Barb E.Q. pedal?

Discuss standard production effect pedals

Barb E.Q. pedal?

Postby Seance » Thu Mar 28, 2013 1:24 pm

Today I noticed the updates to the Products page on the Barber website. The Compact Direct Drive and Gain Changer are now listed there. But.... the Barb E.Q. is gone. It isn't even listed in the "discontinued" section. What's the status?
Godin Session, Ibanez Artcore AFS75T, Seagull S6 —> EJ Fuzz Face —> ProCo 1993 Vintage RI Rat, Barber Dual UnLimiTeD, Barber Trifecta, Amdek PHK-100 Phaser, Boss FRV-1, Ibanez DDL10 Delay II, Boss RC-3 —> Lab Series L7, Marshall MB30.
Sounds: http://www.soundcloud.com/caesarshift
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"A Work In Progress" http://vimeo.com/13174563
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Re: Barb E.Q. pedal?

Postby David Barber » Thu Mar 28, 2013 1:37 pm

Seance wrote:Today I noticed the updates to the Products page on the Barber website. The Compact Direct Drive and Gain Changer are now listed there. But.... the Barb E.Q. is gone. It isn't even listed in the "discontinued" section. What's the status?


Honestly, we have been wondering about the same thing...
PRS SE One, PRS SE EG, PRS McCarty rosewood neck, Anderson Hollow T, Anderson Hollow Classic, Hamer Artist, Fender Strats and Teles, All Barber Pedals, Barber Echelon, Barber Energy cab.
http://www.barberelectronics.com/sounds.html
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Re: Barb E.Q. pedal?

Postby Seance » Thu Mar 28, 2013 2:27 pm

David,

Thanks for the response! I know you've posted before (here and elsewhere) about your intent to revamp the spectrum of Barber pedals on offer, and recent developments have shown how much hard work you guys have put in (GC, CDD). And the new pedals have been incredibly well received.

With all the changes ahead I hope that thee Barb E.Q. finds a place in the new lineup! I guess the difficulty is figuring out what unique niche the Barb E.Q. can continue to fill in the current pedal landscape. What are other pedal makers doing? What do people want that isn't being addressed by the analog or digital devices currently out there?

There are preamp pedals out there that allow for going direct into a PA or into the effects loop of an amp (Tech 21 Character Series, AMT Legend Series, the A/DA APP-1). And there are a few small preamp pedals that also have class D amps in them allowing you to drive a guitar cab (EHX 22 Calibre and 44 Magnum, Traynor Quarter Horse, Ethos Overdrive Amp).

Perhaps it isn't wise to redesign the Barb E.Q. just to venture off in any of those directions since there are already other options available. But other developments in guitar gear perhaps might re-introduce the utility of the Barb E.Q. to a new segment of guitar players.

If the Barb E.Q. was designed to provide a TMB tone stack to single tone-knob or no tone-knob amps, then perhaps the advent of things such as the Bad Cat Unleash might open up a new opportunity for the Barb E.Q., since with the Unleash a person can turn a low-watt Champ into a 100 watt Champ. With the addition of a Barb E.Q., that Champ would also have a flexible and dynamic tonal palette as well.

Sorry for the rambling conjecture. Over the last little while I've been reading online about some guitarists using the Barb E.Q. with high-wattage solid state jazz amplifiers, and while I'm pretty sure this wasn't your stated design goal, it is interesting to see how people out there have come to see the value and utility of the pedals that you produce, even if they are coming at them from a different perspective.
Godin Session, Ibanez Artcore AFS75T, Seagull S6 —> EJ Fuzz Face —> ProCo 1993 Vintage RI Rat, Barber Dual UnLimiTeD, Barber Trifecta, Amdek PHK-100 Phaser, Boss FRV-1, Ibanez DDL10 Delay II, Boss RC-3 —> Lab Series L7, Marshall MB30.
Sounds: http://www.soundcloud.com/caesarshift
"Cluster" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8X1N3761Fg
"A Work In Progress" http://vimeo.com/13174563
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Re: Barb E.Q. pedal?

Postby David Barber » Fri Mar 29, 2013 12:20 am

Seance wrote:David,

Thanks for the response! I know you've posted before (here and elsewhere) about your intent to revamp the spectrum of Barber pedals on offer, and recent developments have shown how much hard work you guys have put in (GC, CDD). And the new pedals have been incredibly well received.

