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My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal
- Thread starter el murdoque
- Start date
I so get that. I’m late to the dirt party myself. Took me a very long time to find dirt pedals that appealed to me. And in the end I haven’t found one I’d absolutely consider my be all end all. But I found a few that came very close and made a few discoveries along the way.
"Discoveries" (as in: stuff pedal users other than me already knew.
):- “Dirt” (harmonic enhancement) comes in 4 major flavors. Going from mildest to heaviest they are: boost, overdrive, distortion, and fuzz.
- Some pedals can do more than one type.
- There are archetypal sounds such as: Rat, Klon, Rangemaster, Tube Screamer, Fuzzface, ToneBender, etc.
- Each pedal has its own thing going although most are some variation of an archetype if they’re not a deliberate attempt to copy an archetype with varying defrees of success. (e.g. EHX SoulFood = Klon Centaur)
- The better (IMO) pedals demonstrate some degree of sensitivity to your touch dynamics. They clean up when played softly and growl when you push them.
- There's a lot of room for subtlety and personal taste in your choice of dirt.
Boost:
I like boost clean and uncolored as much as possible. Boosts I have and like:
- MXR Micro Amp
- TCESpark Mini
- Keeley Bassist (while it is a compressor, it also provides a huge amount of crystal clean boost if you just want to use it for that)
Any pedal with a strong enough output can act as an overdrive. But for pedals particularly marketed as ODs I like:
- Lounsberry Nigel - specifically designed to smack the front end of a tube amp hard. Works equally well with solid-state heads. Vaguely reminiscent of a cranked Ampeg V4B to my ears. Bit of a one trick pony. But it does that one trick particularly well. I think it's somewhat overpriced for what it is. But so are a lot of other pedals, so take my comment with a grain of salt.
- One Control Crimson Red - Like that 70s creamy floomy thing? This pedal does that. Nice!
- One Control Silver Peg - Intended to get you that SVT sound - and it does get you in the ballpark even if (IMO) nothing really sounds like an SVT except the real deal. But that's me. Either way, if a little more edge works for you, this is a good pedal to consider.
Not my cuppa. I don't like the timbre distortion provides. So I'll yield the floor to those out there who do like it, use it, and know far more than me about them to make suggestions for a good distortion box to look at.
Fuzz:
I'm even more late to the party when it comes to fuzz. Took me a long time to recover from the excesses of fuzz back in the psychedelic rock era. (Yeah. I'm that old.
) But I finally got better and started liking it again albeit in limited tastefully administered doses. So...fuzzes I do like:- Plan B Soviet Tank - a pretty awesome and versatile Italian boutique shop take on the legendary "bubble font" Russian fuzz. This is a very bass friendly fuzz. Works equally well for guitar if you're channeling Dave Gilmour's sound. Highly recommended.
- John K Ironside - this is a John K one-off I got from a fellow TB member. Unusual design that doesn't sound or work quite like any other fuzz I've ever tried. Has a weird spacial ability to move the fuzz effect forward or backwards in the mix somehow. I know I'm not describing it accurately. But it's the best I can come up with. This is one of the few pedals I own that I'd consider unique. I find myself alternating between it and the Soviet Tank because I can't decide which I like best. But since I own both I don't have to. Why own just one of anything when you can own two - for twice as much money, right?
These are utility infielder type pedals that also provide some degree of boost/OD/distortion/ and/or fuzz.
- Dry Bell Unit 67- my undisputed favorite "pedalboard in a box" pedal. Marketed primarily as a compressor, it packs an 1176 type compressor alonw with a 2-band EQ, boost, and a "Rangemaster-like" mid control in one small silver box. This thing is your compleat tone machine. There's a lot under the hood with this pedal. If it sounds interesting, you can get full details on it straight from the maker here and here because I'm not up for writing as long a screed as it would take me to type the full story. And it's worth reading IMO.
- Southampton Fifth Gear V2 - this pedal gets a lot of love at TB - and for good reason. It runs from a gentle overdrive up to just on the edge of fuzz. And with all stops in between. A very musical dirt box that stays more in the smooth and creamy camp rather than stray over to the hard edge. To me it comes across as something you get with a vintage all tube head. As in that butterscotch vibe. Another highly recommended choice AFAIC.
