Barber Electronics Tone Press

Pretty basic knobs and a bypass switch.

I'm playing a 96 American Strat through a 55wt 2x12 Mesa Boogie Nomad, with a few other pedals in front of the pre amp and after in the effects loop.

In my opinion this pedal is not a "true" compression pedal but more of a sustain pedal. It is very subtle and I barely notice a slightly compressed tone even with the sustain knob maxed out. The amount of sustain isn't crazy sustain for days... However I'm playing an American Strat which sucks for sustain anyway. I imagine a guitar that already has good sustain would have amazing sustain.

The biggest claim and benefit this pedal offers is light compression and more sustain without the "compression pedal pop" when you pick a string. The kind of sound you get from most compression pedals. The function of mixing in your dry and wet tone is really nice...

I gave it a nine cause I can barely notice a change in the amount of sustain... It's noticeable but not like it knocks you out. Other than that it doesn't effect your tone unless the volume knob is maxed out then I did notice a little more buzz and hum.

I just bought mine new. so I'll have to update later.

Not yet

I sold my Maxon CP101 Compressor Sustainer so that I could get his one. My only complaint with the Maxon was how it effected my pick attack. I made a slight pop sound with every pick, this is common across most all pedals. I was going to get the Keeley compressor but I've read it has the same "pop" effect and the Tone Press was cheaper. So I'm on the fence about how I feel about this pedal. I wasn't overwhelmed with the amount of sustain it added top my tone but it definitely doesn't pop like other compressors.... and it's pretty transparent in the signal path, no noticeable change in tone.

If you're looking for a compression pedal that will give you that distinct compressed sound. You probably don't want this pedal. If you're looking for a pedal that will add sustain and a slight compression without the "compression pop" when you pick a string then this pedal is for you.

Crazy easy to use.
Comes with a manual with sample settings that are helpful as well.
Only reason it is not a 10 is because you might spend a little time getting use to the fact that adding sustain requires bumping the vulume a bit to keep the sound level in the same place. But it is very intuitive.

Tremendous. I use this pedal with a strat and mostly on clean and legato or clean and crisp tracks. The first sample setting in the manual called "Magic Dust for Single Coils" is where this pedal stays every time it is on. It brinds out the best in my strat's Lindy Fralin's.

I ran this against my buddy's Keeley 4 knob compressor. I liked the Tone press for all the lighter compression and the Keeley for really compressed country stuff. Since that is not what I play, the Barber was the better fit for me. Plus it is $100 cheaper than the Keeley, and if I wanted it to do country spank it can do that really well - just not as well as the Keeley.

Great do far after 2 years of use.

Never had any interaction with the good folks at Barber Electronics. But I have heard they are quite friendly and helpful.

I think this is essential for adding that extra mojo to single coils, when you want clean and crisp sounds for alternative/indie music or whether you want your notes to have more sustain when you play some melodic cleans. I would buy this again if it was lost or stolen.

Once you get it set up, it's easy to use. But I definitely had to play with the color trim pot for awhile to get it sounding right. It would be easier if this pot had a dial on the outside.

My setup:

Am Strat w/ Lindy Fralin "real 54's">Tone Press->Analog mod TS-9>Big Muff Pi>Fender Blues Deluxe>Ibanez AD-9 in FX loop.

I wanted this for my clean signal. I like a big blooming strat sound from my bridge pickup. That buddy-guy bell-ringing type tone. The Tone Press does this, but had to crank the color trim pot all the way over.

I think this compressor is meant for people looking for a very transparent Compressor. I like my compressor effect a little exageratted, but was able to get that sound out of it eventually.

It sounds really good.

I also found that it works with my distorted tone as well, whereas my old Boss compressor would not.

I also tried it out as a "clean boost" as advertised, and it works for this application. All alone, it was able to kick my Blues Deluxe's drive channel into some pretty gritty territory.

It seems dependable. Time will tell.

I've never dealt with Mr. Barber, but his website has a forum where he seems to address questions frequently. I'm sure if I called I'd get the same kind of response.

I'm giving this a 9 for the following reasons:

1.) Great sounding compression effect, with a variety of tonal options
2.) True Bypass
3.) Reasonably priced (around $150)
4.) Doubles as a clean boost; a GOOD clean boost
5.) The BLEND option makes it easy to use
6.) Runs quiet

Very easy to get a good sound (read below).

I usually don't like compression pedals because of the tone sucking and plastic pick attack sound, both of which I found in the Boss and Maxon comp pedals. Sometimes, I'll hear a guitar sample where there is a ton of compression and it sounds really bad to me. However, I needed compression because I play through a high wattage solid state (Fender Jazz King) amp and wanted to smooth out my clean work for pop and covers, etc. and give the amp a slightly more tubey feel. The amp sounds great w/o compression for traditional jazz, but when playing funk and rock, it can get a bit spikey like most SS amps at louder volumes. I use a Les Paul and the usual OD and distortion pedals. I'm very pleased with this pedal. It warms up the sound and controls the dynamics in a subtle way. The attack is preserved and tone is smoothed out, not cancelled. There is a color pot on the inside that lets you roll it back for more vintage tone. I tried this but it robbed a little of the upper mids and trebles, so I put it back to the default - all the way to the right for a more open, snappy sound. I leave the controls at 12:00 with the volume at 1:00p. It also really improved the control over my distortion - much more even string volume and better touch response and sustain. There ia a bit of noise if you crank the knobs too high, but I think this is inherent in compressors since they are preamps with gain. Same with the volume pump - slightly noticeably, but very even to maintain volume. In summary - the best compressor I've heard though I've only owned the two I mentioned previously. Highly recommended if you've been turned off to compression like I was.

Well, as always, crap in, crap out, you know. Although, its kind of the point for compression to make crap sound slightly better. Or good sound great, etc. The pedal is very easy and intuitive, just play around with it. Trickiest part is the blend control, which is really not that tricky.

Hasn't been noisy for me so far, and I just run it off a 1-Spot with a bunch of other pedals. Some people use compression post their OD section, which can definitely increase the noise floor, but I don't do that. I have 2 Barber pedals; this and the Small Fry. And I love both of their sound making capabilities.

The pedal gives good adjustable sustain, volume control, and control over the blending of clean signal with compressed signal. Its a genius pedal, works better than any compressor I've had yet. I've previously used a Marshall ED-1, Maxon CP-101, and a TC Classic Sustain & EQ. This one bests them all, no contest. The Maxon was good too, I just can't go without the blend capacity now that I have it. The Tone Press is the best combo of ease of use & sound quality I've used.

This will last if I treat it well. No problems so far, at all.

So far great.

What more to say? This isn't a weird noise-making pedal, its a sound sculpting, tone-shaping, foundation pedal. I use it to set my overall sound and then tweak other things around it - from the amps to my PUs to other pedals. Its the most dynamic element of my setup in terms of the pure tone of the guitar. When you crank it, sustain way up, blend half way or heavier on the compression, it will hold forever. Really just keep going and going. I've generally had to keep it on medium-ish settings for practicing. Haven't played a gig with it yet, but very excited to in the near future.

No need to describe here again. But you should use the the brown trim pod to colour / or not colour the the sound of the pedal.I prefer the
totally clockwise ( factory) setting.

This is my first review. To my opinion there are two main questions to be answered before you buy any equipment.1. how loud you are going to
play? 2. How skilfull is your playing? A certain Amp might be brilliant on stage but might be beaten by cheap digital rubish at home- you know what I mean?
But there are a lot of stages where your tube amp is still to loud, especially when you love soloing with a clean sound which is always
tending to be to thin as long as you do not play VERY LOUD.
At that point I tried some compression pedals years ago but was??t satisfied. I ended with an Overdrive pedal. But as I cultivated my playing I found the overdrive somehow limiting.
That way I came to the Barber Tone Press which is exactly what I was
looking for: It keeps your attack unchanged but gives you a bigger bell and of course a longer sustain. And its still your guitar that
is sounding not any pedal. I play a Strat with DiMarzio Area 58/61
and a Marshall 410H with a Framus 212 Cabinet(Celestion Vintage 30)
I only use the chrunch/green JTM 45/1959 Plexi mode.

It appears very reliable outside / inside. I will tell in 5 years...

No opinion

I would buy it again if it were stolen- the very next day. I wish I would have had it 20 years ago-it would have kept me from some aberrations.

Pretty easy to use and get a good sound. The manual is helpful in learning the controls and some sample settings. Everything from a nice fat clean boost to super squashed. There is a trim pot inside, so that makes it a little bit hard, but it isn't something that you probably will need to tweak constantly. Learning what the controls are, as they are different from other guitar compressors, will help make this pedal easy to use. Volume, Blend, Sustain. The BLEND knob is how you mix the dry unprocessed signal with the compressed signal, which is called parallel compression. Very nice feature, and is what makes this pedal sound musical. Mine is stock, unmodded.

I use it first thing in my signal chain, or after my volume pedal, or after the wah. It sounds great. My Fulltone Fulldrive II Mosfet loves this thing. So does my Pigtronix EP1, but I have to use the tuner out to go to the trigger input for the Pigtronix, because it changes the envelope slightly.

Seems noisy if I'm not careful with what kind of cables and where I place the audio cables in relation to any power cables. Just like any analog pedal is.

My main setup is Barber Tone Press > Dunlop Crybaby > Fulldrive II Mosfet > Pigtronix EP1 > Yamaha UD Stomp > AMP (Fender Hot Rod Deville or Pignose G40V or Marshall DSL 401).

You can definitely get a Gilmourish sound out of this thing, but I don't use it for that. Could get a great Telecaster chicken pickin thing if you wanted too also, but not what I'm going for.

I can get great sustain, even with clean. But with my Fulldrive II Mosfet, I can actually get endless sustain. Literally.

I love this pedal.

Looks solid. Don't know what could really go wrong, except for normal switch failure. True Bypass switches tend to fail at some point, though I've been lucky enough to not have that problem myself.

I would definitely use it on a gig without a backup. If I had two, I wouldn't use one as a backup. I'd use one for a nice big fat juicy clean boost, and the other for great guitar compression.

Never dealt with customer support. Can't rate it.

I play reggae, funk, rock, and a experimental mixes of latin groove and other world music. This pedal is great for all styles.

I've been playing for 20 years. I have lots of gear, but see above for my signal chain I typically use with this pedal.

If it was stolen, I DEFINITELY go buy TWO more.

I love the sound, the blend feature (favorite feature), and the compact size.

I don't like internal trim pots, or the power input jack on the side and near the front. Should be as much out of the way (in the back) and down low as possible, to keep EMI/EFI noise away from audio cables.

Compared to MXR Dynacomp, Diamond Compressor, Pale Green Compressor, Keeley Two Knob and Four Knob, and a Boss. Blew them all away, in my opinion. The blend knob seals the deal.

I wish it had two buttons, and could be both a Clean Boost and a Compressor separately, and at the same time. Sure it would cost a lot more, but might be well worth it. It's such an affordable pedal to begin with.

It helps make beautiful music, and doesn't get in the way. Except for noise, which isn't really the pedals fault, it's caused by lousy cables and carelessness of keeping audio cables away from power cables.

see below

see below

Although a good compressor is a nice tool to have, it is a sound finisher - my tone is heavily reliant on this working or not - so, yes, I would gig without a backup.

Here's the rub - I had sent an email to a rep at Barber regarding the ordering of a Tone Press and failed to get a response - I suppose after one month there is no hope of a response. I realize they are busy but sheesh!

This was money well-spent. I have used - to varying degrees of success - a number of pedal-based, 1/2 rack, and full rack-sized compressors. This is simply the first unit that I have been able to use that doesn't add an unreasonable degree of noise, or over-simply or over-complexify the search for a pleasing compression effect. Ones like the MXR DynaComp does what it does but allows for very little tweaking to nail the characteristics you want, yet rack effects require a lot of tweaking and is all too easy to hijack your sound due to inexperience. The Tone Press fits the guitar signal and the typical guitarist's needs for a "just enough options to sound great without screwing up the tone". True, I do not use this pedal all the time for every song my cover band does but to me that is more down to what/when I need this effect to do rather than any lack of quality on its part.

