an extreme gain machine.It is ana overdrive pedal that will step up into some pretty nice gain ranges,and sound like a fine copy of a tube amp getting hot and messin' it's britches.I like it.I use this thing with a marshall preamp,and a boogie preamp,thru a tc into an old Boogie Simulcast 395,and from that to a 4x12 marshall cab w/vintage 30's.Sometimes use a couple of Bogner cubes,depending on the venue.Strats,Teles,Prs,Les Pauls mainly.One of my strats have kinmans,one has texas specials,w/the humbucker in the bridge,the other guitars are loaded with Fralins.They all sound different,and this pedals lets those differences come thru.W/the Tex Specials strat,i pop up the tone knob,taking the tone to about 3 o clock,back the drive down to about seven o clock,Stevie Ray time,& some pretty convincing Jimi tones.Play w/the thing ,there are huge tones available.Some even remind of some Robben Ford dumble tones.It ain't no guv'nr thank the Lord,but with a small number of different settings and a couple of guitars,you can get an amazing array of tones from dark to bright,hot to mellow,and a lot of inbetweens.Is that a word ???If you like Steve Morse,you can even roll out some of his tones damn easy.Good fresh strings help also,but this is a bad little box.Not good for every tone in the world,but mighty fine never the less.Back off the gtr vol,it cleans up.Who woulda figured this kind of sound for so cheap.By the way,Steely Dan guitar sounds are super ez with this baby,I like it.Just a nice overdrive pedal,period.

I've always got other things in the gig bag,but yeah,i think it is reliable.Had it a couple of years,nary a hiccup.

never had a reason to deal with them.

Playing way too long,and play the entire gamut of music,with 3different bands,and a bunch of hired sideman things.Way too much gear for any sane person,it just kinda accumulates.I like the way this thing sounds period,and i've checked it against a lot of other products.It won't do everything,but it will cover a lot of ground,and i prefer it over a lot of other tube driven boxes.More controlled,more refined,more pro sound. Yes i would replace it ,especially at this price point.It does help me make music,take it in the studio,and then listen to playback with neutral people around you,see what they say.It is not the end of all to be all,but it is a very good pedal.You'll need something else to take you to death distortion,but this will get you to that before place easily.once again,i'll just say,I like it

Very easy to use, level,drive, tone w/ pull fat switch. Internal bass and presence trimmers.

Ok, I've been spoiled and I have a very good ear. Being an audiophile and doing numerous mods to both music and audio amps (mainly tube) my ear has really developed over the years. This pedal sounds solid state. I'm comparing to my Vox Big Ben overdrive pedal that I use through my Allen Accomplice amp. The DD sounds overly compressed and too "polished" at anything above 10 on the drive level. There's no "soul" to the sound and it has a plastic popping that's indictive to most TS style circuits. Its does have a decent feel to it though in comparison to other solid state pedals...tube like squash to the sound. One of the main reasons that solid state will never sound like tubes is something called dielectric noise. Tubes don't have this noise since the electron flow is in a vaccum. IC chips color the sound in a hard plastic way because it is encased in plastic and it does effect the resonance. EMG pickups are a prime example of this...the plastic resonates and then the opamps magnify this sound even more. I can tell EMG pickups from a mile away due to this resonance.

In all fairness, in its price range it is a decent sounding pedal but I just can't stand listening to the plastic coloration in the sound. Its also way too polished sounding, i need a bit more balls to my sound.

Spend the extra money and get a Big Ben...I had a Chandler tube driver that cost me $450 used and the Big Ben was very close to the sound. I sold the Chandler for a nice profit and kept the Big Ben.

Barber products are built well, I have a tone press compressor that I love.

I emailed them a while back with questions and never heard back from them.

I hate to crap on this pedal but its just my opinion. If you are used to using solid state overdrive / distortion pedals like stock Boss', Maxon, Tube Screamers, etc. this pedal will be your Holy Grail since it readily out performs those pedals. At its price point though, its a decent pedal. I've tried numerous pedals, stock and modified. I also have a Fuchs amp so I am a bit spoiled in great tube tone. I use pedals with my Allen amp and so far nothing has outperformed my Vox Big Ben.

The DD is very easy to use- particularly considering how versitile it is. Getting good sounds out of it is really about as simple as plugging in and turning on your amp. However, to experiement with all of the stock tone shaping capabilities you need to take off the back cover and play with the internal trim pots- WELL worth the effort, but requires the slightest bit of extra committment from the user.

I play a Tele (american standard) through a Rivera Quiana. The guitar and amp are really beautiful together. The amp overdrives beautifully, so in many ways, I had no need to the Direct Drive. But he DD works so well with this guitar/amp combo. It gives me a way bigger sound than you expect out of a Tele- very good bass response, it respects the twang of the tele, and most impressively, chords sound incredible. You hear every single note, rather than 2 notes and mud you get with most OD or Distortion boxes. The pedal does introduce some noise but being a tele player, I know how to live with that. I run my signal through about 8 other pedals and the DD interacts really nicely with all of them. It becomes a particularly beautiful beast when running the DD with my Homebrew Germacide multi-frequency booster.

