Barber Electronics LTD

Can you dress yourself? great! then you will have no problem getting a usable sound out of this box.

My set up is Fender Voodoo strat.:Fulltone clyde deluxe wah: Fulltone Mini Deja vibe:rocktron Austin Gold: Barber Ltd running into a Fender vibro-king. There isn't much noise at all from this pedal when the volume is set below 12", however I find that most overdrive pedals only sound good with the volume at around 11 to 1, with these settings there is some background hum, but it's acceptable.I find it sounds good with a wah pdal as it adds a thickness to a strat. so you do not get those screechy highs.

The insides are point to point hand wired and very neat. I would use without a back up, but if you rely on any one pedal for your sound...always take a back up!

I did contact them about this pedal before I purchased it and after, and got a swift email response. They are very helpful in my opinion.

I play in the UK's top Hendrix trib. band and the Ltd pedal is a great asset for the slightly clean/slightly dirty sounds that I was looking for. When the soundman asks you to turn down, and your sound gets thin...kicking in this pedal goes some way to resolving the problem.I have tried most of the high end named overdrives, and none can get the sound that this pedal does.It will give you a cleanish boost to your amp, but the sound of this pedal whilst not being transparent, will not ruin your guitar or amp sound. Also,bear in mind that it is a LOW OVERDRIVE pedal! and as such will not hide your sloppy playing (or mine!)It will make you a more precise player, and lets face it, that can only be a good thing.I like to search the internet for info on different pedals, and have purchased Barber pedals before, Direct drive and the Super sport. however they were soon sold as I found the harmonic content in the overdrive too be overpowering for my needs. The Ltd fits the bill for me, but as with all things amp/pedal guitar, etc. try them first! don't be sold on something just cos' it's got a good review....use your own ears.

Very easy to use. 3 knobs. 2 internal trimpots, which are subtle, but they correct the problem of every tubescreamer: these pots lets you match bass response to YOUR liking, as well as add presence to match whatever amp/guitar combo your using.

In short: One of the best, low gain overdrives I've ever played.

First of all, it sounds great with single coils and humbuckers. It doesnt do that clean-note-with-buzzy-distortion-around it thing that tubescreamers do with humbuckers.

Note clarity: better than any tube-screamer or tube screamer clone I've played.

Barber just makes kick-ass pedals. He has perfected the art of how to have the perfect blend of extreme-note clarity and sweetness in one sound. I own a Barber DD SS, and that is the BEST high-gain OD I've ever played. Likewise, this is the best low gain OD I've ever played.

My setup now is a Baber Tone Press Compressor, Barber LTD, and a Barber DDSS. Those three pedals along with a decent tube amp, and you've got all you need to make some killer sounds.

If you need maximum note clarity and zero mid range humpiness, dump your Screamer and get this thing.

Solid as a rock. Pots, switches, and jacks mounted to the enclosure, NOT the PC board.

True bypass switch.

When I called, I talked to Mr. Barber himself, who chatted with me for a good 15 minutes on pedals, amps, custom orders, and other stuff. Very nice guy. Zero attitude. I don't doubt that he'd help out in a flash if anything happened.

Overall, Id say that this is my favorite low-gain overdrive I've ever owned. I would have paid twice as much for this pedal, but at 99 bucks, its a STEAL. Is it the only OD I own? No. sometimes, you just want that weird mid-bump TS type of sound. but in my mind, taht doesnt sound liek a REAL tube amp. This thing does.

Good Story: At a recent recording session, I had this LTD plugged into my bogner (set to dead clean), and I was playing some overdriven chords. The engineer looked and said "man, those Bogner overdrives sound amazing, don't they?" Little did he know that I was playing through the 99 dollar barber LTD. Nuff said.

Very nice low-gain overdrive. Very easy to use, as are most pedals. I started at 12 o'clock across the board and worked from there until I found the sweet spot. Didn't take long at all. Has a couple of spinners on the PCB inside that allow for finer adjustments to bass and "presence" output. Have not altered these yet, but may opt to do so just to see if I can draw a slightly deeper sound out of it.

Works very well with my Dr. Z Mazerati, where it succeeds in pushing what is already an excellent natural "gainy" tube amp just a little further...without being distorted or mushy in any way. I'm already a Barber Direct Drive owner and was so impressed with that box that I bought the LTD to replace my Boss Overdrive and Blues Driver pedals. While nothing is perfect, I do feel like this box is closer to what I'm looking for in the low-gain arena. I've heard the term "transparent" applied to this pedal and believe that of all the overdrive pedals I've owned, the LTD is the most deserving of that label. It doesn't really change the sound...just enhances it, thickens it up a bit, and gives it some steam. Good product!

Like the Direct Drive, the LTD is nicely built into a pretty rugged enclosure. Plunger switches are usually where I have the most trouble with breakages, so I'll hold back on a rating for now. But based on what I've seen so far from both of these pedals, I'm not worried about them dying anytime soon.