Hope this was somewhat helpful. Happy dirt hunting!
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I so get that. I’m late to the dirt party myself. Took me a very long time to find dirt pedals that appealed to me. And in the end I haven’t found one I’d absolutely consider my be all end all. But I found a few that came very close and made a few discoveries along the way.
"Discoveries" (as in: stuff pedal users other than me already knew.
Here's the ones I tried that I ended up keeping (so far) for various reasons.
- “Dirt” (harmonic enhancement) comes in 4 major flavors. Going from mildest to heaviest they are: boost, overdrive, distortion, and fuzz.
- Some pedals can do more than one type.
- There are archetypal sounds such as: Rat, Klon, Rangemaster, Tube Screamer, Fuzzface, ToneBender, etc.
- Each pedal has its own thing going although most are some variation of an archetype if they’re not a deliberate attempt to copy an archetype with varying defrees of success. (e.g. EHX SoulFood = Klon Centaur)
- The better (IMO) pedals demonstrate some degree of sensitivity to your touch dynamics. They clean up when played softly and growl when you push them.
- There's a lot of room for subtlety and personal taste in your choice of dirt.
Boost:
I like boost clean and uncolored as much as possible. Boosts I have and like:
Overdrive:
- MXR Micro Amp
- TCESpark Mini
- Keeley Bassist (while it is a compressor, it also provides a huge amount of crystal clean boost if you just want to use it for that)
Any pedal with a strong enough output can act as an overdrive. But for pedals particularly marketed as ODs I like:
Distortion:
- Lounsberry Nigel - specifically designed to smack the front end of a tube amp hard. Works equally well with solid-state heads. Vaguely reminiscent of a cranked Ampeg V4B to my ears. Bit of a one trick pony. But it does that one trick particularly well. I think it's somewhat overpriced for what it is. But so are a lot of other pedals, so take my comment with a grain of salt.
- One Control Crimson Red - Like that 70s creamy floomy thing? This pedal does that. Nice!
- One Control Silver Peg - Intended to get you that SVT sound - and it does get you in the ballpark even if (IMO) nothing really sounds like an SVT except the real deal. But that's me. Either way, if a little more edge works for you, this is a good pedal to consider.
Not my cuppa. I don't like the timbre distortion provides. So I'll yield the floor to those out there who do like it, use it, and know far more than me about them to make suggestions for a good distortion box to look at.
Fuzz:
I'm late to the party on fuzz. Took me a long time to recover from the excesses of fuzz back in the psychedelic rock era. (Yeah. I'm that old.
Do more than one thing pedals:
- Plan B Soviet Tank - a pretty awesome and versatile Italian boutique shop take on the legendary "bubble font" Russian fuzz. This is a very bass friendly fuzz. Works equally well for guitar if you're channeling Dave Gilmour's sound. Highly recommended.
- John K Ironside - this is a John K one-off I got from a fellow TB member. Unusual design that doesn't sound or work quite like any other fuzz I've ever tried. Has a weird spacial ability to move the fuzz effect forward or backwards in the mix somehow. I know I'm not describing it accurately. But it's the best I can come up with. This is one of the few pedals I own that I'd consider unique. I find myself alternating between it and the Soviet Tank because I can't decide which I like best. But since I own both I don't have to. Why own just one of anything when you can own two - for twice as much money, right?
These are utility infielder type pedals that also provide some degree of boost/OD/distortion/ and/or fuzz.
- Dry Bell Unit 67- my undisputed favorite "pedalboard in a box" pedal. Marketed primarily as a compressor, it packs an 1176 type compressor alonw with a 2-band EQ, boost, and a "Rangemaster-like" mid control in one small silver box. This thing is your compleat tone machine. There's a lot under the hood with this pedal. If it sounds interesting, you can get full details on it straight from the maker here and here because I'm not up for writing as long a screed as it would take me to type the full story. And it's worth reading IMO.
I have more stompboxes. But the above are the ones I found most useful whenever I'm sitting in the bass chair. And I think from the above it's pretty obvious my tastes tend to run more towards "old school" and early-70s vibes. So be sure to take that into consideration when reading the above. Because as I said earlier, a lot comes down to what you like rather than what is considered good. And there are a lot of really good pedals out their to suit anyone's tastes, even if they're not to my particular taste.
