Extensive compressor reviews and FAQ

Barber Electronics Tone Press: I first wrote about this pedal in 2006, it was one of my earliest reviews. Now it's 2009 and I bought another Barber to see if my opinion would change at all, considering that I've learned much more about compressor use over the last few years. Interestingly, my opinion now is almost the same.
 
This pedal is designed for transparent tone and added sustain, and it achieves both of those very well. It also features a blend knob for blending the compressed signal with the original uncompressed input. With the blend knob all the way to the left, the pedal acts as a clean boost. The ratio is fixed at a fairly high amount, I'm going to guess about 10:1. The threshold is also fixed; the Sustain knob controls the amount your signal is boosted up past the threshold. There is also an internal trim pot labeled "color" which allows you to change the flavor of the tone from bright and crisp to darker and warmer.
 
Because the ratio is so high and the attack is fast, this pedal is very good at controlling big signal spikes, and will even work for slappers. The down side is that the gain stages of the effect are not very quiet, and they also amplify your existing signal's noise floor quite a bit, so as your note decays and the compression releases, the noise floor swells up dramatically. This can be minimized by keeping the Sustain knob at a low setting, around 9:00 to 10:00, where it won't be silent but also not any worse than most other pedals. Those low settings will also provide the most unobtrusive, natural compression. You can achieve a tremendous amount of sustain by turning the Sustain knob up, but that comes with a tremendous amount of noise on the note decay. It's based on the same basic circuit and VCA chip as the Ross/Dyna/Keeley types.
 
There is no loss of highs; the lows are very much like the Ross/Dyna clones and the Diamond CPR1, in that they are good enough for a 4-string bassist but not a low B. You can bring some of the lows back in by using the Blend knob, and that sounds decent even with a low B, but the lowest frequencies will never be completely full sounding. The overall EQ shape is flat and the tone is quite transparent and articulate. Turning the "Color" trim pot to the left seems to roll off the highs and boost the mids a bit.
 
In short, the tone and action of this pedal are brilliant, and will suit a wide range of users, but you will have to decide if you can work with the noise floor. The footswitch is true bypass, and the construction quality is quite good.
 

 
 
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