Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop Overdrive

After seeing their pedals repeatedly pop up all over social media, I was super-intrigued by Fairfield Circuitry, and what they had to offer. Their “Randy’s Revenge” and “Meet Maude” really caught my eye, but as they are quite pricey, I decided to initiate myself into the Fairfield world with ease, starting with a well-priced overdrive, the Barbershop. The version I was able to buy for a super price deal happened to be the first version, which features a bigger enclosure and less features, but is an all out rocker nonetheless.

This simple overdrive has only 3 control knobs, but not much more is needed here (the newer version is housed in a smaller enclosure and features a 3-position Tone switch as well). Volume adjusts the pedal’s overall output, of course, while Drive controls how much distortion you want to be present in your signal. Sag is an interesting and unique option to the Barbershop, as it fluctuates the voltage that the effect receives, allowing you to shape the tone a bit more and really crank out that “brown” sound if you so desire. When fully maxed out to the right, this pedal sparkles, giving off it’s biggest, brightest and loudest tones, letting your pickups glow and your amp sing, while remaining a little gritty but crystal clear at the same time.

The Barbershop is a great pedal to use if you vary the power that you use to play (I think we all do that, right?). Extremely sensitive to your finger picking or pick strumming, this pedal really lets you dial in the right amount of sensitivity for all styles of music, and can go from a sweet boost to a rockin’ overdrive sound just by way of your individual playing dynamics. After testing out this pedal, I dig it, and would love to try the newest version with that Tone control, as well as other impressive-looking gear from Fairfield Circuitry. Be sure to keep posted, as this will definitely not be out last review of their pedals!