Barber Electronics Direct Drive

3 knobs and the center one is push-pull type. I love the sweep of controls, no garbage and useless settings throughout the entire range!

I have never heard a pedal as tubey as this! I've been buying and selling a lot of dirt pedals (low gain & high gain) and here's a few of them:

- mi audio blues pro > boomy
- mi audio blue boy deluxe > solidstate-ish
- mi audio crunch box > fake sounding, fizzy and doesn't clean up
- emma reezafratzitz > a little better than crunch box but still transistorized and 'wannabe' sounding.

... these pedals that i sold sounds very sterile & solidstate-ish. The range of controls aren't all useful.

Only the Direct Drive made me satisfied and it has surpassed the expectations of my 'very picky' ears. Now i just need only 1 pedal and I just backoff my guitar volume for cleaner overdrive sounds.. and yes, it does cleans up beautifully.

I liked the big pots inside the pedal, on my experience big potentiometers tend to last longer than the smaller ones. I don't need any backup.

I only mailed Dave just to say thanks & how I appreciate the pedal. He responded so quick just to say welcome.

Words can't even describe how intelligent and creative this pedal is. Highly Recommended for every guitarist!

It's easy to use. There are three knobs, one with a push pull on the tone pot. Very easy to dial in whatever sounds it's capable of.

There is a sheet of paper that describes the pedal and various options.

I play a MIA strat s/s/s through a Carvin Nomad and a Kustom Coupe. The Nomad has a great clean channel and a muddy soak channel so I was looking for good OD pedal. I bought the Direct Drive along with a Fulltone OCD to test both side by side. After two weeks I found myself able to objectively review these pedals. The DD offers great OD type gain but is a bit more compressed sounding than the OCD. But the tone it gives you is thick and warm. As an OD pedal it's pretty good too.

It's not as reactive to the amp and guitar as the OCD. When the amp is played at lower volumes the DD has more gain on tap than the OCD but when you crank the volume on the amp the OCD really pushes some sweet sounds while the DD stays, more or less, the same tone wise. But for what it is it's very nice. You could use this as a classic rock/blues distortion pedal with no problem. It also reacts well to guitar volume give you some more tonal options.

One issue I had with it was the noise it made with the gain turned up past the half way mark. There was a noticable hum. I do play a single coil strat but I also have 4 other OD/Distortion boxs and the DD was easily the noisiest at full gain. This might not be a big issue with humbuckers but I found it pretty annoying with my setup. I'm going to give it a 9 though, because it does sound nice. If it weren't for the hum I'd give it a 10

Looks to be well made and I've never heard of these being anything but rock solid.

I doubt you'de find a better company than Barber. If you go to their website you'll see a list of mods that can be done at home by the avid do-it-yourselfer. Now that's cool. Over time I'm sure this pedal will have lots of popular mods making it even more versitle. This could become the next Rat as far as mods go.

I've alse heard that the company goes out of it's way to be supportive and helpful to it's customers.

I play blues and classic rock. I ended up returning the pedal because I found that the OCD was a better OD pedal for my needs and I already have a modded Rat2 for distortion. If I didn't have the Rat I would probably keep the Direct Drive and use it as a heavier distortion and maybe try out some of the mods and see what happens. But even though it wasn't for me "as is" I have to admit that it's an awesome pedal with some great tones. If it weren't for the noise at high gain it would be darn near perfect. If you don't have a good OD or distortion pedal this one is worth checking out. With all the great OD pedals out there I don't know why people are paying outragous prices for reissue Tube Screamers. These new OD pedals offer those tones and more. For $120 on the street it's a hard deal to beat.

BTW there is a great clip on youtube comparing the OCD, Crunch Box and Direct Drive. While I haven't tried the Crunch Box I can tell you that the sounds of the OCD and DD represented there are very accurate.

3 knobs and the center one is push-pull type. I love the sweep of controls, no garbage and useless settings throughout the entire range!

I have never heard a pedal as tubey as this! I've been buying and selling a lot of dirt pedals (low gain & high gain) and here's a few of them:

- mi audio blues pro > boomy
- mi audio blue boy deluxe > solidstate-ish
- mi audio crunch box > fake sounding, fizzy and doesn't clean up
- emma reezafratzitz > a little better than crunch box but still transistorized and 'wannabe' sounding.

... these pedals that i sold sounds very sterile & solidstate-ish. The range of controls aren't all useful.

Only the Direct Drive made me satisfied and it has surpassed the expectations of my 'very picky' ears. Now i just need only 1 pedal and I just backoff my guitar volume for cleaner overdrive sounds.. and yes, it does cleans up beautifully. This pedal is very transparent, so shred carefully coz' it won't hide your mistakes!

Perfect 10!

I liked the big pots inside the pedal, on my experience big potentiometers tend to last longer than the smaller ones. I don't need any backup.

I only e-mailed Dave just to say thanks & how I appreciate the pedal. He responded so quick just to say welcome.

Words can't even describe how powerful this pedal is. Highly recommended for every guitarist. Forget the hype of other boutique pedals, this is the only thing you need!

3 Knobs, very basic. The tone knob is push pull. The "up" position will give you more low end harmonics.

Wow. I did alot of research on OD pedals before settling on the Barber DD. There's a ton of great pedals out there, but this one felt like mine.
Why? Well, because I mainly play a big ol' hollowbody Gretsch, and I didn't shell out 2 grand to have my nice woody tone sucked out every time I wanted a good lead boost.

This box delivers in every way. It is sooooo transparent, that it still will sound like your guitar and clear enough that you could play a nice jazz chord and still hear all the intervals, yet at the same time amazing sustain at a low drive setting. Hell, I keep the drive almost off and still get a ballsy boost where the notes really hold out.

Turn the drive up to 12 o'clock and you got Eddie Van Halen/Hendrix/Trower oozing out of the speakers. I s**t you not. The fat harmonics of the push/pull tone knob is a nice touch, very subtle and never woofy. Many pedals of this type of gain can get fizzy on you, but not this one.

I have been able to dial in just about any sound, from organic bluesey balls to cranked Fender-ish to AC/DC "Jailbreak" to full out singing, screamin, wailing sustain........and it still sounds like my guitar!!!! YES!!!!!!!

This pedal gets a 10, and I dont give anything a 10!!

David Barber has made the perfect overdrive pedal.

So far so good. Looks/feels pretty solid. Oh and I love the black...very elegant.

I emailed David Barber this morning and he wrote back within a few hours.
This guy is a class act all the way.

I play everything from Honky Tonk and Rockabilly to Hendrix/Trower/Cream/White Stripes blues rock, a little jazz and western swing here and there. I play 10-15 gigs a month and my gear sees plenty of use. I'm not some little pedal rat always chasing the flavor of the month.
I only use 4 effect pedals and this is one of them.

Oh, by the way, you cant beat the price on this. Under $150 new or find a used one on eBay.

I play a Gretsch Country Club, a taco Tele and a '79 Strat.

Finally I found the drive pedal. I am so happy!!!

Easy, easy and easy.
Turn on you pedal and amp and play your guitar. No secret!
Natural drive!!!

I use a Gibson LP Standard PLus and a Fender Telecaster deluxe.
It is not noisy, even the drive at 12 o??clock.
I am using the DD and LTD. Both have made me happy.
I use the DD to "hard" drive, almost a distortion. Even with the drive bottom at 12 o??clock, I can hear every note in the chord. It is amazing! I have tried a lot of drive pedals before to buy the DD, but i was never impressed with any of them. Today I can say I am happy.
I??ve tried Fulltone (OCD, GT500, etc...) but Fulltone wasnt made for me. A lot of people adore this pedal, but I couldnt love it.

My LP sounds as weel as my Tele. Of course, there are a lot of differences, but I dont need to alter the bottoms of DD every time I plug them.

My setup is simple - Fender Blues Deluxe AMP + Dunlop Classic + DD Barber + LTD Barber + CS 9 chorus + MXR MicroAMP - Guitars LP Plus and Tele deluxe.



I dont need any more. I am quite happy.

I can depend on it. It seems very solid. Seems very reliable.

I havent called for them yet.

I have been playing for over 15 years and today I can say: "Finally I found the DRIVE pedal".
If you love the sound of your guitar and of your amp, buy the Barber drive pedal. It won??t alter your sound.

I was using the Shredmaster and Drivemaster of Marshall, good pedals, but I wasnt quite content, I was needing more "naturalness". When I tried the DD and the LTD I was surprised with the quality of them.

If I was stolen I would buy it again. No doubt.

Much like all the other overdrive pedals on the market, this one is also very easy to use. Three knobs, volume, tone, and drive. The tone knob has a pull option for added versitility.

After trying literally tons of overdrive pedals, I have finally found the perfect pedal for my amp. To give you a little bit of background, I play am in a punk influenced rock and roll band playing with a gibson les paul standard through a marshall 800 2203 with a marshall AX cab. The tone of those combined is perfect for me.

I purchased a blackheart BH5WHS boutique tube amp recently that sounds amazing turned up to 10. But at low volumes it does not breakup due to it not having a master volume. I have been looking for a pedal to give me that early breakup tone without coloring the amps sound. This is a very difficult task.

