Barber Electronics LTD

Very easy once you have it set up for your axe.

Why did I even waste my years trying to get subtle warm thick juicy overdrive tones from those lifeless Boss, DOD and ibanez doorstops? This is a lush beautiful open sounding overdrive which is second to none. I can control the gain using the volume control on my guitar, something which I'd never do with my little yellow boss boxes.

I often use a volume pedal to bump up the gain on this little fellow and the LTD responds wonderfully to that too. This is the only OD I've bought and used, and use almost every day and in gigs. All my other OD's have been sold or sit somewhere in a cupboard.

Barber pedals are some of the best made on the planet. They look killer, feel solid and tough, and play great.

Never used.

The best OD bar none. I won't trade this for anything else on the planet.

Very easy: three controls (volume, tone, drive). But pay attention to the "Tone"-Control. It works in a special way (see website).

This is heaven, if you like the Hendrix and SRV sound. You don't get much gain - if you want to play Death Metal, look somewhere else... But if you you want to play Jazz, Blues or Blues Rock, this is the one you need. When you're playing chords, you can hear every single note, even if you choose serious crunch. No muddy sound at all! Using it with my little practice-amp, even with low volume it sounds as if Hendrix is sitting next to me. Unbelievable! I'm very happy, that I could get this pedal from the german distributor, who recommended me this overdrive. Great work, Barber Electronics!

Well, I just got it, so I can't tell you anything about this. But it seems to be very solid.

It sounds like heaven and beats all light overdrives, I've ever tried out. Most important: My guitar (custom built strat) sounds absolutely natural with the LTD. It's also very dynamic, like a good amp. No noise at all. Chords stay chords and don't sound muddy. I can't recommend this pedal enough!

There's just three controls but you need to tweak the two internal trimpots to suit the guitar. The settings are pretty different for my Ibanez hollowbody vs my strat, but I dialed in something to suit both.

I use an Ibanez artcore hollow body and a strat with single coils. This is the first low gain OD I have used and loved so much, it gives me a warm, juicy liquid overdrive tone for leads and I can crank up some biting crunch using a booster before the LTD. The beautiful thing about this little black box is it doesnt change your guitar's tone, doesn't add anything overpowering like the tubescreamers, boss ds-1 nastiness, boss sd-1 character etc. When I stomp this LTD it sounds like I've just cranked the amp a little bit, it gives me huge sounding chords and notes without high gain.

The barber pedals are some of the best built I've seen, ever. Compare these to any of the usual boutique pedals, and other analogman, keeley, ross, skreddy stuff and you will see the attention to detail and quality that's gone in here. I bet it would never die on me.

never used.

The absolute best natural sounding low gain OD I have ever used.

This is about as easy of an od pedal there is to get a good sound. Controls are clearly marked and are self explanitory, volume, tone, drive. I recomend using Barber's own settings as a good starting point and slowly move your way from there. The only control nob that is somewhat counterintuitive is the tone control but even that is fully detailed on their website.

My unit is completely stock, no mods, and I haven't even played with the internal trim pots but I don't really see a need to do so at this point.

For me it is easy to get od drive settings that range from Hubert Sumlins purring tones from his work with Howlin' Wolf, to early Jimmy Page tones and when the drive is fully cranked, SRV TS 9 / Maxon 808 tones. You can also get early Marshall and cranked Vox like tones but you have to play with it a bit.

The LTD mates very well with my Voodoo Lab Anolog Chorus, the only other effect I use. I have tried mating my Marshall GUV II to the same chorus pedal that the results were just nasty sounding. In my opinion mate anolog effects with anolog effects, digital with digital and you'll do just fine.

Speaking of hiss, the LTD is pretty darn quiet all things considered that is until you really crank up the drive setting and even then the hiss is far less than you may get from some of the Dunlop / MXR effects.

Please note, I am running the LTD through a hot rodded '74 Fender Princeton (blackface mod, 20 watt power boost and 10" ceramic speaker all by Tone Tubby / A Brown Soun)and I am using Fender's Vintage Voltage cabels so I am more than pleased that there as little hiss as there is.

Tone gets a 9 because some people may find any anolog hiss unexceptable.

