Barber Electronics Tone Press

Ok this thing is a whole new ball game when it comes to compressors.
It takes some tweaking to get the feel of what it does. You have to kind of blend together a class A boost pedal with a great compressor, thats how you have to look at this thing.

Volume - No need for explination
Blend - blends the compressed signal with the clean signal but also adds a class A feel with more harmonics as you turn it up kind of like the Fulltone Fatboost.
Sustain - Just what it says, like any other compressor.

The manual is good and gives you sample settings that really gives you a good idea of what this thing can do.

It does take some getting used to there are a tone of great options for tone in this puppy.

Setup is Strat, Tele & Paul into a Teese RMC 3, to the Tone press, to a FD2, to a MXR 6 band EQ, to a Marshall Supervibe for Leslie FX, to a Digitech X Series Digidelay, into a RI 59 Fender Bassman.

The Tone Press is quiet and clean and no pedal compressor can come close to this thing. Its only noisy when the sustain is maxed passed 3/4 of the way up. You can very easily leave this thing on all the time with the right settings, Its that quiet.

It can go from clean boost to squishy traditonial, the middle of the road settings are stellar there is no explaining how good the TP is you really need to hear it to belive it.
I've been playing for almost 30yrs and have been searching for the ideal compressor all that time. An I must say I found it.

Truly amazing.

the clean and loud setting and the Magic dust for single coils are great Tele players the TP is a must.

It also adds bounce to any RI amp to give your amp a traditional hand wired 50's or 60's feel very nice.

You can make notes jump off and be percussive or squish the hell out of them to sing for days, and be nice and quiet at the same time, NO NOISE.

Only had it about a month, but it looks well built and should hold up fine. Time will tell

Talked to Dave a couple of times and he's very helpfull and right to the point.

I play just about everything music wise, and the TP can do it all.
I would happily shell out more $$$$ for another if stolen. The blend feature is what should of been done to a compressor along time ago, to be able to dial in the attack you need plus add more harmonics! is just a God send!
I cant stress enough on how quiet this pedal is, It really should be put in a class of its own, it blows away the traditonal compressor thing.

We need a new classification for this pedal Its the first ground breaking pedal in years, Very Cool!

Three knobs and easy to get good sounds out of. Now getting the sound you want is the challenge. The blend control had me psyc'd a bit for the first couple of weeks but I now have it dialed it just right.

I think this is the best compressor I've ever owned. I use a comp for two things. Limiting my guitar from overdriving the tube amp and two, adding sustain without distortion. The tone press provides the most subtle, quiet, functional, compression I have heard to date. What really makes it work for me is the ability to blend the original dynamic back into sound. My first trials with the pedal were a little disapointing as I didn't experiment enough with this feature. Settings with this control too high can really make the effect seem more like a clean boost, but once I began reducing the blend and letting the compressor work it became obvious to me that this is a really useful box. I don't leave this pedal on indescimenently. I do use it sparingly. In the past I stopped using compression because of the way the effect homoginised my attack and tone. The last thing I really want playing Blues guitar...of course.
I'm also very impressed at the level of noise it produces. Noise is not an issue for me with this pedal, even with the sustain setting quite high it's very quiet.

I play for a living. Mostly blues but also a little bit of everything. 30 years now. I have the regular quality equipment including Fender Guild Gretsch Vox Fulltone. I would buy another Tone Press for sure it it vanished. It's the best product of it's kind out there for me, compared to the MXR, Ibanez, Boss, product I used before aquiring this.

The controls on the Tone Press are as follows, Volume, blend and sustain. For the most part this compressor/clean blend/boost is pretty easy to setup . The blend knob is very smooth and seamless but be sure to remember if you need those squishy ross/dyna comp sounds of the past you have to MAX the blend knob. I also noted that the sustain knob seems to really "kick in" near the end of the range which I liked better than the way my old Ross worked. I would say the Tone press is simple, but take your time with the blend and sustain controls or you may just miss some of the power of this unit.

I play a 68' tele that has been my old friend since the early 70's, also use a 82'Gibson 335 at times, my amp is a 66 super reverb. I have been using the Tone press for about a month now and have been more impressed every night, I can get great natural sustain without loss of pick attack, best of all I don't any added noise. I have also used the Tone Press to sweeten and boost my Tele slightly for an overall improved sound! I can dial in great slide and country tones at any volume, being able to get that "amp on the edge" sound at any level was an added bonus I never expected. I finally have a compressor that does not round my treble off or add noise. From old faithfull compression to new sounds I never thought possible, this unit has delivered.

The TP looks to be built like a tank, no problems so far. the pedal has switchcraft jacks,nice solid feeling footswitch and smooth pots. I will depend on it! I would have given this a 10 but I have only had it a month, only time will tell.

The guys at Barber have been really helpful and always fun to talk to on the phone. I ordered early and it still took almost 5 weeks to get this pedal, it was worth it!