It seems like every overdrive pedal out there tries to emulate the tubescreamer. I DO NOT LIKE THAT TONE. Too midrangy and muffled for me. It makes speaker cabinets sound like they are enclosed in a cardboard box. I have tried other boutique pedals like the fulltone, voodoo lab, BBE, radial, and much more.

The Barber Direct Drive was the only pedal that did exactly what I wanted. It turned my Blackheart into my marshall stack. It can do many other sounds as well if you dial it into your likings.

I LOVE IT!

Its still new, but it hasnt failed me thus far.

Simple and straightforward, nothing fancy going on here. The pedal is nicely voiced and really no matter where you set the knobs there are no bad tones to be found - never gets too harsh or too dark.

This pedal sounds fantastic. I mainly use a USA G&L Legacy into a modded Fender Deluxe Reverb RI or Peavey Classic 20. It has a very usable range of gain that can take you from a tubescreamer type tone at the low range to a full on rock distortion at the higher settings. The sound is full bodied and very balanced, and it provides tons of singing sustain which is great for lead tones. I also have a Fulltone OCD v3 - while the Fulltone is a bit more dynamically responsive and is more open, the Direct Drive has a sweeter tone. If I had to pick one it would be the Direct Drive. At low volumes it can sometimes be a just bit too compressed but once you get the powertubes pushed towards a clip at high volumes it really sounds flawless. There are Gilmour and Eric Johnson tones in here - tons of sustain, really smooth.

It can be a bit noisy. That's really my only complaint.

I've had it for a couple years now. No problems so far and don't expect any, but it doesn't quite seem Boss impervious (but it sounds a lot better!)

Haven't had to deal with them

I play classic rock, blues, jazz, and some fusion. I like tones such as Robben Ford, SRV, Eric Johnson, and Joe Bonamassa - "singing" tones with lots of sustain. This pedal delivers. Frankly, it is a steal at $120. Compared to a TS9, which is not much cheaper, you get true bypass and a wider range of tones. It can do anything a screamer can and much more. While I haven't played everything, this the best dirt pedal I have tried. When I've got my Deluxe cranked up this pedal really delivers. Just wish it was a bit quieter, but I can live with it.

There are cheaper options out there, sure, but I think this pedal is a better value. It blows the standard fare Boss/Digitech/Ibanez pedals you find at Guitar Center out of the water. Boss distortions/overdrives subtract from your tone - this pedal adds to it.

Three knobs- one has 'pull' function. It doesn't get much easier than this.

If I rated this in it's dollar range, as compared to other products of similar value, it would be a definite '10'. I am actually going to rate this as compared to other high-end stuff that I am familiar with.
First off, I have been playing for about 25 years. I have done recording, touring, etc... I have 'settled down' since those days, but I still play regularly.
I am running this pedal into a class-A tube combo. This pedal smokes the overdrive on my particular amp. I use it in conjuction with an older 'pre-EQ' two channel Tone Pump, which is an awesome pedal in its own right. The Direct Drive differs from the Tone Pump in that the Direct Drive has more of a 'Marshally' type grind, where the TP has more of a boutique vibe. There are three ways I use the Direct Drive. 1- With the drive set around 9-10 o'clock, it actually has the most appealing 'TS808' groove of any pedal I have ever owned. The pedal is worth getting just because of this. 2- Around 12 o'clock it is a very good Marshall rythym 3- At 3 o'clock it really burns with a nice rich, saturated lead tone. I am continually moving the drive around with my foot as we play different songs, but it is well worth it. It is not noisy for a distortion pedal. It feels far more natural than any "Boss" type pedal, and is well worth the money. It does not clean-up as well as some other boutique stuff I have, but for what it does, it is a keeper. The TP would still be my 'desert island' pedal if I had to make a choice. Anyone looking for either a TS808 or a 'Marshall in a box' should at least check this out. I believe this pedal will make Dave Barber a rich man.

I own three Barber pedals (I also own an ancient single-channel Burn Unit). The Burn Unit did lose a connection (loose solder joint) a few years back, but I fixed it in no time. These pedals are well-made.

I have e-mailed Mr. Barber a time or two, and he has always e-mailed me back personnally.
Try that with some of these other jokers.

Best value on the market as far as overdrives are concerned. Check out the video demo's (they have sound too!) at www.musictoyz.com for some well-done sound files. Barber really knows what he is doing, and does it well.

Simple to use. Volume, tone and gain knobs. The tone knob can be pulled up for a different sound. To access the battery four screws must be removed from the bottom of the pedal. If you shake the pedal you can hear the battery move. No big deal though, I keep this pedal on my pedal board with velcro using the power supply on the board.

I use this amp in front of a Marshall 100 watt all tube TSL112 combo amp and matching cabinet to give the amp more growl. It does the job well! I pre-fer the sound with the tone knob pulled up and turned almost all the way to the right. I turn the gain up just slightly about three (there are no numbers on the pedal). This thing gives the lead channel on my amp a kick in the ass! I am able to get the modern gain tones from my amp using this pedal. The pedal does not add any noise and when switched off does not suck the tone dry. This is a great OD pedal.

So far no problems!

never delt with them

Does a great job adding more growl to my tube amp! And the price was great.

Very straight forward and highly effective -- the only complaint is the push-pull tone control used to add extra harmonics/edge to the drive: it is easy to push this down (off) inadvertently when you might otherwise want it up (on).

Les Paul (loaded with SD JB/Jazz) or Strat (loaded with Van Zandt Blues) >> Boss TU-2 >> Direct Drive >> Boss Metal Zone (only when used in combo with a dirty amp AND the Direct Drive!!!) >> Xotic RC Booster >> Fulltone ChoralFlange >> A/B >> Deluxe Reverb RI and Torres Engineering Boogie Mite (with EH Holy Grail).

The Direct Drive is just a fantastic overdrive pedal. With the Deluxe set for a base low-volume clean tone, it provides an effective, transparent overdrive tone (especially with humbuckers) -- very useful when you have only one amp/channel and need a clean base tone. Against a plexi-style tube amp with overdriven power tubes, it just totally rocks! A wide array of possibilities, all the way from a relatively clean boost to huge amounts of gain. Personally, I keep the tone pot pulled out for the added harmonics. It adds edge and articulation to the sound - excellent.

Three years of gigging -- not a single problem.

Never had to contact Barber.

This is a follow-on review from almost three years ago. Eighteen years of playing guitar. I've been playing continuously in a band/gigging for the past three years and have played in other bands prior to that. I just have to put in another plug for this pedal. Other than my TU-2 and Metal Zone, it's the only one that has stayed on my board through all of my obsessive searches for improved gear/tone. (OK, all that searching has led to the need for additional practice and live experience more than the need for gear, but you aren't a real guitar player unless you are a gear freak, right???) The MZ stays just because it is tolerable when used WITH the Direct Drive and nothing else I have found quite sounds like it... I've tried and ditched a Fulltone Full-Drive, a Maxon TS-9 copy, and an Xotic AC Booster -- the Direct Drive smokes them all and is less expensive than all of them. If you are playing a tube amp, I don't think you could possibly go wrong with the Direct Drive. It's a must have.

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.

Very easy to get a great sound, love the simplicity. Mine is the new version with the OTT graphics ;-) and the bass trim pot. Haven't tried any internal adjustments yet as I'm thoroughly happy with the sounds I'm getting straight out of the box.

Using with Fender Stratocaster Elite (1983) with Kinman Woodstock plus pups, Barber Tone Press, Direct Drive to Roland Bolt 60 valve amp (2 6L6's). The sound is excellent, the Bolt has a great clean channel and with the DD I can get that beautiful full bluesy breakup sound I've been after. With the tone pulled I can get that smooth Jimi lead sound!! at last! Kick in the Tone Press with a touch of compression and mostly clean boost and lookout! Sustain forever!!

Very well made, solid. Barber makes quality pedals, nuf said.

Haven't had to use them, web site is well maintained and up to date.

This is a good match for the styles of music I play, blues, rock, fusion, progressive stuff. I live in Australia and would like to also mention how good the service was from Indoor Storm, Eddie is one of the best people I've ever dealt with for customer service!!. It's always difficult making a purchase like this when you live in another country, but Eddie made this purchase painless. So if you are like me and don't know who can purchase this pedal or other stuff from, I would thoroughly recommend Indoor Storm!! Also, congratulations to Harmony Central for making these user reviews available, would never have known about Barber Electronics if I hadn't read all the reviews posted here. It sure helps to get an overall feel for how good some of this gear really is. Yep, I like my Barber DD alot!! Even at OZZie dollar prices this pedal is terrific value. I don't like to give out 10's too freely but this is as good as it gets.

Anyone steals my gear WATCHOUT!!!! I'm gonna get ya when ya least expect it!!

The Direct Drive is a simple unit that any monkey could use?partly due to the fact that it sounds good on any setting. Simple controls, volume, tone (pull for fat harmonics) and drive. BUT?having opened mine on day one, I also found that mine contains a bass trimpot inside on the PCB. I spoke with David Barber about this, and he told me that mine is actually a collectable transition period unit incorporating the new innards with the old casing?sweet as a nut!!! Very simple to dial in a really great overdrive sound and between the tone pot and the bass trimpot I can tailor my EQ to perfection.