Has a good rep and a five year waranty. Got to like that.

If I am to take a backup with me I'll take my Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive because of their simular tonal characteristics.

Haven't had a need.

For me this pedal is a great match. I play country, blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll and for what I want out of a low gain od pedal the LTD is pretty darn cool. If I want to really blast then I'll take out my Marshall GUV II and venture off into Zakk Wylde Land.

This is my third, and hopefully last od pedal. I have owned the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive (which lives on my effects loop for my Rivera), a Marshall GUV II (hey, it's a stack in a box) and until I returned it for the LTD an Xotic AC Booster.

Before setteling on the Barber LTD I played the Xotic AC Booster for about five days. Prior to taking the AC Booster home I played both the AC Booster and the Barber LTD back to back for about an hour in the store. I thought the AC Booster was very clean, very quite, and it was nice that you could use it as a clean boost and by most accounts use it as a distortion pedal too. In some ways, especially with the lower gain settings, I liked the AC Booster just a little better than I did the LTD, just a little bit more clear but when I brought it home that's when my opinion changed.

The AC Booster had little or no effect through my Rivera M 60 112 when ran through the effects loop and would only alter the tone buy going direct. While using the AC Booster with my Princeton the low gain and clean boost settings settings were as I had expereinced them in the store, quiet, clean, nice breakup, little tone altering, but as the volume levels increased and when the gain level was turned up, even after trimming the bass and upping the treble settings the AC would flub my speaker something awful. The distortion feature of the AC is just nasty, harsh, muddy and unplesant, thumbs down man.

I returned the Xotic AC Booster and played four od pedals back to back for a half hour, through the same amp and with my Strat until I made my decision. I played the Toadworks Lil Leo (it's a good pedal if you are trying to emulate either super cranked tweed and or silverface tones) the HAO Sole Pressure (more of a clean boost than an od pedal but the three position "warm", "bright" and "normal" was very cool if your amp does not have these features), the Barber LTD (again) and the Xotic AC Booster (again) and I went home with the LTD.

Using the same volume settings, same amp, same guitar, and increasing the gain settings on the LTD as high as it would go I couldn't get my speaker to flub the same was as it did with the Xotic.

I am now able to set my Princeton up so sound a lot like my Rivera but in a 50 lb lighter package. Good bass responce, nice highs, very clear and quiet.

My only gripe is I wish the LTD had a top loading AC input like the Voodoo Labs because it is out of the way from the instrument cabels but that is a minor gripe.

As far as the Xotic AC Booster goes, it's a nice low gain od pedal that can be used as a clean boost. As a clean boost goes I think it is much nicer than the Voodoo Lab but as a distortion pedal it is sub par, especially if you condister it runs for nearly $70 more than either the Voodoo Lab or the LTD. When I want a high gain od pedal then it's Marshall time baby!

Absolutely easy, three knobs, and two trimpots inside. No big deal.

This is the best smooth low gain OD I have ever used, bar none, period. Having wasted more than $2000 on overdrive pedals ALONE, I am sick and tired of searching for 'that next pedal which will be the greatest'. I have found it, and this is it.

It works great with both single coil and hot humbuckers. My strat sounds like heaven through it. My SG sounds killer too.

This is a deep and full sounding overdrive which doesnt fizzle out and sound metallic raspy like those stupid boss and ibanez units at low gain. At the same time it gives me the sustain I need without a compressor. I can never get this with cheap mass produced boss, digitech etc.

Awesome build, feel and LOOKS!

Dunno never used them.

This is a killer overdrive. It is the absolute best for low gain SRV kind of stuff and as a booster, but it will NOT do high gain like Slash, Zakk etc. This pedal is not meant for that. Work within its limitations and you will not need another, except for higher gain stuff which I do ... I have 4-5 OD pedals I swap when needed.

Three knobs, extremely easy to use. Two trimpots inside the pedal, also extremely easy to set up and close. Very customizable, but very easy pedal.

I have found sound nirvana. Unbelievable, but I have no more GAS.

My axe is a fender standard American strat with Kinman AVn woodstock pickups, going in to the barber LTD, a TS808 and a chorus, simple and sweet setup. It goes into a Laney LC15R tube amp.