- Southampton Fifth Gear V2 - this pedal gets a lot of love at TB - and for good reason. It runs from a gentle overdrive up to just on the edge of fuzz. And with all stops in between. A very musical dirt box that stays more in the smooth and creamy camp rather than stray over to the hard edge. To me it comes across as something you get with a vintage all tube head. As in that butterscotch vibe. Another highly recommended choice AFAIC.
Hope this was somewhat helpful. Happy dirt hunting!
I thank you for this! And can relate to much of it. Am also big Crimson Red and One Control fan.
Do you think the Silver Peg would benefit from a gain knob rather than the virtually all-or-nothing toggle? Adding a knob vs. switch on the Blue 360 works great for me. You just have to give up space for the battery option.
I like the Silver Bee so much I don’t know that I’ll bother with the Silver Peg in any case. Bjorn was (is?) working on a full-on Silver Peg a-la SansAmp / Beta DLX for One Control. No sure where that project sits now.
I prefer to have variable rather than fixed options so I’d always vote for a knob over a toggle. But without knowing much about the underlying circuitry in the Silver Peg, maybe there’s a electronics issue behind why it is a switch rather than a gain knob?
I wouldn’t if it were me and I were in that position. If you identified something you like that provides a similar sound I can’t see any reason why you wouldn’t want to just stick with what you’ve already decided on.
I started breaking down the boxes for my pedals some time ago. They’re all stacked neatly and out of sight inside a small suitcase under the bed.
Also, the moment of truth is nigh.
It has been years since the Barbershop was recommended to me for the first time - and I guess that if I had a quarter each time it was brought up since that first time, I could have bought the pedal from that money.
I feel like this can only go two ways. Either I plug it in and it blows me away or I plug it in and go 'meh'.
Which way will it be? I guess you will be able to read that here in this very thread in about seven hours.
It has been years since the Barbershop was recommended to me for the first time - and I guess that if I had a quarter each time it was brought up since that first time, I could have bought the pedal from that money.
I feel like this can only go two ways. Either I plug it in and it blows me away or I plug it in and go 'meh'.
Which way will it be? I guess you will be able to read that here in this very thread in about seven hours.
Make sure you try the Barbershop at higher voltages before you make up your mind about it. It can take up to 18v.
Weird. The Pedal itself says 9V.
The manual says
Should I start on 18V and work my way down or should I start at 9V and work my way up?
I can't speak to what it sounds like at 18V, but I found the Barbershop at 9V to be too mushy and farty in a mix for my taste and it lost some low punch in the process. I don't recall talk back then of higher voltages being an option or I would have given it a shot- at 9V I definitely didn't gel with it on bass (thought it sounded decent on guitar)
As mentioned before, my setup differs a bit from the established standards. I mainly play a passive J style 6 string with flats that are well broken in with a bit more than a year of playtime.
My EQ settings are geared to favor the low spectrum with that bass, my Underground Accelerator preamp has the mids and lows dimed and the highs on 9/10.
Starting off with 18V, I could not get much of any dirt out of the Barbershop, except when I starved it rather drastically with the sag knob - I yielded the best results with 9V.
Trying to dial in a sound, I found that it's better to approach from the other side - instead of starting at noon or with a clean sound, I set the volume to unity and dimed both gain and sag, than worked my way back to where it felt good.
In short words: Had I, instead of starting this whole affair, simply bought a Barbershop, it would have become my OD and I would not have second guessed that choice.
Noodling around, I tried to emulate the sound I got from the Beta DLX, which I found with the gain maxed and the sag at about three o'clock. Switching back and forth between the pedals made me realize that I liked better how the Barbershop treated the lows, then remembered that the Beta DLX has that toggle switch where currently the bass boost was enabled - setting that back to flat made the pedals sound very similar, only the nature of the clipping differs. The Beta is a bit harsher in that regard, the fizzle is trimmed to a higher frequency - Where the Barbereshop's contribution of grind feels a bit more rounded off and organic.
