Barbershop vs 5th Gear

MYLOWFREQ

MYLOWFREQ

Supporting Member
May 13, 2011
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#1
Hi fellows,

I'm looking for a mild OD, and thinking of getting one of these. I've tried the Barbershop and loved it. Haven't tried the 5th gear, but liked it as well judging from the demos. I would love to A/B them, but can't find a place that sells both. Does anybody have both? How do they compare? How similar/different are they? Any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
#2
MYLOWFREQ said:
Hi fellows,

I'm looking for a mild OD, and thinking of getting one of these. I've tried the Barbershop and loved it. Haven't tried the 5th gear, but liked it as well judging from the demos. I would love to A/B them, but can't find a place that sells both. Does anybody have both? How do they compare? How similar/different are they? Any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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Sorry I do not know of anywhere that sells both. The Fifth Gear is only available direct from us at Southampton Pedals at the moment.
 
#3
I had a barbershop and I personally didn't enjoy the sounds from it. Maybe I used it wrong, but I don't think I found a setting I liked at all. All just sounded too flubby and not crunchy like I wanted it to be. However, the fifth gear is what I was looking for - it does darken the tone somewhat, but not terribly so, and it adds a lot of crunch like I was expecting a mild OD to do. I have an original one knob version, and it sounds terrific at around 9-11. It can get super gainy the higher you roll it. In that aspect, I think the fifth gear has more gain on tap than the barbershop. Almost wish I had gotten the v2 fifth gear, but the one knob is great. I don't think you'll go wrong with a fifth gear.
 
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#5
DistroHopper said:
I had a barbershop and I personally didn't enjoy the sounds from it. Maybe I used it wrong, but I don't think I found a setting I liked at all. All just sounded too flubby and not crunchy like I wanted it to be. However, the fifth gear is what I was looking for - it does darken the tone somewhat, but not terribly so, and it adds a lot of crunch like I was expecting a mild OD to do. I have an original one knob version, and it sounds terrific at around 9-11. It can get super gainy the higher you roll it. In that aspect, I think the fifth gear has more gain on tap than the barbershop. Almost wish I had gotten the v2 fifth gear, but the one knob is great. I don't think you'll go wrong with a fifth gear.
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Thanks for the response. So you know people talk about "transparency" when it comes to the barbershop. Can you say it is more transparent but with less gain comparing to the 5th gear? Do you need a master volume in the one knob version 5th gear to control the level, or is it unnecessary? And what does the third knob on the second version do?
 
#6
The Barbershop is more transparent - in lower gain settings, it is your tone plus breakup. It can get a pretty decent amount of gain going, but most bass players don't particularly care for the sound past low gain. The fifth gear can sound great from light OD to heavy OD, and gets almost into fuzz territory - kind of like the SSBS Mini in the range it has. It is not as transparent as the barbershop- it has some emphasis in the mids, it smooths things out nicely. I do think it is sweeter sounding than the Barbershop, it definitely has some tonal mojo going on. The barbershop, in a mix, is fantastic at what it does - it's just a little different thing.

The V2 fifth gear is more versatile because of the bias control, so there are more tonal variations, and the master vol - the one knob version has a pretty good sized boost on tap even set at 9-11, so if you're really cranking the gain, it's a very loud pedal - to me the V1 is not really usable as an OD, it is more either an always on pedal or a dirty boost (I use it as the latter). The V2 will excel more in an OD role. For all the advantages of the V2, I kept the V1 - it's just the perfect dirty boost for me.
 
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