A fender with single coils has a sweet natural tone with an incredible range of subtleties and tonal variety. The best grit pedal for a strat is a mild overdrive which doesn't change the character or subtleties of the natural strat tone. Think SRV, and amazing number of blues players who came before and after him. It is stupid trying to use a single coil strat through a mega hyper fuzz distortion type of pedal and expect great results.

I have spent so much time and money on this quest for the holy grail of overdrives for my strat, my head aches even thinking about it, and my bank / wife is not happy either. I think they all have something to smile about now.

After experimenting with the standard stock pedals, boss od, distortion, sd-1, etc, the tube screamers, and many botique pedals including the liquid sunshine, crowther audio pedals, banzai, MXR, maxon, etc, nothing gave me the tone I had in my head, till this little black LTD box.

It makes a simple strat sound so full, so rich, so clean, and so warm. It has tone oozing out of its pores, and a juicy thickness to the tone which is absolutely perfect. Just *how* the heck do they get this kind of thickness and sustain in a pedal with so little gain? I can't imagine how I have wasted so many years getting frustrated with those stupid boss ds-1 type of pedals, making do with their harsh barbaric tones, and telling myself this is going to sound "better" on stage.

I plugged in, switched it on, and was transported to tone heaven. I couldn't stop playing till 1.00am last night and my wife was not too pleased.

I have found the tone I was looking for. I need nothing more in life. Anything I write about this pedal is too feeble an attempt, words can simply not express what I feel in my hands, ears, and soul when I crank my strat through this pedal.

Looks and feels like a tank.

Never needed.

If you're any sort of guitarist who has ever used an overdrive in his/her life, you owe it to yourself to try this pedal just once. I challenge you to stop playing, or even control yourself after that. You will be a gibbering lunatic chanting the "ltd ltd ltd..." mantra.

I cannot tell you how happy I am with this pedal. I have been searching for this *exact* tone for the past 12 years. Now that I have found it, I can die a happy man.

Playing through this pedal is like playing through nothing at all, just pure clean tube amp tone. It preserves the pristine tone of your guitar without adding or subtracting anything, at the same time, getting as close to a tube amp as is mechanically possible by any pedal I've ever used.

Just get this. Thank me later.

Very simple and well explained in the manual-tone P.M. is for more bass, A.M. is for more treble. Volume-makes the amp get cranked, drive-amount od gain. It also has two inner trim pots for bass and presence, but i'm satisfied with the factory settings.

This pedal is a godess. Superb tone. I'm playing it with a Strat(Kinman Woodstock plus set) through a Fender Deluxe Reverb Silverface from 1968. I searched alot for a really transparent low gain overdrive just to crank my Deluxe Reverb a little bit more. This pedal delivered that to me, and more. I can have tones from SRV, Hendrix, Gallagher, Točak etc...I put the volume around 2-4 A.M. tone about 1-2 A.M. and drive at 10 P.M. My amp sings together with me!
I couldn't be happier for this price, this is a best buy, not because it's cheap, but because it has a superb tone! It's true bypass also.

I think i can depend on this babe, but I can't tell anything yet.

I was on the Barber shop forum, and Dave Barber is also there. He helped alot, and seems like a great guy!

Blues/Rock must have. I'm delighted.

Well shown, three knobs, two trimmers, easy to dail in and forget.

I ust gibsons, a paul and soon a 335, both refitted with imprerial humbuckers, a tele with fralins and a B-bender, and a G&l legacy with andersons. My pedals go from, vht valvulator, ernie ball volume, budda wah, fat boost, carl martin comp, hermida zendrive, the ltd, a line6 mm4 and a roland SDE1000 delay, into a boogie mark I set clean. I ust the ltd as my primary overdrive, with the gain around 8 the tone around 2 or 3 and the volume wherever. I love this pedal with humbuckers, not to say singles aren't equally nice, but I use my zendrive for the strat and tele mostly. With the fat boost, I can get a very convincing Larry Carlton lead tone into the Ltd. This really is an open and natural sounding pedal, and I am really bonding with it quickly.
I previously owned a direct drive, and loved it, so Dave is really nailing the tone I'm after.

