Barber Barb Eq vs Wampler 65

**Jazz_175** · 10-12-2014, 03:45 PM

I have both pedals now and I tried them side by side in front of a JazzAmp 112 ER to get a "Fenderish" flavor from the amp.
For what is worth my review, I can say that ....I like both.
However they are a bit different.
First of all one should not forget that the Wampler is essentially an overdrive while the barb eq has
an equalizer function.
It seems to me that the Barb Eq in Blackface setting produces a smoother effect. The sound you get when the Barb Eq is engaged is closer to the original sound of the Henriksen amp, which you have when pedals are not engaged.
More impressions later (If I have any....)

**jorgemg1984** · 10-12-2014, 04:48 PM

Great! Looking forward to hear more

**IanD** · 10-13-2014, 03:13 AM

I have both the Wampler Black 65 and the Barb EQ. I bought the Wampler pedal some time ago to give a bit of a ‘blackface’ tone to my Evans RE200 (I know, the Evans is probably the most blackface of all the good solid state amps, but I wanted more!).

I recently also bought the Barb EQ based on Jorge’s enthusiasm for that pedal.

As Jorge mentioned in one post, the Barb EQ is best into a flat response amp. As versatile as the Evans is, I’m not sure there is a flat response to be found on that amp and so I’m not yet convinced the Barb EQ (or the Wampler for that matter) can provide want I want.

I do kinda like them both, but I think for me, the Wampler, just has the edge for the reason being that if I ever need any overdrive or distortion, it is there in the Wampler without having to add in another pedal.

**jorgemg1984** · 10-13-2014, 06:43 AM

Yeah I can imagine the Barber not going well with an Evans... I have found a flat setting on my Desktop HD Pod (Ampeg Bass Amp with all knobs at 5) and an excellent cab simulator (condensor mic with 2x12 fender open back cab). This combined with the Barb EQ and some eq / effects sounded amazing in my last reharsal trough a really cheap PA. I played a true blackface Vibrolux after and liked the sound of mine setup better... the Barber really captures that old Fender sound. Would love to try a Wampler one day though!

**Jazz_175** · 10-14-2014, 12:58 AM

I am still exploring and getting my ears used to the Barb Eq.
I have not yet tried the Barb EQ's other combinations, Tweed amp style and British amp head style (I don't know how useful they would be for Jazz, but it's worth a try.)
However, if I had to keep only one at the moment, I think I'd choose the Wampler.
The main reason, that I have already stated before, being that the Barb Eq changes the sound but
I can still hear the basic quality of the JazzAmp.
The Wampler Black 65 achieves a more drastic change.
(The Wampler's settings I am using are: Boost mode, Gain at 9:00 or lower, Treble and Bass at 12:00, Mids between 9:00 and 12:00)

For example, when I play into the JazzAmp without pedals (yesterday I used a 175) I hear a strong attack of the notes, which I don't like so much.
The Wampler probably removes some of those frequencies and smooths out the attack. The notes come out more naturally.
I don't get this effect with the Barb Eq, at least not much as the Wampler does.

**jorgemg1984** · 10-14-2014, 05:48 AM

i agree the Henriksen has a very peaky attack sound and the eq cannot dial it out (main reason I didn't like it). Let's see if a get a Wampler to try but I have to say the Barber will be hard to kick from my modelling board...

**Jazz_175** · 10-17-2014, 07:37 AM

I recorded a few lines and chords as follows

guitar --> Barb EQ --> Wampler 65 --> Hall of Fame Rev ---> Henriksen 112ER

The reverb pedal was always ON.

I recorded as follows:

1) Both Barb and Wampler OFF
2) Barb ON Wampler OFF
3) Barb OFF Wampler ON

**Jazz_175** · 10-17-2014, 07:56 AM

**Frank67** · 10-17-2014, 10:05 AM

Cool! Thanks for doing that! I liked all three sounds - perhaps the Wampler best by a small margin.

**Jazz_175** · 10-17-2014, 01:18 PM

BTW the guitar is a Collings I35 LC

**andyb** · 10-17-2014, 03:16 PM

To me the first one sounds the best by a mile.

