Barber Tone Press, mini review

[ccoker]

just got it in and played with it some
using it in front of an already overdriven tube amp (Rivera R30 head/2x12 cab)

it's really, really sweet
I run the boost at about 3 and the blend about 10 and the sustain about 2

the blend function is genious

I can have instantly on tap liquid sustain and a tad more gain bump with it on.. and with the blend it's not "obviously" a compressor on..

I really dig it

you can of course run the blend down and use it as just a clean boost or blend up and as a nice full on compressor
the blend function is what I really like though

it sounds like my amp but with just a tad more gain for solos and the extra sustain sings.

very cool

 

[Deaj]

Yeah, the Tone Press is a great compressor! :AOK

 

[StompBoxBlues]

just got it in and played with it some
using it in front of an already overdriven tube amp (Rivera R30 head/2x12 cab)

it's really, really sweet
I run the boost at about 3 and the blend about 10 and the sustain about 2

the blend function is genious

I can have instantly on tap liquid sustain and a tad more gain bump with it on.. and with the blend it's not "obviously" a compressor on..

I really dig it

you can of course run the blend down and use it as just a clean boost or blend up and as a nice full on compressor
the blend function is what I really like though

it sounds like my amp but with just a tad more gain for solos and the extra sustain sings.

very cool

I'm just curious, could I ask what kind of music you play, and if you play in a band? If your observations are from alone playing or in a "mix" situation?

 

[ccoker]

rock.. orignal stuff....
not in a band at the moment

I ride the volume control a lot and usually dial in my lead tone and rolll the volume back for rhythm stuff, usually a tad bit of delay for solos and none for rhythm.. go for "brown" tones for rhythm, think early VH with a bit smoother topend (tone reference only) leads, singing sustainy stuff,

someone here mentioned a cross between VH and Santana as a tone reference.. that or VH and EJ with a Gilmour slant would be fairly accurate. obviously, those guys are in a different league

But, I have gigged a lot and know the difference between living room and gigging and how an amp works in those two different situtations

most of the time it's been in a trio format, bass, guitar and drums
sometimes with a keyboard player, but not in a long time...

in a trio, I don't really need a big volume boost or tone change to cut through the mix, I just like a bit more gain and a bit more sustain for solos. I do a lot of legato stuff..

I hated compressors before, well, it's been a long time since I even tried one... hated the squashed effect and the killing of all my dynamics

that's what intrigued me about this pedal, the abiltiy to get the slight bump for more gain and the ability to blend in a bit of the compressed signal.. it works as advertized

 

[rkeaton]

I have one, but have yet to really mess with the trim pot... right now I have it set all the way to the right, it's very "open" with pronounced highs and tight lows. It seems to scoop the mids and give my Orange a Fenderish quality... what will turning the trim pot to the left do?

 

[david henman]

My Tone Press is definitely not going anywhere! Excellent sound, build quality, and price. I agree that the blend knob is genius!

...amen to that! i also love that i still get tons of dynamics from pick attack and guitar volume control. the settings on mine are:

2:00 - 10:00 - 5:00

-dh

 

[hbentley]

how many of you guys leave your tone press on all the time? it is really noisy when stacked with drive/fuzz pedals? i have a jcm800 that i'm just trying to get more sustain out of while still preserving my pick attack.

 

[jellyroll]

The TP is indeed a fine compressor. I use it with my Ric 12 string with great success. Turning the internal trim left darkens the compressor side tone a bit an seems to exagerate the squishy factor just a hair. Since the Ric is such a bright guitar, I set my trim to about 11:00. Sounds great!

 

[mischultz]

There is a difference between a gain enhancing pedal being noisey and a pedal amplifying the noise that is present in your signal chain, especially guitar pickups and cables....I wish I could make it have a little brain that decided what to amplifiy...that would be cool!

I'm actually on my second TP now, just having traded a Diamond for it. They're very different animals tonally, but both are exceptionally quiet in operation. It's all the OD gain and the rest of your chain that you'll need to deal with (not you David, but the JCM fella) before you're going to worry about noise induced by the TP or Diamond.

Best,

Michael

 

[hbentley]

my rig is really pretty quiet and i'd like to keep it that way. i've been compressorless for a while because i don't like the squish or the noise. but all this fuss about the tone press has gotten me interested.

 

[Brett Valentine]

The Tone Press is my favorite "sustain" pedal. I keep mine set for mostly the uncompressed tone with the sustain set to almost max. With the level set to unity, yu don't really notice it is on except for the fact that the tail end of the note lasts and lasts. The headroom does shrink just a bit, but you still have great string dynamics. I run it in front of an Orange Squeezer clone, and the combination of the two makes for some interesting sounds.

Brett

 

[Dom]

my rig is really pretty quiet and i'd like to keep it that way. i've been compressorless for a while because i don't like the squish or the noise. but all this fuss about the tone press has gotten me interested.

I used to hate compressors for exactly the same reasons, until I tried the TP. Get one, you won´t regret it.