Why can't more pedals be as simple to use as this and sound so great? Plus, one does not need an extra adaptor for this - it runs off a Boss-type adaptor very well.
I can only hope that their support is usually better than what I experienced.

Fairly simple.

With the volume past 1:00 there is significant noise.

Love Barber, but I wish they would put a battery compartment in their pedals. I hate how it rattles around.

Always helpful.

Tips to Dave for finally inventing parallel compression (one of those things that everyone wonders why didn't anyone else think of that already?). besides the noise, this is a great compressor. A little confused as to whether the blend knob adds clean signal or removes it. It sounds like clockwise it adds but at the same time you hear more "squash" and compression.

Pretty straight forward. Three knobs, volume, blend, and sustain.

This is where I'm having issues. This pedal is extremely noisy compared to my Keeley compressor. I use a Voodoo Labs power supply and have no noise issues with other pedals. I've used this in front of three different amps; an Allen Old Flame 2x10 combo, my Two-Rock Custom Reverb Signature 2, and my Brown Note D'Lite 44 ODS, and it's equally noisy with either of them. A friend of mine bought one of these recently and sent it back because of noise issues. Having said that, I did an A/B test with another friend's Tone Press and my Keeley about 9 months ago, and I don't remember hearing any noise. I've had the pedal for about 5-6 weeks and keep trying it but keep getting disappointed. I waited too long to send mine back so I'm stuck with it. I've gone back to using the Keeley.

Haven't used it long enough to have an opinion. Seems like it's built well though.

Haven't had to call them.

I play blues, funk, rock and some jazz. Been playing seriously for 11 years. Gig 3-4 times a month. I play Warmoth guitars, use Fulltone and Two-Rock guitar cables, Voodoo Labs power supply, and try to not keep anything cheap, mass produced in my signal chain. Given the irritating noise mentioned earlier, I really don't like the Tone Press. I wouldn't buy another one if lost. Most compressors/sustain pedals add a little bit of noise, but this one is extreme. Maybe I got a lemon one since other people don't seem to complain about it. I have a few other pedals in my chain (Hermida Zen drive, Budda bud-wah, T-Rex Replica delay, and a Fulltone Fat Boost), and neither adds noise that even comes close to this one. I've tried it as the only pedal in the chain and it didn't make a difference.

This is the "Pedal Killer"! It will force you to throw away, sell, or otherwise remove any other compressor from your rig! It's not just a compressor, it's a booster, it gives you awesome sustain, it makes your notes both single note runs AND chords sound bigger, fuller, rounder, thicker....I'm not an electrician, and have no serious knowledge about what goes on inside that little box on the floor but it's for lack of a better word....magical!

The sound is unmatched in the world of compressors,...Ross......Ross WHO!!?? This thing is a godsend for those of us who want a "sound", not just a sound to identify us! I use this through a Peavey XXL head running through a TruTone 2x12 cab loaded with Eminence speakers, (Swamp Thing & Texas Heat) and it makes my cab sound 10 times bigger than it really is, it also tames the higher end of my amp's tendency to get brittle, I can get those bluesy riffs that seem to hang on forever!

Construction wise this thing is a TANK!! And I'm not just saying it because of how it looks feels, (which would be STURDY as H*LL!!) But I'm talking from 1st hand experience! About 2 weeks ago I was traveling along the highway that runs close to where I live, and unknowingly to me or my bass player the pedal was had fallen out of the back of the pickup we were driving, but it didn't just go overboard, it was tangled up in some other pedal's power supply cord and so it was dragged for about 2 & a half miles, when I got to the gig I was devasted, I thought I was going to have to replace it, but surprisingly it worked as if NOTHING had happened to it! I was so thankful!

I've never had to deal with Cust. Serv. even after my little "roadside incident" so I'm giving them a 10 for merit alone!

I play a mix of "Hendrix-Meets Metallica-Meets B.B.King" with an emphasis on the psychedelic blues of the past and a healthy does of power chords thrown in for good measure. I focus more on the fuzzy side of town as that's where for me it seems to all come together. I've been playing now for about 20 years, (and I still suck!...LoL!) If this pedal were lost or stolen I would DEFINITELY get another one, maybe even 2, so that I had backup. The only thing I would recommend for this pedal? (and this is more of a personal preference and has no bearing on the pedal's sound!) would be an option for different colors...other than that it really is the best compressor that money can buy, speaking of which it's nowhere NEAR as expensive as some other "boutique" pedals out there, yet it's construction and sound outpace them by leaps & bounds!!!

much easier to use than others that have knobs for attack, tone, etc. Dial in the volume, the amount of sustain, and then blend in how much natural vs. compressed sound you want out of it. I haven't used the internal pot control as I found a great tone on the outside already thus I'll give it a 9.

I hate to be one of these guys giving stuff high ratings all of the time, but this thing sounds great. The overall tone of your guitar changes none-very little with blend b/w zero and half way up. On their recommended "magic dust" setting (Blend and Sustain at 11:00), all you get is better sustain, the harshness of the E/B/G strings that sometimes twang on you if you don't strum a chord perfectly smooths out, and just an overall fuller (and did I say smoother) sound. I really like it on my Mesa Stiletto Ace. You get a tad of noise if you crank the knobs but I really don't crank 'em so it's fine. If you do crank the blend, you can get that compression "popping" noise when you hit the strings which is sometimes cool. It's nice to know it's there if you need it, or can completely dial it out if you don't want it. What it doesn't do is give you that big compression effect (like the Boss CS3 does). Maybe it would if I messed with the pot inside but I haven't. I'm leaving it on all the time whether distorted or clean.

yes

been playing in a classic rock band for nearly 30 years. Warming up and smoothing out a Mesa Stiletto was what started me on this quest, and I just can't stand a clean channel when you're strumming chords and one or two strings sticks out a lot more than another - thus compression. I bought this pedal based on reviews as no store near me carried one, and sure enough it sounds like a lot of the reviews. Very transparent, you barely know when it's on but you know when it's off. I'm just glad it's easy to dial in, you can set it and leave it and get back to playing.

3 knobs in sight, one hidden behind the backpanel. I allways like these surprising hidden buttons when you come home and bother reading the manual. The shopowner didn't even mention it so he probably didn't know. The knobs simply do what day say.

I can only confirm what was written 52 times before me. It's superb. I have to admit that I bought a behringer compressor to check if I needed one at all. The worst thing to do! I compared it in the shop with a boss cs3 and the effect on the overall sound was "cleaner" on the tone press. And that is what I expect. No tonal changes, only bigger sound.

It feels rock-solid. Metalcases have their weight as a benefit. They wont move if you stomp them a bit rough. I'm not gonna trie and throw it against the wall though but it might survive

hope i never need that

Finally, I've found my compressor. If my playing doesn't sound good from now I can't blame it to my sound anymore. It allready became friends with my danelectro collection (chorus, overdrive, wasabi delay), big muff, vox and fender stratty.

10/10 all the way!

Compressors are subtle, and so generally difficult effects to tweak. The more controls it has, the more difficult it is to know if you're getting the best sound from the unit. Even with just three knob with straightforward functions, this one is no exception.

The manual's descriptions of the VOLUME and BLEND controls are very helpful. Less so for the SUSTAIN knob, but after experimenting it seems that like the others, the effect passes the point of subtle after 2 o'clock. Even rolled all the way down, there is a bit of squashing and pumping though.

It would be nice if the BLEND control were on the right where your boot could get at it, rather than the center. Nicer still if you didn't have to loosen four screws and go underneath to adjust the COLOR pot. These two controls have most effect on the sound for me, since I only need only just the tiniest amount of sustain and smoothing. The controls are all very sensitive and responsive.

I play bebop and soul jazz on a Tacoma archtop with a Kent Armstrong single-coil, so I can't tolerate the loss of any attack, but I needed more sustain for playing heads in unison with horn players. This does this better than an Ibanez CP-9 or EBS Multi-Comp -- perfectly, actually. If I keep the SUSTAIN and BLEND below 10 o'clock, it doesn't add feedback or kill attack. VOLUME just over 12 o'clock gives me the boost I need for single notes, then I click it off to comp.

The pedal sounds very transparent, which is actually a bit of a disappointment since I like how compressors darken the sound of guitars. However, with the internal color pot rolled down to about 12 o'clock, the vocal character of my Polytone Mini-Brute IV really came through without loosing too much high end. Full on, the pedal can bring out the harshness in single-coils. I could get away with cutting the bass and boosting the treble on the amp as well. It also helps the amp to sound better when playing at lower volumes.

With my Mesa/Boogie Studio.22 it sounded a bit harsh. The amp naturally has more bite than a Polytone, so it's pleasing that the pedal should bring out the character of the amp, rather than imposing.

Recently I was bothered by some distortion when I used the pedal. It turns out the battery was dying!

The knobs are big and awfully close to the side of the pedal, and so the settings can get messed up easily. Also, one of the transparent gum-drops Barber used for rubber feet came off when I carried the pedal to a gig in a paper bag with some other gear. This is not a criticism of the pedal as much as it is an admission of clumsiness on my part. Oh, and the battery rattles around inside the case. Maybe the previous owner lost what might have been some foam inside there (like I lost the gumdrop)?

This is THE compressor for jazz. I have a virtual-friend who plays jazz that loves it, too. No one who hears me play says a thing about it which is just how I want it. Stomp-boxes are clumsy and embarrassing. So I like the fact that it's totally black and nondescript, because I really don't want other guitarists to know I'm cheating with a stomp-box!

The only thing I would change is the control layout and the LED color from red to blue because I like adjusting the BLEND knob with my foot and the color blue respectively.

It's got 3 knobs and a footswitch. Very clear. Very straightforward. I'm not an effects genius, though, as I'm a bass player by trade. I bought this to use with my acoustic on the recommendation of a friend. I was told that because of the blend function, it maintained the "acousticy" sound, which is true. However, it took me a little while of fiddling with the sustain versus blend knobs to get the right balance. For somebody better than I am with effects, it would probably very simple to get the right sound, so I'll give it a 10.

I play a Larrivee D-05 acoustic with a D-TAR wavelength UST pickup, into a TU-2, to the Tone Press, to a D-TAR equinox preamp. The sound is perfect. It was exactly what I was looking for to help even out some of the harshness and dynamic changes in my less-than-professional strumming. It also helps to smooth out the fingerpicking. Sounds great. Not noisy at all.

Haven't gigged yet. I only use it in my bedroom for now. However, seems built like a tank. Feels very solid. The inputs, footswitch, and knobs feel very well-made and sturdy.

Haven't had to yet.

I bought this to play acoustic worship music with (Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman). Sounds great. Just what I was looking for. I highly recommend it to any other acoustic players. My friend uses a Boss CS-3 compressor, which in comparison to the Barber, sounds like garbage. Once I got into good, boutique-esque pedals like fulltone and the barber, I'll never go back to Boss again. I higly recommend looking into this pedal. I wish it was a little cheaper, but if you want the good stuff, you gotta pay for it. It's totally worth it.

its easy enough to use and figure out. Ive had it for a few days now and feel ive found plenty of usable settings. It comes with a manual or piece of paper to be exact but thats all you really need.

I use it with my boogie rectoverb mostly to add sustain to lesser gain applications. Ive never owned any other compressors but have tried a few over the years and have found that I cant stand that clicking sound when hitting single notes. If you like that effect dont get this pedal. I tried to get the click but its just not there.
You may find it if you mess with the internal trim pot though. Like I said I dont like the clicking so I have found the factory settings to be just fine for me. Im able to get a tight compression or a very subtle one using the sustain knob but able to blend in more or less with the blend knob. Its a really nice feature ive never seen on any other compressor. The pedal is very quiet although I do get some noise when I max the blend and sustain knobs. The noise is very easy to live with and by no way would keep me from this pedal. I will give the pedal a 9 in this catagory simply because its not perfectly quiet at all settings which isnt really fair to it comparing it to others I have tried. I run it in my pedal board with a visual sound 1 spot daisy chain and it works well with it.