The direct drive is in a different league to the mass produced drive boxes (some of which are indeed great pedals in their own right). This is right up there with the best of the boutique drives. The quality is audible immediately with a good guitar and valve amp. It is a much more natural sounding overdrive, a very broad sound that acts like a drive channel on your amp rather than a pedal. Also, the true bypass is exceptional.
I am using the ?69 and ?72 thinline telecasters with a Vox AC30/tb, and the direct drive works better than any other overdrive I have tried with them, and I?ve tried them all!!!

I replaced my old TS-9 with the DD and now I use the tubescreamer for my lead boost. This works really really well due to the slight bump in the mids to make lead passages stand proud in the mix. The TS-9 doesn?t come close to the DD for general overdrive use though?as I said, different league!!! But the mix of the two for leads is a match made in heaven, a really beautiful texture that sits exactly where you want it in a live performance and studio mix.

I usually use my DD in fat harmonics mode with drive at about 12 or 1 o?clock?tone and volume are variable depending on the acoustics of the room.

I like to use the middle toggle position of my teles for my cleans and clean breakup sound (for which I use the Boss BD-2 with volume high and drive down to crank my tubes into jangley cleanish breakup)?BUT?I like to use the bridge position for full rhythm overdrive sounds, so the bass trimpot inside allows me to dial in enough bottom end so there is no dropout of bottom end EQ when I go back into the bridge position and hit the DD. It works like a dream, full punchy drive and still never muddy when used in the middle and neck positions?just even bigger and creamy as hell!!! Jesus I love this pedal!!! Best addition to my setup since the ac30.

Made to the highest standards. Built like a tank. No problems at all here!!! Inside is a work of art!!! I just love that famous JRC heart in there!!!

I think the service would be really good if you needed it, due to the way that David Barber himself will talk to you so readily. I hope I don?t have to find out if they can fix problems though!!!

A gem to have in your arsenal. Even if you have the big boutique names on your board it is well worth having a look at this. It is better than the fulltone stuff in my opinion, so if you?re a fulldrive user just have a gander at this. OF COURSE?I only have experience of the unit with the bass trimpot inside, so pick up one of the newer ones if you like what you hear in my review.
The pedal looks great, sounds amazing, has true bypass, tough as a house and all at that price ?what else is there??? Blows the competition out of the water. Try it yourself!!!

It's very easy to get a good sound out of it and very hard to get a bad sound. Every sound is completely useable. Plus, it comes with a manual of suggested settings.

I play an american strat with a jbjr in the bridge and a '72 custom tele reisue with a humbucker in the neck. They both go into a board consisting a vox way, EVH Phase 90, Boss CE-2 Chorus, TU-2 Tuner, and a DD-20 delay in the loop of my Marshall DSL 401 with mullaird tubes and a vintage 30 speaker.

I love the sound of my amp and the sound of my guitars, and it was important to me to preserve as much of that sound as possible. Although, there may be slight coloration, you'll never be wondering what your guitar your playing. The Direct Drive, a strat sounds like a strat and a humbucker like a humbucker, unlike some overdrives which sound like the your playing through the overdrive. Playing through the direct drive sounds, and feels like plugging straight in to a cranked tube amp. Warm, grit, sustain, touch responsive, very nice, all of that's here.

I set mine up this way; Volume 3:00, Tone maxed with the push pull in the up position, Drive 7:30-8:00. It's almost like a clean boost with just a little more oomph. When playing my clean channel on my amp with this on, it gives me a little more on the edge type blues tone, very, very musical sounding, and ballsy. When playing rythm on my drive channel of the amp, which is set at about 1:00 (on the amp)I kick on the Direct drive, and I get a great singing violin like sustainy lead tone that's also great for heavier chunky power chords as well. Like all effects that I use, I use them in moderation. Just adding to my tone without overtaking it. And this is a tremendous addition. It takes my tone and makes it nicer and more "real" sounding. Cranking up the gain gets you into more marshally heavy overdrive territory. I can dial it in to sound close to my amp, so if the amp ever poops out, I crank up the Direct drive and keep going. If your using a single channel amp, this would make a great second channel. It's very amp like in sound and touch responsiveness. A definite keeper.

I'm giving this a 10. Why? Because I've owned and used a fulltone fulldrive II, boss SD-1 (old, new, and modded), TS-9, TS-808, OD-9, OD-808, Tech 21 Double Drive, Analogman TS-9, Rats, Jekyll & Hyde, MXR Distortion, DOD 250 (grey model and yellow model), and a zoom pd-01, along with several other distortion boxes. All of these are good and usefull, and definetely get up there ratings. But the best sound wise to me is the barber. My second and third favorite is the Zoom PD-01 and Maxon OD-9, great for pushing an amp and really thickening up a strat, and the least expensive of the others I mentioned, but it lacks the musical mojo that the barber produces and I hate the ts-9 style switch on the maxon. So, I have no problems at all giving this a 10. All of the pedals I mentioned excell as a either a full on heavy overdrive, a simple boost, or a light overdrive. The barber does all three and does them well.

This has got to be reliable. Open one of these up and compare it any thing you own. Anything!! Incredibly well built.

Sent them an e-mail asking them a ton of questions concerning many of their products and they steered me towards a happy purchase. Very good support. Right up there with Robert Keeley, Analogman, and Indyguitarist. Three builders I've worked with that are all great to deal with.

I've been playing for twenty years. I play Rock, Blues, and pop punk. I'm in a cover band and need to cover a lot of territory. I also play at times in blues type settings. Great match for all that. I like it's simplicity in use and I like that it doesn't sound like I'm using a pedal. Also, not much added noise when using with other pedals or driven amps. And the price? C'mon what else are you going to get that close to perfection? Build quality, true bypass switching, excellent customer service, and tone for days, all under $100? Best bang for the buck, hands down.

Typical tubesreamer set up, volume, tone , gain and has added feature of pull tone pot for richer harmonics. Barbers website has tweaks so one can hone in the sound of the pedal. Got this pedal in a trade deal. Downloaded the manual, has some useful info on settings to get you started.

I use pedals that sound like a tube amp at full gain, first sign of fizz, flab, or kazoo like tones and they are off my board. I was using a Keeley modded TS-9 and a real tube 901 to get higher gain tones from a tube amp SET CLEAN. I tried the set the amp at near breakup and use the volume knob on the guitar and pedals to hit the preamp tubes harder, which gives a powerful tone BUT where did my shimmery clean tone go? For most venues I play I have to keep the volume down but still have tone and that is clean tone and overdriven tones and boosted tones for leads. The Barber Direct drive sounds like (or I should say a pinch better) than my amp cranked and I can lay the barber on a clean amp and I don't need any amp overdrive for it to work.

Dave Barber built it, the guy posts on a forum that I frequent and I'm sure he would make my pedal right if something was wrong. And as I said before he has tweaks on his website (I did the "open air tweak" and added a little more high end.

what I already said

I play rock thru a Dr Z MAZ 18 Jr w/2-10's and a Blues Jr.
I like to set my amp clean, my pedals shift the amp into distortion.
I run my guitar into a Teese RMC-2 -Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe - Fulltone 69 - Barber Direct Drive - Klon Centaur (set for clean boost) - Fulltone Supa Trem (which I set the mix knob down all the way and acts as a boost when not using trem) and the Dr Z or the Blues Jr. I have a boss DD-3 that I keep handy but normally dont use. Overall Rating For the Barber Direct Drive: I rate this pedal high because it works and cost's less than a lot of pedals that I bought that did'nt work. I can get my little Dr Z combo to scream like a plexi, or like a modded marshall, it works with the 69 fuzz to produce Hendrix sounds and set at lower gain it does some pretty good blues tones, and no fizzy decay, kazoo like tones, or farty bottom end, it is amplike.

Its been over a year now of every day use. I bought 3 of these pedals. And gave two away as gifts.

Been playing on the Pro level for 30 plus years, and I use a great amp, killer guitars, and only 1 pedal. I looked for ever to find the right OD pedal.....this is it. I like the LTD model as well for blues, and the SS model is better for Metal tones, but for my tastes this direct drive is the shit...I tend to like the Plexi style amps, and overdrive them into milkshake leads with articulation..this pedal does it great, and I can run it wide open on the gain, and it still is very musical. If there is a better OD pedal out there I have not found it, and I still try alot of em...Do yourself a big favour and buy one...out of all my stuff, this & a Demeter head stay by my side..

no trouble at all...many many gigs, and just works great..the battery last forever too...

Very easy to talk to. I bought 3 pedals of differnt types just to test them out..3 of the direct drives my friends bought do sound alittle different from each other, one had more balls, the other had more openess, and one was a tad bit under gained, but all sounded awesome just a little different..

In the future I want to buy his amp cause if his pedal is this killer, I bet the head is awesome. I really think this will be the last pedal I ever buy for OD...for $99 its just the best deal on earth..

3 knobs, push/pull pot, Hey ??

