Barber Electronics LTD Silver Edition

This is for the SILVER LDT with mod pcb inside. Easy to get VERY good sound, impossible to get a bad sound at any setting. Internal dip switches and trim pots enable you to make the pedal into probably 25 different other pedals! I only fiddled with the dip switches. I am terrified to touch the trim pots for fear of upsetting the out-of-this-world sonic perfection this pedal is currently producing!

Performance and sound quality is surreal. I don't normally write a review so hastily but this time I had to make an exception. I played the non-silver LDT at a friends house and was stunned at how natural the distortion sounded with his fender vibrolux which is not normally my cup of tea as a distortion-friendly amp. I was lucky to find a shop that had a huge selection of all the latest trendy pedals. I got a sound room to myself and a pile of pedals to play with. The contenders included the standard LDT (a bit too thick for me) Xotic BB, eternity lovepedal, Howie, and a bunch of others whose names I forgot. This silver LDT was so incredibly natural and full range, and did I say NEUTRAL that I kept coming back to it. THe only wish I had at the time was that if only it could squeeze out just a bit more distortion to get into singing territory. Well, wouldn't you know, one of the dip switches inside was exactly for that and shazam there was the pedal of my dreams. Mind you I had previously sworn off non-tube distortion for life! I was tempted by other intentionally colored overly thick sounding type pedals, but just knew they would be a mistake. THe dip switches allow you to further tailor subtlties like asymmetry,mild compression, fizz filters etc. I really like the texture of this distortion, it has just the right touch of nice of crunchy grit to keep things tasty. Incredible pedal and for a very low price. Mr. Barber should be charging a lot more! Apparantly this model is discontinued now so I feel like I stumbled on a real jewel. I am using this with a little Fender Blues Junior. You might ask why don't I just use the amp's all tube distortion. The answer is because I like to use an analogue delay which must go AFTER distortion to behave and believe it or not, this pedals NON-tube distortion quality is more musically usefull and better sounding for me. Don't get me started on the frustrations I have endured getting my new Blues Junior's deficiencies ironed out! THis is a pedal you just turn on, leave on and just jam. Complex cords shimmer and stay clear, and jump into nice greasy-cotton-crunchy singing lead tones without touching a thing. Truly a 10 for sound quality. I hope it goes without saying it is NOT for metal, punk etc. It also clearly not a modified tube screamer in any way. It towers over that type pedal in bandwidth, transparency and naturalness of distortion. I know I am supposed to come with a criticism because nothing's perfect but I can't!

The build quality inside is tip top. I can't see any reason this won't last a lifetime barring stupid abuse.

N/A. I haven't tried to contact them, although I will becuase the literature explaining the trim pots and dip switches seems incomplete.

Obviously, these high end stomp boxes have entered the realm of high art and with the exception of this one, priced accordingly. I really think this pedal has hit the ceiling of what is possible for a transparent-to-guitar-and-amp distortion. I was at first surprised to peer inside and not see either gobs of epoxy hiding a secret or mysterious weird parts I had never seen before. Then I remembered something. His literature makes a somewhat cryptic reference to using old school phono recovery circuits for tone. I think I know what this means, and this guy is VERY clever to have done this. The reason this is SO incredibly transparent and full range is not really because it is a fairly low gain pedal as for as distortion goes. Rather it is due to very well executed gain shaping meaning rolling off frequencies, surely bass in particular before clipping, then adding back in the EXACT same frequencies in slope and amplitude that were removed. THis is how the old RIAA curve worked for phono records because the record couldnt handle grooves wide enough for deep bass. Thus bass was carefuly eq'd out then very carefuly eq'd back in by the phono preamp. VERY, VERY smart!

A couple adjustments with the trim pots & it's dialed in.

My Regular LTD is one of my favorite OD pedals.
The Silver sounds better & with less treble. I've heard
this pedal has a flatter EQ than the original?? I don't
really hear it other than the high-end. The mids are still strong!
It's almost like it has some Treble Boost (Rangemaster) qualities.
It has a huge punch, but not in the Low-end department.
A very quick responsive pedal. It has some tube screamer moments,
but has a different attack.

It's a tank!

Nice people at Barber.