I believe I could deffinatly depend on the pedal in a gig. Seems plenty sturdy enough,,solid. I opened it up to tape some paper over the battery terminal like the manual said and the insides look nice and neatly done. It deffinatly wasnt just thrown together.

never spoke with them yet.

I play everything from blues to rock to metal. I find it works well in all these styles if your looking for more sustain. I pretty much just find the setting I like at the moment and leave the pedal on from there on out. Even playing the pedal with my boogies high gain channel 2 works very well,,the sustain on the amp alone is damn good but add this pedal and it will sustain till I turn the amp off if need be. I love the sustain I get when holding a note playing leads and power chords just ring on. I would replace the pedal if it went missing,,it really is nice and deffinatly unique.

Very easy and self-explaining, useful settings are shown on the instruction sheet.
Three knobs plus a trimpot inside. Though it??s a set-and-forget-thing for most users, this should be located on the outside.

WOW!

It does everything you would expect from a good vintage-style compressor, plus a few other things.

Basically, I use the Tone Press as a clean boost and sound enhancer rather than a comp effect.
The blend feature allows you to mix the dry signal with the processed signal, thus reaction to your picking attack remains unchanged while sustain and upper harmonics are increased. It makes the instrument simply sound bettter and I leave it on most of the time.

Build quality is excellent, best I??ve ever seen in a pedal.
No problems yet, none expected.

Can??t say, I??ve never dealt with Barber.

I used to hate compressors until I tried the Tone Press.
If it were lost or stolen, I??d order another one immediately.

Couldn't be easier to use. True bypass. 3 control pots. Single stomp switch. In and out jack sockets, standard Boss-type 9v tip-negative power socket. There's also a 'colour' pot on the inside of the pedal. Having this inside the pedal is no big deal because I feel its more of a set and forget thing. Once i had experimented with this control to find my desired overall operating...er...colour I don't feel I will be changing this very often if at all. However, if you use a battery, the need to remove the backplate (4 screws) is a minor hassle. Hence, I give ease of use a 9, although I couldn't care less because I don't use battery power. As for the 3 controls and dialing in the desired compression, it couldn't be simpler.

I agree with a previous reviewer about build quality. This has not been thrown together. You can immediately tell that this is a quality pedal and the PCB and wiring inside look exceptionally neat. The box is a sturdy Hammond-type case similar to those MXR use for their larger pedals such as the Phase 100. The Tone Press also has a quality paint job that is not the usual thin layer of silk screen that easily chips or rubs off.

The manual (if you can call it that - it's one piece of paper - simple pedal anyway) suggests some settings to get you started, which I found useful. When it comes to pedals, simpler is definitely better.

Have only owned it for a day or two and have only experimented with it as the only pedal in the signal path (although it shared a power source with several pedals that were on at the time). So far this pedal is totally silent in operation. No hiss and no pops or clicks when operating the switch. There was also no degradation in sound quality when using extreme settings.

My test setup was Fender US Standard Tele with Bareknuckle Yardbird pickups -> Tone Press -> Frenzel FM5E3 tube amp with custom 2x12 cabinet and spring reverb unit. Time will tell how it behaves with some of my other effects in the chain, but I don't predict any problems.

I was looking for a compressor that didn't have the usual feel of compression because I don't want to use it as an 'effect'. I wanted it to provide subtle dynamics control and/or sustain without giving the obvious gain reduction and pumping that I hate about heavy compression. This pedal achieves that goal superbly. It enhanced rather than squashed my guitar's tone which inspired me to noodle around for hours! I could also easily find settings where perceived level and tone were equal to that when the pedal was bypassed, but with extra sustain and subtle, very gentle control of dynamics. At slightly 'richer' settings the tone was sublime with piano-like sustain that really made we want to play on, and this was just going direct into my amp. Pushing the controls further, you can achieve the more obvious types of compression typical of the competetion. The trouble is, that's all they do. The Tone Press is just so versatile. As for the 'colour' control inside the pedal, this is a nice touch. The manual describes the highest colour setting as the most open, clean setting, which basically means its the setting which imparts the minimum of alteration on the tone of the original signal. Turning down the 'colour' pot actually increases the colour to more "vintage tones" which I found very nice indeed. I could set this to add just a touch of warm sparkle to my guitar tone (6 o'clock on the dial) which gave me the best of all worlds: warmer compression, sweet singing sustain but subtle (not squashy) control of dynamics. Bloody magic!

Too early to tell, but it's built like a tank and the controls all feel solid.

Haven't needed it yet so no opintion. I didn't buy the pedal direct from Barber, but I have contacted David Barber once already. That was just to congratulate him on a first class product which was worth every penny and gave me exactly what I was looking for and more. He replied within 24 hours to thank me!

I have been playing guitar for bloody years and I'm a certified tone junky. I am very critical when it comes to audio gear and nothing remains in my studio if it isn't earning it's keep. Overall I would say definitely put this pedal on the list if you are in the market for a compressor. Of course, everyone's tastes differ, but this one seems to cover so much ground and is totally silent in operation. Build quality is also better than most mass-produced pedals. The tone and sustain were so harmonious with my amp and guitar's natural tone that it really inspired me to play with no additional sound colouration other than my amp's natural tube breakup. A pedal that makes me smile in such a simple test is a keeper in my book. If I wanted to smother my natural tone and turn it into to a replication of the tone of the world and his wife, I'd buy a POD and a tranny amp. I can't wait to try this pedal out with some overdriven sounds. No pedal is likely to make a poor setup sound good so YMMV.

You're probably thinking "well, what a surprise, another glowing review and 10s all round for something on HC". Well, I'm not impressed easily and I have tried and discarded more bits of audio equipment than my arse has hairs. This pedal is here to stay.

3 knobs - volume, blend, sustain - that's it. Very easy to use. Inside you find a trim-poti for the colour of compression - from modern style compression (full clockwise) to vintage style (counterclockwise). You have to open the pedal for this adjustment by turning the 4 screws. This is the only disadvantage. Therefor a 9.

This pedal is by far the most versatile compressor i've played. You can adjust the amount of compression by tweaking the blend-knob. This knob mixes the original signal with the compressed signal. So you can adjust the amount of compression you need and the intensity of compression with the sustain knob . From little "angels dust", which enhances the Guitar-sound and the sound of rhythm-chords to full compression for country-pickers - you can have it all and in very good sounding quality. I had the Keeley compressor and the Analogman comprossor - both excellent pedals as well - but the Barber's advantage is its blend knob. A fantastic feature.
I use it together with an Analogman Juicer, RMC Picture-Wah, a RC-Booster, a Keeley TS9plus, a Xotic BB-preamp, sometimes a Fulldrive II, an Analogman Chorus and a Carl Martin Delayla XL. Amps are Fender Super-Amp and Marshall 6101 LM. The pedal is not noisy!

Barber Pedals are built for eternity - super-solid!

There was no need to contact Mr. Barber yet.

I play mainly Blues and Classic Rock (for about 25 years). I owned and own a couple of other "boutique" style - pedals. As I wrote above - there are a hand full of other excellent compressors like the Keeley and the Analogman, but no one has this blend-function the Tone Press has. That's the feature which I love - besides the good quality of sound.

I mailordered a TP due to the great things I've read about it here and the innovative design idea behind it. I think the idea of mixing the compressed and original signal is a good one, but the compression part of the circuit sounds very squashed and really colours my tone in a way I do not like. Not a bad sound, just not what I had hoped for. Sent it back and got me a T.Rex Comp Nova instead which gives me a subtle, uncoloured but effective kind of limiting/compression.

Very easy to use, three simple controls and trimpots.

The thing with a compressor is that's exactly it - everything sounds squished and compressed. Not this sweet little stomp box.

I've tried the ross compressor, dynacomp/mxr, and several others including your garden variety boss CS-3 junk and the likes.

This is the only compressor I'd leave on all the time. It is very transparent, yet providing that lovely juicy thickness and sustain to the tone without sounding over the top. Your picking dynamics are unchanged.

Solid rock.

not used.

This is the only compressor I'd use. It sweetens up the tone and makes it more musical. True bypass too. After you play with this, you will take your boss etc and put it in an industrial shredder.

this is to add a section that is missing from my previous review.

excellent.
transparent, and doesn't take away anything from the original sound.
smooth transisition from original attack (with blend knob tweaked) to sustained sound.

dirt simple to use.

Blend knob, is unique, and takes some experimentation to find the best settings for your particular style, guitar and amp

really works

haven't had it long enough to comment...
but i do have a Barber Direct Drive SS....
and it has hit the floor from the top of a stack, and is still kicking good as new.

i'd say, based on that, i'd place a large bet on the tone press lasting forever.

Dave Barber, one of the nicest guys in the gear business.

got a question, email, or in my case, i just called....
he answered, and was completely open and forthcoming on any of my questions.

got it to me, in no time.

as good as it gets for this kind of stuff.

at the price, it's a no brainer.

considering how it sounds, it's a winner even more.

(compared this against a Ross, dynacomp, keeley, Boss, Menatone, Maxon, and several rack mounted units.)

i've been playing and recording and gigging for 28 years.
would buy another one if it was stolen or lost.

As easy to use as any other compressor. My only complaints are that it's a pain to go inside to change the trimpot instead of it being on the outside. Also, you have to take the back off to change the battery instead of there being a little plastic backing that clips in/out of place like on wah pedals. It's seriously not a problem though, the pedal is so good.

Amazing quality. I use this pedal for clean arpeggios and chords, and some lead work. Great clean compression that's very transparent, not that uber squash you get from say a Keeley. I use this pedal with a Carvin Bolt with Duncan Distortion/59 and ESP KH-2 with Duncan JB/Jazz (both with coil splits) into the clean channel of my Traynor YCV-50 1x12 tube combo with Vintage 30. I prefer using it with the single coils, but it sounds great with the full humbuckers too. It only seems to get noisy with the sustain all the way up and as the notes have faded for a while, so the pedal is working really hard to make them sustain, which is normal for all compressors. I like the sounds of having the blend knob all the way to the right for that classic compressor sound, and at about 12:00 to a more transparent, subtle compressor. It's almost hard to know it's on, which can be nice.

I haven't had it that long, but it looks and feels to be extremely solid. Impressive! Certainly wouldn't need a backup.

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 LTD Silver)

I use this pedal mainly for jazz and rock clean parts. It works amazingly. I've been playing for about 8 years and this is my favorite compressor to date, again, because of it's transparency. If it were lost or stolen, I'd buy it again, for sure. You won't find a better compressor for the money, especially. My favorite feature is the blend knob, allowing for transparency to be dialed in or out. I compared this pedal with the Line 6 Constrictor, TC Electronics Vintage Compressor, Boss CS-3, and Keeley Compressor, and it was by far my favorite.

Great, three easy knobs and a trim pot on the inside for voicing. My only complaints arethat the trim pot could have been on the outside as a normal knob and that it had an external battery compartment so I don't have to take the backplate off to get to the battery.

Great sound, particularly if you are going for transparency in a compressor and not the funky/country squash. Hi end and low end are preserved well. It can get a little noisy as the input signal gets low (as notes fade out). I use it with the (great) clean channel of my Traynor YCV-50 50w tube combo with Celestion V30. I play a Carvin Bolt with Duncan Distortion/59 and ESP KH-2 with Duncan JB/Jazz, both with coil taps, through a Barber Silver LTD, Maxon OD9, Dunlop Crybaby from Hell, Boss CE-5, Line 6 Echo Park, Line 6 Otto Filter, and Line 6 Verbzilla. I also play a 5150ii through a Mesa Traditional Recto 4x12 with V30s for my heavy stuff, but haven't used my compressor with that rig.