With all the changes ahead I hope that thee Barb E.Q. finds a place in the new lineup! I guess the difficulty is figuring out what unique niche the Barb E.Q. can continue to fill in the current pedal landscape. What are other pedal makers doing? What do people want that isn't being addressed by the analog or digital devices currently out there?

There are preamp pedals out there that allow for going direct into a PA or into the effects loop of an amp (Tech 21 Character Series, AMT Legend Series, the A/DA APP-1). And there are a few small preamp pedals that also have class D amps in them allowing you to drive a guitar cab (EHX 22 Calibre and 44 Magnum, Traynor Quarter Horse, Ethos Overdrive Amp).

Perhaps it isn't wise to redesign the Barb E.Q. just to venture off in any of those directions since there are already other options available. But other developments in guitar gear perhaps might re-introduce the utility of the Barb E.Q. to a new segment of guitar players.

If the Barb E.Q. was designed to provide a TMB tone stack to single tone-knob or no tone-knob amps, then perhaps the advent of things such as the Bad Cat Unleash might open up a new opportunity for the Barb E.Q., since with the Unleash a person can turn a low-watt Champ into a 100 watt Champ. With the addition of a Barb E.Q., that Champ would also have a flexible and dynamic tonal palette as well.

Sorry for the rambling conjecture. Over the last little while I've been reading online about some guitarists using the Barb E.Q. with high-wattage solid state jazz amplifiers, and while I'm pretty sure this wasn't your stated design goal, it is interesting to see how people out there have come to see the value and utility of the pedals that you produce, even if they are coming at them from a different perspective.


The Barb EQ is great at what is does, and customers have always been happy with it. The BIG "BUT" is, they don't sell very well and we are out of PCB and pretty low on enclosures. I have to ask myself is it worth investing in hundreds more PCBs (profit comes from price breaks) and the same basic question with enclosures. The rest of the parts are somewhat easy to stock. I don't like the idea of taking 3 years to make a profit on parts I buy this year. I truly love the product, but it has to make business sense. I have the same problem with the Launch Pad and Linden. The fashion police have really had their day by recruiting legions of myrmidon like parable-repeaters who demand what a few and often non-player forum bosses claim are must-have features. In most cases all pedals now need to be clearly narrower than the human foot, there is still debate about jack placement (forget quality audio design). I look at the VERY fashionable pedals on pedalboards and I see lots of open space without much room for actual audio electronics, too much pandering to the clueless. I wish I could laugh at the boards with endless 1.5" wide pedals, usually with at least 2" on each side of each pedal so that the "player" does not accidentally hit two switches at once. Maybe the goal is the environment? And we are preserving "open space"? :D

I guess I can ramble too! But, I know I will need to make some awful decisions about making 1.5" wide pedals in the future. I like them fine for a simple wobbly clean-boost or buffer for the ends of the board, but beyond that it's a quixotic exercise to bow to fashion...guitar was about being individual, these days I have milk in my fridge that's less homogenized. :D
PRS SE One, PRS SE EG, PRS McCarty rosewood neck, Anderson Hollow T, Anderson Hollow Classic, Hamer Artist, Fender Strats and Teles, All Barber Pedals, Barber Echelon, Barber Energy cab.
http://www.barberelectronics.com/sounds.html
http://www.barberelectronics.com/pickuptest.htm
http://www.barberelectronics.com
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Re: Barb E.Q. pedal?

Postby MullyFX » Fri Mar 29, 2013 4:59 am

the Barb E.Q. is my most important pedal. It's ALWAYS on.
I'd like to test a Linden EQ as well but there's no shop here in germany that carries it.

might have to get me a second Barb E.Q. though before it's sold out.

Still if redesigning it to suit your current small-layout I would.....

drop the mids knob (like in the old BarbEQ)
personally I leave it fully counter clockwise all the time
If I want more mids I simply use the british setting

and use the second toggle for the bright/dark input

do keep the colour though..... best blue ever
Guitar: Gibson The Paul, Taranaki Proto #2
Pickups: David Barfuss P33F
Barber Pedals: Trifecta, RedTonePress, BarbEQ
Other Pedals: TS808HW
Amp: Emery Sound Microbaby
Music: http://fallowdeerfawn.bandcamp.com/
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Re: Barb E.Q. pedal?