I totally understand now why Fairfield Electronics offers the Barbershop in a smaller enclosure without foot switch, because I can see how one would like to have it running as an always on pedal. The dynamic range is insane. I'm still struggling with the fine tuning, because for my taste, I get too much sizzle on the lows and not enough harmonics when I pluck chords high up the neck, but the sag and drive knobs are quite interactive and I feel there is much to explore. With the gain dimed and slowly backing off on the sag, I felt that I passed the sweet spot without hitting it, so I reduced the gain a bit and went back up on the sag, starting over.
So far, all I can tell is that it's a great little pedal.
My EQ settings are geared to favor the low spectrum with that bass, my Underground Accelerator preamp has the mids and lows dimed and the highs on 9/10.
Starting off with 18V, I could not get much of any dirt out of the Barbershop, except when I starved it rather drastically with the sag knob - I yielded the best results with 9V.
Trying to dial in a sound, I found that it's better to approach from the other side - instead of starting at noon or with a clean sound, I set the volume to unity and dimed both gain and sag, than worked my way back to where it felt good.
In short words: Had I, instead of starting this whole affair, simply bought a Barbershop, it would have become my OD and I would not have second guessed that choice.
Noodling around, I tried to emulate the sound I got from the Beta DLX, which I found with the gain maxed and the sag at about three o'clock. Switching back and forth between the pedals made me realize that I liked better how the Barbershop treated the lows, then remembered that the Beta DLX has that toggle switch where currently the bass boost was enabled - setting that back to flat made the pedals sound very similar, only the nature of the clipping differs. The Beta is a bit harsher in that regard, the fizzle is trimmed to a higher frequency - Where the Barbereshop's contribution of grind feels a bit more rounded off and organic.
I totally understand now why Fairfield Electronics offers the Barbershop in a smaller enclosure without foot switch, because I can see how one would like to have it running as an always on pedal. The dynamic range is insane. I'm still struggling with the fine tuning, because for my taste, I get too much sizzle on the lows and not enough harmonics when I pluck chords high up the neck, but the sag and drive knobs are quite interactive and I feel there is much to explore. With the gain dimed and slowly backing off on the sag, I felt that I passed the sweet spot without hitting it, so I reduced the gain a bit and went back up on the sag, starting over.
So far, all I can tell is that it's a great little pedal.
Congrats!
It’s a great little pedal indeed.
If the Barbershop has any issue, IMO it can be due to too-hot inputs. Running it at higher voltage or with a comp / some kind of attenuation beforehand can sort that out.
It really does have something magical & rich going on, and it’s easy to set.
I just read the whole thread and I would definitely try to find an ssbs Mini if I were you!
I do not.
There's one on GC used right now for a decent price
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I have no idea what shipping would be to Germany though.
There's one on GC used right now for a decent price
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I have no idea what shipping would be to Germany though.
A word on the Barbershop.
First of all, looks:
I've seen the raw finish countless times, it gets boring.
Well .... As the new owner of a Fairfield pedal, I have to re-evaluate raw finishes.
There is
A) I want to call it the "I'm a hobbyist and I have no clue how to get graphics on top of a pedal, and I don't want to put on color because I'm not handy with a rattle can, I'll just Dymo the names of the knobs and stick them on at odd angles" finish
and there is
B) The "Let's try and aim for a minimalistic design approach and hope people will get it." finish.
All pedals in B) try to emulate what Fairfield does with such confidence, it's hard to put in words.
The pedal oozes quality. The texture of the knobs. The 'all over the place' lettering. The LED cover.
It's something that does not come across on a photo. It's stunning.
It would have been nice to have pedalboard friendly top mounted jacks, but it's still a fairly small pedal.
Tone controls:
You have multiple options to adjust your tone on the Barbershop. The little switch on the top can help you reign in the top end. The choices are Flat, Gentle Hi-Cut and Hi-Cut. I can tell you that the cut is happening in a frequency range that belongs to (fresh) roundwounds. My mellowed flats don't do the high end that would be cut, so the switch does effectively nothing for me.
The other tone controls are: Absent. Perfect. Why? The pedal sounds just right as is. You don't need to tweak tone if you're hearing just the right amount of - well everything.