Have not dealt with them yet. So no rating here...

I play a little bit of everything - from metal to blues-rock to funk. I have quite a few pedals now, after having gone through so many that just didn't do anything for me over the long haul. I'm at a point now where I'm feeling fairly comfortable with my overdrive sound, thanks to a combination of the Barber DD and LTD. Of course, when playing metal, I still lean to the Tonebone Hot British for the "chunk". But for most everything else that isn't intended to pulverize bone and batter the crowd into submission...these little Barber pedals are quite nice. Oh yeah, and for $99 each, this is easily one of the best deals out there!

3 knobs, very simple.

No noise at all. I have a klon which is the best od I have heard but this pedal comes close. It is definately going to stay on my pedalboard. I have all high end equiptment - Keeley,Klon,Suhr guitar and so on. I have come to know good tone. This pedal is worth more than Barber charges. Outstanding pedal.

Only had it a month.

I have talked to Barber Electronics a couple of times and they were very helpful.

Been playying 20 years. I would definately get another one if stolen.
Inside is incredible. It is very professionaly wired. Most of all it sounds incredible. Very slight coloration but in a good way. In my opnion it is #2 in od's right now. I have had a lot of pedals. If you want a low to medium overdrive, this is the pedal for under $290 which is the price of the Klon.

Easy, as long as you take time playing with all the knobs,outside,and inside.

Once you have this thing dialed this thing, it is all golden. The main key is the fine adjustment of the two internal pots( presence,bass). As far as available gain goes, it semms there is just sufficient amount of it available for nice Rock solos a la ZZ top.(but then I run a compressor after it to increase the sustain). However,it's true forte is in the low-mid gain terrain. As it is well deserving of prisitine sound quality rating.

It looks durable, and I was quite impressed with the tidyness of all the internal parts upon opening the back cover. The only thing that I noticed that the 9 volt battery clip moves around when you shake the box.Probably no big deal unless you turn this thing into a percusive instrument by shaking it around!

I have two other pedals by them and it has always been an pleasant experience dealing with them. Their products seems to be no frills,just gobs of unadulterated pure tone emmiting boxes.

Great box, it is a sort of box that is most likely appreciated most by those guitatrist who can actually carry a tune on their own. Who places enphasis on the actual tone of their instrument rather than the effect sound. This thing can bring out all the musical nuances when required to do so.

Finding good sound was fairly easy - finding perfect sound combination took a while. Tone knob is fairly subtle so I found that I had to adjust bass and presence inside depending on guitar I was using.

At first I wanted this to give me very mild overdrive (for crunchy rhythm and more defined single notes) on my blues on rock guitars (Washburn HB35 and Gibson Firebird). I run it to Rivera S120 set to very clean and boosted presence. At first the sound was a bit dissapointing - sure it was growling very nicely with more attack and was clean when you play gentle. But it had slight trace of that midrange hump - which I rather dislike. Manipulating internal pots to adjust presence and bass helped and adding EQ after LTD almost took care of midrangeness. Don't get me wrong - it was NOTHING even close to TubeScreamer-like midrange hump - just a slight loss of bass and smaller loss of presence. I like the Drive set to 9-10 (depending on pickups) to get mostly clean tone (for more OD I use SIBs Varidrive) Results were good but not perfect. Then on a whim - I tried LTD with my jazz axe - Ibanez AS120 with flatwound 14s. Pickups on that guitar are not very hot so when plugged directly to amp it tends to sound a bit "plunky". And it is rather dark-sounding guitar so I thought that LTD would not do it any good. But I was wrong - LTD gave that guitar new voice - if you set the drive to about 9-10 you get only very nice sparse growl when you hit few notes. But single notes become very well defined - they feel maybe slightly compressed but o/w perfect. BTW - the effect is dead-quiet with true-bypass and noisless switch.

Looks very well built - all point to point wiring and hand-soldered.
Case, switch and pots are high quality. But I did not have it long enough to rate its reliability.

Customer support is perfect - they respond immediately to email and
answer phone call in very knowledgeable way. I bought the effect directly from them and it arrived 5 days later. They give you 48 hrs to evaluate it.

You can probably find more flexible overdrives there - LTD is indeed somewhat limited in what it does - I never turn the drive past 12 - for upper part of range either Varidrive or drive channel on Rivera sounds better.
I play jazz and some blues. Try to keep effects to minimum - other one I have are: Ernie Ball volume pedal (yes - it is a very musical effect!), Budda wah, SIB Varidrive, Holy Grail reverb and H2O chorus-delay. LTD was a perfect addition - it really gave much needed edge to my Ibanez AS120. If lost I would experiment with couple other pedals (LPB 2ube or Fatdrive) before buying it again.

This is so easy to use!There is not a bad sound to be found reguardless of where you set the controls.I like mine with the drive knob pointed to the led.Being able to go inside and adjust presence and bass is something i have always wished for.

