Anyone using the Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop?

[GreenGiant]

If so, how do you use it? What’s your setup?

[marcwhy]

I use the Modele B when I gig with my little solid state rig - warms it up nicely! [My regular rig is tube!]

[lesyeuxnoirs]

Yes - it’s a wonderful pedal. The only pedal I own

with a bit of gain and a lot of sag, it can:

1) nicely warm up a Henriksen or similar

2) add a tweed flavour to a Princeton or similar (think RVG sounds)

[jim777]

SOunds like the name of a 60's band out of San Francisco

[omphalopsychos]

Yep. I’ve been a big advocate of it on this forum. I originally bought one in like 2017 or something just because I had tried some other pedals from Fairfield and really liked them. It absolutely blew me away. Everyone talks about OD pedals that don’t color your tone, but to my ears every pedal that people describe that way DOES color your tone (e.g. JHS Morning Glory, J Rockett Blue Note). The Timmy pedal doesn’t color your tone much, but its OD sounds horrible.

Anyway, when I got one, I couldn’t believe my ears. It sounded exactly like turning up the gain on the amp. You can get a cooking Kenny Burrell sound just by turning up the gain. The sag control is really nice too: it lets you lower the voltage of the pedal, which changes the gain characteristic and compression.

The Barbershop uses JFETs to emulate the behavior of vacuum tubes. JFETs are ideal for this because their response to input signals is nonlinear, similar to how tubes behave when pushed. This gives the Barbershop its natural dynamics and harmonic richness, which makes it feel and sound more like an actual tube amp.

The sag control interacts with the JFETs by adjusting the pedal’s internal voltage. When you lower the voltage, it simulates the kind of “starved plate” effect you’d find in a tube amp running at lower voltages, which introduces softer clipping and compression. It’s perfect for getting that spongy, responsive feel that’s often missing in solid-state setups.
So for jazz, I use it with a solid-state amp to produce a more tube-like character. This works really well with amps like Henriksen, which are designed to be very clean and neutral in their response.

Here's my rig right now for nights when i play funk and jazz back to back.

[CharlesR]

Mine is always on, volumen 10 o'clock , sag fully cw and drive at 2 o'clock. This with tele or strat into a black face amp. With humbucker loaded archtop or semi, volume 12-13, sag 8-10 and drive 12-13. Tone in the middle position.

Superb dynamics, cleanup really well with the volumen knob or hand pressure and don't shave your bass. Adds a some air, definition and sparkle to the treble range.

I use a Vemuram Jan Ray after it for more than off-clean tones, and the Barbershop is a top pusher, making the Jan Ray sound better than it already does.

[marcwhy]

Mine is always on, volumen 10 o'clock , sag fully cw and drive at 2 o'clock. This with tele or strat into a black face amp. With humbucker loaded archtop or semi, volume 12-13, sag 8-10 and drive 12-13. Tone in the middle position.

.

Cool - thanks for sharing your settings! Always fun/interesting!

With the Sag turned totally clockwise, it means "less sag" (more voltage), whereas @Omph probably has his turned more CCW for "more sag" (less voltage), which is more "tube like." [a bit confusing!]

[omphalopsychos]

Yes exactly. But it all depends on what voltage you’re supplying to the pedal. I usually run it at 18v, sag at 3 o clock (sometimes noon or lower). Running it at 18v just ensures I can clean up if I need to and the sag just lets me drop it down to where the sweet spot is for my signal. I usually have drive at noon and then vol wherever I need it to be.

The other thing I wanted to say was when I combine it with other drive pedals, I put the barbershop at the END of the gain stack. This is because the barbershop is so amp-like. When you click a klon or tube screamer or Jan Ray (love that pedal) on, it pushes the front end of the barbershop and you get more of that saturated amp feel and grit. Maybe worth trying if you current have it before other gain pedals.

[CharlesR]

Cool - thanks for sharing your settings! Always fun/interesting!