This is the best Low Gain Pedal on the Market.
I'm certain I have tried them all. It sounds amazing
in the studio & is equal for shows. Thru my Top Hat Super Deluxe
& my SG Jr or Standard it rules. It really sounds great with p-90's.
It brings you're pickups to life. My only other OD pedal is my
Aramat Green Machine (the best sounding tubesceamer ever).
I think you can get one of these new for $99 plus shipping.
It's a steal. If you have a nice amp set-up you owe it to yourself
to have at least one Low-Medium Gain pedal. I would buy one again
in a second. Nothing else sounds like it!

3 knobs and 2 trimmers. The trimmers are essential to dialing the best sound. Having to take the back cover off to access them (as well as the battery) is a bit of a P.I.T.A.

One of the more "transparent" OD's available. The silver LTD is a low to med gain pedal with a very wide sweet spot. It excels at providing those "just breaking up" amp tones but also gives a nice rhythm crunch at higher gain settings. The OD character is slightly gritty as opposed to smooth which makes it perfect for (alt.)country and bluesy rhythm tones.

It has a slight midrange tonality that makes it sound very upfront in the mix - literally as if you moved your amp closer to you. This midrange character is not to be confused with the nasal quality of tubescreamers and is subtle enough that its only obvious when you A/B with a VERY flat mid pedal like The Boss BD-2. The pedal is capable of maintaining or even boosting your low end but at a price: the more you turn the bass trimmer up the more the pedal starts to fizzle out and sputter when chords or notes decay to silence. With a little bass rolloff the pedal sustains naturally with no unwanted artifacts. The LTD is also naturally bright ??? but not harsh. I usually leave the very subtle tone control at noon and roll off some highs with the presence trim.

The SLTD is also touch sensitive and responds dynamically to varying pick attack unlike its OverlY COmpressED big brother, the Direct Drive.

All in all this is one of the best low gainers out there and compares favorably with my Timmy pedal.

Extremely easy to get a great sound straight out of the box, but I hate how you have to take the back off to get to the trim pots and change the battery. Makes on the fly setting changes a pain, but since the pedal sounds so good, I don't mind so much.

GREAT! I use this pedal to boost my amp (Peavey 5150ii into Mesa Traditional Recto 4x12 with V30s and Traynor YCV-50 tube combo with V30) from midgain to higain. I have it as my rhythm higain mode, while I use a Maxon OD9 for leads. It adds that edge of grit to make rhythm playing thumping and tight. It works great for leads too, sometimes I'll just leave it on and not worry about switching to the OD9, and it sounds just a great, just a bit flatter in the EQing (not as midrange focused). I use this pedal with a Carvin Bolt with Duncan Distortion/59 and ESP KH-2 with Duncan JB/Jazz through Dunlop Crybaby from Hell > Line 6 Otto Filter > Barber Tone Press > Maxon OD9 > Line 6 Space Chorus > Line 6 Echo Park > Line 6 Verbzilla. It's quiet as can be, I'm very pleased with it in that respect, as well. If I set my amp's gain low, the pedal can take it up into rock territory (GNR, Aerosmith, etc) and if I set my amp's gain higher, the pedal takes it up into metal territory (In Flames, Metallica, Tool), and it responds to the guitar's volume a lot better than most OD pedals. I don't particarly like the way it sounds into the clean channel, but that's not why I bought it, so no worries there. For that, I'd recommend the Xotic BB Preamp.

Looks to be built very very well!

Never had to deal with them, though I did send them an email telling them how much I like their stuff (also see my review for the Barber Tone Press)

It does everything I want it to do to my sound and nothing I don't want it to, perfect. I've been playing for 8 years and I've never been as pleased with a boost for rhythm playing (still like my OD9 as much for leads). If it were stolen or lost, I'd definitely buy it again, it was a great price and works very well. I compared it to many other boosts, Keeley SD-1, Keeley DS-1, Maxon OD9, Boss DS-1, Boss SD-1, Xotic RC Booster, Xotic AC Booster, and Xotic BB Preamp. It holds up to the same level of quality as the Xotic pedals (very similar to the RC Booster, actually), for but ~$50 cheaper, I chose the LTD over the RC. It was better than the Keeley modded Boss pedals, and WAY better than the stock Boss pedals. This one will be on my board for a long, long time.

3 knobs, 2 internal pots, a switch. The tone contol is limited to a "sweet spot" range, which is really nice, the whole range is usuable.

