The Barber FWW Plus is an overdrive pedal from Barber Electronics, developed with Five Watt World. Barber describes it as one pedal that can be your best clean boost, and your favorite treble booster, that sublime tone conditioner, and says its EQ can be balanced to cover treble boost, classic boost, vintage overdrive, and larger than life modern boutique with amp-like textures1. It is an analog pedal, listed at $219.95 USD1.
Where it came from
The Plus comes from a renewed collaboration between Barber Electronics and Five Watt World, who describe themselves as having teamed up "again" to deliver the pedal1. It follows the earlier Five Watt World Barber BUSS, and the FWW Plus carries the same partnership forward with a design built around versatility1.
The controls: tone knob and two 3-way toggles
The Plus has two 3-way toggles alongside its tone control, and Barber emphasizes a workflow with no submenus: you can reliably sculpt your tone without the slightest worry of submenu drama1.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tone | Turned down, it never mutes your highs, it simply lowers the gain of the pedal while uncovering deeper bass and tightening the signal; turned up, it increases gain and reveals the top end1 |
| Bass enhancement toggle (3-way) | OOC (out of the circuit), engaged, and strongest; gives you full control of the low end, complementing the tone control1 |
| Output filter toggle (3-way) | OOC, engaged, and strongest; puts you in charge of the silhouette of the top end, anything from rude and surly, to smooth1 |
OOC stands for "out of the circuit." In that toggle position the bass enhancement or output filter stage is removed from the signal path, so the toggles let you switch those voicing stages in and out rather than only adjusting them.
Circuit and relation to the Barber BUSS
The FWW Plus is a variant of the Barber BUSS, but the two pedals draw on different circuits. Barber says the Plus started with one part vintage overdrive, the classic op-amp overdrive that started it all, the venerable OD11. The BUSS, by contrast, is dedicated to the circuits of the B-Custom Super Sport and the Barber Burn Unit, and Barber describes it as offering two famous sounds in one pedal, with sounds quite similar to the Dumble ODS and the Marshall JTM 45, all packed in a little analog pedal1. The BUSS's tone control is an adjustable high-end roll-off, with a suggested starting point of 1 to 3 o'clock for Super Sport mode and 12:30 to 2 o'clock for Burn Unit mode2.
Players weighing the FWW Plus against a straight clean boost or treble booster can compare it with other pedals in the boost category.
Sources (2)
- FWW Plus, Barber Electronics
- FWW_BUSS_KW_EDIT.pdf, Barber Electronics
