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?
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.
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.
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"?
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.
Thanks so much for making my sound.
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