I'm currently using this as my light overdrive. I set the tone to match exactly my normal tone and then put the drive around 8 o'clock. This gets me just a little dirt with some light picking, or some good overdrive with rhythm strumming. I actually compared higher-gain overdrive between the LTD against a Keeley SD-1 that I got. While the Keeley has a significantly greater amount of gain available, I just was loving the tone of the LTD. This thing is transparent. It's true. No bass loss, no mid-hump, just your signal with some drive. I've considered picking up a second LTD, one for light gain, one for a little more fire.

Built solid. Barber makes great products, though I could definitely see myself messing up a trim pot by accident.

Barber is known for great support, and even has his own forum that he will chime in on.

For what I play (modern & classic rock), this pedal has been a great addition to my board. I'm using a Michael Kelly Patriot Phoenix into a Traynor YCV20WR, and the LTD goes perfectly. The Kelly lets me go single coil or humbucker and the LTD responds great to either. The LTD will not get you crazy distortion, but will give you a classic, light overdrive and will leave your tone intact.

Dead easy - 3 external controls (level, tone, gain) and two "trim pots" on the inside that you turn with a screwdriver to enhance both the bass and the presence.

A bit scary when you read that the pedal has two trim pots you can alter as it's a little bit of an unkown teritory - if it aint broke dont fix it kind of thing - but it's dead easy...

Fender USA Strat, Silverface Fender Twin. This pedal seems pretty quiet to me. Does exactly what it says on the tin - low drive settings, with a flatter EQ response - My amp essentially sounds just as it does clean but with the slightest drive - very responsive to pick attack - the harder you dig in the more it breaks up - sounds great with a Strat - can't comment on humbucker equipped guitars though, but with the single coil action of the Strat - TWANG!!!!

If your initial clean sound is good, this just adds a bit of dirt to it, and retains your amp's original tone - EXCEPT - it does add the slightest amount of midrange - but it doesn?t sound at all bad - not the midrange boost that you get in other pedals that might put you off - the midrange from the Barber LTD drive is very subtle, and gives a nice subtle attack to the slight overdrive produced. Very versatile, not "in your face" - just does the job, and does it well.

Also, works very well with another beefier overdrive - say a Tube Screamer or whatever - say if your using the screamer and you want to add a bit more, kick the LTD in, and it adds THE SLIGHTEST bit more gain, and that little extra bit of midrange really helps in those times when you just need that slightest bit more gain/boost in a solo break or whatever...

Yes. Gigged with it a few times. Opened it up to adjust the trim pots and the build seems fine - not that I know what I'm looking for... hell, I'm gonna give it a 9 'cause I'm generous....

Not sure - but I've read Mr Barber responds to emails or whatever... but can't comment on this I'm afraid...

I love this bit in Harmony Central - bits like "...if someone sold it, I would sell my only daughter to a slave trade in Papua New Guinea and use the cash to get a replacement pedal..." kind of thing... er, anyway...

Nice pedal. Does what it's supposed to do. Works well with my set up. Overall very pleased and I don't think I will be replacing it in a hurry. At last, an overdrive that does what I want it to do.... and that?s to retain my original clean sound of just my guitar/amp.

I decided to wait a month or two before reviewing this pedal so that I could give it a fair shake. The result of waiting... I love this pedal. I use it in many more situations than I expected to. It is easy to dial in a really nice sound and it does a tremendous job of keeping the guitar tone and nuance. I am feeding a decent tube combo that has a nice clean channel. The Tone knob is very subtle -I haven't ended up messing with it much.

The LTD sits in my chain right after a compressor (guitar-tuner-DOD purple bass compressor-LTD-DS1(mod)-Boss EQ-MXR Phase 100-Boss CE-2-Volume pedal-amp). It is completely silent in my setup - I wish I could say that about the rest of the gear.
With low drive settings it just livens up the amp a bit, at medium settings it provides a really nice spank/grit that does not overwhelm complicated chords, at high levels it sings very nicely. I've been very impressed. It took a couple days to start hearing how much it added. At this point, I am quite attached. In fact, the second channel of my tube amp has fallen into moderate disuse.

Built very well - there is a long list of Barber workmanship admirers out there. I count myself among them now. I don't have a backup, so I guess I gig without one.

Great stompbox. I have no hesitation in recommending it to my friends - I hide it from my competitors. I will buy more Barber gear in the future, I am sure.

