Barber Tone Press

[guit30]

Well, I finally got around to trying the Barber Tone Press and I love it, sounds to me just like a great traditional Ross clone, which it is. The Blend stuff is nice, but what is nicer, is the tone. To me , this is more of a compressor than a sustainer(notes that last forever). This gives me a thicker, punchy sound that is great for chickin pickin, Real nice build, nothin' fancy, wish it was smaller , like my Hartman, but , then they couldn't have all of those nice pots and big circuit board. I read the page of instructions , then started fiddlin', Proguitarshop, where I bought it has a great video on how to get certain sounds out of it, that helped me a lot and also made me know I would like it. I don't understand the parallel compression part, but I know if want the best attack, it seems to be with the blend pot @ 12. If you look at the blend pot from inside it is huge with 2 or 3 wires runnin' from it, so it does alot. I decided not to mess with the color trim adjustment, said it would give you a more round traditional compression, which said to me, more transparent, no I like it like it is now, may mess with it some day, but this is a keeper, after all of my searches this year.
The only other one that I would have liked to have, is the 2 knob Keeley that Robert Keeley sent me to review, I could kick myself for not paying the $180 to keep it. He did give me a 4 knob, but I didn't like the way it sounded. A couple of months ago, I tried another Keeley from this store and it sounded like the 4 knob, not like the 1st one that I got, they had to have changed something in that one, to me the pcb looked a lot different. Anyway, very happy with this Barber. Also tried Rt 66 Comp, Ocean EFX Comp Box, Retrosonic Ross comp, Homebrew cpr, and Edan Anolog Cold Compress.

[Johnny Isaacs]

I bought one of these used on ebay for 125 and it's worth every penny. I'm a big fan of the Compressor. For years I used the Boss CS-2 and didn't find anything that sounded even close. The only problem I had is that it was a tad noisey. I have an old Ibanez one, a Keeley (which sounded great - two knob version), and a custom RGW Lightning Luke - which sounded great too. Then I went to Jimmy Wilsey's and heard his Barber Tone Press and was instantly sold. Wow! This sounds like a studio Compressor!

I didn't get any instructions with mine, it just came in a plain white box, so I don't know if the internal pots are set to factory or have been monkey'ed with but it sounds great to my ears!

Johnny Isaacs

[Del Pickup]

I think it's one of the best on the market - and I've never been a big fan of compressors in general. This is so transparent and quiet but adds some real body to each note. Even on minimal settings it just adds a bit of sparkle to your tone.

I played with the internal trim pot just after I got the pedal but felt that it made it sound like every other compressor I'd tried so I moved it back to the factory setting and haven't touched it since.

Worth every cent it cost - and it's way cheaper than many of the boutique pedals.

[woodman]

only compressor i've ever kept on my board for more'n a month (four years and counting).

[Tele-writer]

I love mine too. I've had it a couple of years. Not only is it great on stage, I find that it records very well too. It works equally well with strats and tele's.

[ravindave_3600]

Originally Posted by guit30

Blend stuff is nice, but what is nicer, is the tone. To me , this is more of a compressor than a sustainer(notes that last forever).

Good review. But will it do the sustain thing? (I LIKE sustain!)

[teleclem]

thats what i was wondering too....

[vjf1968]

Yes.

[hamhock]

If you haven't seen the video on this compressor, check this out. I think it demonstrates its sustain capabilities.

[ravindave_3600]

Good tutorial. Thanks, Hamhock!

[aztwang]

Just picked one up yesterday for 99.00 on ebay..anxious to get it. I 've never really messed around with compression on a single guitar before...just on a board runnin live sound.