Saturday, 24 May 2014

Barber Compact Direct Drive

Request.  Another great sounding, extremely well made and very fairly priced effect from Dave Barber.  As usual with Barber I'd always say buy this or one of his other pedals to support one of the good builders.

Measuring only 2.3” wide, the NEW Compact Direct Drive brings a colossal catalog of vintage British voice to your pedal-board. We packed the most desirable sounds of the Direct Drive, Direct Drive Low Gain (LG) and Super Sport into one clean and compact pedal. If you like the sound of the early UK combos with kt66 tubes, it's in there. If you bleed for the sound of a 4 input head with a wall of 4x12 cabs, it's in there. If you live for the sound of a carefully modified master volume gem from the early 80's, it's in there too. The Compact Direct Drive uses a simple layout of three knobs, a gain toggle and a harmonics toggle to delivery it's wide array from elastic-bells of GZ34-sag, to the hells-bells of a tight EL34-crush. Throw away the clock, tell the family you're taking a solo holiday, there is a Compact Direct Drive on the way. 







Modded version with Mids control



48 comments:

  1. oh yeeahh ,,already build barber direct drive with mid pots,and really love it,,and this layout make me sick,,damn,,iviark,u rockk !!

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  2. i think u must be add mid pots in this layout..just like old barber direct drive

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    Replies
    1. Just swap the 9K1 resistor for a 10K pot or trimmer.

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  3. What a great addition to this blog.
    Definitely one of the great Marshall sounds out there along with the Wampler Plexi-Drive.
    Love the added mod of mid control.
    Adding this to the top of my list.

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  4. waw,thats was really2 fast respons,just like 2 fast and 2 furious :D
    .,and how about bass and presence pot?hehe.,and thanks for your great layout.,

    agung mahendra

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    Replies
    1. hey man..want build this one. damn man.. :)

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    2. If you want a Bass pot swap the 27K for a 50K pot. I'm not doing another layout though :o)

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    3. IMO, the presence control doesn't do that much so i'd omit that one, but here's IvIark's layout with the mids and bass pots:

      http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/BarberDirectDrive/0003-Barber_Compact_Direct_Drive_with_Mids_and_Bass_controls.png

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    4. So if I wanted to do a bass cut switch instead of a bass pot would I just do a DPDT with a 27K and another valued resistor?

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    5. Thanks! Lower or higher value?

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    6. Thanks! I think I'm going to just put in a trimmer.

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  5. Another one added to the list... WOW
    nice one IvIark and Johnk

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  6. Hi, my name is Juan from Mexico. Great blog, i already made 6 or 7 vero proyects taken from here and work great. Here are proyects for every type effect but no a power supply, it would be a nice proyect to make one in vero, i hope you can post one or too. Cheers.

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    Replies
    1. You can get lots of great power supply layouts from Paul In The Lab:
      http://www.paulinthelab.com/search/label/Power%20Supply

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    2. Tried to access the link & got this:

      Notice: This domain name expired on 08/15/16 and is pending renewal or deletion

      If someone has this on file I hope you would share it with us.

      Thank you for ALL your efforts!
      Will

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  7. Just made the ve John Kallas version with Bass pot. Lugs 1 and 3 of the Gain en Bass pot are reversed. Otherwise you can tag this one!!!!. I had to cheat a little bit (put 2x10K parallel tot make the 5K1, two 180R in parallel for the 91R, an a 47nF + 22nF in parallel to make the 82nF).
    Tone control is there but in this TMB stack not doing that much. I also thing that a log pot for the bass pot would give better control.

    TNKS for the layout! This is a nice "tweak-able" overdrive!!!

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  8. thank boss love this pedal. perpect drive, :)

    https://plus.google.com/app/basic/photos/100315628921526442517/album/6020452175988625873/6020452175441491394?cbp=wo7zdcmksrsv&gl=id&sview=1&cid=5&soc-app=115&soc-platform=1&spath=/app/basic/stream/z135wxgy4nbkefdfn224fr0bnlqlfb04n04&sparm=cbp%3Dmsh7emg7n0l5%26gl%3Did%26sview%3D32%26cid%3D5%26soc-app%3D115%26soc-platform%3D1%26spath%3D/app/basic/photos%26sparm%3Dnopromo%253D1%2526source%253Dmog%2526gl%253Did

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    Replies
    1. Do share this with the rest of us. Image can't be seen.

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  9. Is it based on the Service schematic on direct drive product page?
    I am going to layout myself. Thanks so much.

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  10. Somehow I don't get any action from harmonics switch.. Is it necessary to put pins 1&2 together on tone potentiometer?

    Otherwise it sound great! Thanks!

