Barber Electronics LTD (Original Black)

Very simple pedal to use, very tweakable with the internal trim pots for presence and bass.

This truly is a mild overdrive pedal. I run it second in my chain with a Silverkiss MK 2 overdrive first and a Brownie (BSIAB) distortion after it and then into a Mesa Lonestar Classic. I also run an Eventide delay and ISP Decimator in the effects loop. The Barber LTD is a very mild overdrive pedal and I leave it on for the most part unless I need a very mild, clean tone. I have the volume at 10:30, tone at 12:00 and the gain at 2:00. I have been very impressed with it due to the quality of overdrive and how quiet it is even when I use it on my gain channel. Doesn't seem to color the tone of the amp at all and the nuances of the pickup positions really come through. It is pretty responsive to the volume control on the guitar and works great with the other pedals on my board. Best overdrive I've used and I went through quite a few before settling on this one.

I have not had any issues with it, can't comment on battery life since I use a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 plus. BTW, it does make a difference running it at 12 volts rather than 9.

Haven't dealt with them yet, doesn't appear that I will need to.

I play on a Progressive Worship team and find I am able to cover any type of overdrive or distortion I need either with the LTD alone or in conjunction with another pedal. I have played guitar for the last 30 years but just got serious with is about 6 years ago. I have been trying to get the *tone in my head* and along with the rest of my setup, this pedal gets me there.

Quite easy to get lush creamy tones out of this pedal, throw in the tweakable trimpots and you have lots of control.

I've not used an OD which beats the LTD when it comes to low - mid gain overdrive tones. That's an absolute statement and I stand by it. I've used a lot of other botique OD's including the blackstone, fulltone, catalinbread, lovepedals, etc but this one is the best. Combined with my Gibson SG it absolutely nails the AC/DC tones, full lush warm sounding chords and notes even on my small Roland bedroom amp. I often use 2 OD's in series for flexibility, and the LTD does wonders when used before a slightly higher gain OD.

To landmarkguitar who's had such a bad experience with the LTD, yours must be a lemon. Send it back. There's no way in blue blazes this pedal can sound so bad. In fact I got rid of my boss and ibanez and even my little skreddy wonder after playing on this baby.

Absolutely. It is built tough, built to last. The switches and control knobs are extremely robust.

I've emailed and have got personal replies from Mr. David Barber himself, often within a day.

This is the real dope, man. Ive waited and searched years for a stompbox which will sound like this. Poor Mr.landmarkguitar who wrote the earlier review musta got one which the postman used as a football on his way, or maybe it was dropped straight from the plane, airmail direct to Mr.landmarkguitar's house!!

Kidding aside, this is a killer pedal which really delivers. And it is MUCH cheaper than some of those $400 boutiqe boxen which dont even sound as good.

If you don't mind opening up the pedal to adjust the internal eq then it's a no brainer. If your a tweaker, then it's a pain especialy if it's already mounted to you pedal board! (It didn't discourage me from getting it though.)

BIGGEST DISAPOINTMENT in my recent tone quest! When received I immediatly made sure there was a fresh battery in it and checked the bypass capability. I found the direct tone to be dulled....not what you would expect from a "true-bypass" switch and certainly enough to be unacceptable. Being that I may end up using a Rocktron PatchMate anyway I proceded to find a "ray of hope " in my purchase...I found little. I purchased the pedal sight-unseen (risky) based on Harmony Central user reviews and the Barber website hype. The mp3 samples on the web seemed straight forward enough but about the furthest thing from any realistic result I experienced with my own gear. (Rivera Rake and 2x12 cab, circa '69 Marshall 50watt "plexi", original '65 Fender Twin and Deluxe Reverb amps and a few pretty descent guitars.) I might even suspect the samples were of the WRONG pedal! As a final last-ditch effort I took it to one of my music store buddies and showed it to him and played it through one of their guitars and amps...I believe it was a PRS Swamp-Ash and a reissue Fender Vibro-luxe, he agreed, it did not sound sparkley, fat or juicy...it sounded stiff, hard, lifeless, harsh in the mids and highs, and overall lacked any usable personality! So in walks an older middle aged customer (like me) and wants to compare the same amp and a reissue Fender Deluxe sitting next to it. Well he spots the Barber sitting there gets all giddy and wants to check it out too! Well I looked at my salesman buddy and he just shrugs his shoulders, so I politely get out of the way and hand him the cable, back off, and just watch without saying a word. After about two minutes it was clear that this was one pedal that he would definately NOT be purchasing.

THIS BABY IS BUILT LIKE A TANK INSIDE AND OUT!

(Unfortunatley it sounds like one too.)

I didn't want to waste any more time and/or money on it especially since the bypass circuit sucked!

Just because a pedal is "true-bypass" doesn't automaticaly mean that it won't adversly color your signal when off! (Barber, Radial Engineering Tonebone for example.) I'm not a technician so all I have to say is if you can PLUG IT IN! before you buy. Most of the Boss overdrive/distortion pedals and Line6 pedals sound very good when bypassed as well as other manufactures that color the sound in a pleasant or positive way like the Visual-Sound Route 66. Online mp3's can also be inacurate or deceptive too. I havn't tried all the "boutique" pedals yet but the FULLTONE "True-Bypass" RULES!!!
But I'm sure some of you may have an entirely different experience and love the sound of the LTD. Good tone is a very personal and subjective thing based on many variables. I find it disturbing though that for so many of this pedals reviewers their sense of taste lie entirely in their mouths!