Barber Electronics forum.

I hope this isn't a strange request, but how can I make my DD with Mod Board sound less airy? I don't have clips at the moment, but will get them recorded once the next few busy days are over.

In essence, my DD sounds too airy for me (for the lack of a better word) - the individual notes are indistinct, and it sounds like there's a blanket over the amp when I play it. I've tweaked all the trimpots and fiddled with the toggles, but to no avail. I run the DD in conjunction with my Custom Cool, Small Fry and Dirty Bomb on my main board now, and those 3 pedals sound a lot more "forward" and have better note clarity than my DD.

The DD is supposed to fill the "Marshall Drive" spot on my board, but it just isn't working out for me now.

Is this phenomenon characteristic of the DD, or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance

Well I have an early version Direct Drive, no internal trimmers, and I certainly don't have that problem. I have received many compliments over the years for the clarity in my tone and the Direct Drive is my main tone. I have not found anything that I like better.

CalebT wrote:I hope this isn't a strange request, but how can I make my DD with Mod Board sound less airy? I don't have clips at the moment, but will get them recorded once the next few busy days are over.

In essence, my DD sounds too airy for me (for the lack of a better word) - the individual notes are indistinct, and it sounds like there's a blanket over the amp when I play it. I've tweaked all the trimpots and fiddled with the toggles, but to no avail. I run the DD in conjunction with my Custom Cool, Small Fry and Dirty Bomb on my main board now, and those 3 pedals sound a lot more "forward" and have better note clarity than my DD.

The DD is supposed to fill the "Marshall Drive" spot on my board, but it just isn't working out for me now.

Is this phenomenon characteristic of the DD, or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance

Here is a link to the characteristic sound of the DD, when you get a chance, post your settings and a sound clip if you can.

http://barberelectronics.com/SShamer.mp3

Thanks Dave,

I just listened to the clips and tweaked the Direct Drive (and my amp) a little more, and finally managed to find a sweet spot. I think I'll get the 'Open air' mod done at some point though - the tone control is unusable below the 3 o'clock mark, and sounds to me like a half-cocked wah.

Perhaps I'm too using to running tone controls at noon - I tweaked all the trimpots with the gain at maximum and the tone control at noon.

The pedal really rocks with the tone maxed out though, pure Marshall crunch even with the drive at only noon or so!

That doesn't sound right. Mine's a fist full of wild cat. Tone matches amp well between 11:00-2:00 depending on the presence trim and harmonics trim to some degree. I see no major difference in function/sound from any pedal, ie Small fry etc. No blanket, with great articulation. Unless you set everything extreme, to accomplish this problem, there's got to be something wrong. Note shape? turn it off?

plan-x: Would you mind posting your settings?

Mine are currently as follows:
Note Shape - Completely Counter-clockwise
Harmonics - 1 o'clock
Switches - Lowest compression mode on, high gain on, fizz filter off
Mids - 1 o'clock
Bass - Completely Clockwise
Presence - Noon

I tried a friend's B-Custom Super Sport today and still managed to get pretty good articulation below 12 o'clock. Are there any differences between my DD with the Mod Board and the SS apart from the dip-switches and fizz filter trimpot? A different voicing perhaps?

Those settings sound good. Voicing is the same. Should sound just like the DDSS. Cable? Input/output jacks clean? Wiggle interior components (lightly) to identify cold solder joint? Or...send it to Dave for a look over.

Ok, just for kicks I compared it to the Small fry under the criteria of indistinct notes, airy, & blanket over it. Yes, I could see possibly some of these comparisons. Airy was what I noticed the most. But I run mine really high gain for lead work. So I turned the gain back with pretty much the same result. I believe that would lead to the indistinct note thing. The small fry just stands out compared to the DD. I don't think the DD is billed as a Marshall in the box. It is what it is. As for the indistinct notes, well as compared to other pedal makers pedals, I believe it is quite good. OTOH, the Small fry is a very unique pedal. Stack it into the DD and the SF qualities come through. Also, if I were to turn up my mids a bit I think it would become more distinct. Yes the tone knob doesn't seem to do much in the lower range. As for matching my amp(s) drive tone, the DD is second to none. Blanket over something(amp?) I didn't notice that.
Ok, my settings as best I remember are:
Bass-2:00
Treble-2:00
Mid- 11:00
Presence- 12:00
Harmonics- 10:00
Note shape- 10:00
Gain- on
Asymmetry 1- off
Asymmetry 2- on (lowest comp)
Fizz- off

I would think to improve the airy/indistinct/tone dial thing would be to increase mids, harmonics, and possibly presence.

plan-x: Thanks a bunch! Looks like my DD is fine after all.

David/Ronni: Would either of you have any comments on this?

I was looking at the instructions for the 'Open Air' mod, and realised that the Mod Board's wires actually use up the 2 slots that the 0.47uf resistor is supposed to be soldered into.

My instinctive reaction now would be to crank the Presence knob, but Presence only seems to create a sense of 'space' as opposed to increasing the range of the external Tone knob?

Thanks!

CalebT wrote:plan-x: Thanks a bunch! Looks like my DD is fine after all.

David/Ronni: Would either of you have any comments on this?

I was looking at the instructions for the 'Open Air' mod, and realised that the Mod Board's wires actually use up the 2 slots that the 0.47uf resistor is supposed to be soldered into.

My instinctive reaction now would be to crank the Presence knob, but Presence only seems to create a sense of 'space' as opposed to increasing the range of the external Tone knob?

Thanks!

There is no provision for the open air mod, I consider it a defunct mod. Increase presence, and back off mids.