It seems to be built extremely well! Strong metal casing and sturdy knobs.

I've never had to contact them, but I did send them an email letting them know how great I think their pedals are.

This is a great compressor for clean sounds (I never use comp on dirty sounds). Brings clean solos to life, and lets chords ring forever. I prefer using it with single coils, but works with humbuckers as well. My favorite feature is that you can blend compression with the unaltered guitar signal for added transparency and subtlety. I've been playing for 10 years, and this is the best compressor I've tried. Again, just with it had the voicing trim pot on the outside, and a poppable battery box on the back. If it were stolen, I'd get another one for sure!

As this unit offers various sounds, finding out what is best for your own set-up and taste takes a while. The manual has some very good starting points though, and once you understand it isn't your average Ross or MXR, your in tone heaven.

Well, I must admit: I never liked compressors. I have always felt they were a bit too-obvious, a bit like chorus after 1986. If you're a cowboy you use a MXR, if you're part of Funkadelic you use Ross. The squash was always too much for me. What I was looking for was a studio-like compressor, one that does miracles to your recorded vocal or guitar track. You think your recorded guitar sounds good, until the engineer adds some tube compression...

The Barber Tone Press does exactly this: it enhances your tone. It raises the bass projection but makes sure it never becomes muddy, it adds sparkle to your high end, and it increases to sustain, especially when played clean. This is the kind of pedal you rather keep running the entire gig than using it for specific parts. It makes your guitar just sound much more musical, and it does make YOU sound like a better player (especially when finger picking clean, or playing Curtis Mayfield style licks). I do like that you can sound like an old MXR-unit: turn the blend fully clock-wise, and you have all the vintage squash you need. My rig now is Tone press - Fulltone Clyde - vintage Ibanez AD-9 - Pearl AD-5, vintage Boss CE-2, MXR Phase 100 script, Boss EQ-7, HBE Germania - Boogie Mark IIB / Fargen Miniplex. Guitars: Historic '59 Les Paul, Custom Shop Mary Kaye Stratocaster, '77 Fender Tele, '73 Tele Custom. The best results are with the single coils through the Fargen, mainly due to the fact that the Boogie has a 5 EQ (which also works as a compressor) and I find the Antiquities in my LP do not need much more compression. The Tone Comp is now on most of the time, and with the LP I set the sustain higher for slide playing. For the price of this unit, this is a must have for any serious guitarist.

The build quality is excellent, although I find the casing a bit generic, and especially the way the scews are adjusted is not "high-end". But reliabilty can only be judged after at least 5 years of work, and that's not the case here.

I have never had any contact with any builder or supplier, and I don't I ever will.

Up to this point, I find it a necessity in my set-up, especially if I play the Strat and Tele's. This is a typical case of "why didn't I know about this 500 gigs ago". The price is excellent. I hate it how some manufacturers charge hundreds of dollars for a Ross clone, which basically is 5 dollars worth of '60's electronics and half an hour with a soldering iron. The Tone Press is, for a compressor, quite affordable.

Couldn't be simpler, and lends itself well to experimentation

I'm a big user of slight compression - on a clean or slightly distorted strat. I've previously had a big crush, boss cs3 and mxr dynacomp. When the boss broke down I thought I try something else and the difference is astonishing. Its transparent but warm. My rig is strat into budda wah, barber tone press, dunlop univibe, zen drive (mild o/d) crowther hotcake (full one o/d), boss flanger, boss accoustic pedal, matchless chieftain. You can hear the results at www.doonicans.com

Too soon to judge

Too soon to judge

The instruction sheet that comes with it gives good starting points.

Tried it first with a Strat>Tone Press>Barber DD>Twin. Used the single coil magic dust setting as described. The clean sound was very good. Did add a little magic to the clean. Turned on the DD and it sounds like the two were made for each other. I was able to turn the gain down on the DD and still achieve the sustain that I used to have to add too much gain to get. Very nice. Have to be honest, it was a bit noisy though but, I had my Twin on 5 so, anything would be noisy at that volume.

I have three Barber pedals now and they are all rock solid.

Dave and his company are first class all the way. He modded my DD and got it back to me very fast. Do not hesitate to buy/try on of his pedals.

This has been said a thousand times before. This is the compressor for those that hate compressors. Really is. I did not like compressors before I bought the Tone Press because ones I had tried before did not sound this good. Always too squishy and took most of the dynamics out of my tone. This pedal sounds good distorted and clean. Thanks Dave. The Small Fry is next for me!!!

Simple 3 knobs-volume, blend, sustain. Manual is as simple.
Trimpot on the inside adjusts voicing to classic or modern.
Could this have been put on the outside?? Not a huge deal though.

ernie ball volume,tuner pedal-Tone Press into Bogner shiva.
I have an old lap steel with a pickup that doesn't have a lot of output-The tone press works wonders on this. I won't play the lap steel with out the Tone Press now. Definition, sustain, its all there. My tele, clean, sounds ripping as well.
Distorted, it gives a nice little boost, plus again, giving you great sustain for leads, and awesome attack for everything else. It does all this DEAD QUIETLY!!
Show me another compressor pedal that does that for 140.00.

Appears solid. I don't backup anything. Im not a pro player.

I emailed Dave on a pop it was making when engaging the footswitch. He got back to me within 5 hours and suggested trying a different patch cable. Cleared it right up. Apparently (cheap) cables will "store" signal or current sometimes, and then release it when you step on the pedal, resulting in a thump or pop. I should have tried that before I bothered him. Huge props for Dave on that.

I've tried some other pedal compressors, and while some were more extreme with the amount of compression, none worked as cleanly. Im still experimenting with this pedal, and find myself NOT using this pedal more and more.

Its awesome there are independant guitar,amp, and effect makers. It would SUCK BALLS BIG TIME if we were all just stuck with Boss and Digitech crap. I would probably have quit playing years ago and took up f*$%cking golf. I give this pedal a nine just to offset the constant 10's that get handed out here to everything that doesnt deserve it. The bottom line is, if a pedal makes me want to beat the shit out my guitar, its great. The Tone Press is great.

Ease of use is one of this compressor's strengths. Just dial in as much sustain as you want and set the blend knob for as much uncompressed attack as you want.

I use this with a variety of guitars, but I particularly like it with my Strat, which has a percussive sound with very little sustain unless I use a compressor. I use it with a half-dozen different amps, and it makes all my amps and guitars sound better. I like a lot of sustain, so I can change pitch and add different kinds of vibrato during a single plucked note. Any compressor increases the entire signal, including any noise that is present, but this unit adds no noise of its own. I always use a noise gate for any high-gain playing, that is, virtually all the time. Incidentally, I have had very good luck with the Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, and I have two of those units. NOTE: Don't be afraid to crank the sustain to the max. Some people seem to think this is bad for some reason, but the Barber unit sounds great with the sustain maxed and the blend knob set for only the compressed sound.

I have never seen a unit built with better quality! It's a beautiful unit INSIDE, with high-quality components and beautiful solder connections. I recommend always having a backup unit for key components, however, and I now have two of the Barber units, to be on the safe side.

I've never dealt with the company directly.

I play all kinds of music from clean to grungy. The compressor sounds great in all contexts. I normally just leave it ON. Have you ever heard anyone complain that his guitar has too much sustain? I haven?t! I love the complex sounds a Strat makes, but I often wish it had more sustain, and I was frustrated by the staggered pickup pole pieces, which reduced the sustain of some of the strings. Well, about a year ago, I bought a Barber Tone Press. It was the fourth compressor I had bought. The one I bought right before it was a Carl Martin compressor, which was better than the first two compressors I had bought, but, like my earlier compressors, the Martin unit produced an annoying click or pop at the beginning of the notes I played, something that was very noticeable when I played with a clean sound. I had read that the Barber compressor did not have this problem, so I decided to try it. I loved it! It made all my gui-tars and amps sound so much better, and I got a smooth, natural compressed sound without any of that annoying noise at the beginning of the notes. My affection for the Barber compressor continued to increase during the last year, and I finally decided to buy a second one as a backup unit. Then, today, I got the wild idea to connect the two Barber compressors in series, to see how it sounded. It sounds great! Even more sustain, and without much noise. (I use a Boss NS-2 Noise Supressor right after my guitar, and I get good results from it.) I maxed the sustain knob on the first unit and turned the blend knob all the way to the right (5 o?clock) so no uncompressed signal results. On the second unit, I also maxed the sustain, but I set the blend knob straight up (12 o?clock). This gives a wonderful, lush, full, sustained sound from my Strat. Kind of like a Strat that sustains like a Les Paul. At last, I have the sus-tain I always wanted from my Fender guitars. Thank you, Mr. Barber!

Ease of use? Well, just plug the cables in and go! Ease to get a "good" sound? - A bit more trickey. Yes, there are only three knobs (plus the internal pot) so how hard can it be? Answer- depends on what sound you are trying to get, but more on this later

Probably like you, I had read quite a few good reviews about the Tone Press. I bought online without playing one, just based on that. Compressor sounds, like so many effects, can have a very subjective element to them. What sounds like the bull's eye to one guy may sound completely off the target to another. For me, the Tone Press was off the target. Not that it is "bad" in any way, just that it is not the sound I was looking for. I wanted a clean, sustained sound without a huge "pop" on the pick attack. I thought that's what the TP would deliver, and it does to a certain extent. I felt that the compression had to be set at 1 o'clock or less and the boost blend up quite a bit too. With those settings, there was not much "pop" or noise, and the sound was quite clean. Problem was most of the time, I and the other guys I was playing with were not sure if it was on or not! (Only partly kidding here!) Not a huge amount of sustain/compression, almost more of a limiter-booster sound, which may be perfect for someone whose goal is staying below the vocals. For me, there was not much use for it.

For me, the Analogman Bi-Comprosser is much closer to the mark. I now have the one with the Ross and Juicer sides. Very versatile unit. The Ross with the adjustable "attack" knob turned way up gives a similar sound to the TP when the TP is set with higher compression and lower clean blend. With the "attack" turned down there is that more legato sustained sound, which I was looking for. Plus the Juicer side is an added bonus with a sort of different, more organic sound.

Looks very well made. Did not have it very long for real world testing, but just based on appearance, I give a 9.

No contact

As I said above, the Tone Press was not the sound I wanted. But, I can see there is a fuction it does serve pretty well, so I am giving it a 7.

Very easy to get a good sound out of this pedal. Editing is simple, 3 knobs...SUSTAIN, BLEND and VOLUME. There's also 1 internal trimpot which adjusts the color of the sound. It comes set to 10 for a more transparent type of compression but you can roll it back to get more vintage tones (Ross, for example). The manual is pretty straightfoward and easy to understand.

My setup is Suhr Classic (Bardens /Duncan JB in bridge) into Marshall JCM 1/2 stack.
This pedal is very quiet and only at the most extreme SUSTAIN settings will you hear any noise.
The Tone Press is the most transparent compressor stomp box I've ever heard. The BLEND knob allows you to dial in the amount of compressed signal so you can preserve as much of your attack as you want while still getting extra sustain. I found myself able to get big, open clean tones with nice articulation and super squashed vintage sounds by simply altering the amount of SUSTAIN and BLEND. Really versatile.

I just got it so I can't rightfully say one way or the other but...
this pedal is built rock solid and I would bet it will hold up.

I spoke with David Barber on the phone and he was really cool, very helpful and informative. I paid him through PayPal and he shipped the pedal the next day. 2 days later it arrived on my doorstep.

I play many different styles and this is a really versatile compressor. It's capable of subtle dynamics shaping and sustain, the kind of sound you can leave on all the time especially for clean tones. I don't use the squashed sound much but when I do this pedal delivers in a really musical way. I've had a bunch of compressor pedals over the years and I've used top shelf studio units. The Tone Press has more in common with the studio compressors than the crappy stompboxes. This is a very high end sounding pedal. If stolen I'd replace immediately. With most boutique compressors over $200 the Tone Press is a steal at $140 (direct from Barber). It can do what all the others do, but this kind of transparency from a pedal? That's an feat only the studio boxes can achieve. I highly recommend this pedal to any professional guitarist looking for a great sounding compressor. My pedal board will never be without it again. ( I give a 9 because I hope Barber will out do themselves next)

This pedal is very easy to dial up, the manual is helpful but like most guys, I leave the manual in the box until I have problems.