Only 3 knobs to work with so it is as easy as any other basic drive pedal to operate. Each of the effects, tone, volume and gain are responsive and work as they should. I am giving it a 9 in this catagory only because I like a 4 knob layout, volume, gain, bass, treble. I do not know if the silver edition has any internal trim pots in it.

I am running this in front of a Genz Benz El'Diablo C 60 combo. This pedal is very quiet and is just an extention of the amp. My amp has a great sounding clean channel to begin with and I run it with the gain already cranked. This pedal has brought my amp and playing to new heights. The pedal is so transparent and articulate that I have ditched all my other effects and just plug into this one box. My amp has active tone controls on both channels and has tons of tonal options and this why I went with the silver edition instead of the black unit. I also have a Direct Drive that is awesome as well. I A/B'ed the silver aginst an Exotic BB (the yellow unit with the smiley face.) The BB was also magnificant and I had a hard time deciding but I just could not leave the store without the silver Barber. I have never found anything that does exactally what this pedal does. An outstanding example of quality craftsmship and value!

I have the Tone Press, Direct Drive and now this LTD Silver. They are all made Very well and I foresee no problems.

Been playing for 40 years, (yes, 40 years.) I have tons of other stuff. My main guitar is a Customized Peavey Preditor with EMG's a carvin neck, blocked tremolo, Sperzel staggered tuners and Graph Tech string saver saddels. I was featured in Mike Varneys Spot Light on Talent in Guitar Player Magazine, mid 2005 and have had songs reviewed in Recording Magazine. I play everything but I really like stuff like Holdsworth, Via, Satriani, etc. If this pedal were lost I would replace it without any question and I would have a smile on my face while handing over the cash.

This unit bears the similar volume/tone/gain configuration that almost every overdrive out there does, so there's not much of a learning curve if you're somewhat familiar with using an overdrive in general. There are a couple internal pots which adjust the frequency focus of the presence and bass parameters of the tone function, I have not messed with these, it sounds fine to my ears the way it is. The switch is true bypass and there are no pops of any kind when switching, the unit is very quiet. It accepts 9v and 18v at the DC imput on the side and it takes a 9v battery if you want. I guess there's supposed to be some difference between 9v and 18v operation, I tried both and didn't really notice much difference so I just use it at 9v since that's easier with my setup.

This is a lower gain overdrive and I wanted it for that reason, I am running it into the front end of a Splawn Pro-Mod in which I have swapped the v1 preamp tube for a JJ ECC832/12DW7, which is a split triode tube which has a 12ax7 A-triode and a 12au7 B-triode. It lowers the gain of the amp without losing the aggressive edge and treble in the sound, I love it. Anyhow, I run the gain lower and use this pedal to drive the amp to thicken the sound up and saturate things more. I like the effect of this pedal over just switching to the second channel on the amp, it sounds different and breaks up differently. I pretty much run the controls on the pedal at noon full across, it is a well balance pedal and this one (as compared to the original LTD) is voiced to retain the tone of the amp more rather than add any coloration. I love the tone of the amp and merely wanted to thicken the tone and give it a little extra saturation. When I slam in my solo boost on the Splawn, I get no feedback and it sounds really big for leads, perfect.

I have been gigging with it and using it at practice for a month or so now and it's worked great. It's built very sturdy and doesn't seem to be a cheap piece of crap in any way, all Barber's stuff is nice and priced extremely reasonably, you won't be spending $300 for a great pedal here. This thing sounds excellent for around $125 new.

Before I bought it, I called David Barber and talked with him about the differences between the two LTD's and he picked the phone up himself and gave me a good description without sounding hurried, I was happy with the experience.

It does what it says it does, it's not an over-the-top gain/overdrive and it's very transparent and doesn't add any brittleness or odd midrange tone to your sound. It merely takes the sound you have and thickens it up to your desired level while adding some distortion and allowing you to boost or cut your bass or treble a bit if needed. I have tried the Maxon OD-9, Keeley SD-1, Keeley DS-1, and Boss DS-1 to get a similar effect and was not impressed with any of them. I realize that the DS's are not really meant for this application but to tell you the truth, I didn't find much of any differece between the Keeley SD-1 and DS-1. I am not overly picky so I am very happy with this pedal, I just wanted to find something nice (without being overpriced) that did what I wanted without out killing my tone, this pedal was the answer. Now I can forget about it and just jam!