**monkmiles** · 10-17-2014, 03:50 PM

Originally Posted by Jazz_175

Gee, all 3 sound nice. I think I would pick the 3rd one by a slight margin, which is the Wampler Black '65 I guess.

I'm surprised the Black '65 doesn't have more grit to it. Where did you have the gain set on it? Nice to hear it can do a clean tone.

If you ever want to try another, the Catalinbread Formula 5F6 is worthwhile. It can stay clean as well, but is in the tweed department like a tweed bassman. It can do cleans where as their Formula 5E3 pedal can't.

**jorgemg1984** · 10-17-2014, 05:09 PM

I liked the Wampler 65 better too.

Can I ask you the Barb EQ settings? I remember using the treble pretty high and the mids pretty down to make it have a more noticeable effect on the Henriksen.

**ninjasan** · 10-18-2014, 01:56 AM

Hi, thank you for these recordings, all 03 tracks have a great sound,

I think that there is a little more volume or a little more compression on the third track
that make it sound a little better,
I'm I wrong ?

Did you record the 03 tracks with the 112er tweeter on or off please ?

thank you for your review

christophe

**Jazz_175** · 10-18-2014, 07:48 AM

Originally Posted by hallpass

Gee, all 3 sound nice. I think I would pick the 3rd one by a slight margin, which is the Wampler Black '65 I guess.

I'm surprised the Black '65 doesn't have more grit to it. Where did you have the gain set on it? Nice to hear it can do a clean tone.

If you ever want to try another, the Catalinbread Formula 5F6 is worthwhile. It can stay clean as well, but is in the tweed department like a tweed bassman. It can do cleans where as their Formula 5E3 pedal can't.

Yes, the third one was with the Wampler 65 ON.

The gain of the Wampler was set at 9:00, so almost no gain at all, however I noticed that, by digging hard, especially when playing chords, you get a bit of distortion.
Of course you can get a whole lot of distortion by increasing the gain or, even more, by switching to the Gain Mode.
In my case I adjusted bass and treble knobs at noon and removed the mids by placing the knob at around 9:00.

I wish I could test the other pedals you mentioned but I don't think I will, because that requires a lot of money. I am now happy with Barb Eq and Wampler plus a few more that I already have.

**Jazz_175** · 10-18-2014, 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by jorgemg1984

I liked the Wampler 65 better too.

Can I ask you the Barb EQ settings? I remember using the treble pretty high and the mids pretty down to make it have a more noticeable effect on the Henriksen.

I put the mids all the way down to the left. The treble and bass knobs were at 12:00, more or less ( I noticed later that the treble knob was slightly to the left of the 12:00 position).

**Jazz_175** · 10-18-2014, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by ninjasan

Hi, thank you for these recordings, all 03 tracks have a great sound,

I think that there is a little more volume or a little more compression on the third track
that make it sound a little better,
I'm I wrong ?

Did you record the 03 tracks with the 112er tweeter on or off please ?

thank you for your review

christophe

The tweeter was always OFF.
As for the more volume on track 3, I simply adjusted the volume knobs at 12:00 position for both pedals.

As soon as I have time I will do again the test with a Stratocaster or a Telecaster.

**jorgemg1984** · 10-18-2014, 08:40 AM

Wow funny I remember the effect being much more drastic with the mids on zero... anyway, you got me curious on the wampler, great sound.

**yebdox** · 10-18-2014, 10:36 AM

All 3 sound good to me, maybe the Barb slightly better. I'm really liking the sound of the Collings! I've never played one and will have to look into them. My 335 could never sound like that, though I dig it for lots of other stuff. I would take the Collings to a jazz gig without hesitation, if it sounded like that. Can't say the same for my 335, though I've never set it up with flat wounds, too much trouble. Thanks for posting!

**Jazz_175** · 10-18-2014, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by yebdox

All 3 sound good to me, maybe the Barb slightly better. I'm really liking the sound of the Collings! I've never played one and will have to look into them. My 335 could never sound like that, though I dig it for lots of other stuff. I would take the Collings to a jazz gig without hesitation, if it sounded like that. Can't say the same for my 335, though I've never set it up with flat wounds, too much trouble. Thanks for posting!