For the last 20 years I've tried so many ODs and this unit is by far the best sounding Overdrive I ever had. It can sound very similar to an old TS9 or 808 (gain and tone about 3). Pull the Tone-knob and you get a slight increase of mids. I am using this pedal with a Fender Deluxe Reverb, Twin Reverb and for clean boost with an Orange AD12. Didn't have any noise problems.

Looks very reliable. I would use it without a backup.

I don't know

I am playing Blues and Rock for 25 years now and I've owned so many OD pedals (Boss OD-1/SD-1, Banzai Fireball, Ibanez TS808/9/5, Vox Valvetone, Korg OVD-1, MEK TD-1/2). The sound of every OD is always a matter of taste. For me and my style of music the Barber DD is the best sounding and most usable OD I ever had. Much more Voulme than the standard Boss/Ibanez units.
The most thing I like about this pedal is that you can always hear the original sound of your guitar even with drive at max.
Maybe it would be nice to have a second swith instead of the push/pull pot but I am only using the Guitar-Volume so I don't care.
Gear: Strat/DD/TubeAmp (sometimes a little bit Delay after the DD)
...... bought my second DD yesterday ;)

I just had a suggestion for one of the previous reviewers who said this pedal was extremely noisy. Did you try it on another amp? I've been buying and selling pedals for a while now. I've seen tons of hate reviews on pedals for the amount of white noise they make. I've purchased pedals that were rated notorious for noise and worked fine on my tube amp without noise. I've had amps that the pedal sounded awesome on, but on another it would hiss and buzz. Another thing I realized was that another pedal from your current set up can cause the noise too. I've had some pedals leave a very low quiet fuzzy artifact after it which caused my other pedals to buzz and produce white noise and vice versa. So I was stuck with swapping pedals here and there for a while before I finished my dream pedal chain. You might have a kick ass setup that works fine without noise and such, but a new pedal can always be subject to problems fitting into your current setup. Some pedals are grounded and have noise filters, others dont. I have a tube amp where the distortion channel will pick up radio stations reguardless of my current power conditioner.

I noticed my new barber tonepress filters out that frequency. And since I leave it on all the time I don't have that noise issue. Again each pedal is built different and depends on the entire chain of effects.

Easy to use. Three knobs, Volume, Tone and Gain

I've used every overdrive pedal available. This overdrive is one of the best sounding overdrive pedals I've experienced. Very tube amp like. In my pedalboard I am also using a Vox Valvetone and a Maxon OD820. The Barber Direct Drive is very compatable with both of them. It hard to find and use multiple gain pedals that are compatable with one another. The Direct Drive has more tube character than any of the Tubescreamer products. That includes all the TS9 and 808 clones.

Judging by their reputation and looking at the build of the piece, I don't expect any problems.

Never dealt with the company

This pedal is a great match for the guitarist that simply wants a great tube amp overdrive. Great for most styles of playing!. Vintage rock, Blues, Country, Modern Rock. A great addition to my pedalboard!
This is truely a great sounding pedal! Thanks Barber Electronics!

Very Easy to use. Vol,Tone,Drive, with a push/pull on the tone knob.

I use a '93 Hamer Special FM with Duncan '59/JB Pups > Barber DD > Dunlop Rotovibe > A/DA Flanger > EH QTron > DOD FX96 EchoFx Delay >
EH Holy Grail Reverb > '65 Vibro Champ.(My setup as of now) Have lots of other cool effects, Too many to name. Not a noisy pedal very nice sound all around, doesn't color my tone and gives me a wide array of
OD settings. My favorite setting is vol 11 o'clock, tone 12 o'clock(with the push/pull in up pos.) drive at 2 o'clock. I get the best sounding OD I have heard yet. Very natural sound amp OD. When I crank my Vibro Champ It kicks the amp into harmonic heaven. The key is to have the Tone knob pulled up, this gives you awesome harmonics not found on ANY other OD. I like it better than the Tubescreamers(which I do like, but compress my tone way too much) The DD does not do this, it just gives you a fat sounding OD. There is also a trim pot inside that I found out from Dave Barber is new to the unit and adjust the bass resonse, which I really love. You can get so many sounds from early Marshall to cranked Fenders to a uncompressed Tubescreamer, to subtle blues.

Very dependable, Barber makes only quality pedals and I could see this lasting me forever. Very neat wiring. Quality parts etc......

Dave Barber e-mailed back very quickly. I asked him about the trim pot inside and he told me I was the first person to ask about it on the newer units. Very Nice Dave. Great customer support. The only 10 I will give for this review, cause 10's are hard to give because nothing is perfect, except Barbers support!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I play whatever comes to mind. I do not pigeonhole myself into one form of music. I am not a pro or touring musician, I just love the guitar and especially effects/amps and gadgets. I have been playing for 15 years and am always looking for cool effects that are made well, sound great, don't break easily and have great designers/builders who care about the people who buy their products. If it were stolen I would I would track down the bastard and beat him a slow death with a barbwire bat and shock him with a cattleprod.
All in all a great OD for a fantastic value built by a top notch builder/human being who cares about his customers. Great work. Dave!!!!!

On the surface, the DD is very simple to use. Plug it in and go. However, it will take some fine tweaking to get it to really sound good with your rig. The manual is a nice overview of the pedal, but it is notable that all the sample settings, except for one, show the Drive knob set very low. This is because if you crank past 1:00 you're into the land of noise...the only problem with this pedal.

PRS Standard 22 into a couple of pedals (Barber Comp, FT 69, MXR Noise Gate, EH Small Stone, Line6 EchoPark) into a Dr.Z MAZ38 1X12. The DD is VERY noisy! When the drive is cranked, the unit is virtually unusable. Which is really frustrating because otherwise the overall sound is SO good and full of harmonics. If you roll back the drive to like 10:00 or 8:00 and mess with the tone, you get a beautiful thick mellow over drive with no noise. It's a major tease though, because if you of course want to crank the drive, and it sounds frigg'n amazing...until you stop playing and are hit in the face with a wall of noise and feedback. All OD's and DS's are noisy, but you know when a good gate set to full-on can't squash the buzz and crackle, it's bad. So if you're looking for a sweet-spot mellow OD pedal, you've found one of the best. But, if you like a more heavy driven sound, forget it.

I've had mine for 6 months and it seems to be able to put up with general rock-abuse. However, I'm benching this pedal as of this writing, so I can't speak for the long term. Never felt like I needed a back up...seems very well made.

Never had to deal with them. However, I hear they're nice.

I've played heavy rock and blues for over 20 years. For my mellow tones, the DD was great but almost an afterthought because you can just set your amp to get that same tone and it naturally sounds better. So, I would say this pedal was not a "good match." Don't know who's running around stealing and losing all these pedals, but if it were lost or stolen, I wouldn't care or replace it. I've tried so many OD pedals over the years and this was by far one of the best. Which is why it really SUCKS that it is so noisy. Major design flaw! In the end, nothing beats the true sound of OD'd tubes.

I had no problem getting a great sound out of this pedal. My problem is, I find a setting I love and then don't take the time to see what else it is capable of doing. It is easy to use, but there's got to be an easier way to make the push/pull tone switch more usable. I prefer it pulled up but it can be pushed back down fairly easy on a pedal board.

My guitars are a G&L Skyhawk (strat)w'Fralin Blues and a Godin SP90 also eqipped w/Fralins. My amp is a Peavey Classic 50 head with two 12" Vintage Celestions. My pedal board has (in order of appearance)a Fulltone Clyde, Fulltone FDII, Fulltone Dist Pro, Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive (with Keeley mod), VL Analog Chorus, VL Micro Vibe, Keely Compressor, Boss - Tremolo, Harmonizer, DD6 Delay, then Fulltone Fat Boost. The Direct Drive is compatable with all of the effects pedals, but as with the 'High End" overdrive pedals that can be stacked or used together, the DD stands on it's own very well. And for ninety bucks! There's minimal noise. I've read that the tone is similar to the "Dumble" type of singing harmonic sustain. I can sure get closer to that sound than with any of my other pedals. The other pedals are still great but they can't get this tone. My favorite players would be Robben Ford, Steve Morse, Doyle Bramhall II, Ty Tabor, Mike Landau, Scott Henderson, etc. There's a lot, but also very diverse styles.

This appears to be built on the same level as the Fulltone pedals or the Voodoo Labs (and hopefully with better switches than the VL stuff). I've had it about 2 months so it's too early to comment.

I haven't had to contact them and I don't see any upgrades that would enhance this pedal.

I play in different settings - rock, country, blues, worship at church. This pedal has a place in any of those styles or venues(depending on your church). I've been playing since high school (graduated '71), but have been seriously tone searching since about '91. I would buy this pedal again. As a matter of fact, I recommend buying 2 of them anyway for the price, because you will want to have one to let your friends take home to try while you still have one to play. I chose this pedal by reviews here on HC and also other webs sites. By checking the dates of the previous postings and reading the great reviews I am surprised that the price has not increased. Well done Mr. Barber.

The controls are just like any other overdrive pedal. Gain, tone, and volume. Super easy to dial in a good setting, and the pull pot feature on the tone control is a nice touch to add a little tonal variation.