I don't know if I'm imagining things, but it feels like the sound is a bit more focused, kept together, when I step on it and play in a manner that won't yet release the sizzle. I guess there is a little compression going on before breakup and the result is what I'm hearing - at least I hope that I'm not imagining it.
In my environment, it is nearly impossible to achieve a tone that's full on overdrive. Even with Sag and Drive dimed, there still is touch sensitivity going on and played softly, it's still clean-ish. I'm looking for a low gain overdrive so this is right up my alley.
The sizzle I get is, once again just right. It's not bright. It's not dark either. I'm very much looking forward to trying it out in a band setting because I do hope the sizzle will be very audible in a mix, being too dark to get lost in the cymbals and bright enough to separate from the low end mud and the guitar.
It still is not that easy to find a good balance where the low notes still have heft, but the high end is singing, because the high end gets a little less drive, but as I get more accustomed to the inner workings of the Barbershop, we're coming together more and more.
Where does that put me in my quest for the holy grail?
I think I can safely let go of everything except for the Beta DLX.
If a band situation has the Beta and the Barbershop sounding equally good, I think I'll put the velcro on the Beta because with the second gain stage I have added flexibility. In that case, the Barbershop would go on my small board to give the Particle Accelerator preamp a bit of grind when needed.
This feels like I'm on the last leg of the journey.
I've put out my feelers for a SS/BS Mini, placing ads in pedalboard groups, maybe someone wants to part with theirs. I still want to try that one, but I feel the general urge to acquire more pedals fading.
Having tried a few pedals and finding possible candidates, this was more or less the last spot on my board that has not been filled with what I deem best for my application.
The only pedal that's falling a bit short of my pedal snobism is the Vong filter pedal. Don't fret, though. I've already purchased a Broughton HPF/LPF pedal to go on there as soon as the Noble arrives. The Vong has the advantage of a built in DI, which should become redundant when I become the proud owner of a Noble.
Should the Noble not make the cut, I'll get a Sushi Box FX Finally to go in that place.
First of all, looks:
I've seen the raw finish countless times, it gets boring.
Well .... As the new owner of a Fairfield pedal, I have to re-evaluate raw finishes.
There is
A) I want to call it the "I'm a hobbyist and I have no clue how to get graphics on top of a pedal, and I don't want to put on color because I'm not handy with a rattle can, I'll just Dymo the names of the knobs and stick them on at odd angles" finish
and there is
B) The "Let's try and aim for a minimalistic design approach and hope people will get it." finish.
All pedals in B) try to emulate what Fairfield does with such confidence, it's hard to put in words.
The pedal oozes quality. The texture of the knobs. The 'all over the place' lettering. The LED cover.
It's something that does not come across on a photo. It's stunning.
It would have been nice to have pedalboard friendly top mounted jacks, but it's still a fairly small pedal.
Tone controls:
You have multiple options to adjust your tone on the Barbershop. The little switch on the top can help you reign in the top end. The choices are Flat, Gentle Hi-Cut and Hi-Cut. I can tell you that the cut is happening in a frequency range that belongs to (fresh) roundwounds. My mellowed flats don't do the high end that would be cut, so the switch does effectively nothing for me.
The other tone controls are: Absent. Perfect. Why? The pedal sounds just right as is. You don't need to tweak tone if you're hearing just the right amount of - well everything.
I don't know if I'm imagining things, but it feels like the sound is a bit more focused, kept together, when I step on it and play in a manner that won't yet release the sizzle. I guess there is a little compression going on before breakup and the result is what I'm hearing - at least I hope that I'm not imagining it.
In my environment, it is nearly impossible to achieve a tone that's full on overdrive. Even with Sag and Drive dimed, there still is touch sensitivity going on and played softly, it's still clean-ish. I'm looking for a low gain overdrive so this is right up my alley.
The sizzle I get is, once again just right. It's not bright. It's not dark either. I'm very much looking forward to trying it out in a band setting because I do hope the sizzle will be very audible in a mix, being too dark to get lost in the cymbals and bright enough to separate from the low end mud and the guitar.
It still is not that easy to find a good balance where the low notes still have heft, but the high end is singing, because the high end gets a little less drive, but as I get more accustomed to the inner workings of the Barbershop, we're coming together more and more.
