# Fairfield Barbershop Overdrive Pedal



## voxworld (Feb 9, 2006)

I am a very fortunate and grateful winner of a Barbershop Overdrive on the Christmas Giveaway and received the pedal about a week ago.
I wanted to spend some time with it before making any comments.
This isn't your standard overdrive pedal, very unique.
My initial impression is that it is a little along the lines of a Zvex SHO except with the ability to fine tune substantially the perameters of the drive.
The Sag control is really effective and a great idea. It controls the voltage from the battery or adaptor. All controls are very interconnected giving a pretty wide range of tones.
I`ve used it with my AC15CC, Pro Jr, Stangray, and VVT Lindy Fralin, and I was able to dial in an excellent boosted tone with all of them. 
My favorite combo at the moment is the VVT with the Barbershop.
This is what I'll be taking into the studio with me next week for sure.
I am not a high gain player and all I really want out of an overdrive pedal is more of my amp.
This pedal is giving me this in spades.
No blowing smoke here whatsoever, this pedal is perfect for the style of playing I do. I`ve been through a whole bunch of stuff but kept going back to an old Rat pedal, which I love, but a little begrudgingly, close but not quite there.
Only time will tell if the Barbershop is the be all end all for me, but at this point it's honestly perfect.
I`ll post more thoughts after I get to spend more indepth time with this.
And a great big Thankyou to Guilleame for pulling my name out of the hat.
He`s definitely on to something here, this is not a clone of anything out there I`ve ever come across.
Roots players looking for aggressive punch need to try one of these pedals.


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## LowWatt (Jun 27, 2007)

Thanks for the thoughts. When you say "like a SHO" do you mean it gives your tone that sparkly sort of gritty treble that the SHO has?


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## voxworld (Feb 9, 2006)

Yes, it has that flavour to it, but that's where it ends. I do have a SHO and it sees very limited use, I was never really enamoured with it even though it does exactly what it's supposed to really well.
I find the Barbershop way more flexible. My first thought was that a tone control would be the only thing missing, but really, this pedal gives you more amp, more of what you already have going on, and the ability to change the grit and sag as well if desired. So I'm finding that if I'm real happy with what I have happening from a rythm comping tone, I can ramp it up with the Barbershop and keep everything I had before and more to dig in with for solos.


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## fairfield (Oct 12, 2008)

The way you describe the pedal follows very much the thought process I went through when finding the right way to interact with the circuit. The lack of a tone control gives a different perspective as to what to listen for in the pedal. It also simplifies the circuit, which helps to maintain frequency response, noise and of course, tone.



voxworld said:


> So I'm finding that if I'm real happy with what I have happening from a rythm comping tone, I can ramp it up with the Barbershop and keep everything I had before and more to dig in with for solos.


Do you mean that you achieve this with the controls at one setting or that you have to engage the pedal (change the setting) to get both rhythm and solo?

Thanks for the review Kevin. Glad you dig it.


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## voxworld (Feb 9, 2006)

At this point I'm thinking I'll use for a solo boost which is what I've used the Rat for, but I've been playing a lot with it engaged all the time.
I haven't had a gig since New Years so I'm gasping to get back out.


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