I run a 2003 Highway-1 Telecaster with a Little 59 humbucker in the bridge (which will be replaced as soon as I get the money) through a Boss DM-2, Ibanez CS-9, and Direct Drive into an EKO amp from the 60's. This is the only overdrive pedal that I've gotten to sound good with my guitar, especially that single-coil neck pickup. I used to have a TS-5 when I started playing electric that I started to hate after a while, then I tried an Ibanez Tube King that a friend loaned me. The Direct Drive sounds amazing with my setup. I can dial in a wider range of settings than I need, and it sounds good no matter what settings you have it at. This pedal is an excellent replacement for a gain channel, since my amp is basically a single-channel amp. I think I'd be a little happier if I had the ability to dial in extreme enough settings to make it unusable. I'd just prefer to have the option.

I haven't had this thing for long enough for things to start going wrong, but I've opened it up, and it's built near-flawlessly. The soldering looks great, and the enclosure is rock-solid. I'm sure the 3PDT switch will go out eventually, but they do on everything so it's not really a concern, and that can be replaced easily enough. I'm basing my rating off of the circuitry and enclosure, which looks invincible.

I haven't dealt with them, but they're a boutique manufacturer, so I assume I could get ahold of them if I needed to.

I play some pretty arty music, and this pedal is an essential part of my sound. I like to use different chord voicings when I can (I play mostly rhythm and leave the leads up to my bassist) and this pedal has excellent chord definition; very amp-like. I'm a pretty big tone snob, so I wouldn't be using this pedal if it sucked. Really, the only complaint that I have about it is that the pull pot doesn't have such a nice, weighted rotation as the other two. Other than that it's a solid piece of equipment. I just wish the settings to so rediculous as to be insane. I just like to have more control than I need. This is a minor issue though, since it gets to about the limits of what I like to use, but stops before being over the top. If it were stolen or lost I'd be on the phone the next day ordering a new one.

Admittedly I didn't do that much shopping around when I went to go buy a pedal, but I read about the Direct Drive in a magazine and their review was pretty convincing. I don't regret my decision at all.

I'd like to add that it has the same IC chip as an Ibanez TS-808, so you're getting that classic Tube Screamer sound, except it's a hand-made pedal with true bypass and the pull pot that lets through more harmonics. Oh, and it's cheaper than a Tube Screamer. The price they ask is a steal. Order one soon before more people realize how much they rule and the price goes up.

Very easy to use & the pull tone control provides a surprisingly wide range of tones. When pulled, the pedal sounds the same to my ears as the DD SS with trimpots set stock.

More open & natural sounding than a TS9 but not so much of a departure that TS9 fans won't like it. The tone control has a great range & never sounds bad. The pull tone is especially nice, it deserves a dedicated switch for kicking in on solos.

N/A

Dave's a nice guy but I didn't keep the pedal long enough to actually need real support.

Sounds great through an open sounding amp like a Super Reverb or a Marshall. Midrange-heavy amps like my H&K Puretone & Fender Pro Jr. are not a great match for it, IMO, but then that'd probably be perfect for anyone going for a ZZ Top kind of sound.

When I first tried the pedal, it was next to both the DD SS & the LTD. I actually thought the LTD was the most open & natural sounding of the three but took the DD home because it has a much wider range of tones available & can get fairly close to copping the LTD sound (it does a dead-on DD SS, obviously, but without having to mess with the trimpots). Unfortunately, I came to regret this decision over the short period of time that I hung on to this pedal & ended up swapping it for something else. The LTD will probably be my next purchase.

As I hinted at earlier, this pedal is perfect for anyone that likes the TS9 sound but wants to take it to the next level (with more versatility, I might add). I might add that I probably would have kept it if I still had a Super Reverb.

Super easy to use, 3 knobs. On/Off, light indicator. All you need.

Well, all I can say is I am now getting rid of my vintage Tubescreamer (early 80's) and Vox Valvetone. This pedal captures the essence of "that" tone, but adds a certain element that has clarity yet grinds and is warm. That's the best way I can describe it. It is my new overdrive favorite, and I'm a die hard tubescreamer fan, so this is a big deal to me.

Hopefully it will last a long time. Very well built, solid pedal.

Don't know.

Killer deal from a pawn shop, this is a keeper. Can't wait to check out other Barber products now that I have discovered this gem.

VERY EASY TO USE.YOU ALSO CAN FIND SETTINGS ON THEIR WEB SITE.I GOT IT AS A GIFT FROM A FRIEND IN AUSTIN. ED STOCKTON.ONLY THING YOU MUST WATCH THE TONE KNOB IS PUSH PULL TYPE UP GIVES YOU A FATTER OVER DRIVE .BUT IF YOU DONT WATCH YOU COULD PUSH IT DOWN WHILE TURNING PEDAL ON AND OFF..

IAM USING A ES-335 GIBSON A CARVIN STRAT.AND A DELTA BLUES 210 TUBE AMP,WONDERFUL LITTLE AMP.I USE A DIRECT DRIVE,AND OLD IBANEZ CS -505 CHORUS PEDAL AND A BOSS DELAY. THE EFFECTS WORK WELL TOGETHER MY FAVORITE ARTIST HAVE THEIR SOUND AND I HAVE MIND. I LIKE PHIL KEGGEY,JOHN AND EDGAR WINTERS.JIM REEVES, FARRON YOUNG,ED STOCKTON.THE SOUND QUALITY IS VERY GOOD SORT OF OLD MARSHALL MEETS TWEED NOT A METAL PEDAL.ITS ALSO WORKS WELL IN PUTTING YOUR AMPS DISTORTION CHANNEL OVER THE TOP.ITS THE BEST PEDAL IVE HEARD UNDER 100 BUCKS.IT LETS YOUR GUITAR SING AND ITS NOT COMPRESS I HATE A COMPRESS SOUND.GO TRY ONE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF,JESUS RULZ BUT THE PEDALS COOL

YEA ITS BUILT VERY WELL.METAL CASING YOU COULD THROW AT THE DOG,THEN PICK IT UP AND PLAY IT.I USE VERY LITTLE BACKUP ANYTHING.YES I WOULD AND HAVE USE IT WITHOUT BACKUP. IT WILL STAND TOE TO TOE WITH BOSS EASY.

HAVE NOT HAD IT LONG ENOUGHT.AND SO FAR IVE ONLY SEEN THIER WEB SITE BUT NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH THEM YOU CAN HEAR IT OVER THE NET.BUT THERE IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT BETWEEN THE COMPUTER SPEAKERS,THEN THE FANES IN MY MY DELTA BLUES ARE MY CELLESTION 30S IN MY MARSHALL. ILL GIVE THEM A 8 ANYWAY.

IVE BEEN PLAYING 25 TO 30 YRS.15 YRS CONTEMPARY WORSHIP.IVE PLAYED CHRISTAIN METAL,ROCK,MY FAVORITE IS SOUTHERN ROCK,BLUES TEXAS STYLE,AND OLD COUNTRY LIKE FARRON YOUNG BUT MY FIRST LOVE IS GOD AND WORSHIP.THIS PEDAL DOES EVERY THING I DO AND DOES IT WELL.IFI LOST IT YEA I THINK I MIGHT REPLACE IT UNLESS I FOUND SOMETHING COOLER.FOR THE MONEY I THINK ED PAYED 99 BUCKS FOR IT,ITS VERY COOL;WELL I HOPE YOU AND JESUS GET THINGS WORK OUT CAUSE JESUS RULZ...

3 knobs, with the middle (tone) knob on a push/pull pot. I gave my pet spider monkey a slice of banana every time he dialed in a cool tone. He's now lying flat-back on the floor in a potassium stupor...

Okay, so I have a few overdrive/distortion pedals - Boss SD-1, DS-1, Keeley-modded BD-2, Keeley-modded TS9 Baked Tube Screamer, Digitech something-or-other hunk of metal junk, and the Barber Direct Drive. Truth be told, I favor the Keeley Baked TS9...for no other reason than the increased gain. But when I set both pedals on the floor through an A/B, I did not really notice a great difference between the two (tonally) when set at comparable gain levels. The tone knob needs to be in the pulled up position to get that extra chunk from the DD, but the two pedals sounds remarkably alike. The TS9 has the edge due to gain alone from where I sit.
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So here's the kicker...the Barber is $70 cheaper. Of course, Mr. Keeley must first buy the stock TS9 and then mod it to his specs, so I'm not faulting him at all for the price difference. But the point is, if you want a really good overdrive/distortion pedal at a very reasonable price point, the Barber DD is a fine choice in my opinion. Even though the Keeley stays on my working pedalboard, the Barber is very comfortable at home on my practice amp and makes me very happy. I don't regret this purchase at all.
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In fact, if the Keeley were stolen, I'd cry for a few minutes and then promptly put the DD on my board and step back from the precipice of despair.

