Sliver -> Barber LTD SR

Route14

Well-known member
One of the first boards I bought from Pedal PCB was the "Sliver" because I was a huge fan of Barber Electronics pedals. Particularity the LTD V2 and the LTD SR. I built the Sliver and was very underwhelmed. At first I thought something was wrong because there was little to no sweep in the Tone knob.

After a little internet research I found that the schematic the Sliver was based on was from a DIY project published by Barber himself. It was based on the LTD circuit but was not the same as the production models Barber sells.

I decided to revisit this project and compare it to my original LTD SR and see if I could tweak the Sliver to make it into an LTD SR. I think I came up with something extremely close and sounds much better than the Sliver project. Below are the changes you need to make. I plan to do the same with the LTD V1, V2 and Silver models as well.

R3 = 4.7k
R5 = 330r
R8 = 3k
R9 = 10k

C3 = 22n
C5 = 47n
C6 = 15n
C7 = 22n

IC = JRC 4580D

The original LTDs didn't have a MIDS trim pot and used a fixed resistor. If you want to use the resistor use 6.2k in place of the trim pot. Or tweak the trim pot to taste.

9 substitutions for a tremendously improved pedal! IMHO

Also note that the LTD SR is not as mid range focused as the V1, 2 and Silver. It's more open and transparent. (relatively speaking.) Back in the day it was a highly regarded low gain pedal.
 
One of the first boards I bought from Pedal PCB was the "Sliver" because I was a huge fan of Barber Electronics pedals. Particularity the LTD V2 and the LTD SR. I built the Sliver and was very underwhelmed. At first I thought something was wrong because there was little to no sweep in the Tone knob.

After a little internet research I found that the schematic the Sliver was based on was from a DIY project published by Barber himself. It was based on the LTD circuit but was not the same as the production models Barber sells.

I decided to revisit this project and compare it to my original LTD SR and see if I could tweak the Sliver to make it into an LTD SR. I think I came up with something extremely close and sounds much better than the Sliver project. Below are the changes you need to make. I plan to do the same with the LTD V1, V2 and Silver models as well.

R3 = 4.7k
R5 = 330r
R8 = 3k
R9 = 10k

C3 = 22n
C5 = 47n
C6 = 15n
C7 = 22n

IC = JRC 4580D

The original LTDs didn't have a MIDS trim pot and used a fixed resistor. If you want to use the resistor use 6.2k in place of the trim pot. Or tweak the trim pot to taste.

9 substitutions for a tremendously improved pedal! IMHO

Also note that the LTD SR is not as mid range focused as the V1, 2 and Silver. It's more open and transparent. (relatively speaking.) Back in the day it was a highly regarded low gain pedal.
I’ve been on a Barber revival.
Years ago I picked up an original ‘98 Tone Pump, then a Tone Pump EQ, later a Direct Drive LG

Recently I picked up a Divided By 13 JRT 9/13 and in an Instagram message exchange, Brett Pappa recommended trying an LTD SR with it,sending me back down the Barber rabbit hole. I picked up a 1/2 Gainer and an LTD V1. I still want the now pricy LTD SR though and have a couple of LTD Silver PCBs to experiment with.

Looks like you got close to getting it to SR specs. I’ll give your mods a go, but I was wondering if you had maybe figured out the exact SR specs since you posted. Sounded like you were going to mod your other LTDs to SR specs.

Cheers
 
One of the first boards I bought from Pedal PCB was the "Sliver" because I was a huge fan of Barber Electronics pedals. Particularity the LTD V2 and the LTD SR. I built the Sliver and was very underwhelmed. At first I thought something was wrong because there was little to no sweep in the Tone knob.

After a little internet research I found that the schematic the Sliver was based on was from a DIY project published by Barber himself. It was based on the LTD circuit but was not the same as the production models Barber sells.

I decided to revisit this project and compare it to my original LTD SR and see if I could tweak the Sliver to make it into an LTD SR. I think I came up with something extremely close and sounds much better than the Sliver project. Below are the changes you need to make. I plan to do the same with the LTD V1, V2 and Silver models as well.

R3 = 4.7k
R5 = 330r
R8 = 3k
R9 = 10k

C3 = 22n
C5 = 47n
C6 = 15n
C7 = 22n

IC = JRC 4580D

The original LTDs didn't have a MIDS trim pot and used a fixed resistor. If you want to use the resistor use 6.2k in place of the trim pot. Or tweak the trim pot to taste.

9 substitutions for a tremendously improved pedal! IMHO

Also note that the LTD SR is not as mid range focused as the V1, 2 and Silver. It's more open and transparent. (relatively speaking.) Back in the day it was a highly regarded low gain pedal.
You have no idea idea how timely this is. Was literally populating the the silver board when I saw this. Good thing I hadn’t soldered anything yet. Really looking forward to using your suggestions instead. Will definitely follow up when finished!
 
I’ve been on a Barber revival.
Years ago I picked up an original ‘98 Tone Pump, then a Tone Pump EQ, later a Direct Drive LG

Recently I picked up a Divided By 13 JRT 9/13 and in an Instagram message exchange, Brett Pappa recommended trying an LTD SR with it,sending me back down the Barber rabbit hole. I picked up a 1/2 Gainer and an LTD V1. I still want the now pricy LTD SR though and have a couple of LTD Silver PCBs to experiment with.

Looks like you got close to getting it to SR specs. I’ll give your mods a go, but I was wondering if you had maybe figured out the exact SR specs since you posted. Sounded like you were going to mod your other LTDs to SR specs.

Cheers
Based on what the Sliver PCB can accommodate I think this is as close as you can get. I have all the Barber LTDs and I've A/B'd this build with the original SR and they are extremely close, if not almost the same. As a disclaimer, I have no experience building circuits. I know only enough to be dangerous. But for me this is way better than the SLIVER build. I also did the same mods of the SLIVER board for the V1,2 and Silver models.

