MichaelW
Well-known member
- Build Rating
I had mentioned in the Mailbox thread that this was a board that I had requested from @Robert and he made it happen ,woot!
I've had a V1 Barber Direct Drive forever (well at least 20 years or so).
Still is one of my favorite overdrives.
The Compact version that is the Candid Drive is slightly different as it follows Barber's small form factor enclosure, has an added gain stage and the "harmonics" control is on a toggle as opposed to the Push/Pull pot of my V1.
It also sounds like Barber may have revoiced it a little bit, the single gain stage is a bit less gain-y and the added gain stage is MUCH gainier.
My original seems to have a more distinct mid hump but not in a TS808 way but more like a Marshall, which these pedals emulate.
So I would consider these MIAB's as Dave Barber intended. Lots of British style tones in here from JTM to JCM. It also sounds great as a low gain overdrive.
When I grabbed the knobs for this pedal I thought they were black. they looked black in the pink Tayda bag heh, but when I went to install them noticed they were actually brown. But I think it looks pretty cool on the black sand enclosure.
Also, my ever enabling "Chief Enabler" @szukalski turned me onto a pickup maker called "Q Pickups" out of Croatia.
Turns out they have a Reverb store and had a sale not too long ago so I picked up a set of their PAF's.
These might just be the most vintage accurate low wind PAF set I've ever played.
Very very nice. The neck pickup can be single coil-ish, but also throaty and flutey. The bridge pickup has all the bite and cut you'd expect it yet is still very musical clean. I'm pretty impressed. They're mid-priced pickups.
I also ordered a set of their T-Top replicas which are still making their way over here on the Balkan express.
Not much to look at. I ordered them with raw steel covers.
No markings to speak of. I wrote the "B" on the bridge pickup so as to not get confused, but I got confused anyway, heh. I installed the bridge pickup I just took out back in when I was swapping pickups. After some choice cursing, I got the right pickup in.
First part of the demo is just running the new pickups through the paces clean. WARNING: lots of clams in this video. I'm still not feeling great and my fingers feel like sausages today.
Second part is some knob twisting on the Candid Drive and comparison to my original V1 Barber Direct Drive.
I've had a V1 Barber Direct Drive forever (well at least 20 years or so).
Still is one of my favorite overdrives.
The Compact version that is the Candid Drive is slightly different as it follows Barber's small form factor enclosure, has an added gain stage and the "harmonics" control is on a toggle as opposed to the Push/Pull pot of my V1.
It also sounds like Barber may have revoiced it a little bit, the single gain stage is a bit less gain-y and the added gain stage is MUCH gainier.
My original seems to have a more distinct mid hump but not in a TS808 way but more like a Marshall, which these pedals emulate.
So I would consider these MIAB's as Dave Barber intended. Lots of British style tones in here from JTM to JCM. It also sounds great as a low gain overdrive.
When I grabbed the knobs for this pedal I thought they were black. they looked black in the pink Tayda bag heh, but when I went to install them noticed they were actually brown. But I think it looks pretty cool on the black sand enclosure.
Also, my ever enabling "Chief Enabler" @szukalski turned me onto a pickup maker called "Q Pickups" out of Croatia.
Turns out they have a Reverb store and had a sale not too long ago so I picked up a set of their PAF's.
These might just be the most vintage accurate low wind PAF set I've ever played.
Very very nice. The neck pickup can be single coil-ish, but also throaty and flutey. The bridge pickup has all the bite and cut you'd expect it yet is still very musical clean. I'm pretty impressed. They're mid-priced pickups.
I also ordered a set of their T-Top replicas which are still making their way over here on the Balkan express.
Not much to look at. I ordered them with raw steel covers.
No markings to speak of. I wrote the "B" on the bridge pickup so as to not get confused, but I got confused anyway, heh. I installed the bridge pickup I just took out back in when I was swapping pickups. After some choice cursing, I got the right pickup in.
First part of the demo is just running the new pickups through the paces clean. WARNING: lots of clams in this video. I'm still not feeling great and my fingers feel like sausages today.
Second part is some knob twisting on the Candid Drive and comparison to my original V1 Barber Direct Drive.