I have 100% confidence in this pedal. No one questions Barber build quality.

From reading the Barber user forums, he seems very committed to his customers but I have no first hand experience to form an opinion.

I play orignal rock. Our songs run the gammut from lo-fi punk influences to the Police, Hendrix and the Who, to Wilco and Radiohead. When I need grit, the DD gives it to me. When I need clearly articulated arpegiations, I roll the volume back and it cleans up beautifully, when I need massive chords a la Pete Townshend, I drop the hammer on my strings and it gives me a nice, tight response. If I need to run it through 3 delays, 2 trems a phaser, and an open wah, it still sounds rich and full. This is a great pedal for my purposes. I'm amazed at how versatile it can make a stock Tele with single coils. The DD is a rare combination of user-friendly, tone-friendly, other-pedal-friendly, and pocket friendly pedal. To me, the Direct Drive is essential.

Simple. The pull-tone knob is a great addition, too.

I do not give tens for sound quality, ever. I don't like distortion/overdrive pedals, either. I never use them in the studio and I only use them live out of laziness because it's a lot easier to step on a couple boxes in a live situation in order to change your sound, especially if you play in a variety of bands, like I do. Stompbox distortion has its place for specific sounds, but for general rock and roll, I like my AC30 to be cranked. I've tried a couple of overdrives (out of those, one of the best was the crowther hotcake, but they're pretty expensive), but settled on the Direct Drive because the price was great and I had heard wonderful things about it. And, as it turns out, the DD stays right there with the Hotcake and honestly, this pedal has changed my opinion of stompboxes. I don't care if I sound like SRV or anything like that, which is part of the reason I didn't want a Tube Screamer. I sold my Rat because it just was not very refined. I have a Toadworks Death Rattle II which is great for specific sounds, but still not a great straight ahead rock n' roll pedal. The direct drive, however, is truly amazing. It does sound better than Dave Barber claims (as the reviewer said below). Rich harmonics, distortion from almost clean boost to thick sustaining leads (the knob never reaches a point where the distortion is so muddy you can't use it). The tone knob seems to do more than just alter the high-end in the pedal. It is very sensitive and allows you to get many different OD and distortion tones out of it. The fat harmonics switch (which, since I use this as my straight ahead rock pedal), is fantastic. It really opens my Telecaster up and sings with harmonics that actually make me feel like using a pedal isn't too much of a compromise to cranking my Vox. Cranking the overdrive and then fueling the pedal with the boost function from the Death Rattle really makes this thing sound think, but it never, even for a second, loses clarity (though I've only used it with single coils). Sell your tube screamer for the ridiculous prices that they go for on ebay and buy one or two of these things. I'm considering getting rid of my death rattle and buying a Barber LTD to go with my direct drive. I'm very impressed with this pedal. Wish I could afford the Burn Unit or Tone Pump. I bet they're amazing, too.

Everything seems great except I'm a little nervous about my tone knob. It turns just a little to easily (like if my cable brushes over it while I'm moving around on stage) and I'm worried that it's a little loose. Honestly though, this is a minor complaint. I have the death rattle II as a backup (though an unworthy backup) but I'm not really concerned. Tubes go out. Stompboxes shouldn't unless something really bad happens (like a beer spill).

And if that tone knob ever did mess up, I'm sure the guys at Barber would fix it ASAP. The pride they take in their work means that when one of their products messes up, they will fix it, not just because they have to because of the warranty, but because they really do want every single one of their pedals to be top notch quality. In addition, they keep their prices on this thing really low, especially considering how well-made and good-sounding it is.

I play all things rock. I've gone through some pedals and tried some others and I'm just amazed at the DD. It gets a wide variety of usable tones out of an extremely simple setup. The sound is so refined I actually feel like it's fused with my Vox. But, that's not to say it can't scream or wail. There's plenty of aggressiveness in this pedal. But it's kind of like a precision guided two-thousand pound bomb. It packs a huge punch, but it's accurate, smooth, and never misses it's target. Nothing that you don't want, everything that you do. Beautiful.

I can't believe I just wrote a glowing review. Seriously, get this pedal if you play any form of rock.

simple to use as there is not a bad sound any where the knobs are set

this sounds better than dave and cru claim.no noise,tube sound is there.you can use it with everything from j-station,gnx-2,boogie amp,princeton chorus,anything!

i have a tone pump,ltd.and this new style direct drive and have never had any problems with them,best made stuff i have ever seen or used.

when you call and ask questions MR Barber answers the phone what more could you ask for,

i play all types of music and could not see any need to leave this home as they are so usable.I have been playing for 42 years and have been thru all the equipment you guys and girls have and this is as close as i have gotten and easiest to the sound i hear in my head!these could easily be in the 200 to 300 dollar price range.i have spent a lot more and got a lot less.the drive range from lowest setting to 11 o clock range is nothing short of magical,both with tone knob up or down.drive levels from there up are el34s with perfect bottom.i can just hear all the tube snobs about now but i have to show people all the time that BARBER,GNX2.and 2 tech power engines is what they are hearing.thanks to all the folks at barber.

Pretty easy to use, controls are straight forward and very effective.
True Bypass. Excellent build quality (You could eat off the board - but don't).