If I had to guess, all of the Barber dirt pedals are probably all based around the same circuit with the different models being circuit tweaks to the Gain and/or Mid range.
 
You have no idea idea how timely this is. Was literally populating the the silver board when I saw this. Good thing I hadn’t soldered anything yet. Really looking forward to using your suggestions instead. Will definitely follow up when finished!
Awesome! I really love the Direct Drives and LTDs from Barber but the version in the build docs left me underwhelmed. It wasn't "bad", just not as great as the production pedals. Probably why David gave this schematic away for free on his site.

These mods will get you something that sounds more like the LTD SR which is less mid range and a little more transparent. I do have the changes to get you something closer to the V1 or V2 if that is more to your liking.

Let me know what you think when you get it done. I'm curious to hear what others think.
 
These mods will get you something that sounds more like the LTD SR which is less mid range and a little more transparent. I do have the changes to get you something closer to the V1 or V2 if that is more to your liking.
I’d be interested to see these differences!

I can’t seem to find too much info on the differences between the LDT versions- V1, V2, Silver, SR…
Seems Silver is lower gain, and SR has internal trim pots?
It seems you’re saying that the schematic on the Barber site (which the PPCB Sliver and Madbean Silverfox are presumably based on) is different from any of the four circuits listed above?
 
I’d be interested to see these differences!

I can’t seem to find too much info on the differences between the LDT versions- V1, V2, Silver, SR…
Seems Silver is lower gain, and SR has internal trim pots?
It seems you’re saying that the schematic on the Barber site (which the PPCB Sliver and Madbean Silverfox are presumably based on) is different from any of the four circuits listed above?
They are all Low Gain pedals and they all have "Presence" and "Bass" Trim pots. NONE of the original models had a "Mids" trim pot. I believe they used a fixed resistor for these values. You can set your trim pot to the appropriate value or use a fixed resistor if you want. V1, 2 and the Silver are all very similar. Low gain, mid rangey pedals. The SR was a little bit of a departure and dumped the mid focused sound for something brighter and a little more transparent. To my ears, the SR is closer to a Timmy where the other versions are closer to a Tubescreamer. If that makes sense.

Here is a link to a google sheet I put together. Values highlighted in yellow are what is different from the PedalPCB build documentation. I'm sure this is also true for the Madbean Silverfox. The SLIVER schematic on the PedalPCB site was given to the DIY community way back in the Aughts. If you google "Barber Electronics Silver Schematic" you should easily find the old page on their site. Barber politely asked to not link to the page otherwise I would throw it in here. This version has little to no Tone control and was part of the reason I didn't like it.

Barber LTD Spreadsheet

I have NOT tested all of these. I built a pedal with all the changed values socketed but haven't gotten around to trying out all the configurations. I'm happy to do that and report back for anyone curious that doesn't want to commit to these changes. I did try the LTD SR and liked it very much.

I have all of these original pedals and basically looked at them to compare what was different. There were a few areas where I was guessing a little but most of them were all super close to the SLIVER layout.
 
One of the first boards I bought from Pedal PCB was the "Sliver" because I was a huge fan of Barber Electronics pedals. Particularity the LTD V2 and the LTD SR. I built the Sliver and was very underwhelmed. At first I thought something was wrong because there was little to no sweep in the Tone knob.

After a little internet research I found that the schematic the Sliver was based on was from a DIY project published by Barber himself. It was based on the LTD circuit but was not the same as the production models Barber sells.

I decided to revisit this project and compare it to my original LTD SR and see if I could tweak the Sliver to make it into an LTD SR. I think I came up with something extremely close and sounds much better than the Sliver project. Below are the changes you need to make. I plan to do the same with the LTD V1, V2 and Silver models as well.

R3 = 4.7k
R5 = 330r
R8 = 3k
R9 = 10k

C3 = 22n
C5 = 47n
C6 = 15n
C7 = 22n

IC = JRC 4580D

The original LTDs didn't have a MIDS trim pot and used a fixed resistor. If you want to use the resistor use 6.2k in place of the trim pot. Or tweak the trim pot to taste.

9 substitutions for a tremendously improved pedal! IMHO

Also note that the LTD SR is not as mid range focused as the V1, 2 and Silver. It's more open and transparent. (relatively speaking.) Back in the day it was a highly regarded low gain pedal.
Forgive this novice, but if I want to use the 6.2k Resistor instead of the Mids trim pot, since the trim pot has 3 legs, which 2 of the 3 holes am I populating the resister? Thanks!
 
I got my 1st LTD board together. I went with the LTD SR suggestion from the chart. Socketed some of the components and had to combine some restistors to get some of the values. Some of my caps were just a little large, so it might look a little wacky too

Here’s the new board and the “Barber Lab”
 

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Forgive this novice, but if I want to use the 6.2k Resistor instead of the Mids trim pot, since the trim pot has 3 legs, which 2 of the 3 holes am I populating the resister? Thanks!
That's a good question. I think just 1 and 2 but it might need to be jumpered to 3 too. I've always used the trimmer and just set it to where it sounds close. Maybe someone with more knowledge can chime in?
 
Awesome! Thanks. Still debating if I want to go with the trimmer or the fixed resistor 🤔
Maybe set and mark off the settings on the trimmer before installing? That way you can tweak it but also have the stock setting readily available. Personally I think the trimmer is fine and gives you that tiny bit more flexibility with your rig.
 
Maybe set and mark off the settings on the trimmer before installing? That way you can tweak it but also have the stock setting readily available. Personally I think the trimmer is fine and gives you that tiny bit more flexibility with your rig.
Great idea
 
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