Plus

Clean Boost/Overdrive

“One pedal to rule them all” that’s the dream, but history tells us it’s unlikely. Enter the Plus! Five Watt World and Barber Electronics have teamed up again to deliver a pedal with tremendous versatility. One pedal that can be your best clean boost, and your favorite treble booster, that sublime tone conditioner and, yeah, that stand-alone overdrive at number 1 on your “top 3 ever” list.

So how could this be? We started with one part vintage overdrive, the classic op-amp overdrive that started it all, the venerable OD1. The DNA of the OD1 exists in nearly all op-amp overdrive pedals since 1977, often being at the heart of $700+ boutique pedals with year long wait lists. But we did not want to make a clone, that would miss the point, and the OD1 was truly a one trick pony, although it was a great trick. David Barber had ghost-built one of the greatest OD1 based overdrive pedals for a well known boutique brand, the one players in the know referred to as “Klon Killer”.

Enter Keith Williams and Five Watt World. Keith contacted David in January of 2020 for a “quick phone call”. Keith had heard about Barber electronics from guitar player friends “in the know” and had owned an early Barber BUSS. Keith’s interest in minimalism had drawn him to the BUSS’s promise of “two famous sounds in one pedal”. From there a friendship was born and along with it, many multi-hour discussions of guitar gear and the history that goes along with them. And from those discussions came the Five Watt World version of the Barber BUSS, with sounds quite similar to the Dumble ODS and the Marshall JTM 45, all packed in a little analog pedal. So much for “a quick phone call”.

The Plus builds on the relationship between Barber Electronics and Five Watt World. This time we needed to fully realize the potential of a magic little circuit that was born in 1977. We wanted 4 primary functions this time, and each had to be truly top notch. We used the great boutique addition to the OD1 circuit from the late 90’s, a unique tone control that works like few others. In this case, the tone control never mutes your highs as you turn it down, it simple lowers the gain of the pedal while uncovering deeper and deeper bass, conversely, as you turn the tone control up your signal gets tighter, the gain increases and the magnificent top is revealed. In simple terms, you decide how round or biting your guitar tone is, with one uncomplicated sweep.

The Plus has two 3-way toggles which elevate your workflow to the point where you can reliably sculp your tone without the slightest worry of submenu drama. Here we have set up an output filter control, and a bass enhancement system to complement the tone control. Each of these switches operates as “out of the circuit” (OOC), engaged, and then strongest. The bass enhancement toggle gives you full control of the low end, you can easily balance the Plus EQ to cover treble boost, classic boost, vintage overdrive, and larger than life modern boutique with amp-like textures. The output filter toggle puts you in charge of the silhouette of the top and, anything from rude and surly, to smooth and refined, and again, this power and versatility comes with effortless workflow. We built a better system so you can realize the best from the guitars and amps you already own.