Can't complain so far. I've owned the pedal for around a month and a half, though...so not too sure how the switch will hold up over the long haul. Switches are always the weak points on the pedals I've owned. But outside of that, this thing is sewn together into a nice solid metal enclosure and the components inside appear to be of good quality and are well assembled. I'd rather not numerically rate the device, though, without having slapped it around and watched it spit in my face in defiance. So suffice it to say that it *looks* like it can hold its own in a scrap.

Have not needed to contact Barber yet.

I've been playing on again/off again for about 16 years...in all styles from speed metal (when I was 18-22 years old) to more recently a strange mix of jazz, blues, and rock.
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Bottom line...I really dig this pedal overall. If it were stolen, I'd surely buy another. It has a very good quality sound in a not-so-expensive package. Barber seems to be taking the high road with their products in that they are delivering the goods without playing the price gouging game (like Klon and Landgraff have done...$300 for a decent booster and $400 for an overdrive, respectively...yeah, sure! How much R&D did you put into those boxes, anyway?). Kudos to any company that can manage such a feat as being fair to the customer.
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Based on my experience with this pedal, I'm already contemplating a purchase of the Barber LTD and Tone Press. If those pedals are anything like the DD in terms of overall bang for the buck...count me in!

3 knobs , middle pulls out for a boost . A little tricky to tweak a good sound from it. The pull knob is a bit difficult to grasp.

telecaster,hot rod amp . Cant turn the gain up too much before encountering quite alot of noise (hum). I wasnt thrilled with the sound of this pedal. not too much sustain , not too smooth . made my treble pickup sound very nasal like a wah pedal in the mid spot.

seemed well built

Barber seem easy to contact. I got it from Pedal Geek and they seem like a reasonable outfit.

Ive tried alot of these pedals and they all dissapoint me. Often in their decriptions , all the buzz words are thrown about ie: transparent , touch sensitive , shimmering , clean , tubelike , fat etc. the list goes on. Kind of gets ones hopes up beyond whats possible. Actually one of the better pedals Im using is a $14 arion tubulator.

Plug in yer axe, then plug the pedal into yer amp, doofus. Turn the knobs 'till it sounds good. Duh. Basic device. Three knobs, one of 'em (tone) pulls out fer FAT.

I never give 10's. I am basing this review on just this box straight into my Mesa Dc-5 12" combo w/ 12" ext cab (both w/ celestions). My main axe is an 'ol '79 ibanez (blazer) strat with a dunkmore semen JB JR. in bridge, stock mid and neck. It's so damn squishy sounding. Thick 'n squishy. Very harmonically appealing, musical, and quite satisfying. I like it better than anything else I've tried. Not a goofy SRV wannabee, thank God. No super-modded,"vintage" ts-whatever nonsense crap here. It LOVES my fatdawg LesPaul. I crank the drive, pull-out the Fat switch (on the tone pot) turn up the 'Boogie, and it just doesn't get any better. My tele sounds neato thru it, too. I definately can recommend it to humbucker people. I refuse to make comparisons to other drive units, it is it's own thing. SUPER BANG FER THE BUCK, BUCKO! Aww, what the heck, I give it a ten.

I've had it a coupla months. I'd use it without a backup, as the quality is superior. I use it with a power supply.

This guy is a cool dude (dave barber). I called to ask a bunch of dumb queations and realized afterword that it was the owner I was talkin to. He was patient and intelligent. One can only imagine what the poor guy has to deal with from all the guitar geeks in the world. He's not pissed off at us, yet! I am not giving a ten, cause I've never had to have anything repaired, so don't know the whole skinny.

Love it!!!!

This is just a correction of a mistake in my previous review.

In my previous review below I wrote:
''... the electronic components are probably of somewhat lesser quality than the FT FD II and you can hear that at the highest gain ..'' Actually that is plain WRONG and I apologize to David Barber and to all the HC readers. namely I did some of my testing with the open box (in order to tweak those small knobs
in the SS model - I actually do not need those settings :-)
so the noise at highest gain was higher. The moment I closed everything and even used the box at the highest settings with THD all tube amp the noise was negligible: bravo David !

Also for the completeness, I have now tested DD against all various boxes I have for the second time and I can confirm that Fulltone Fulldrive is the closest but with lower gain overall (and less passionate sound) and H & K Tubefactor can sound almost as good or to some ears even better but is much bigger and again more expensive box.

Unless you play Rectifier metal type of leads do not bother with the SS model as DD covers all styles up to heavy rock and classic metal. No other small $99 box cn cover such a tonal range with so much character and juice: a true winner !

By mistake I bought the more expensive SS model that is useful if you need more Mesa-Boogie type of distortion and more harmonics or presence. So now I use my DD SS in the low bass, low presence, no harmonics mode and that is effectively $30 cheaper DD model, so I have added my review here FYI but with no rating although I can confirm that this pedal deserves 10 (and I play regularly since 1960 :-)

BTW, highly rated pedals like Tonebone Classic or British can compete with DD but are less suitable for the stage use. For LIVE gigs I do strongly recommend just this $99 Direct Drive !

Introduction: Features

It has Tone, Drive and Volume and once you decide your tone and the starting volume by varying the drive know you can cover anything from slight boost of your clean tone (tube amp or digital amp - works too!) to tubescreamery SRV to tubey singing, all the way to marshally tube burning ...

Well, you have to also choose and tweak additional 3 small settings inside the box (presence, bass, harmonics content), and I chose the TS808 recommended settings and use it like that - namely, I do NOT play metal - only jazz, blues and light rock, latino etc ...

THE Sound:

I tested DDSS with the very best gear there is including my fender Strat Plus, Gibson Les Paul or even Line 6 Variax guitar through the all tube (Rivera 6550a output tube) THD Univalve (arguably the best tube, reference amp in the world) through the 112 Fane vintage deep cabinet and also through Roland VGA-3 COSM modeling (digital) 112 combo ... DDSS passed all my tests with flying marks and I do know THE tone for sure ... BTW, I used my VHT Valvulator 1 power supply (with a tube) and special no loss monster cables in all tests; also Danelectro vintage 9V batteries ... so my test is as reliable as it gets.

Well, THE sound is certainly there. I have all the other pedals too, so I can compare it and did compare it with: the Maxon TS808 - that's tTHE recommended original circuit great sounding tubescreamer and DDSS sounds tubeyscreamy but also slightly more marshalish, more rock; the same is true for the Fulltone Fulldrive II that is definitely overall finer and more subtle pedal than the DDSS (also somewhat less noisy) but FD II has less gain ... I could go on... BUT the bottom line is that DDSS is almost as versatile as Tech 21 SansAmp Classic (the original) in covering anything from the fine tubescreamer bluesy sounds to singing Santana leads or screaming burning Marshall stack in Hendrix Woodstock style ... all that for $130 in a very, very small box - unbeatable value!

I decided to use it as a tubescremer for blues and for singing Santana to Hendrix 'gymnastics' leads with Strat and LP and it does all of that beautifully. In the blues area I can maybe use $250 BJF electronics Blue Baby and get even more screaming ragey bluesy ('angry') sound, and from $200 FT FD II I do get perhaps more subtle variations of the lower gain guitar tones, while $135 Maxon OD808 is somehow more fluid in low gain tubescreamer range, while $200 H & K Tubefactor (all tube) has more screachy metallico singing tube sound - but you see the DDSS can cover ALL that in a small package for only $130 ! and I even suspect that I could have simply bought just the Direct Drive, without inside controls of bass and harmonics or presence, as I am not going to fiddle much with those ...

In summary, the electronic components are probably of somewhat lesser quality than the FT FD II and you can hear that at the highest gain (which is normal - any burning Marshall produces a lot of noise too!), yet this pedal has THE sound ranging essentially from the SRV tubescreamer to Hendrix burning Marshall - and that means firm 10 in any serious guitarist book.

I play since 1960 and I play any style except the noise-metal or techno-screach ...so my tone is mainly from sweet clean jazz like Kenny Burell, to bluesy Buddy Guy or SRV all the way to singing Santana and occasional Hendrixy 'gymnastics' screaming or Vernon Reid or Van Hallenisms ... Usually for that range I would need my THD Univalve and two OD pedals like Maxon OD808 for tubescreaming and then VS Route 66 in a series or Big Muff or the SansAmp Classic or H&K Tubefactor or FT FD II to get to singing Santana or ultimately to burning Marshall tones ...

Now this pedal can and does cover all that ! It is not better in any sub-areas from any of the above: You can have maybe a slightly subtler, dedicated tubescreamer sound from specially moded OD808, but in all fairness the DDSS comes as close to that that the difference is purely academic - indeed it is a TS808 killer (and I use it exactly in that setting like the basic DD model ! which tells you a lot). The FT FD II is more subtle in low to medium gain range and has also the compression singing mode, but in truth the DDSS is more wild more passionate somehow more true guitar-amp sounding ... in a direct comparison, the FD II is almost like a slightly 'edited', polished pedal ... and moreover DDSS can and does offer the gain all the way to the burning Marshall and that you do hear with different guitars: in other words the DDSS covers also the rock sounds too and in a very convincing way! My THD Univalve (with all knobs set at 11am) sounded just as a burning Marshall double stack (at Woodstock) and that was with Fender Strat Plus Silver Lace (not extremely gainy) single coils - so this DDSS pedal has some serious drive (gain) in it, yet does not color your basic guitar sounds or character ... impressive!