I had a jazz gig yesterday and I used exactly the gear mentioned above: Collings I35 LC, Wampler 65, Hall of Fame Reverb and Henriksen 112ER.
I also have a 335 that I use a lot. It's not bad, just different.

**woland** · 10-19-2014, 02:33 AM

Originally Posted by IanD

I have both the Wampler Black 65 and the Barb EQ. I bought the Wampler pedal some time ago to give a bit of a ‘blackface’ tone to my Evans RE200 (I know, the Evans is probably the most blackface of all the good solid state amps, but I wanted more!).

I recently also bought the Barb EQ based on Jorge’s enthusiasm for that pedal.

As Jorge mentioned in one post, the Barb EQ is best into a flat response amp. As versatile as the Evans is, I’m not sure there is a flat response to be found on that amp and so I’m not yet convinced the Barb EQ (or the Wampler for that matter) can provide want I want.

I do kinda like them both, but I think for me, the Wampler, just has the edge for the reason being that if I ever need any overdrive or distortion, it is there in the Wampler without having to add in another pedal.

I have Evans RE150 (older model) those are GREAT jazz amps. Bought it with extension cab for $600 - I thought it was a steal. EQ on that amp is very flexible so I never felt a need to shape it with a pedal. Except when I had d'Addario Chromes and huge feedback issue with my d'Angelico Excel. I tried MXR 10-band EQ and I was able to minimize feedback that way. But after I moved to black tape-wound LaBella strings that seems to be less of a problem.
As far as other tone shaping pedals I had Black 65 for a long while - but I never liked it. Sure it was flexiblebut I hated dirt part of it. I also ran RC Booster and Bondi Effects Sick As. And Retro-Sonic 808 - this one is my fav dirt pedal now although not much for jazz (more like Telecaster and BJr type of thing). In the end I do not use any OD now - my chain is auto-wah (3Leaf Audio GR2), compressor (Wampler Ego), booster (EP+ by ClinchFX), delay (TC E Flashback), looper (Ditto X2), reverb (Hall of Fame). I may try to add SickAs again - see how it sounds with LaBellas.
I also had other dirt pedals from Wampler - Tweed 57, Ecstasy, Pinnacle Deluxe, Underdog. One by one sold them all. The only Wampler I kept is Ego.

**woland** · 10-19-2014, 02:43 AM

Originally Posted by Jazz_175

I recorded a few lines and chords as follows

guitar --> Barb EQ --> Wampler 65 --> Hall of Fame Rev ---> Henriksen 112ER

The reverb pedal was always ON.

I recorded as follows:

1) Both Barb and Wampler OFF
2) Barb ON Wampler OFF
3) Barb OFF Wampler ON

I think I liked Barber better - Black 65 has that certain hollowness to it.

**feet** · 10-19-2014, 03:32 AM

i liked the wampler the best in this instance. how do they handle chords and strumming? i remember being steered away from the wampler (and toward the barber) by you guys because of the lack of headroom.

i wonder which would work better in front of a vox and/or a roland. i'm guessing the more colored of the two.

i should note that at any rate, it's a nice sound and some nice playing.

**Jazz_175** · 10-19-2014, 03:06 PM

I tried another "experiment" with a Telecaster, middle position for funky rhythm.
Henriksen eq completely flat, everything at zero.

Blackface setting for Barb Eq with trebles very high.

Now the Barb Eq is the winner, very very nice sound. I couldn't get the same sound with the Wampler 65.

I will post later.

**jorgemg1984** · 10-19-2014, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by feet

i liked the wampler the best in this instance. how do they handle chords and strumming? i remember being steered away from the wampler (and toward the barber) by you guys because of the lack of headroom.

i wonder which would work better in front of a vox and/or a roland. i'm guessing the more colored of the two.

i should note that at any rate, it's a nice sound and some nice playing.

These pedals are NOT designed to go in front of a roland or a vox. For that go with a flat eq pedal.