Seems to happen with Sag left of center. Right now I have it Sag about 11:00, Drive about 1:00, Volume noon.
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Fairfield Circuitry - THE CLUB
- Thread starter liveburning274
- Start date
Hmm...that's almost exactly how I keep mine. Is the weird peaking intermittently happening? I would maybe shoot Fairfield an email. I don't have any experience with V.2 but I did read that the sweep of the gain knob had been widened a bit. Does it matter if you flip the switch to a certain setting?
The switch doesn't seem to affect the character of the gain; it is a high end roll off. I may just need to back off the Sag to get the sound I want (it's just that it seems like the Sag is where a lot of the magic happens). I'll take your advice and email Fairfield. Thanks!
Would be interesting to hear what you are describing!
Have you got clips of this happening, you could post?
I don't have a very good recording set up right now, but I found this youtube video that has some similar sounds (second half of video). So perhaps it's my settings or maybe my other gear--a lot of experienced users seem to like this pedal for low gain/tube-simulation, so I assume there's something they've figured out that I haven't yet...
I just received a Millennium Barbershop and I'm extremely impressed. I love the toggle switch, I find it to be an "old school" switch since I use cabinets with tweeters. I would venture to say it's a relay switching system away from being my ideal overdrive. Why do companies use 3PDT switches anymore?
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Agreed. I love relay switching. Mine (arrives Thursday) and is intended to be an always-on, low gain, only break up when I dig in kind of thing, in that regard, the switch doesn't matter, but that's a less likely scenario than most.
I watched the video. The high end rolloff is not something I get with the V2, nor did I ever get it with my v1 when I had it.
I don't have that issue with mine either. In the video it does sound like it to me though.
Anytime you're distorting a signal you can be expected to have some change in content. To my ears, there are very few, if any distortions that don't reduce top end content. The ones most people consider bright still reduce top end, and shift the emphasis to the upper midrange. The Barbershop, by all accounts, is about as transparent as you can get in terms of an OD, so while I do expect some reduction of true top end (ie not upper midrange), I also expect that it will be a vey minimal reduction that may prove beneficial in a mix.
i notice a tiny bit of high-end loss on the BS ME with the eq switch in the middle position, but I think that's a good thing, especially if you ever find yourself going direct out of your pedalboard to front of house. However, I have only tried it so far on P-basses with flats--you might have a different impression if you're slapping and tapping on a Stingray or Fodera or something. I would agree that the pedal is very transparent.
Other Likes:
1. The eq switch is actually pretty great. I like it better than a tone knob because, honestly, there aren't a lot of pedals that have more than three settings I would use on a tone knob and this hits the three you'd want--left=Motown, middle=Geezer, right=everything else.
2. Tried it directly into the effects return of my amp, bypassing the preamp section--sounded quite good.
3. It seems to stack well after high-gain pedals. I usually don't like stacking dirt pedals, but this actually sounds pretty great after a fuzz or a RAT.
Dislikes:
Still getting that kazoo sound that jumps out when I dig into the strings. I can raise the threshold by backing off the Sag and Gain, but hit the E string too hard enough and it's there. Maybe I need the Accountant to smooth out the peaks...
Other Likes:
1. The eq switch is actually pretty great. I like it better than a tone knob because, honestly, there aren't a lot of pedals that have more than three settings I would use on a tone knob and this hits the three you'd want--left=Motown, middle=Geezer, right=everything else.
2. Tried it directly into the effects return of my amp, bypassing the preamp section--sounded quite good.
3. It seems to stack well after high-gain pedals. I usually don't like stacking dirt pedals, but this actually sounds pretty great after a fuzz or a RAT.
Dislikes:
Still getting that kazoo sound that jumps out when I dig into the strings. I can raise the threshold by backing off the Sag and Gain, but hit the E string too hard enough and it's there. Maybe I need the Accountant to smooth out the peaks...
Now that you bring up compression, one of the reasons I love mine is because it plays so well with it. I also use a P with flats and always run comp before the BS.
I did own an Accountant for a short time and while I liked it by itself, it was just too much dirt for me when paired with the BS. Unless you like a very dirty tone, I'd recommend a "cleaner" compressor.
Still...the "kazoo" isn't really a sound I can say I can achieve with my V1 even with my comp off, so there's that.
Similar discussion in another thread. Some of the posters there referenced the "kazoo" sound as well (but I'm glad to hear not everyone finds it an issue).
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/bjfe-blueberry-vs-fairfield-barbershop.1112327/
On the topic of the Accountant, would you say it is similar to the BS in terms of transparency and feel, but with more compression, or is it really a different sound altogether?
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/bjfe-blueberry-vs-fairfield-barbershop.1112327/
On the topic of the Accountant, would you say it is similar to the BS in terms of transparency and feel, but with more compression, or is it really a different sound altogether?
Different sound(s) altogether. The Barbershop "compresses" like an amp in that there is some rolloff of certain frequencies along with the speaker cranker type effect of distortion. But it's not actually limiting according to a ratio. The Accountant actually compresses/limits/evens the signal. It can be transparent at its lightest settings, but it's still physically limiting the signal and has a sound/feel that is very different from the Barbershop.
I did not find the Accountant to be anything resembling transparent on even the lightest setting. That's not a bad thing, it just has TONS of character.