I first tried this pedal with my electric strat rig & I like the sustained sounds while playing clean but I'm not one to use compression with my overdriven or violin lead sounds at all, it just takes away from the dynamics IMHO.I wasn't blown away by this pedal as I am not a big user of compression,,,,,,BUT,,,,,I recently purchased a Godin Accousticaster.
I never really liked the sound of piezo bridge accoustic guitars because of the terrible quack & the transient spikes assosiated with them, I desided to try the Tone Press with this guitar,,,,& boy am I glad I did.

The Tone Press smoothes out the spikes & reduces the quack enough to enjoy playing solidbody accoustic without squashing the pick attack.
It's very transparent, now I can live with playing this accoustic live, & strum hard till my hearts content without the annoying spikes!!!

The only problem I've had so far with this pedal is the footswitch is a bit inconsistant, but I primerily use this with my accoustic & I leave it on all the time.
For this I'll give it a 5.
Other than that it's been working good.

Havn't tried, I bought it second hand so I am not going to bother, I could just replace the footswitch if I need to.

I would definately get another if this one was lost or stolen, I am excited about how well this pedal works for accoustic, I can't see myself playing a piezo equipped axe without it!

This is about as easy as it gets - 3 knobs. The volume and sustain are pretty self explanatory...It's the blend control that sets this thing apart. Wonderful feature - it's kinda like mixing dry and compressed signals in the studio, only condensed into one knob on a foot pedal. It's relly well designed and it works.

I've used this with a variety of stuff, but the real barometer is on my church gig. I play at a large church in LA, with big sound system...everything is miked up or DI'd and they like low stage volume. I play mostly a great strat, thru the tone press, into an early 70's SF Fender Vibro Champ (6 watts!). No reverb or FX - the sound guys add all that stuff on their end. It's primarily an R&B gig, sometimes I'll add old ProCo Rat and a Cry Baby, sometimes not. The sound is sweet, brilliant, and beautiful. I get so many "ultimate strat sound" comments - I love it. The Tone Press is also a great 7db clean boost when you crank the volume and blend out most of the comp. Just a great sounding little pedal, to the point where, at some setting or another, I almost never turn it off. It's dead quiet, and wonderfully responsive.

Feels solid as a tank. I don't bother with backups - if it were to break, which I doubt would happen, I'd just keep playing. The sound is in my ears and hands, not in the gear, but as far as gear goes, it's nice to have stuff like this that really matches my "musical muse".

I talked to Dave Barbour a couple of times, just talking to him about pedals, amps, bicycling, life, and within a couple of minutes, I knew that just as the Tone Press was a top quality pedal, the guy I had on the phone was a top quality person. I have no doubt, going by our conversations, that this guy is extremely committed to both his products and his customers.

I play everything - lots of sessions in LA, records, jingles, etc. I play casuals, lots of church - the whole pro musician thing. Been playing pro for over 25 years. I would definitely buy this thing again if I lost it. The only thing I would add is a battery access door to avoid having to take the bottom off. Great pedal...yeah, Dave!

The pedal is designed with simple features and very easy to use. Three knobs - Volume, Blend, and Sustain, a pilot light to tell you that the pedal is on, one input jack and one output jack, an internal trim pot, and the actual foot switch. The owners manual is one page and is written in plain English. It is concise and gets you started with some suggested settings that show the versatility of the box and the various ways it can be used. Changing the battery is time consuming since you have to remove the bottom plate to access the battery compartment. Mine didn't come with a battery so I learned this right away. It would also be nice if you could adjust the trim pot with a simple screw driver port located on the top of the box, or by turning an external knob instead completely removing the bottom plate. Voodoo Labs does the same thing with their pedal design. I guess companies can keep their designs simple and the cost down by doing this, but it transfers the problem to the user and makes accessability more diffucult. These are the only negative things I can say about the Tone Press. They are not really significant enough to keep you from buying this pedal.

I typically use an American Standard Stratocaster, or my semi hollow body Ibanez Art Star AS120, which is equivalant to a Gibson ES-335. My amps are both all tube, hand wired, Fenders. A 1977 silver face Princeton, and a 1984 blackface Deluxe Reverb II that was designed by Paul Rivera while working for Fender in the 80's. Both amps sound so good that effects just serve as seasoning to the incredible sound that they produce on their own. I bought the Tone Press to replace my trusty Boss CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer that I always had on full-time while playing. The Boss, for the money, is a good compressor. But mine, after so many hours of use, became very noisy while at idle or while playing at very low volume levels. The Boss is solid and offers plenty of squashy sounds, but it does produce the infamous popping sound if you are not careful with the knobs. In comparisson, the Tone Press is dead quiet until you turn the Sustain knob past 4 o'clock. Even then the noise is so low that you could play with the Sustain knob full on and not be bothered by the amount of added noise in your signal. My favorite setting is Volume: 3 o'clock, Blend: 1 to 3 o'clock, Sustain: 3 o'clock to full on. The idea of turning the blend knob off (fully counter clockwise) to use the pedal as a signal boost is also a great feature. The added boost (with or without blending in compression) that the Tone Press gives your sound is a big plus. Especially when I am using the small 12 watt Princeton tube amp. It brings the volume of the amp up and allows me to use a low wattage amp, wide open, with the tubes really working, and lets you keep up with the drummer in a band setting. I really like the sound I get with this pedal. Too many people over buy and get these large powerful amplifiers and then crack the volume knob open to 1 or 2. You have to open the amp up and let the tubes work. Most players will never play venues that allow them to turn an amp up to 8 or 10. With the Tone Press you get smooth compression, no popping, a meaty signal boost, and zero to low noise added to the signal. It sounds fantastic with clean or distorted settings. My typical pedal chain is a Boss TU-2 Tuner, Vox V847 Wah, Barber Tone Press, Fulltone Distortion Pro, Voodoo Labs Micro Vibe, Boss RV-3 Digital Reverb/Delay. According to the Guitar Player mag review, and the Barber manual, if you go inside the box and adjust the trim pot, you can get the more squashy sounds of famous vintage compressors of the past. I have not tried this because I like the factory setting with the trim pot turned on all of the way. The foot switch is quiet and does not add a clicking-popping sound to your signal when switched on. This is a great sounding pedal.

I haven't owned it very long but this pedal is built with military grade components. The inside is very clean and arranged nicely. The true bypass is a great feature, but I will leave the Tone Press on all of the time. Compression is something that I use all of the time. I can't stand to play without it. Even if I were stuck with my old noisy Boss CS-3, I would still use the effect. The benefits of compression are very subtle but the touch of sound it adds is something I can't live without. Once you get used to the effect and then turn it off your sound is just missing something. The knobs on the Tone Press are large enough to tweak with your foot in between songs. The housing is both lightweight and sturdy. My gig bag is getting heavy so this is a great feature. I don't even pack the old CS-3 since the Tone Press sounds great and should hold up to anything that I will put it through. You have to respect your gear. My pedals are packed in their boxes before placing them in the gig bag.

I haven't called because I haven't needed them. Based on other reviews here they sound very supportive. How many companies out there let you talk to the guy who designed the product. Support should not be a problem and the quality of the product should keep the calls down.

I play a variety of music styles. Mostly rock and blues. I have been playing for 33 years. I don't just run out and buy anything on the market. I try to carefully research everything I buy since money for guitar gear is not on the top line of my budget. Mistakes from impulse buying can be costly with guitar gear. If it doesn't add tone then why put it in the chain and why carry it around? The Tone Press is a high quality pedal and the tone is superior. Again, compression is a subtle thing and is something that is not going to knock your socks off when you stomp on the switch. It is not nearly as noticable as a distortion box is when activated. The silk and smoothness that compression adds to any sound, clean or dirty, is one that I can't live without. If I could only own one pedal it would have to be a good quality compressor. My Deluxe Reverb II gives me all of the dirt that I need by using the channel switching feature. After compression, all other guitar effects are secondary to me. The blend knob on the tone press is the best feature. You can mix the compressed signal from the pedal with your unprocessed guitar signal and find the exact amount of compression that is needed. I chose the Tone Press after reading HC reviews and after reading the GP magazine review. GP gave it the Editor's Pick Award. The Analog Man Comprosser and the Keeley Compressor were my next choices. The lower cost of the Tone press and the great features also made my choice an easy one. High quality true bypass, quiet operation, military grade construction, serious hi-fi tone, at a very reasonable price. What else do you want? A great value for the dollar. Thanks Barber for a great product at a fair price. I will investigate their other pedals. Build your guitar sound by starting with a good quality all tube amplifier. This is where most of your tone budget should go. You don't have to spend a fortune for good tone. I have two fantastic "vintage" amps and only spent $550.00 for the both of them. A good guitar is important but secondary to the voice of the amplifier. Sprinkle in effects only as needed.

Easy to use, if you know what you're after. The manual gives some suggested settings that help you find a sound you like right away. The "Color" knob (located inside the box) is a little inconveient to get at, but I just set and forget.

I really like the sound of this box with my setup (Am Tele, Deluxe Reverb). It simply makes my guitar sound "better." Works completely as advertised. I have had no problems with noise. I have to give it a 10.

I use this box in the studio only right now, so it's well cared for. The construction looks both sturdy and clean, so I would not hesitate to gig it without a backup if necessary.

I have not dealt with the company so far.

I play rock music. This pedal is my friend. I have played for 15 years. I own a lot of other gear, including Fulltone stuff (which I like), Ibanez TS9, AD9, etc. I would buy this box again if anything happenend to it. I have used many other compressors such as Boss, Guyatone, Oxygen, etc. I like the Barber the best, hands down. I wish the color knob was on the outside of the box, but oh well. The Tone Press helps me make music.

A bit tricky at first (this is a very original design). Once you get the hang of it you will never want a nother stompbox compresser.

The only downside to most Barber pedals is that there are so many options (he puts internal trim pots in everything) that it can get overwhelming. And having to unscrew the back plate to change batteries or turn a knob is a big pain in the ass.

This is THE best stompbox compresser ever. Yes, really. I have an Analogman BiComp that I waited eight months for. The BiComp is great if you are using single coil pickups, but humbuckers hit it too hard and cause that "pop".

The Tone Press is an original idea that I am surprised no one ever thought of before. The ability to dial in an uncompressed "Class A" boost to the squashed sound is a godsend.

All Barber pedals are built to military specs. I don't see it breaking anytime in the forseeable future.

Haven't needed it.

This is THE compressor in a pedal. Although the Analogman and Keely units are popular, they are old school and are too squashed all the time.

The Tone Press can get just as squashed, but can also breathe some open-ness back in. It is something to hear, really. No "pop", yet the sustain is there. Much more natural.

If Mike Fuller of Fulltone is the king of recreating the old classic sounds (which he does very very well), David Barber is the guy pushing the envelope and coming up with unique ideas that people say "why didn't anybody ever think of that?"

Oh yea, and this pedal is $135 brand new. Hello. Half the price of the Analogman BiComp. And BiComps go for $350 on eBay since there is such a long wait. This pedal is even better and unbelievably affordable.

THIS is the best compressor ever made. A no-brainer.

Extremely easy to use, just use the blend and sustain control to dial in the desired amount of compression. I tossed the manual after the first five minutes of playing through it, you know what you want, twist til you get it!

My dream compressor, and believe me, until now it WAS just a dream, is a compressor that is silent, transparent and twiddle little (not having to tweak endlessly). A great compressor is one that you don't even know is there, its just providing you with that even, yet boosted bandwith that allows you to stretch a note or chord when needed. This is it!

Time will tell, but its built well.