I have been playing for over 25 years in R&B/country/blues/rock bands I have tried loads of gear over the years and find I am pretty set in my ways. I mostly like the old tried and true gear by Fender and Gibson. I had heard of Barber from a friend who has a Direct Drive that he just raves about. I talked to Craig at Barber and decided to try their new compressor after years of working with Ross and MXR dynacomps, I can say I can never go back to those old units they served me well but the Tone press is far beyond them in sound quality and tone/sustain shaping abilities. My tone is far sweeter with the Tone press I can actually leave this unit on all night for an extra confident feel when playing clean or overdriven. Great price and performance, Highly recommended!

Three knobs: sustain, blend and volume. Tweaking the blend knob is the key.

Here's the catch: if you're picking up the Tone Press expecting it to produce a traditional pedal compression sound, you're going to be disappointed. The Press is really more of a clean line booster than a compressor a la Ross, DynaComp, etc.- you have to dime the compression and blend controls to get an effect on pick attack, and that adds noise which you won't get from a good Ross clone at a parallel setting. In that sense, the compression circuit is almost an afterthought, though I have no complaint with the signal:noise of the boosting effect with Tele single-coils.

Seemed reliable enough, the switch and pots are good quality and the internal wiring was clean enough.

Dave Barber seems like a nice guy. The company got backlogged just before I placed my order and apparently had to hire more hands to meet demand.

I had this box for two weeks and sold it. As a line booster, it's a step up from something like the old MicroAmp and it's much more neutral and full-frequency than a Rangemaster-type box. As a compressor, it's not going to give a script DynaComp or Ross clone (both of which I've used on gigs) a race for the prize.

That said, this might be just the box for the guy who wants boosting and limiting, and dislikes the sound of classic guitar-level compression- anyone who plays with multiple TS-type overdrives or a hot channel-switching preamp might really appreciate what Barber's come up with here.

It's easy to find desirable settings. The manual serves as a good guide.

Strat, Tele, LP, Baker RF, TCM Taurus into Guytron, Fender Bassman RI, Carr Rambler, CAE 100.

Transparent. It's not at all noisy.

It's good for both long-sustaining overdriven solos or short chik-pik bursts. I think both Knopfler and Santana would love this box. It's that flexible. I can't turn it off either.

1 week old. Looks, feels and sounds like quality, but I'll reserve judgement until I've kicked it around on some gigs.

I had no contact with BE on this purchase. I bought it through the Perfect Note.

I play blues, jazz/fusion, classic rock-type stuff (Robben Ford/Scott Henderson)- about 11 years. This unit really fits the bill. My phrases are more articulate and lively in live and studio settings. Even my bandmates have noticed. I use to play a Carl Martin, before that, a Ross. I prefer the Tone Press because it is quieter, offers more flexibilty and does more, and is transparent and true by-pass. Most of all, it sounds better. I've backed away from my distortion because my clean sound is so nice now - very sweet and natural. Not too expensive either.

Couldn't be easier. 3 knobs: volume, clean boost/blend, sustain. Can be used as a compressor, a clean boost or both. You can blend/mix in or out as much effect(s) as you want. I found it impossible to have an unlikeable setting on this box. The manual is short, sweet, and right on target - like all Barber manuals.

I use my Tone Press with Suhr solid and chambered Strats and Teles and a PRS Custom 22. I am using the Tone Press with vintage Fender amps and a Carr Rambler.

The pedal is true bypass, plays in-phase, uses a Class A blend circuit and couldn't be quieter; no noise comes from this box. My guitars and amps already sounded awesome to me, but the Tone Press makes them sound even better. My PRS Custom 22, which I'd never been able to get a good clean sound out of, now sounds great going through the Tone Press and straight into the amp. I play my PRS clean now!

Pristine, sparkling, shimmering, ringing sustain and boost without the wind and hiss or the pick click and thud of a typical compressor. The Tone Press is far different from even the best compressors I've owned or played - you know which ones. I came to so dislike the noisy baggage of pedal compression, I stopped using the pedals. Because this pedal has a clean boost/blender function and because of Barber's reputation - he insisted that the Tone Press was like no other and that I wouldn't be able to turn it off, I gave it a try and it is working in spades. He was right. Now, I always have this pedal running in my signal - just a little higher than unity with the amp if I want some extra zing and sting and I play with OD/distortion far less than I ever did. When I use an OD pedal, I torque it with the Tone Press on the front end; man, my OD's sound better now, too! Just wicked!

Sturdy inside and out. The best build quality I've seen. Would gig without backup, but, if it ever went out, my tone and I would suffer for it.

Barber spent 20 minutes on the phone with me, explaining in great detail, the concept, design, and build of this pedal. Then he talked about tone............

I play all kinds of music - blues, jazz, surf, funk, Tex-Mex, Spanish, rock, world, etc...and this pedal is always on! I do mostly studio work, where I have access to the best studio compression plug-ins available. This pedal is better.

If lost or stolen, I would immediately get another. Can't record without it now. $139 is a pittance for anything this good - and for what is my favorite pedal.

Compared to Keeley, Carl Martin, modded Dynacomp, modded Boss CS2 and CS3, and some other unmemorable ones. None come close. The Barber is in it's own league.