If you have the opportunity to test drive a barber ltd with a decent valve amp that might be another good option. I like the ltd very much for blues or dirty rockabilly in front of a clean amp and it pushes overdriven amps really good without loosing transparency.

Gen_Lee, don't know how this came out for you.

But I wanted to mention that I got the Love Pedal Les Lius, and, to my ear, it IS a tweed-in-a-box.

Turns out I don't use a tweed-in-a-box any more than I use a cranked tweed (it's not my instinctive home base) - but when you need that CRACK and nothing else will do, the Les Lius does it pretty durn well.

The Tim and Timmy pedals seem to have quite a few fans, and with good reason. I got a chance to monkey around with a Timmy awhile back and loved it. The long wait and the cost sort of put me off trying to get one for myself.

Enter the Danelectro CTO-1. This pedal is allegedly a blatant copy of the Timmy, and it's hard to distinguish the sound of the CTO-1 from a Timmy. Danelectro no longer makes this pedal, and the rumor has been that Paul Cochrane had some legal standing causing Danelectro to cease and desist. I'm pretty sure this has been a discussion here on the GDP.

A quick check of ebay turned up four CTO-1 pedals. Completed listings show these selling at anywhere between $30 and $100 (US). The ethical quandary is clear, but for low dollars you can try one.

I've been using a CTO-1 occasionally for a couple of years and I really like it. My fiddle player calls it the "Jr. Barnard switch."

the difference in sound quality is apparent between the CTO-1 and Timmy IMO.. but only for cork sniffers. My wife has become one and she isnt a musician, she said the CTO-1 sounds like it has a blanket over its drive compared to the Timmy.

ps I'm curious how you dial it for Barnard tone and with what amp? I'd like to try the settin on my TIM ( oh and with what geetar and amp)

Typically I'll use a '60s Gibson Explorer amp, about 12 watts, with the treble turned down pretty far. A Guild CE-100 is my guitar of choice. I use the neck pickup for comping with the volume set low and the tone dialed back. For solos I'll switch to the middle position (both pups) with the bridge set at about 3/4.

Pedals, in order, are a Boss GE-7 with the lowest band cut all the way and the three upper bands cut a fair amount. A Carbon Copy is next with just a tiny amount of slap-back in lieu of reverb from the amp. Last is the CTO. I set the volume straight up and the gain at about a third, though this can vary, depending on the amount of overdrive I want today. Treble and bass controls are close to straight up.

Generally, a switch to the middle position is enough to drive the little Gibson amp pretty hard. The Pedal is more of an extra boost. For a bigger room I use a Deluxe Reverb amp on the "normal" channel with the same pedal set-up.

With the addition of a Baggs Para Acoustic preamp at the end of the chain, I often use a Gretsch G400JV with the standard transducer. It really honks through the 12 watt Gibson. Maybe not Jr. Barnard, but It's a set-up that works for me playing Western Swing and old style Country.

I never learned how to play hippie style rock music, but I do enjoy the sound of a well driven archtop.

your amp and guitar is about 90% of the sound

I'm pretty certain you're right, Tavo. I'm not really gear obsessed, but it's fun to tinker with various pedals and amps. Sometimes I tinker too much and the steel player has to adjust my rig for me. I really don't know what I'm doing. I just twirl knobs 'til I like the sound.

colore me Jealous of that guitar and amp

Gen_Lee, don't know how this came out for you.

But I wanted to mention that I got the Love Pedal Les Lius, and, to my ear, it IS a tweed-in-a-box.

Turns out I don't use a tweed-in-a-box any more than I use a cranked tweed (it's not my instinctive home base) - but when you need that CRACK and nothing else will do, the Les Lius does it pretty durn well.

After deep search and trying several possibilities including a couple of Love Pedals (not the Les Lius), a Fulltone OCD and Plimsoul(?), a TC Electronics MOJOTONE (lame), and assorted others, I realized that my MAXON OD9 was still the best choice for me. So, for now at least, I'm staying with it. Perhaps I'll try the Les Lius if I come across one on my journeys. Thanks for the Heads Up though...

BTW, I saw a Wampler pedal that looks quite interesting and perhaps along the lines of what you are using Proteus. I believe it's called a '57 Tweed (?) Anyway, I didn't have a chance to try it out yet but it's on my list of things to do...

General, if you get a chance, try the Hardwire CM-2. It`s very versitile and solid made. Only about 100 bucks!

Hopefully a better pic.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

For me, the best overdrive is the tube amp at 8. And for a little more grit, a germanium fuzz. Everything controled with the guitars volume pot. Keep it simple!