I play all styles, but I mainly use compression for slide and rythym comping (chicka,chicka, chicka). A must have for those applications. Click it out for straight up rock or blues. Keep it on ALWAYS if you're in a Steely Dan cover band (ha!). I wish nobody knew about it, but word gets out fast!

Very simple. Just dial in the amount of sustain you want and turn the blend control till you get the desired balance of compressed and uncompressed sound.

I bought the Tone Press because I read that it allows compressing clean guitar sounds without the annoying artificial pop at the beginning of notes. And it works!!! I have three other compressors, all of which work okay with distorted guitar but which are unsatisfying for clean guitar. Now, at last, I'm getting the compressed clean guitar sound I've wanted for so many years. And it's easy! I don't know why other manufacturers cannot do this. I have a Carl Martin compressor, which is good, but for clean guitar it doesn't sound right, and it doesn't have enough gain when you use a lot of compression. My advice: Buy a Tone Press!

I've only had it a few days, but it looks and feels rugged.

No contact with the company.

I play many styles. I like a lot of sustain from my guitar, and this gives it to me in a clean, pure, natural way. I've been playing 40 years and have tons of gear. I would definitely get another one. If fact, I may buy another one just because I like it so much. The natural, pop-free sound with clean guitar is the best feature, but the ability to blend uncompressed guitar with the compressed guitar provides desirable richness to the sound. The only thing I would change would be moving the tone control from the inside of the unit to the outside, but this tends to be a set-it-and-forget-it feature, so it's not a problem.

This is a tough category, because it's easy to get a good sound out of it, but it takes a bit more time to find the one you're searching for. The blend knob, which is completely brilliant, adds a bit more complexity than the typical compressor. Also, the knobs are interactive, so you'll need to tweak it a bit, but the sound you want (short of a massively squished sound) is definitely in there.

I am using this with a 2004 American Deluxe Strat (with the S1 switches and SCN noiseless pickups) into a Boss TU2==>Tone Press==>Fulltone OCD==>Zoom PD01==>Zoom PD01==>Boss DD20 into a stereo amp setup with a Music Man HD130 and a Music Man HD150. I know you're not supposed to give 10's here, and it is true that there are so many 10's on Harmony Central that it's impossible to tell what is real, so my 9 here means that this is a FUCKING GREAT PEDAL!!! This is the Compressor for people who hate compression (like me). The most important thing I can say about the Tone Press is that it makes my Strat sound more like a Strat. The second and fourth position, which normally are muddied up by distortion, are now recognizable with a little grind on. The overall sound is focused, but never smothered. I can still slam rhythm lines and never feel like the notes are being pinched or overly squashed. I liked my sound before, but now when I turn this thing off, I feel muddy, flabby and low class. Something to mention is that when I first fired it up, I put a slightly weak battery in it, the LED fired up nice and bright, so I thought everything was AOK. At this point I thought it was more of a limiter; I heard a little sustain, but I wasn't overly impressed. Then on a whim, I ran the Tone Press off of the daisy chain from my TU2, and the pedal took off! My sound became so clear I couldn't believe it, and with NO NOISE AT ALL from the power supply. So either use a really good battery, or a power supply, and you will love this pedal. It really is absolutely beautiful, and it's the first pedal I ever bought that I felt I needed to review here (I've given it 5 months, so it's not just the Honeymoon, I really can't live without it). One other thing to mention, which I think other reviewers have already said, is that this thing will not squash the shit out of the notes like traditional compressors; it is more subtle than the old school stuff ( which I never liked). So if you do want massively squashed notes, you might go with Keeley or Analogman.

I opened it up because I wanted to look at the trimpot ( which I still haven't needed to mess with), and this thing is exquisite! I wish that I looked half as good as the insides of this pedal. I actually laughed out loud. I am proud to own something that was so carefully and lovingly made in this plastic and styrofoam, McDonald's, Coke or Pepsi world. I will confidently use it without a backup. I leave it on all the time anyway, so I don't have to worry about the switch going bad, which would probably be the only thing that ever would go bad.

Haven't dealt with Barber, and if I did, I'd just have to tell him how much I love his pedal.

I play big, beautiful, funky, sometimes rough, new classic pop songs, and this pedal has lit the fuse for my tone. It makes me so damn happy, I would absolutely buy it again if I lost it. The other compressors I've played are a vintage Boss CS1, and a Boss CS3. First of all, let me say that the CS1 is so wildly overrated that it makes me sick. The notes were squashed and pinched, the tone was colored, it was awful. Please don't listen to the vintage snobs. I actually played the CS1 AFTER I bought the Tone Press, and for a minute, right before I plugged it in, I was worried that I was about to hear one of those Holy Grail pedals that everybody talks about. Man was I relieved! The CS1 is barely better than the CS3, which is cold monkey dung. I've never tried a Keeley or Analogman, so I can't dis them, but armed with the Tone Press, which is a fraction of the price, I really don't care if I never try them. This pedal helps me make music, because I love my tone and I want to hear more of it, so I keep playing. Fuck it, for the overall rating I have to give a 10!

Much easier to get a handle on than the Carl Martin I used to own! It had 4 knobs- way over my head! Seiously, the Tone Press' sustain knob covers about 3 of those.

I use single coils and HB's and this box works well with either. My 56 Relic Strat has never sounded fatter and my McCarty sings like I always knew it could. I use a Mesa Boogie 4x10 Blue Angel and although it is a fairly low wattage amp, it can be loud when cranked. I like the sustain I get when I do that but I lose definition. The Tone Press allows me to get singing sustain with either guitar without losing definition and without hurting folks' ears. No small trick. It only adds a small amount of noise and that only occurs at high volume levels. The blend knob is a stroke of genius on Barber's part. Your unnaffected signal is added together with the compressed signal and this negates the "pop" that is usually associated with compressors. There is an internal "color" pot that goes from super clarity to more rounded, vintage compression and I haven't even gotten to that yet. And, amazingly, it will do the same sustain thing with clean sounds. You can get pedal steel-like sustain without losing attack and clarity. I was skeptical at first but this pedal delivers on it's promise.

I opened this pedal up to install a battery and it is a work of art. Pristine wiring, hi-grade components. I did a little research before purchasing this pedal I had a good feeling about Barber products. The insides of this box confirmed my feelings. I haven't had it for a long time, but I feel totally confident using it without a backup.

No dealings yet, but their website allows you to contact different people, not just a general email address. That's a good sign.

I'm a glorified blues player if anything. Awhile ago I started to weed out things that I felt did not enhance my sound in an organic way or that were too artificial and non musical. I'm down to about 3 od's, a delay, and a trem pedal. The Tone Press is staying and I knew that after playing it for literally 2 minutes. I've never relied to heavily on any pedal too long- fickle (or just dumb) I guess. I'm a little afraid that this pedal may become addictive. It just makes everything sound clearer, more dynamic, and just plain fatter. The promise of great sustain without a squashed tone seemed unattainable but Barber has made it possible AND affordable. It's a great feeling when you make a purchase and have absolutely no buyer's remorse afterwards. This pedal clicks on everything: Quality, sound, and price.

Compressors are, by nature, difficult to get "right". This one was the easiest!

Quiet, clear, transparent.

Just got it, but it looks bullet-proof!

I spoke to te factory before I bought it and they were very nice... but ther was no isue being dealt with!

I play blues (www.bluesplatespecial.com). This is just right. The ability to blend the signals is the ticket! I always played with no pedals at all, and this one just makes the "no pedal sound" that much better. I worked for years to get the right tone from my rig (Strat with Vintage Noiseless pickups, Blues DeVille with 5331 pre-amp tubes and 4-P10R speakers), and this pedal is transparent. It keeps the tone and just makes it better!
I had a Digitech "Main Squeeze". It was very nice, but got noisy on certain settings and changed the tone.
I'd HIGHLY recommend it.

This is an update to my review. When used on a REAL clean channel(not my ENGL clean) this thing really shines! It also seems to compress alot more than on my ENGL's clean channel cause on a Fender Hotrod you can make this thing pop and cluck!

Hi,

I'm not going to beat around the bush. I never really used a compressor before except for some digital ones built into an effects loop. I do know that I'll want another compressor in addition for a a more extreme use. The tonepress is subtle, but when you turn it off you feel raped. It's definately held with high reguard up there with EQ and tone. You won't believe how you lived without it in the first place. The want for another compressor in addition of this is to get an extreme squash and control of release time.The Tonepress gets it right up to the squash without going over.

I rate this a 9 because nothing is never 100%. It's very hard to get noise on this pedal which is a miracle. The sound is simply beautiful, transparent and well worth $139. There's a trimpot for the color/tone inside which I haven't messed with yet. I must say the inside of this pedal should be displayed in a fucking museum! It's a work of art! Also, My amp had the problem of picking up radio stations on my amps distortion channel(Engle Tube amp). With the tonepress in my effects chain it cuts that out!!! I was like kick ass. Now I don't have to fix that problem! I'm serious. I took it out of the chain and the radio stations were back.

This thing is built with care and precision. This pedal blew me away. Barber, I'll be back when I have more $$$ to get one of your distortion pedals! One thing that made me open the pedal up was the fact that the outjack socket seemed to release the guitar cable easier than the input jack. I though it might not be tight or something so I opened it up. It's actually a different type of jack and therefore one just has a stronger grip. I can't rate the reliability since I only had it a few days.

Overal rating is a 10. It is truely a fantastic deal. If you want something cheaper buy a mass produced MXR and enjoy the noise. It will also hijack your tone. I got my pedal at WWW.PEDALGEEK.COM
Thanks Dan!!!!

Simple to use, three knobs Volume Blend Sustain. Self explanatory aren't they? Blend the amount of your unprocessed signal with your compressed signal (wet / dry combination). Just try the example settings on the sheet supplied then do your own experimenting till you find what works best for your sound.

Yes, I know a 10!! But, if you have been searching for your sound and then finally found it you would have to give it a 10 wouldn't you? Well, I've finally found my sound!!! Beautiful clean clear sustain without killing your tone! Forget fuzz and distortion for sustain why not hear the sound of your guitar? Georgeous strat tones that sustain forever, that's the sound I wanted! I don't want to hear buzz/fuzz so I just add a pinch of overdrive for a killer lead solo sound, purrrfect!! For recording this pedal is a must, no more harsh spikes or clipping in the levels and still allows your true sound to shine through thanks to the blend knob, and Mr Barber of course!!

Only had a couple of weeks, looks very sturdy (bomb proof). I look after my gear anyway so we'll see, can't rate it yet. Wouldn't like to have it fail on a gig, not when your special sound relies on it!!

Haven't needed support so can't rate it. I have read only good things here though.

This is just what I was looking for lots of clean clear sustain, you can't get that unless your compressor has a blend knob!!! Great Idea!! When you find something that lets you get the sounds you've been hearing in your head and that is so musical and easy to use it's a prize winner for sure!! This is really great value for money!! very affordable, actually could be too affordable come to think of it, Hell!! now everyones gonna sound great!! Let's just keep this quiet OK ;-))

Very easy to use. Three knobs. With some tweaking, its easy to get the squeezy sounds of a keely or dynacomp type of compressor, and some of its own sounds as well.

Barber, you've done it again. Another perfect pedal.

OK. I've owned 3 compressers including this one. The first was a Digitech MainSqueeze X series. Not bad for the price, really. I'm using that on bass now.

I was using a Keeley Compresser for the past year. Now, for smooth sounding, clean compressed lead runs, the keeley is fantastic. blows away a dynacomp in everyway.

But my problem is that I have a really heavy right hand attack. If I slammed on a G chord, or even did some low string arpeggios, the keeley would really swuash them to the point where it wouldnt cut at all. I started to wonder if there was such thing as a compressor that would boost single note runs, and still let your chords burst through with all their attack. Lemme tell you, the Barber can do this.