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  11. incredible rip a first attempt.'m not much knowledge of electronics, but this block is great I visit every day. thanks for making this possible, sorry my English is not my mother tongue
    greetings from chile

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  12. Tried both the MIDs and BASS mods, 1st using a 10kB then a 20kA for the MIDS, and a 50kB then a 50kA the BASS.

    IMO, the liner taper was better for the Mid control and audio for the Bass control. These may be useful to fine tune the pedal to your gear, but I found I was dialing them in at about the original resistor values, so I decided to go with just the stock 3 knob version.

    Sounds excellent, a nice alternative to the Wampler Plexi Drive.

    https://plus.google.com/114192188550255459199/posts/9R3FQJS8P5U

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  13. Finished mine yesterday : great sound, right from the first note. Thank's Mark for this great layout, and tank's to Dave for his great effects.

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  14. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=538729542925923&l=d6b4fe54fc

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  15. Maybe someone smarter than me can give some guidance. No audio from output. Voltages on IC are below. Hooked up the audioprobe and I get audio at pins 1, 2, 3, and 5. Nada on 6 or 7. Audio is fine at the harmonics and gain switches. So I'm thinking there's a short somewhere in the mid/bass stage. I'm going to keep working that spot, and I don't see any bridges, but I'm hoping someone who understands the schematic better than I do can confirm I'm focused on the right area. Thanks.

    1: 3.83
    2: 3.86
    3: 3.7
    4: 0.2 mV
    5: 1.22
    6: 3.58
    7: 1.44
    8: 8.65

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    Replies
    1. Well I popped in a TL072 because I had one sitting here, and it turns out there isn't "no output" - there's some output, but it's very crackly, and VERY low volume. Not noticeable unless I crank my amp. If I go back to the audioprobe that super low volume still starts at pin 6-7, everything before that in the circuit sounds great.

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  16. Replies
    1. You can find the schematic on the Barber product web page:

      http://www.barberelectronics.com/compactDD.html

      The schematic link:

      http://www.barberelectronics.com/Compact_Direct_Drive_service_schematic.pdf

      Hope this helps & I'm not breaking the rules.
      Will

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  17. I have oscillations problems at high gain values, a kind of feedback that is everywhere in the circuit when I audio probe it... Anybody have an idea of what the peoblem might come from

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    Replies
    1. Hello. I have the same problem. The whistle on the max. Tuning Volume pot down on guitar and on pedal helps with it, but what is the best way to reduse that noise "by default"?

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    2. Usually having a grounded enclosure around the circuit tames oscillation issues. If this doesn't help, try takin a smallish cap (something like 470p - 4n7) from circuit input to ground. This'll take inaudible highs out before the circuit. For example, Tonebender II has a 10n cap to tame the shrilling treble. Ths may be a better option than upping the feedback loop's 100p. This usually throws a blanket over the tone if one ups it too much. 120-150p shuold be ok though.
      +m

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    3. Thank you! 2.2 nF capacitor (between ground and input) helps. That whistle problem begins when you turn on harmonics and use Mid pot. I think there is no problem for original scheme with 9.1 K resistor.

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    4. FWIW I just finished another and I too had whistling with gain sw on hi,gain and vol past 2 o'clock . I also had a gurgling oscillation just before the whistling with those settings.

      I reflowed all solder joints and moved input wire away from gain switch wires.

      All good now

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  18. Built this one and it sounds great! (like all Barber's stuff really...) Does anyone know how to make this into the Dual Channel version? Thanks!

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  19. Will this build fit a in a 1590B enclosure?

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    Replies
    1. Yes it fits easily in a 1590B
      Even with the fourth mids pot ;)

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. Built last week and boxed into a 125B. This is a great overdrive. So far I have found everything from an almost clean boost for sparkling fingerpicking to roaring plexi (don't need to build a Guv'nor now). In hindsight I think a great mod would be to put the gain switch on a footswitch with a second indicator LED. This would let me go from sweet to nasty in a quick stomp.

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  22. Is this the V2 or V3 Direct Drive?

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    Replies
    1. Not sure, it was based on a schematic by Dave Barber from 2013 here

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    2. Thx - I have all ideas that's the V2, which is what I'm looking for.

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  23. Hi!!Does anyone have a clue how to make V4??Cheers!!!

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    Replies
    1. Would love to know as well. Some guy over at DIYStompboxes ID'd the caps/resistors to (theoretically) modify a regular Gain Changer to the SR version. Wondering if it's just a matter of changing a few values to make the CDD a V4.

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  24. David Barber really is an exceptional mind...
    these two interviews are awesome...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVwATOzWvNY

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gbI5vPGlBY

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