Postby bigal » Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:35 pm

I love my Barb EQ but already have one and know it'll last forever so I don't care if you make any more ;)

As far as pedal size, the GC is phenomenal but going any smaller is crazy. In my experience, those super-mini pedals are terrible to use in a live situation. Keep focusing on producing new tones and tools and leave the pedal anorexia to other builders.
Tone Press, Gain Changer, Barb EQ[/color], VFE Alpha Dog
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Guitars: American Standard Telecaster (Dimarzio Area T Hot/Area T Neck), Richmond Belmont, Godin LG Signature, PRS SE Soapbar II
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Re: Barb E.Q. pedal?

Postby MullyFX » Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:41 am

bigal wrote:I love my Barb EQ but already have one and know it'll last forever so I don't care if you make any more ;)

As far as pedal size, the GC is phenomenal but going any smaller is crazy. In my experience, those super-mini pedals are terrible to use in a live situation. Keep focusing on producing new tones and tools and leave the pedal anorexia to other builders.


agreed

smaller than the GC/NDD is simply crazy....
Guitar: Gibson The Paul, Taranaki Proto #2
Pickups: David Barfuss P33F
Barber Pedals: Trifecta, RedTonePress, BarbEQ
Other Pedals: TS808HW
Amp: Emery Sound Microbaby
Music: http://fallowdeerfawn.bandcamp.com/
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Re: Barb E.Q. pedal?

Postby Seance » Mon Apr 01, 2013 10:20 am

David Barber wrote:The Barb EQ is great at what is does, and customers have always been happy with it. The BIG "BUT" is, they don't sell very well and we are out of PCB and pretty low on enclosures. I have to ask myself is it worth investing in hundreds more PCBs (profit comes from price breaks) and the same basic question with enclosures. The rest of the parts are somewhat easy to stock. I don't like the idea of taking 3 years to make a profit on parts I buy this year. I truly love the product, but it has to make business sense. I have the same problem with the Launch Pad and Linden. The fashion police have really had their day by recruiting legions of myrmidon like parable-repeaters who demand what a few and often non-player forum bosses claim are must-have features. In most cases all pedals now need to be clearly narrower than the human foot, there is still debate about jack placement (forget quality audio design). I look at the VERY fashionable pedals on pedalboards and I see lots of open space without much room for actual audio electronics, too much pandering to the clueless. I wish I could laugh at the boards with endless 1.5" wide pedals, usually with at least 2" on each side of each pedal so that the "player" does not accidentally hit two switches at once. Maybe the goal is the environment? And we are preserving "open space"? :D

I guess I can ramble too! But, I know I will need to make some awful decisions about making 1.5" wide pedals in the future. I like them fine for a simple wobbly clean-boost or buffer for the ends of the board, but beyond that it's a quixotic exercise to bow to fashion...guitar was about being individual, these days I have milk in my fridge that's less homogenized. :D


I can understand the business sense of not wanting to invest in making a batch of pedals that won't recoup their cost for three years due to a relatively low turnover, even if those pedals are well made and do exactly what they are designed to do, and do it well.

As for the myrmidon like legions of internet buyers (or internet gear-talkers), that phenomenon is one of the drawbacks of the internet as a market-driver. Access is good, but the negative side-effect of access to information and the opinions of others is that sometimes people get swept up into fads and orthodoxies without testing things out for themselves. With the glut of information out there it has dissuaded a lot of people from taking the time to test things out and hear with their own ears, so they fall back on aggregators to tell them what to look at or buy. So the "openness" of the internet model has given these aggregators power over both consumer and manufacturers by insisting that they are the only way to turn that connection into a cash transaction.

As a non sequitur, I love the word "myrmidon", and especially love the compilation "Myrmidons of Melodrama" by the Shangri-Las.

As for pedal sizes, widths, and the human foot, I might be an anomaly, but I prefer your larger-sized pedals. I'm holding out from purchasing a Compact Direct Drive because I'd rather have the full-size one (the same size as my Dual UnLimiTeD) whenever that comes out. I see no drawback in having a pedal that is actually easily usable, as opposed to supremely compact, yet hard to use while playing guitar (that is, after all, why I would need the pedal).

