Barber Electronics forum.

I'm new here, and I hope I can get some advice.

I have a Tone Pump (the black one with yellow lettering), and I absolute love the sound of this pedal. I've used many distortions, overdrives, fuzzes and boosts over the years, and this thing suits my sound and tastes better than anything.

The only issue I have is the physical layout of the pedal. My band is a three-piece and since I have to sing and play solos (and admittedly, I'm not the most graceful human on earth), it really helps if I can blindly stomp in the general vicinity of my pedalboard where my main solo pedal resides (with the TP, it's pretty much front and center). With my big feet, I'm bad to accidentally kick in the "pump" switch (the one on the right), which of course does nothing without the first one engaged. I like the "pump" feature, but don't have to have it.

So my question is: is there another single-switch Barber pedal that delivers basically the same sound as the first switch (the one on the left) of the Tone Pump?

I've tried everything from using a separate loop pedal to bring the TP in and out of the signal chain to taping a plastic tube over the second switch to keep me from stomping it instead of the first one. The first option takes up too much pedalboard real estate, while the second is no less awkward.

Thanks in advance for any input ...

Hello Tim.

While I cannot answer your question about a single switch Barber pedal of equivalent sound as the Tone Pump, I did have a relatively cheap option you might try.

What about taking a wrench and removing the nut holding the channel switch in place.
Then just sit the channel switch down inside the pedal enclosure - so that it can't be activated.
You could remove the back panel to help you situate the channel switch appropriately inside the enclosure and out of your foot's way.

If you don't get an answer to your question, you might consider giving this a try.


Good luck,
~GuitarMD~

What settings do you use on your Tone Pump?

To answer David's question:

volume at 3 o'clock (or full-on as the set progresses)
tone between 12 and 1 o'clock
pump around 2-3 o'clock
bass about 1 o'clock

I absolutely love the sound I get from this with a strat through a Carr Hammerhead ... I've tried dozens of boost/overdrive/distortion/fuzz boxes, but this is my favorite. (Okay, so that read like some serious ass-kissing ... but it's true.)