The best way to describe the Tone Press is "Smart Compression". Its almost as if this pedal knows what you're thinking, and responds accordingly. Set the volume to unity gain, the blend straight up at noon, and the compression at 2 o clock. Do some subtle single note runs, clicking the pedal on/off for comparison. The Barber really does bring out nuances of these notes, and lets them sustain ALOT longer than normal.

But the real kicker is this. Slam, I mean SLAM, on a open G chord. Listen how the Barber doesnt take away from your aggressive attack at all. It lets all the attack through, and immediately the compression and sustain seamlessly makes your notes ring out for a long time.

I'm totally sold. I own a Barber Direct Drive SS, and a Barber LTD, and now the Tone Press. Barber is a true innovator; he's not making any "clones". He's assessing problems with some of our favorite classic pedals, and truly refining them, creating completely new and better pedals in the process.

Barber makes his stuff strong, but also thinks ahead. Pots and switches are NOT PC mounted, and are easily easily servicable if need be. That being said, its built like a brick, and I trust it to last a long time.

Barber has fantastic email response time. He'll chat on the phone for 15 minutes if you call him. Very friendly, very knowledgable. Class act.

Worth every single penny. I guess if you're a purist, then a keeley or dynacomp would satisfy you. But the Barber can do everything a Keeley can, and more. Plus, the blend control is a lifesaver to modern, aggressive players. This pedal is truly the best compresser I've ever played though. My search is done.

Barber kicks MAJOR a$$.

Hey barber...PLEASE make a phaser, maybe a wah, how bout a chorus...

Super easy,except the blend control might be something new for a lot of guitar players who are used to the conventional comppresssors.

This is something of a sound I have been looking for all this time. With this unit,you do not have to compromise your tone. Nice work.

It has not given any problems. Just one look inside and you will know that this thing is build to last forever.

Can't get any better than Barber. They are just so great with their costomers that I can't say good enough things about them. Class A all the way!

I havwe now three pedals from them.Direct Drive SS, LTD,and the Tone Press.They are all great.If there is one thing that all these pedals share in common will be that they have a very pristine clear sound. I guess this is a very good start for getting a great tone.I own some other pedals that are considered to be so called boutique,but they cost alot more and offer similar level of tonal clarity. One of the beast deals around.

Three dials...Level, Blend, and Sustain. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to use it.

I'm an old school funk guy and I've always been a stickler for the basic Guitar-Wah-Distortion-Amp setup. It takes a lot for another pedal to work it's way in my rig. This one has. The way it shaped the clean sound was awesome and I couldn't turn back once I used it. I had tried other comps in the past, including the Dyna Comp and the Boss units, and while they were good, nothing seemed to warrant an extra space in my rig. This one did.

Excellent so far. The true bypass feature is awesome.

This unit is very good for what I do and it doesn't color your sound the way some other units did. I almost got the Dyna Comp, but this one had the true bypass feature, which sold me. It has definitely earned its place in my rig.

Pretty Straightforward.There is a guide that comes with it that has some recommended settings.

50's Reissue Strat with Custom Shop Fat 50's pickups through an Addrock Boostmaster/Tone Press/Addrock Ol Yeller/Electro-Harmonix Clone Theory/Boss DD-20 Giga-Delay into an early 70's Fender Twin.Very quiet pedal and it is true bypass.All pedals work nicely with it. I prefer the Class A clean boost setting which helps me get that Eric Johnson clean tone.My rig sounds naked without it and I never turn it off.Even if you don't care for compression you should try this pedal because it really enhances your clean tone no matter how good your rig sounds.Lead tone will definitely like this pedal also as each note is heard without being trampled on. The best addition to my rig for the price range.

Had no problems so far. I have had it for a year now.

Never dealt with them.

My band plays eric johnson cover tunes.Been playing 21 years and this pedal has put my tone over the top. I would definitely buy another Tone Press if lost/stolen.

No problems here. The Blend knob is the only thing out of the ordinary from your conventional Compressor pedal.

Here,this thing gets a strong 10.the only drawback is that it doesn't sound like what a good compressors are supposed to sound like.(MXR,Keeley),dose this make sense?I have been used to my MXR Comp sound for so long that at first, I was not able to appreciate the Pristine sound quality that this box delivers.If you are still reminicent of the compressors of the yore,you can tweak the internal pot for a darker sound.

Seems like a solid,well built unit.

Great support.Friendly and helpful.

This thing is probably not for someone looking to really compress the signal,using compression as an effect.This pedal has really made me re-think the true role of a compressor.Now I regard the compressor almost in the same reague as an EQ,sound enhancement gear.An eye opning,auditory experience.

Simple; Volume = volume. Blend = the amount of compressed vs uncompressed signal. Sustain = sustain .

I use with a few Andersons, PRS Hollow I, PRS Standard 22, Fender Strat, Fender Tele, Martin SPJC16 acoustic, Taylor NS6 acoustic. Mesa Nomad and Fender Evil Twin amps. Signal is TU2 - Tone Press - FD2 -DP1 - PW10 to front, ChoralFlange to DD5 in loop.

ZERO noise. Guitars sound natural. Better and most transparent sound than any other, including Keely and Carl Martin, due to blend control. I basically just leave it on.

No noise at all.

Built like a tank. I do not have a back up.

Call them up. You probably will talk with Mr. Barber himself! I did!

I play in a Jazz duo and a Rock group. Need pristine but warm clean, great acoustic sounds, and of course crunch and distortion. Like I said I basically just leave it on. I set the Volume at 1:00, Blend at 11:00 and Sustain at 12:00. You can't really tell I am using a compressor unless I turn it off. It just kind of smooths out the edges.

Impossible to get a bad sound. Really easy to use. Volume for...volume, Blend for how much original signal you want to compress, Sustain for how much compression you want. Although the Blend feature is pretty much unique to Barber - this is still much easier to use than most other compressors - really intuitive.

Used as a toneful clean boost for a Fender Tele-Sonic through a Marshall JCM 600 with 1965A cab. Totally silent in operation.

I was looking for a clean boost that added to my tone rather than simply adding extra, stark volume. Other compressors just take over but with this one you are in charge.

The result for me is added confidence when performing solos. I know that the second I step on the pedal, my tone will be absolutely gorgeous - like melted butter. I swear my guitar becomes easier to play!

Nice, solid pedal.

I can rely on it to make me sound good when it counts - at gigs!

I seriously doubt there'll be any need.

They have supported this customer by producing a high quality compression pedal at a reasonable price.

This pedal is pleasure to own. When I look down at my board and see the Tone Press I feel like the cat who got the cream. If you're wondering whether to buy one, do yourself a favour and...DO!

used in in my rig the week i got it. that is very rare. means it is simple, and responds very predictably. no top secret settings.

the only pedal that i would ever give a 10 in this respect would be a roccaforte bastard. one button. on/off.

it would be a cold day in H-E double toothpicks before i booted my trusty dynacomp, i told myself.
guess what?

BBRRRRRRRR!!!!!

the tone press went up against the best. i tried:
carl martin (owned and sold)
analogman original and bicomprosser
menatone JAC
t-rex compnova
boss old and new comps
dod milkbox
homebrew opticomp? (or was it the dls model..as you can tell, didn't leave much of an impression)

too bad i didn't try toad mr. squishy or keeley, but i heard toad and hear enough of keeley to get a good idea what that does.

i use strats. stock or hummer loaded.
main amps are mojave coyote or egnater tol 100.

this pedal has no noise at high levels. nice transparent high end. blend knob lets you add or subtract level of compression in parallel fashion. lotsa squish or none at all. you choose EXACTLY how much. maybe not quite as pumpy and dyna, or milkbox, or orange squeezer, but too much is too much.

i would say the JAC has a VERY SLIGHT tonal advantage and sonic vibe that makes it a taste cooler to my ear, but it pops when switching and is way more bank.

carl martin is excellent for acoustic gtr. tone press does both electric and acoustic well.

and it perfectly compliments my barber direct drive which is placed right after the press.

looks good.

good response. impressed by build, quality of sound and prices.

i'm a picky kook. gtr guy for 2+decades.
i've owned lotsa gear. use rack compressors weekly for work as soundman. own dbx 160xt and 376, alesis 3630, and rocktron 300G compressors, and use a presonus acp-88, focusrite stereo unit, and ashley 4.24 C dsp at work for live PA rack.

i'm a fan of compression. this one is good.

Very easy to use with just three knobs: volume, blend, and sustain/compression. Volume is obviously self-explanatory, blend controls the blend between your dry signal (pure guitar signal) and wet (compressed signal), and sustain simply controls the amount of compression/sustain. It takes a tiny bit of tweaking between compression and blend to find the "sweet spot", but it's really pretty much just a process of finding what sounds good to you. Very easy to use.

I'm always more than just a little skeptical when people automatically put "10" down on every category of a pedal, and so I'm not going to automatically put it down here without offering up a valid explanation as to why this pedal merits the score of 10.

First off, my setup: Taylor 614ce>Ernie Ball Vol>Tone-Press>Line 6 MM4>Line 6 DL4>DI box>PA system. I play strictly acoustic right now and NEED a compressor which will enhance my Taylor's beautiful tone vs. making me fight against the compressor to try to still get the tone and attack that I want. In my search for the "perfect" compressor, I've tried a Boss CS-3 (sucked terribly), Marshall ED-1 (didn't like the way it chopped off my treble and couldn't ever dial in the proper combination of attack and compression), T-Rex Compnova (great transparent compressor, but it's expensive and didn't seem to have quite the right amount of "squash" on tap for my needs with an acoustic), and a Keeley Compressor (for use with an acoustic, it's TERRIBLY over-hyped and under performing as it cuts out LOTS of treble, and has far too quick of a "squash" that's just too difficult to try to dial out without putting the sustain knob at "0"). After A/B'ing the Tone-Press with each of these pedals - either side by side or just on alternate days - the Tone-Press came out the CLEAR winner as it didn't cut off my treble anywhere NEAR what the other pedals ALL did, had absolutely BEAUTIFUL compression characteristics, and even more importantly, has the ability to blend YOUR amount of dry/wet signal. Truth be told, the T-P still cuts out just a tiny tiny amount of treble, but that's easily adjusted with the inside trim pot with which you can adjust the overall "color" of the compressor's tone to dial in a bright and snappy compression or more of a hollowed out "vintage" tone as the instruction manual puts it.

With an acoustic, I notice tonal degredation FAR quicker than with an electric. Whether it's the active vs. passive signal that makes the difference, the types of pickups (piezo vs. magnetic), strings, or what, I'm not sure. All I know is that tonal degredation is the bane of my existance with an acoustic guitar. I have no tolerance for it and this pedal is the answer to my acoustic tone prayers.

This pedal simply outperforms every compressor that I've tried, sometimes by alot (CS-3, ED-1, Keeley) and then by just a little (T-Rex - if it had a blend knob and was a little cheaper, I might have gone that route). I didn't compare it with a Dynacomp as I really want to be able to dial in attack like I want it, and as it's just a bit too similar to the whole Ross clone deal for my tastes.

The ONLY reason the Barber gets a "10" in my book is because of it's TONE TONE TONE and it's blend knob (why hasn't anybody ELSE thought of this??). It's by far the most superior compressor I've played to date.

Why buy an over-hyped Keeley Comp or something along the Ross clone lines when you can get THIS for $80 less and when it has FAR more adjustability, features, and performance than anything else out there? I'm quite frankly surprised this hasn't caught on more... Oh well.

I've only had it for a little over a week now, and have only played with it live through a PA on 3 occasions. Due to that, there's no telling as to whether this'll break in half or keep going until I have grandkids or not. After opening up the bottom of the pedal however, I must say that I haven't been that impressed by someone's workmanship EVER! Even after owning a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and cracking it open, the Barber takes the cake for impecable construction. Absolutely beautiful in there. Everything has it's place, is placed there with precision and has absolutely spotless soldering holding it in place. Who cares what the outside of a pedal looks like if the interior looks like electronic spaghetti? The Keeley I just sold was clean inside, but in comparison to the Barber, it looks pretty messy. The Barber is just THAT clean.

