Fairfield Circuitry The Barbershop Overdrive

As stated previously, there are only 3 controls: Drive, Volume, and Sag, which controls internal voltage.

The sag feature is what makes this pedal special. It's hard to describe how it sounds exactly, except to say that it's very dynamic. At lower ranges it makes the gain sputtery; at middle to high settings it makes the gain creamy and distortion pedal-like; dimed the gain becomes very tight and dynamic: clean with a bit of breakup (similar to a 50's-60's style amp at around 5.)

Or you could just spin the dials and see where you land. Anyway, I was up and running within minutes.

First of all this is a *very* transparent pedal. At lower gain and volume settings you can hit a note and turn the pedal off and on with no noticable difference to your tone. This is probably the most important thing for me. I couldn't detect any noise or eq change at lower to medium settings (I don't really dime the volume settings - personal preference)

Unlike an Ibanez TS-9, this pedal won't make your tone creamier or thicker - in other words it doesn't add a mid boost. Compared to the Barbershop, the TS-9 sounds more like a pedal in front of an amp; I preferred the Barbershop as it seems to enhance the basic sound of your amp to produce a very natural tone.

So far I've found 2 general settings that I really like:

I play a Champ-clone at low volume. This amp has a thicker, boxier clean tone that sounds great by itself. I use a low gain sound with the following settings: Drive at 2 o'clock, Sag dimed, Volume set to match the guitar volume. This setting adds a little hair around the edges and a subtle treble boost. It's a very subtle, dynamic setting - clean, but with a natural distortion when you dig into it. It's subtle enough that you could use this to add a bit of grit and definition to your jazz chords if you wanted. Add a bit more gain and it's a great blues tone (I wouldn't mind trying this with a big thick amp like a Marshall.) This is the tone that sold me on the pedal in the first place.

The second tone I gnerally use is a good distortion setting: Drive anywhere from 2 o'clock or more, Sag around 2 o'clock, Volume set to match the my neighbours' tolerance levels(!) Turning the sag knob back makes the gain creamy, and softens the attack. It's a bright but natural sound (I sometimes reduce the treble on my guitars.) This setting works very well with my Deluxe Reverb RI; it's a basic rock distortion that works well for 70's rock like Neil Young or AC/DC. The pedal will not turn a Fender combo into a Marshall stack in case you were wondering.

Note: I got these sounds using mahognay guitars with loud pickups. I recently dug out my Strat and the results were much different. It's a much more subtle sound with the Strat, even when everything is cranked at maximum distortion.

I've only had mine about 1 1/2 months.

I generally play low to medium gain stuff - blues, roots & rock.
My guitars include an all-mahogany LP Custom & a Hamer Special P90 (double-cut LP-style), as well as a 50's style strat. My amps are a tweed Champ-clone and a Deluxe Reverb reissue. I also use a 1st generation POD (mostly the classic Fender & Marshall settings).

I haven't tried all the boutiquey boxes out there, so I couldn't tell you how is compares to the OCD or the Centaur or whatever. I did A/B the Barbershop with some run of the mill stuff: an Ibanez TS-9 and a Danelectro Daddy-O that I never use.

I'm not really a pedal guy - I usually play with a pedal for half an hour, fiddle with the knobs for a bit and then eventually turn it off. So my personal acid test is this: Am I still playing it an hour later; and am I focusing on what I'm playing, rather than the position of the knobs? I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this pedal. It started out as a loaner, but after two weeks, I realized that I was not going to give it back! Although I started out using the Barbershop at moderate settings, I've actually started enjoying cranking it up and releasing my inner Neil Young!

This pedal would be a great choice for those who are happy with their basic tone: perhaps those who own some cool vintage-style gear and don't want to mess with it. I'm sure that others could use this pedal in ways that I haven't imagined.

It's a great pedal, period. If it ever died on me I'd replace it in a second.