And jack location seems to be one of those pet-peeves for those that aren't fully aware of the logistics of designing a pedal to contain all of the other things that players demand.
Godin Session, Ibanez Artcore AFS75T, Seagull S6 —> EJ Fuzz Face —> ProCo 1993 Vintage RI Rat, Barber Dual UnLimiTeD, Barber Trifecta, Amdek PHK-100 Phaser, Boss FRV-1, Ibanez DDL10 Delay II, Boss RC-3 —> Lab Series L7, Marshall MB30.
Sounds: http://www.soundcloud.com/caesarshift
"Cluster" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8X1N3761Fg
"A Work In Progress" http://vimeo.com/13174563
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Re: Barb E.Q. pedal?

Postby hamerman » Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:29 am

I love my Barb EQ, just for what it was designed. I have a transitional blackface Princeton with just a tone knob, so it works perfectly there. I recently bought an EHX 44 Magnum as a practice amp and back up. The Barb EQ works great as a preamp for that. You need something in front of it as it is pretty dry without the Barb EQ or Giggity in front of it.

Regarding the pedal trends, the really narrow box pedals work if they only have a single knob, like the Xotic EP-Boost, but otherwise are of limited utility. I've bought several of the Mooers, but mainly because they do things that exiting pedals don't, or for very special set and forget uses. The Rumble Drive clones an essentially unobtainable pedal. The ElecLady clones a pedal that is truly too big for what it does. The Blues Mood is the only BD-2 alternative out there, and is a set and forget pedal for one of my rigs. None of these pedals sound as good or are as durable as anything you make. Both my co-guitarist and I have the same problem - they are too small to be of use unless you practically glue them to your pedal board. I very much like the Gain Changer and the Compact Direct Drive, having just purchased both, however that is the limit for me in terms of size. I'd rather have the unique Barber sound. I do think that leaving out the battery compartment is a good thing, as I never use them except in old school fuzzes like the Bender and Fuzz Face clones where it actually matters. I suspect the standard Barber pedal case is a set industry size (like the regular Direct Drive) so could the battery compartment be used for more knobs and a larger PC board. Instead of putting the new GC and DD in a larger box as has been suggested, would it be possible to sort of merge the Barb EQ and one of these drives? A DD with a three band EQ and mids switch might be hot.

Of course the only problem with more tweakable options is that one loses some of the careful tuning and instant gratification that comes from one of your pedals. I remember when I received the DD LG, plugged it in, and noted how perfect it was tuned. But pedal enthusiasts like tweaking.

I do want to thank you and Ronni for the great pedals over the years. I have all the drive pedals except the LTD Black. I had one for years, and just never bonded with it. The LTD Silver and SR do just fine for me in that family. Everyone that tries one of my Barbers says the same thing. There is a clarity there that other pedals don't get. The pedals are all built to last. They work well with a wide variety of gear. I just don't see why more people, pros in particular, don't use them. The only reason I can think of is fashion. It is cooler to have an unobtainable pedal like a Klon than an LTD, apparently, yet several head-to-head comparisons have said they basically do the same sort of thing. Having never played a Klon, I can't say, but the SR seems to do what people look for in a Klon.

Anyway, keep up the good work. I'm always interested when a new Barber pedal comes out. Thanks so much for making my sound.
Fender Strat Plus with Lindy Fralin and Duncan JB pickups, Hamer Special and Special FM; Egnater Tweaker, Blackface Fender Princetons and Bassman; Barber Dual UnLimiTed; DD w/mod board, LTD Silver and SR, Dual Direct Drive, Small Fry, Dirty Bomb, Tone Press, CDD and GC; MXR Phasers and Flanger; Strymon El Capistan Delay, Corona Chorus, Vortex Flanger, Strymon Lex.
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Re: Barb E.Q. pedal?

Postby mjcyates » Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:23 pm

Thanks so much for making my sound.


Same here!
Musicman Silhouette, Reverend Warhawk, Fender Telecaster ('78), Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with Texas Heat, Blackheart Little Giant combo
Barber Tone Press, Barber Direct Drive, Barber Dirty Bomb, Barber LTD v1, Barber Barb EQ, Barber Tone Pump EQ, Garagetone Drivetrain, Nova Repeater, Ernie Ball Vp Jr., Korg Pitchblack
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