I have no reason to think it'll be dying on me anytime soon. With attention to detail like Dave's put into this pedal, I dare say it'll last for a while.

Bought the pedal through an authorized dealer vs. going straight to the company. I did sent a few questions to the company via e-mail but didn't receive any responses however. Maybe they don't check their e-mail much, or maybe mine just fell through the cracks. Honestly, it's one of those "don't know, don't really care" kind of situations for me.

I play acoustic guitar for my church college group's P&W team. Lots of more "modern" P&W music along the lines of David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Hillsongs, Matt Redman, etc... I've been playing guitar for almost 8 years now and play primarily rhythm with alot of flatpicking mixed in. No real "solo/lead" playing in that sense, but primarily rhythm(ish) type stuff. If this pedal were lost or stolen, I'd replace it in a heartbeat.

Basically, what I'm looking for in a compressor is something to act more as a volume limiter (vs. just wanting extra sustain). I want something that'll bring up the volume when flatpicking and then even it out when I abruptly start doing hard rhythm strumming. I don't want those huge volume troughs, but I don't want to compromise for smaller volume troughs by having a pedal that colors my sound more than it should. The Barber does everything I want it to and then some. You can read how it compares to the Keeley, T-Rex, etc. above.

I'm not going to follow the typical ol' trend here and automatically slap a "10" in every category because after all, this pedal is "un-proven" in the sense that I haven't actively gigged with it for over a year. However, based on what I've said above, this pedal is more than I was hoping for. I played a gig with the Keeley Comp about a week after getting it and although it does help eliminate those huge volume troughs, it's only as good as the tone that comes out the other end. The treble-killing aspects of it were simply more than I was willing to settle for.

I don't like to follow the trend of having the "biggest newest hottest pedal" on the market. I don't intend this to be a Keeley Comp bash at all, but rather to say that I purchased it based on the recommendations of nearly everybody in the effects forum here on H-C. Either NOBODY there has every TRULY played an acoustic through it, they have no ear for tone, or they're simply hung up on having a Keeley Comp on their pedalboard and view it as a status symbol that somehow magically makes them a better player - I don't know. All I know is that it certainly didn't/doesn't fit the ticket for an acoustic. For an electric, it might be all that, but for an acoustic, it leaves alot to be desired.

The Tone-Press most certainly doesn't.

Very easy to use. Adjust the 3 dials for a few minutes and you'll get the hang of it (volume, compression, blend).

Well I'm torn between giving this a rating of 9 or 10...I wish I could give it a 9.5.

It's easily the best sounding pedal compressor I've ever used - much better than my Boss CS-3 which it's replacing on my board. It retains your full fat tone & retains your top end while adding compression and sustain. It's also very quiet unless you crank up the blend and sustain knobs near full on. If you set the sustain knob at 3:00 or less, it's extremely quiet for a compressor. The blend knob is SO NICE...having the ability to mix in any amount of your unaffected dry signal is simply incredible. Great idea! Also, there's no popping sounds when turning the unit on or off and it works very, very well with all of my OD and distortion boxes - it works especially well with my Boss SD-1 and Fulltone FD-2 OD pedals. I also love how that old picky/clicky sound that I used to get from my Boss CS-3 is no where to be heard with the Tonepress. That added fake pick attack crappy sound used to drive me nuts!

So what more do you want from a compressor? Quiet - does not suck out your tone - true bypass - sounds great in any setting (forgot to mention you can set the blend knob to zero and use it as a volume boost). I'm going to give it a rating of 9 instead of 10, only because the unit is not perfect. If you dime the sustain and blend knobs there is a little noise...since that's not how I'm using it, that's not an issue for me. Also, this unit does not have a ton of compression in it (which is fine for me). It'll get you up to and past the point of squishy compression, but not much further. If you like experimenting with overly compressed tones for certain applications...you might have a hard time getting that out of the Tonepress. As I noted though, I really love how I can get right up to the point of compression or a little bit over if I want to...that's the sound I like when using distortion, so the unit works great for me.

Great clean tones - great overdriven tones! I love it.

Sure seems like it's going to last a long time. So far no problems at all. My CS-3 is my backup compressor but hopefully it'll stay in the gig bag.

I called Barber direct to ask about the types of AC adapters I could use with the unit. They called me back in 5 minutes! Extremely helpful and friendly.

I play mostly classic rock - also play some jazz fusion, heavy metal, oldies, blues, and country...bit of everything I guess. Been playing for 30 years. I primarily use a Les Paul, Strat or Tele plugged into a Fender Prosonic, Hot Rod DeVille, Deluxe Reverb, Mesa Boogie DC-5, or Marshall TSL-60 amp.

My effects chain is:
-Vox wah
-ProCo vintage Rat
-Tonepress
-Loooper (ab box) signal split to Boss TU-15 tuner
-Boss SD-1
-Fulltone FD2
-Tonebone Hot British distortion
-Boss Super Chorus
-Boss Flanger
-Boss DD-2

+ an ART effects processor for reverbs and delays thru my amp's effects loop.

If it were stolen I'd replace it immediately with another Tonepress.

Over the past 30 years of playing and gigging I've come to realize the importance of compression in my signal. The Tonepress is everything I've ever wanted in a pedal compressor. I've played some rackmounted compressors that sounded a little better (and I truly mean a little better)...but the Tonepress is in a pedal league of it's own IMHO. I a/b'd it against a vintage MXR Dynacomp, and my CS-3, and also checked out the new Digitech compressor (which I liked btw). The Tonepress stood head and shoulders above the rest. I've had "perma-grin" since I bought it.

Here's an exact quote from the bass player in my band when he heard it 2 weeks ago at rehearsal - "Wow, a pedal compressor that doesn't suck out your tone..and doesn't suck out your top end." He's been a musician for about 35 years - and he owns 2 vintage Dynacomp compressors that he's now selling. I highly recommend this pedal. You can't go wrong for $149!

Don't know

Don't know

Don't know

Now the reason for this exercise. I got the unit home, put in my adaptor wall wart and ....... nothing! I checked the connections and to make a long story short realized I had fried my Tone Press with an AC adaptor! I sent a panicked e-mail to the company. I figured if repairable, maybe 50 dollars for the repair would be appropriate. They sent me back an e-mail. Deal with the shipping charges and they would make it right. Wow, I can't believe it. I've just ordered a Direct Drive unseen and unheard. How can I not do business with a company like that? They protected me from my own stupidity!

Review to come in a couple of months. For now, I just had to express my delight at the customer service of these people.

easy. 3 knobs. simple instruction sheet.

i went on a compressor hunt. i wanted to find something that would make me want to part with my longtime friend, the dynacomp.
i don't give a rat's nard what anyone says about the dynacomp, it's a great pedal and the one many have sought to improve on.
i don't think analogman improved on it with his compressors. have not ried keeley yet but frieds that have say it's similar to analogman, so no thanks for that kind of $$$.
dod milkbox was surprisingly cool, but sorta cold versus dyna.
had and sold a carl martin. too sterile and harsh when driven.
t-rex compnova...no thanks. homebrew compressor...nah. heard mr. squishy and the slow rise is interesting, but i heard no magic bounce and pop in it.

then i stumbled onto a contender...the menatone JAC. GREAT sound. super quiet performance. it had the old school bump and squish with more top end clarity. true bypass, and although it popped when the button clicked, in my mind i thought BINGO!

but i had heard of one more i really wanted to hear and i'm glad i waited cause it saved me 120 bones! the tone press was 95% of the JAC and less than 1/2 the cost, which translated into one proud tone press owner! and no "pop" when stomped on.

so nutshell is, the JAC is the superior sounding unit, but the tone press is so close and still clearer than the dynacomp, while maintaining the coolness factor and performance of the dyna ala bounce and squish.

i'm gigging live with it.

called up barber and they answered my question instantly.
yes it runs on boss style 9v barrel power supply.

i take my cleans dead serious. the foundation of great tone is great clean tone. i run the tone press like i did the dyna; on in the chain at all times. i play pop ballad/blues/alternative rock/classical/funk r&b/folksy music and the tonepress is the heart of it all.

Barber really impressed me with this and the direct drive, both of which i bought that day, because the cost allowed me to. the tone pump II is also great to my ears! And the new Echelon amp is outstanding!

SOOOOOO damn easy to use. Love it. From right to left controls are Level/Gain (volume) mix (adjusts mix of compressed and dry signal) and sustain amount. Nuff said.

Killer. Thank god I bought one. Does what its supposed to do and you can adjust how much of the dry sound you want allowing you to RETAIN how much of your original sound you want.

Seems reliable, only had it for a few days.

HAven't used them.

Beats the crap out of A LOT of the overpriced compressors. I had a Blackbox Oxygen that was pure crap. Everything sounded compressed. Was totally un-usable for rock / distorted sounds without cranking the gate all the way up....which in turn killed your sustain. This pedal is awesome, your tone is retained and it works well AND IS VERY QUIET. Can't ask for anything more. The friggin' Oxygen was over double the price and wasn't worth it at all.

Took two minutes to get what I wanted...

Wow, was this thing ever made to order! It's exactly what I was looking for, because it is absolutely NOT a compressor in the Boss CS, MXR DynaComp, Ross camp. I think it's already been mentioned, but you need to think of this as a nice clean boost with just a touch of the flavor of the above named pedals. It gets right up to that clicky comp sound (which I hate), but doesn't go over.

...AND HERE'S THE COOL PART: It has a blend control that allows you to balance between the "dry" and "wet" signal, while retaining the boost. I agree with others who say "Why aren't all compressors built this way?

This has replaced my Sparkle Drive (TP is definitely more transparent) and my old compressor. I use clean boost a lot, but only need compression for a couple of songs, so a "standard" comp just takes up space on my board. All I had to do was set up the TP at 3:00 - 4:00 or so on the volume control for a nice clean boost, "blend" at 11:00 (more dry than wet), and toggle the sustain from 11:00 (for a big clean tone with a bit more sustain) to full-on to get a singing-yet-articulate solo sound. It works wonderfully with my Tonebone Hot Brit, and I've found that the old HB nasal-factor is GONE.

With the Sparkle Drive, I always had to jack the HB volume up to meet the clean boost and it would add a shade of nasaly mids...somehow, the Tone Press boosts in such a way that it doesn't really alter the HB's tone, just gives more of it. However, cranking the sustain adds a nice cutting mid that's perfect for solos. It's like the two were built to go together.

The only downside I hear is that it seems just a hair more noisy than the SD, HOWEVER, it is far quieter than any comp I've ever used (keeping in mind that it doesn't go to the extreme squish that other comps do either). The noise is such that it will be invisible at gigs...it really doesn't spoil the experience for me at all...even here at home.

I can easily compare this to the first time I got glasses...it made me say "Oh, now *that's* what I've been missing!"

Nutshell: If you want a traditiional comp, this ain't it, but if you want a box that is subtle enough to go unnoticed, but will be infinitely useful, it's well worth $139.

My third Barber pedal...all have been well built

For me, it couldn't be more perfect.

3 Knobs...Sustain, Blend, Volume...If you can't figure this out, you should maybe get a different hobby.

First of all, this is just an evolutionary step beyond typical compressor pedals. Very quiet, very clean. None of the thud, splattering or grunge like many of the other units. (Not that those are always bad traits-sometimes a little trash ups the funk factor)
Super sustain, but not a squash-y as a dyna comp-esque unit. Great for chicken pickin' but needs to be maxed out to really spank it. I use a Tom Anderson Hollow Classic and /or Hollow T Classic into a PTP Budda Superdrive 18-112...awesome...everything from Brent Mason to SRV to EJ to Robben to Carlos...literally amazing sustain...155 total with tax and shipping from my dealer in Indiana...also KILLER with my Taylor K14C...very sustainy but clean...

looks very rugged...looks easy to repair if a solder lead ever came off...

After purchasing this, I am also planning on picking up the Direct Drive.

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.