With the Sag turned totally clockwise, it means "less sag" (more voltage), whereas @Omph probably has his turned more CCW for "more sag" (less voltage), which is more "tube like." [a bit confusing!]

The Barbershop is very tube amp-like no matter where you set the sag knob, just different ways to react to your playing. Fully CCW to 9-10 o'clock if you hit the strings hard, you get that running out of juice feel and sound from tweed era amps. Past noon to fully CW, the behavior is clearer and cleaner (although at fully CW is where you get the more distortion tone).

I like more voltage with single coils, and less with humbuckers.

As Juan said, all of that depends on the voltage you're supplying to the pedal. I tried 9, 12, 15 and 18. Really like 9 with singles and 15 or 18 with humbuckers.

[CharlesR]

The other thing I wanted to say was when I combine it with other drive pedals, I put the barbershop at the END of the gain stack. This is because the barbershop is so amp-like. When you click a klon or tube screamer or Jan Ray (love that pedal) on, it pushes the front end of the barbershop and you get more of that saturated amp feel and grit. Maybe worth trying if you current have it before other gain pedals.

I like the Jan Ray first with the volumen up and gain no more than 9 o'clock. But really love it with the gain at 11 and the sat trimpot fully CCW after the Barbershop and ride the volumen knob on the guitar. Agree with you about the Klon before the Barbershop (and before the JR too), great combination.

The Jan Ray and the Barbershop are wondeful pedals.

[jads57]

Interesting pedal for sure. I’ve used a Luxury Drive T.C.Jauernig and or an Xotic Sweet Boost as an always on pedal to warm up my various Quilter amps.
Always fun trying to find the magic boost pedal!

[Herbie]

Barbershop is very special pedal indeed. I built first a clone (very simple) to my rock pedal board and then found an used real one. It sounded as good as the clone. After couple years of honeymoon I sold the real one in a need for money and stuffed the DIY version in a smaller enclosure a la Modele B.

But in the end I found the overdrive sound a bit too grainy for me. And sold the DIY version too.

Maybe I should try it sometime again…

[jads57]

Interesting after listening to a bunch of videos, it sounds a bit distorted even at low settings. Perfect for that Rolling Stones guitar tone. Does it sound any cleaner at lowest gain setting?

I certainly like the idea of the pedal, especially for solid state amps.

[omphalopsychos]

You're right there aren't great demos of people playing jazz with it. Most of the rock demos are pushing an already boosted signal into it, but trust me you can clean it up and get the perfect tone where it sounds like it's just starting to cook. It even has an internal trim pot to control the base gain level, so I guarantee you can find your sweet spot. Amazing pedal.

[jads57]

Well they sure are popular! Made an offer on 3 different used ones,and all were sold at pretty high prices for used. I’ll definitely find one,just a matter of patience!

[mcneely11]

Has anyone compared the barbershop to the JHS morning glory? I’ve had a MG for a few months and while I’m not entirely unhappy with it I can’t quite get it to the mostly clean but slight grit and warmth area I’m looking for. When I turn it up enough to get the effect chords become too crunchy. Considering the barbershop instead but haven’t seen one in person

[omphalopsychos]

I have. Night and day. Morning glory is one of the most overhyped and underwhelming pedals I've tried.

[jads57]

Well in fairness, there are a lot of variables in play. And everyone has their own expectations from these pedals.

I really like the Morning Glory I had awhile back, and kind of wish I still had it. I just last week bought the Barbershop pedal and need to gig with it to see how it fully works for me.
So far I do really see how it could be a great pedal for certain tones,as well as an always on pedal.

I do really like the Xotic Sweet Boost as well as the T.C.Luxury Drive pedal set to minimum at the end of my pedals. Or even just alone straight into my Quilter Amps. Definitely riches the Clean Tone!

[JSanta]

Thanks for all of the recommendations! I was looking for something to emulate a bit of the electric Django tone with my Stimer going into an AER (easier for gigs with a DI) and I'm hoping this pedal will help warm up the tone a bit.