In summary, all exquisite tone and tube tone maniacs like myself can and should buy DDSS (or DD?) as these boxeseasily cover a lot of tonal ground LIVE on stage ... Basically, with a good wah pedal and DDSS you can play all evening through a good tube amp and you won't need anything else to cover a huge tonal range (clean to blues to light to heavy rock). (It does probably metal light gain range too!). I suspect it may become my main pedal (on stage) from now on with maybe BJF Baby Blue to be used in one raging blues solo only ... For specific dedicated recording tones I may continue to use other pedals and boxes (I do have the Roland VG-88v2 too ... or even Award Session(Morley) JD-20 or Behringer V-Amp2 ...) but I have a hard time to think of another very small pedal that covers it all: from fabulous bluesy SRV tubescreaming all the way to the burning rock screaming Marshall (you just vary the drive and volume) ... OK I can probably do that with my $270 Tech21 SansAmp Classic pedal but you have to fiddle small buttons and even then you won't get quite all the CHARACTER and VOICE that this DDSS has - hence I conclude: if you have $130 and love your own guitar sound: just go and buy one !

I passed on this pedal after reading some of the early reviews on this site, and bought a few other OD pedals. After hearing Jason Barkers audio review of this pedal I was blown away. I also read a few of the newer reviews and bought this pedal.

I can say for certin that there are some stupid people reviewing this pedal on this site.If you can't get a good overdrive & tone from this pedal you should take up the accordion, or better yet, buy a fish bowl & watch the fish swim round & round, leave music playing to people that know real tones..
I ran it into a Koch combo & an extention cab, with greenbacks. i set it up with just a touch of crunch on the amp. I ran the pedal with the tone pulled up & at 3 oclock, the volume & drive both at 12 oclock. I used a ESP strat with duncan humbuckers, a musicman Axis with z-90 harmonic design pickups, and a hamer artist, with duncan 59ers. this pedal sounded awesome on all 3 guitars, I then pulled out a stock american strat, and it sounded killer. It was very Dumbleish in feel & response & i know dumbles, I have owned 3 of em...I think it had more of a modern feel as far as the super fast sweep runs, where the dumble could not keep up like this tone. I also was told that this pedal likes 6L6 tubes & not EL34's. well I play on a amp with EL34's and it sounded awesome, I also played it on a super reverb with the same success...AWESOME PEDAL..so save some money on the hunt looking for the best OD pedal, cause this is it, IMO...

built very well, should last a good long time...

Very good talking to them, and they seem to understand all the different amps out there..was very helpfull talking about other pedals from other makers, and what theirs bring to the table...

I play Jazzy southern rock with lots of guitar. I played a ton of the newer pedals out there, and this pedal sounds alot better then most of em. and for $99, what a steal....believe me this pedal has TONE FOR DAYS....I am buying a few more to give to my guitar player friends..awesome just awesome...

Very easy to use--gets a great classic, natural overdrive sound.

Setup is Fender American Standard Tele and a 60's Vox Berkeley tube amp. As far as pedals, I use a Boss TU2 tuner, Barber Direct Drive, and Korg Toneworks Echo. It's not very noisy. I use this pedal for leads only. The Vox is a class A 15 watt tube amp, so it breaks up great at about 2 o'clock. The Direct Drive gives me extra sustain, volume, and gain for leads--I set the level at 3 o'clock, the tone all the way off (my amp is super bright by itself) and the drive at 8 o'clock. The tone knob is pushed in. For a low wattage amp that sounds good by itself, this setting works great for classic lead tones. Sound quality is pristine, especially for a $100 pedal.

So far so good, I've had it for about 6 months, about 4 times a week between rehearsal and gigs.

Haven't had to deal with the company yet.

I would definately by this pedal again if lost or stolen. I have not found an overdrive pedal that works well with my amp, they've all been too brittle sounding, or too over-the-top sounding. I've tried Fulltone FullDrive (a great pedal, but my amp doesn't like it), Nobles Natural Overdrive, King of Britains, Badcat, Boss, Realtube, and several others. Also tried several clean boost pedals, such as the MXR MicroAmp. All of these pedals seem to work great for some people, but the Direct Drive works best for me and my setup. No matter what people rave about, or how good a pedal is supposed to be, the only way to know for sure is to try it with your guitar and your amp. Preferably while playing with the rest of the band--believe me, there is a huge difference between that and just testing it at the store--you'll never truly know until you use it with your band. I've been playing for about 20 years, mainly small to midsized venues, nothing huge. Certainly not as experienced as the reviewer before me.

3 knobs. If you can't figure them out, you should play the triangle.

Tom Anderson Hollow Classic, Hollow T or Cobra-Barber Tone Press-Barber DD-Barber DD SS-EB Volume Pedal-Budda Twinmaster 212 and Budda Superdrive 18 112. I use one DD for rhythm and the SS for my higher gain lead sound. Great lush Eric Johnson type lead tones that clean up very well. Nice Robben Ford type blues sound as well. Maybe I am a simpelton, but I think that too many of the reviews I read on these post are over-analyzed. If the tone's there, it's there. Play well. Don't suck. Have taste and touch and the pedals, whatever you use, will still sound good. I have always hated the way that ODs made my amps sound tinny or small. This pedal seems to open up very well and give me the sustain and dynamics I need. I have gigged 3-5 times per week and have played many outdoor shows and festivals for up to 20,000 people over the last 15 years. I consistantly have soundmen and guitar-playing audience members tell me that my tone is rich, full and cuts through amazingly well. Players constantly ask me what pedals I am using. Their opinions mean more to me than arbitrary reviews by bedroom hobbyists. Not trying to sound like a jerk at all. Just the way I feel. If you are happy with the sound of your guitar and amp and just need some great, full, sustainy dynamic gain, i think this is a great unit to try. Heads and shoulders above anything else I have ever used for my particular rig and style.

seems solid...no problems

very helpful and answered questions in a timely fashion...no major problems to test them so a 9 it is...

I have been playing Country-Rock-Jazz-Blues-Classical and Solo Acoustic Fingerstye for over 22 years. I own a recording studio and have worked as a session player on numerous album projects, soundtracks and jingles. I would replace the units I own if stolen without a second thought. I have enough to worry about just playing the best I can and always sounding good. These pedals allow me to do just that. I just want to step on it and know that my tone and playing comes through without me having to fight too hard for it. They allow me NOT to think/worry about the sound. Rock On.

Volume,Tone (Pull for FAT), and Drive. 9v AC adapter plug in, True Bypass Switch. Very little effort.

I play a Charvel Predator with Seymor Duncan aph-1 Alnico II pro in bridge position and Seymor Duncan Duckbucker neck position. Effects= Barber DD into Fender HotRod De Ville 4x10. DD replaced Ibenez TS-9/808 silver mod by Analogman and a Boss DS-1 pro mod also by Analogman. I use other effects at times, but find the best setup is usually the simplest. I have also tried the DD through my Fender Blues Jr. I really like this pedal with the HRDV. I can get a very nice classic rock sound through the clean channel. I have never been impressed with the HRDV drive channels but have always loved its clean sound. The DD definitely helps this amp to be much more versitale. I wouldnt say that the DD makes my Fender sound like a Marshall or whatever, but it does help a very good clean amp sound good with OD. The pedal is much more transparent and not nearly as compressed sounding as the TS-9. As with any OD or dist pedal it does add noise when turned on but its not too bad. Over all this is a great sounding pedal with the HRDV. I however was not impressed with its sound through the Blues Jr. But I have never been very happy with this amp. No pedal has ever worked well it.

Seems to be built very well. I was not too impressed with the battery setup though. There is nothing that holds it stationary inside the box, only the connector. I also find that the sound is better (more Transparent) when the 9V AC plug is used. Relatively new I have no reference to judge reliablity.

Bought through musictoys.com no experience with Barber electronics

I have been playing for 27 yrs and have owned/traded/sold a ton of equipment. With pedals I have found that what sounds good one day can sound like crap the next. Your sound/Tone is a combination of you, your guitar, pickups, effects, amp, ect... Not One single component alone is going to make your sound unique or great. I look for pedals that inhance the sound of a great amp and guitar, not mask it or make it sound like something else. I think the Barber Direct Drive is one of the better OD pedals that I have used. Well worth 99 dollars.

Very straight forward: tone, volume, and drive, with a push/pull control on the tone knob to add additional harmonics to the OD. All controls are useful and responsive throughout their adjustment ranges. The only complaint I have is that with the tone knob pulled up for additional harmonics, it is fairly easy to inadvertently hit it with your toe on the pedal board. Not a big deal, but a switch in place of the push/pull knob would eliminate this.