Where does that put me in my quest for the holy grail?
I think I can safely let go of everything except for the Beta DLX.
If a band situation has the Beta and the Barbershop sounding equally good, I think I'll put the velcro on the Beta because with the second gain stage I have added flexibility. In that case, the Barbershop would go on my small board to give the Particle Accelerator preamp a bit of grind when needed.
This feels like I'm on the last leg of the journey.
I've put out my feelers for a SS/BS Mini, placing ads in pedalboard groups, maybe someone wants to part with theirs. I still want to try that one, but I feel the general urge to acquire more pedals fading.
Having tried a few pedals and finding possible candidates, this was more or less the last spot on my board that has not been filled with what I deem best for my application.
The only pedal that's falling a bit short of my pedal snobism is the Vong filter pedal. Don't fret, though. I've already purchased a Broughton HPF/LPF pedal to go on there as soon as the Noble arrives. The Vong has the advantage of a built in DI, which should become redundant when I become the proud owner of a Noble.
Should the Noble not make the cut, I'll get a Sushi Box FX Finally to go in that place.
Smart. It can also tick all the boxes, with more versatility and totally in its own way. If you want it to sound like the Barbershop, stick with the Barbershop. If you want something as great and unique, yet different then it’s worth a try.
Same with the BlackBerry. Any interest? I think the One Control edition would suit you better than the BJFe.
Wins huge marks from me too for its esthetics. Love the distinct LED look; non-blinding and looks like it sounds.
Depends on your attack. Even with old flats, for some styles the hi-cut does do something. It’s subtle, like everything with this pedal, which I greatly appreciate.
It does offer some subtle compression too, like most drive pedals, but doesn’t choke the lows & highs like most drive pedals. For those who like a mild comp. that can save an extra pedal though you may want a light comp before the Barbershop if otherwise peaking it out via very hot input signal.
Its sweetness seems is in the mids rather than hashing the highs. Obviously makes things bigger / better but not overtly, so it’s nice to have but not so imposing that it’s necessary… at least the way I set it which is for light effect. I dig it even at its minimum effect - Drive 0, Sag 10, switch in middle, yet if I leave it off or at home I’m unaffected in my sound or playing.
That may make it seem unnecessary, and I guess that’s true, which for me is ideal. Probably makes no sense to some, but for those on the long quest for the right light drive its Holy Grail talk. They may not prefer the Barbershop for their setup & style, but their criteria is almost certainly the same.
Oh gosh, I'm in love with how the Barbershop sits in the mix!
Yesterday gave me a chance to play it in a band setting. At first I was a little set back because I could hardly detect whether it was on or off because the effect was set so subtle. With both drive and sag at max and the tone switch in the middle however, I got a sweet warm grind that did not dissolve between the guitars and cymbals.
It's a friendly drive, not much of an aggressive sound, but that suits my current pedal board very well, if not to say perfectly.
I'm in the process of assembling another board for rock, one that goes in front of an amp instead of directly to FOH, and that one will call for a drive that can do a sound that is a bit more aggressive, but that will be taken care of by one of the other pedals that currently clog my shelves.
My feelers are still spread out to snag up the next SS/BS Mini and MBD-1 or -2 that come up for sale in EU,
but I have to admit that the Barbershop fulfills my current desires for a pedal that adds just a hint of touch sensitive dirt and I'm extremely happy in that regard.
Yesterday gave me a chance to play it in a band setting. At first I was a little set back because I could hardly detect whether it was on or off because the effect was set so subtle. With both drive and sag at max and the tone switch in the middle however, I got a sweet warm grind that did not dissolve between the guitars and cymbals.
It's a friendly drive, not much of an aggressive sound, but that suits my current pedal board very well, if not to say perfectly.
I'm in the process of assembling another board for rock, one that goes in front of an amp instead of directly to FOH, and that one will call for a drive that can do a sound that is a bit more aggressive, but that will be taken care of by one of the other pedals that currently clog my shelves.
My feelers are still spread out to snag up the next SS/BS Mini and MBD-1 or -2 that come up for sale in EU,
but I have to admit that the Barbershop fulfills my current desires for a pedal that adds just a hint of touch sensitive dirt and I'm extremely happy in that regard.