All the barbers I've had have been well made, and he stands behind his work.

I've heard nothing but fantastic stories about his CS, and everytime I've emailed, he's been quick to respond, something I haven't had from many other companies.

A very round fat overdrive, capable of being a clean boost all the way up to a primary gain box as I use it. I've thought a lot about ditching the fat boost and getting another one of these, but we'll see.
Kurt

Easy to use pedal. level, tone, and drive with internal presence and bass trimmer pots. True bypass.

Not a bad sounding low drive pedal. Very tube screamer-ish with less mid hump and better tone changing capabilites. Still sounds transistor-ish with a plastic coloration that can really be heard on hard transients / pick attack. That's the problem with solid state that will never be fixed until op amp chips are redesigned. Read up on dielectric noise and you'll figure out why solid state will never sound as pure and crisp as tubes. Tubes are the purest form of amplification that don't suffer from the hard plastic dielectric noise that plagues all transistor pedals. I wonder if TRT Musicoat would work on the IC chips? I might give it a try sometime...but that stuff is NOT cheap. I treated my tube audio amp and CD player and it really did wonders for the sound and clarity.

In its price range, its notches above your typical Boss, Maxon, Ibanez, Zoom, etc. pedals. It can't match a really good tube preamp or tube overdrive pedal.

Not bad, but still sounds sterile like most transistor pedals. Not open sounding but very compressed. I'll stick to my Big Ben pedal.

Easy. The tone knob is slightly different in that above 12 o'clock it adds highs and reduces bass while below 12 o'clock it adds bass while cutting hights, but this is a great feature and it's easy to get used to. The internal trim pots are nice. I increased the bass on the internal trim pot ever-so-slightly.

I use a 62 RI Tele into a TU2, LTD, Barber Direct Drive, Visual Sound H20, EH Smallstone Phaser, into a Vox AC30cc2. The LTD is replacing a Toadworks Death Rattle. The Direct drive worked great for my full-on rock tones, but the Death Rattle's tweed channel was too much of a compromise of my AC30's tone. I got the LTD, put in the chain, and suddenly couldn't believe I could ever play without it. I LOVE how subtle the controls are. The gain has a wonderful sweep from clean boost to light crunch and everything in between. You can really fine-tune the amount of overdrive. I leave it at about 1 o'clock. I keep the pre-amp gain low on my vox and then really crank the power amp section. With this setting, the LTD drives the preamp nicely when I dig in to the strings while still allowing the power amp to do its thing. I also kick in the LTD with the direct drive on, as well, when I want a boost for a solo. Very responsive pedal. It is not entirely transparent, but no pedal really is. It really does enhance the sound of my guitar and amp, though. Oh, I might add that the LTD really works to make notes super-defined in high gain situations, as well.

The only thing I do notice is a slight mid-jump when I turn it on. It was affecting my amp in upper mid area. By increasing the internal bass pot, it seemed to ballance out the upper mid jump so now it is a lot less noticeable. The difference is subtle, but with the adjustment, the sound is much improved.

I got my Direct Drive 1st and I felt so confident in it, there was no question as to which low-gain pedal I would get. Barber all the way for reliability.

Awesome. fast to answer questions and such.

I play rock. The LTD is a wonderful addition to my rig. It allows me to crank the power amp section of my amp, drive my preamp with the LTD, and forget using an attenuator or having the soundman yell at me to turn down. It's smooth and natural and simple to work with. it works well with other pedals. Best of all, the LTD is the perfect pedal to help build a foundation for all the other tones I could possible need. It is not versatile tone-wise on it's own, but it acts like a great single-channel amp. It sets the stage for me to build whatever tone I want. It beat out the Crowther Hotcake (great pedal, but doesn't have the subtlety in the low gain area that I wanted), Keeley Modded Blues Driver, a second Direct Drive (the LTD and direct drive might be made by Dave Barber, but they are very different pedals), and it replaced my Toadworks Death Rattle, which will soon be up on ebay. I love the LTD. With the direct drive, I've got my basic overdrive needs completely covered. Oh, did I mention that I got it for $75 used? Easily worth the $119 new. If stolen, I would replace it immediately.