I use this with a genetx2 in front with a tech 21 power engine for small places and 2 techs for large places with great results.People are always asking me what kind off tubes are in my amps and what is that little pedal in front of my pedal board.I know what all you true tone freaks are thinking by now if you are even still reading but i am fiftey years old and will not bore you with all the stuff i have but this ltd is the stuff.We do ZZ, Bad comp,Dire Straits,etc. and this LTD makes it so easy!

I have a tone pump also for a year but it stays in the case for back up.I dont feel i will ever need a back up.

i have not needed support but feel like it would be no problem if i did.

I play everything from hendrix to beach,been playing for 42 years,tried everthing out there,and this will do semi/clean boost to blooz and puts a little tube sound back in my sound.I only wish it had a blue led but for this kinda quality vs. price i aint complaining!

Three choices: volume, tone, drive - as with any pedal, you need to tweak the sound to best fit what yer playing. Doesn't get any easier or harder.

Strat with Rio Tallboys --> Barber LTD --> a Penn 40w tube amp. Extremely quiet pedal. This is a superbly toned OD device that adds the right amount of subtle "push" or "hair" or whatever you wanna call it that most of us look for to fatten up the tone for both chords and leads. This pedal does it all in spades, with smooth overdrive that doesn't hide the notes in chording nor leave a fizzy sonic aftertaste (yuk). Yes, like all pedals, your tone will get somewhat "cloaked" - this pedal does it in a very transparently subtle manner that's actually quite appealing. And, the in/out switch offers true bypassing - perfect. Interestingly, though this pedal works perfectly fine with a single 9v onboard batt, Dave Barber sez you can push the DC up to 18 volts (via an outboard wallwart AC/DC supply) for tone tweaking variations.

Looks like it's built to last, all metal constructon.

N/A

I keep the LTD plugged in and left on no matter whether we're playing R&B funk, blues, rock, or jazz ragtime fingerstyle picking. Been twanging the strings since '55 for all manner of guitar music. After going thru about 40 different OD peds over the decades, the LTD is here to stay.

Simple

For the money this is a great sounding OD. The controls are subtle but effective. All ODs take something away from your natural tone. A richness is lost. I don't care what unit you use, they all color the tone. This is no different. However with the gain at 12ock the OD is very light, like a pushed tube amp (really its very good) then as you add gain the mid hump comes in and the bottom goes its slight and acceptable. For the Money this is a great buy and a great idea

Absolute no-brainer!!If you've ever used a Tube Screamer or the like,you'll be more than familiar with the 3 controls -Gain, Tone, Level. The tone control is different to the run-of-the mill in that it seems to add low end once you turn it counter-clockwise from 12 o'clock instead of just rolling off the tops. Set 'em all at 12 o'clock and you're away with a great full-bodies low-medium gain rhythm/lead tone with subtle compression.

Fender CS '60 NOS Strat/SRV Strat/Stewart Male Custom Strat w/Suhr V60LP's ->Keeley-modded Vox V847 wah -> Barber LTD -> TIM -> Pete Cornish SS-2/G-2 Duplex -> Pete Cornish NB-2 clean boost -> Fender '59 Bassman LTD RI/'65 SRRI/THD Bivalve. The LTD provides a great low gain rhythm/lead tone with only a hint of mid-hump compared to my Keeley and AnalogMan-modded TS9's. Comparing these 2 pedal types, the LTD has so much more tonal clarity in the low-mids whilst still retaining a strong lead voice to cut through the stage mix. I know it sounds cliche but after using modded TS9's, the LTD really does sound like someone just pulled the bomb-proof blanket off of the amp. The range of gain available is more than useful for cleanish boosts right up to classic rock tones - think cranked non-master volume amps as opposed to Dual Rectifier buzz/crunch. There are 2 internal trim-pots for adjusting bass and presence but I haven't felt the need to adjust these as yet. The factory presets are spot-on for my tonal requirements.

Exemplary internal construction with high quality components and super-neat layout. Looks like it will be easy to service if that's ever required. I always gig with back-up OD's 'cos I'm always changing my pedal line-up like the Pedal-Ho I am!!

I found Craig very friendly and helpful when I rang Barber electronics. Sent a PayPal payment on a Thursday, received the LTD on the following Wednesday, all the way down here in Australia!! Fantastic service!!

Great for low-medium gain rhythm/lead tones with a musical Hi-Fi tonal quality. The Barber LTD has booted my modded TS9's off of the pedal board for the moment due to the amazing improvement in tonal clarity and more natural bottom end. Stacks very well with the TIM for higher gain, sustaining tones.
"Anything you wish it had?" - Gee wizz, how about a 2-stage LTD in the one box with separate controls for each side and the capability of running one side into the other!! What the hell, at $99 it's probably cheaper just to buy a 2nd LTD!! Thanks so much to David and Craig @ Barber Electronics!!