I've only had the unit for about one week and am primarily writing this review to comment on the service that I recieved from Dave Barber which was excellent but more on that later. Since I'm here, my current signal chain is: Strat > Teese Picture Wah > Barber Tone Press > Keeley Modded TS808 reissue > Barber Direct Drive > Boss MIJ CE-2 Chorus > Dr. Z Maz Jr. 1x12 NR. This pedal fits in well and is very similar to the ts808 but different enough to keep things interesting. One thing that impresses me with this pedal is how useful the range of the controls are and the Mid boost on the tone knob is excellent. The DD is very articulate but still smooth. You can do a clean boost with it but there is also a ton of gain available if you need that. I think that this pedal is a great choice as a tube screamer type overdrive that will actually go into gain zones that a TS can't. It is also an outstanding value. I've tried stock Ibanez ts9, Ts9 w/ analogman mod, Fulltone fulldrive II Keeley ts 808 and the Direct Drive. I'd rate this pedal second out of the bunch behind my Keeley 808. The keeley doesn't sound better necessarily but the two do have a slightly different voice and I think that I've just gotten use to the 808 to the point where I would not want to go without it. The Keeley however costs 2.5 times as much and is not quite as versatile. Both are well made and both companies provide outstanding service.

Have not had it long enough to comment.

Excellent in every aspect. I had a problem with my pedal when I got it home from the store. When I would switch it on sometimes I'd have a very weak signal and other times it would work as expected. Contacted Barber and spoke to Dave. He speculated that it may be a problem with the switch. Dave explained that although it was very, very rare they have had a few switches that they have had to replace. I think he said that the frequency of a bad switch was like 1 in 1000. Long story short, I shipped the pedal to Dave and he recieved it the next day (I live in the same state). After recieving it Dave ran it through the paces and then called me and explained that he could not find a problem with it and that it was working fine. we talked for a bit and I explained that I had the pedal alone with several different cables and batteries and then tried other pedals with the same cables and could not attribute the intermittent problems I was having to anything else in the chain. It was just my luck to have some sort of gremlin that would only reveal itself to me. Kind of like when your car is making a funny noise until you bring it to the mechanic and then it shuts up. Any way, Dave went ahead and replaced the switch anyway, just to be safe, and then went through and touched up the solder points on the board for me. I recieved the pedal back the next day and everything is working great. The moral of this story? You have nothing to worry about should you need service from Barber Electronics. Dave gave me the impression that he understands that top notch service is as important as the quality of the product and the price. The Barber Direct Drive gets high marks in all three areas.

I play primarily Blues and classic (60's 70's some 80's) Rock. I'm 38 and started playing when I was about 8. I have been in and out of playing for most of my life but for the past five years have been playing pretty much everyday for 1 or more hours /day.

Right now I'm trying to put together a comprehensive pedal board and am not sure that I will keep this pedal only because it is so similar to my 808. For my needs and considering my bank account I may be better served if I replaced the Direct Drive with a Fuzz. That said, if I were gigging I would deffinately keep this pedal as a backup to my Keeley 808. If I were shopping for my first overdrive or was an overdrive junky who just liked to have alot of different overdrive options at their disposal, I would strongly suggest giving this pedal a go. I'd like to give a rating of 9.5 here but since I can't.

Very easy to get a great range of sounds. Like a Tube Screamer without the mud. The internal trim pot for bass response is okay, but I turned it all the way up. It never sounds muddy, but turning the pot counter-clockwise just seems to cut bass. Pulling the middle pot is a "fat" switch, and I leave it pulled out. There is a short but useful manual, but you don't need it - the pedal's controls are self-explanatory. Still, you have to mess with it and your particular amp to get a great sound. But, really, isn't the messing around with it half the fun?

Sounds equally good with humbuckers or single-coils. Without a doubt the best stompbox I've ever owned, and the best I've ever heard outside of a tube-powered unit costing four times as much. Sounds really great, smooth with the right amount of graininess with my Les Paul, and clean-yet-dirty with my Telecaster. None of that compressed, cheesy, midrange-bump stuff is in this pedal. I run this into my late-60's 20-watt Gibson Falcon, which has a Celestion Greenback, new tubes and a recent cap job. I probably should have done some research and bought the LTD (same thing but lower gain) from Barber instead of this - this has WAY more gain than I'll ever use - but I love it anyway.

Seems to be built like a tank. I wouldn't even think of a backup, but I haven't had it long, either.

They're super nice, knowledgeable, and FAST - I orderd mine on Tuesday and received it on Friday!

I've messed around with dozens of distortion boxes and owned a Tube Screamer which I modded with the correct chip and a great sounding Boss OD-3, among others. I've played through an Expandora, Vox Valvetone, Marshall pedals, Ross pedals, Big Muff, and so on. The only thing I've ever played through that equaled this was a $400 Budda ZenMan. Take the extra $300 and buy a low wattage, weird old amp (I got my Gibson Falcon for $150), crank your guitar through this pedal and be amazed. This is perfect for the old rock and blues that I usually do, and can easily handle much heavier stuff too. Just buy one.