As stated previously, there are only 3 controls: Drive, Sag, Volume. The only control that's a bit different to use is Sag. It controls internal voltage. And that's where a lot of the fun is at. My Barbershop OD is #OD039. It has become one of my favorites. It's very simple to use, but you have to stop thinking of it as a typical OD, or you'll miss its particular magic.

The Barbershop can be used as a boost or OD all by itself; but where it really shines is in combination with other pedals. It's like a "More" pedal with extra hair. Into a decent tube amp, it lends the signal extra girth and a very pleasing grit that doesn't subtract either bass or treble from the sound. I've had a lot of fun trying it before and after various other boxes in the chain. It gets along very well with other pedals. So far I prefer it near the end of the chain.

I've only had mine about 6 months, so as to long term durability we'll have to wait and see. But I have looked the unit over inside and out, and can vouch for the fact that the build quality inspires great confidence. It is built tough, and component quality is high.

As others have found, Fairfield Circuitry responds promptly to customer emails, which is a good sign. I haven't had any issues with my Barbershop, so I can't comment on their turnaround time in that regard.

I play a wide range of genres, and I find that I've almost always got the Barbershop going. I mostly use it at moderate settings to enhance the sound I'm already working with, rather than as a sound all by itself. It's the "special sauce". It's one of those pedals that makes you not want to put down your guitar.

I play mostly either a Fender Tele or a Gibson LP Special through English style tube amps of one kind or another.

The thing I like the best about the Barbershop is that it absolutely does not sound like anything else, especially a TS type pedal. I love its primitive weirdness. Wouldn't change a thing. It's a future classic.

This pedal is very easy to use. Only three controls: Drive, Volume and Sag. No manual, but trust me, once you plug it in the last thing you want to do is to read something. This is the first run of these pedals (I have #20) and I sure hope the design never changes.

I have a few guitars (Teles, Ricks, Epiphones, Gretsch, Sho Bud pedal steel) but my main guitar is a 1991 Telecaster Plus. My amps include a Vox AC30, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (2x12), and a Mayfly head (see reviews) through a Marshall 1936 cab. Mainly, I use the Vox.

The pedal is perfectly quiet. In terms of effects, the drive control is nice and "chunky" and the volume control provides plenty of dbs, but the thing that makes this pedal magic is the sag control. Technically, the sag control reduces the amount of voltage going through the circuit (to mimic the sound created when a battery is dying). What this does in tone coloration is like nothing I've seen yet - but it's NOT A TONE KNOB. It's hard to describe - after three months, I'm still discovering new sounds!

The main thing about this pedal is that it has a broad range: from fairly saturated drive to (almost) clean boost, all with a character I haven't heard in any other similar pedal. Before buying it, I tested it against an Fulltone OCD (which I love - big fan of Fulltone products) and the Fairfield won because it gave me what I wanted throughout the entire range of settings. The Fairfield is transparent enough that even at high drive saturation, I could tell the difference between the various guitars going through the pedal, or the various pickups selected. Not so with the OCD. So, all in all, a great range of tone and drive but not at the expense of transparency.

The thing is built like a tank. I can't see how it would fail, however, there is a 2 year warranty.

I emailed the manufacturer - just to tell him how much I liked the pedal - and he responded immediately! I trust that the same would happen should information or repairs be needed.

Been playing for almost 30 years - off and on. I currently have (and have been through) a lot of pedals and gear over the years. This is a pedal I would definitely replace should it go missing. I love that I'm still discovering new tones and sounds out of the pedal. It's hard to describe why THIS pedal means more to me than other drive pedals I've tried.... it's like trying to explain why you like a certain color.... But I just love it! This is a great pedal for straight drive, boosting to a solo level, or getting different types of drive tones without compromising the sound of the guitar itself and without having to buy numerous drive pedals. Added bonus, the designer / manufacturer is Canadian! I will definitely try any pedal Mr. Fairfield comes with in the future.