My setup is an '89 Strat Plus Deluxe with SD Hotrails & 2 SD Cool Rails >> Dunlop 535Q Wah >> Direct Drive >> Tech 21 Double Drive >> Proco Rat II >> Marshal DSL 401 >> TCElectronic G-Major (in the loop) >> Avatar G212H cabinet. This is obviously a highly subjective area, but I absolutely love the tone from this little box. In addition to the pedals listed above, I have also had a Maxon OD-9. The Direct Drive stomps the OD-9 and immediately replaced it. It offers a fuller range of overdrive, while restoring bass response and providing a much more natural, tube-like overdrive. The Tech 21 Double Drive offers more overdrive than the Direct Drive; however, the Direct Drive will cover 90 percent of what the Double Drive does in this area and is much better than the Tech 21 at delivering lighter overdriven tones. The Tech 21 seems to go fairly flat at lower drive levels, while the Direct Drive is toneful and responsive. The Rat is a distortion pedal, and accordingly it offers much more gain and a completely different range of tones than the Direct Drive -- different boxes, and good to have both. The Direct Drive box sounds more Marshall-esque than Fender, which I like. (As a matter of fact, I can easily dial in a tone that is virtually identical to the OD1 channel on my Marshall.) Anything above 9 o'clock on the drive is pretty hot. There is definitely enough gain on tap to cover virtually any classic rock tone. Pull the tone knob out, set the drive to 2 o'clock and you're easily into the ZZ Top "Tush" zone. The unit is reasonably quiet and well-made. I've also tried a HAO Rust Driver and the Fulltone Fulldrive II. To my ear, the Direct Drive is by far the best OD pedal I have played through.

Extremely well made. No issues to report here, and I don't expect any.

No experience with this one, although the reports on this site are good.

I've been playing for 15 years. I like classic rock and play in a casual band with friends. We gig about three or four times a year and otherwise play for fun. The Direct Drive is extremely useful in getting excellent classic rock tones. It's always cool to find and try out out new pedals, and I'm really glad I gave this one a try. Based on my experience with the Direct Drive, I'm definitely going to try the Burn Unit 2 and Tone Press from Barber. At $100 new, this unit is a no-brainer -- you really owe it to yourself to give it a try. Highly recommended.

Vol, tone (pull fat), overdrive, LED. Simple and effective. My unit has the LED in the rt upper corner below the OD control instead of over the switch as pictured.

I use it with a Carvin amp and guitar, Dod chorus, Crybaby,and a vol pedal. The Direct Drive does what Barber says it will do. It gives you a "Marshall" vibe OD with plenty of pick harmonics and sustain. The vol control allows you to get REALLY loud. The big thing is minimal compression. We all know a very compressed signal boxes in your sound. You may be getting a great sound 3 feet from your amp but the audience may not even hear you.

I've got 8 gigs under my belt with the DD and the unit seems very well made.

Friendly service, but only 48hr return privileges.

I'd say this is about the best $100 I ever spent to improve my sound. It makes playing more fun. The minimal compression combined with great sustain, pick attack, quality parts, and a $100 price tag makes the DD a winner. The tube OD in my amp is "richer" but more compressed. I can reach out very well with the DD. (Shipping charges were $11, but the actual charge by USPS was less that $6.)

The three typical knobs...but the pull-up-for-fat tone knob is not typical. Barber describes it as more "California"...Boogie, I presume. Would have been nice if the pull knob was a second switch, but that might be why he has the Tone Pump and Burn Unit.

Using a mid 80's Zion Turbo with HSH config, all Seymour Duncans, through a Rivera-modified '62 Princeton, which has a Celestion 12" in it. The unit is very good, but I prefer my Fulltone Fulldrive II, which I rate as a 9. The FDII is a little fatter, plus has the second switch for Boost, which gives me a three-channel setup: amp set clean, overdrive, and boost.

Looks extremely well-made, in and out. His reputationis excellent.

Again, his reputation is excellent.

I play a variety of styles, but consider myself a sort of r&b rock player. I enjoy Carlton and Ritenour, Eric Johnson has become a favorite. The unit is very, very good. I am always looking to top what I have, and based on the reviews below(particularly the ones that said they liked it better than a FDII) I thought I'd give it a try. I'll stay with the Fulltone. By the way, consider using musictoyz.com for your next purchase; good company to deal with...

As easy as it get`s, no need for a manual, but the one that comes with it is helpful...

Sound quality really depends on your amp setup...My guitars are Gibson Les Paul, Hamer USA Standard (explorer)
I find the DD works great with my Marshalls, a Musicman RD 50,and a `66 Traynor YBA1..but does not work with my `71 Traynor YBA1 or any Fender amps I`ve played..it is designed from what I gather to sound like Marshall/60`s Laney/Hiwatt, that`s why Fenders don`t jive as much,,it`s not that it sounds bad with Fender amps, it just works better with Marshall type amps...the biggest thing I find with the DD is it does not just `Sit on Top` of your amp sound, like most pedals...Rather it becomes `Part of` your amps sound` ...and when your recording with DD,you can hear that..it sounds as though you`ve had your non-master Marshall modded with a killer Master Volume, but in fact the amp can be totally stock...You have the ability to go from clean boost to `Rich Overdrive`,it`s a palm muting dream..it does not sound like any Tube Screamer I`ve heard..it our does them....And the sound quailty is supreme..

So far so good..
Always carry a backup...a gig or studio is no place without a backup..

Great, always eager to support a customer..If I e-mail Dave...I`ll get a response in a day or two..these guys live this stuff and it shows..

I play melodic Hard Rock, original and covers...been playing over 20 years...I had a Barber Tone Pump, that I said I would never sell, well this Direct Drive is the $%#@..haven`t used the TP in a while..if I need to boost solo`s I can use an old Boss SD1 or Ibanez TS9, I do have a Fulldrive that I rarely use, that boosts the signal too, though it is a cleaner boost...t However the Tone Pump and DD together can sound very dark..a bright warm boost pedal enhances the DD..
The point is most of my tone will from the DD first, the boost pedal (if needed) always comes in second...some times in chain the DD works better after the boost pedal,but is turned on `after` the DD is already on...I do notice that a fresh battery works wonders in t DD..it does not like a weak 9V supply...

Plug er in and blast off!

Excellent.....a very original sounding pedal. Lot's of tonal options in this little black box. I have not done the bass or open air mod to this. Just left it as it is. It works perfect for what I use it for, so why mess with it?

Well, I take care of my pedals. I have a few 20 to 25 year old pedals on my board and they look and work like they did when new. With proper care, I expect my 3 year old grandson to be using it in his retro ban in the year 2020.

Never dealt with Dave, but from what I've heard, he would bend over backwards to make his customers happy. On those points alone, he get's a 10

This pedal works well with both solid state and tube amps. As a matter of fact, it's one of the best overdrive pedals you can find if you play with a solid state amp. I use a Roland Blues Cube, Dean Markley RM-40, V-Amp ll and a Winnie Thomas Elizabeth. I use the Direct Drive in conjunction with a Vox Valve Tone, Boss Blues Driver, Fulltone Fulldrive ll and several delay, chorus, wah, volume pedals, etc. While it's in the same tonal ballpark as the Fulltone and Valve Tone, it has enough differences to warrant using them all. The DD excels at Robben Ford, Larry Carlton dumblesque type tones. It's fun to set the pedals for slightly different gain characters and swithc between them. I like and use all the above pedals, but id it came down to one overdrive, the DD and the Valve Tone would have to duke it out. The DD is the more versitile of the two, but hte VT has a certain sweetness the others lack. It would be a tough choice. I would probably have to go with the DD due to it's versatility. It just does so many things well. And the price! $100 new....Are you kidding me!!?? This thing kicks major ass on most of the big buck booteekees. Way to go Dave. I'd love to try the Tone Pump and the Burn Unit next.

Very easy to use and you can get a great tone that is personal to you. Works and sounds great in line with my Keeley compressor and CM Delayla. This unit respects your rig. Mine is the standard DD not the SS.

Strat>Keeley Comp>Sonic Boom>Barber DD>CM Delayla>Mesa Boogie Studio 22+ (clean channel). It is VERY quiet unless you crank the overdrive which gets you into plexi territory but that isn't really my schtick. Note: the clean boost is never on with the DD (and all my effects are true bypass, though there is apparently some debate re the Delayla...). And, did I mention TRANSPARENT. I will not buy an effect that colors my tone in any way, and the DD does not--what it does is enhance the harmonics, sustain and crunch/grind I get from the Boogie when the power tubes are pushed. VERY NICE, and it is never harsh. The high gain channel on my Boogie--which is really more of a high gain distortion trip--sounds cheesey in comparison to what the DD pushes through on the clean side. I am extremely pleased with this thing.

So far yes. Have had it about 9 months.

Dave Barber responded immediately to my e.mail questions with helpful and informative advice. He and others like him (Nick Greer and Robert Keeley come to mind) are why the boutique pedal business is booming. Probably only a matter of time, though, before companies like Roland and Korg buy these guys out.

I play classic and modern guitar styles--is that general enough? Started playing in 1967 when I heard Jimi. Back to the DD: If you find a better overdrive unit let me know, really, I mean it. I've tried many and none match this for smoothness. The sounds are truly sweet and musical, and the balance is very, very good with no undue emphasis on a particular frequency. The kicker for me is how it tightens up and focuses the low end. Buy it again? Hell yes. If stolen I would probably sink into a deep, dark depression.