MXR Timmy Overdrive Guitar Effects Pedal (CSP027), Blue

Product Information

If you're looking for that type of touch sensitive, transparent overdrive and boost that keeps your core sound intact, the Soul Food delivers it. The sound is fantastic. I put it at the end of my drives and use it primarily as a distortion boost. It sounds best with the bass and treble close to max (the eq is passive, so it cuts, not boosts). Hand-built using top-of-the-line components in Hudson Electronics’ Yorkshire workshop, the Broadcast might look like it’s come straight out of a 1960s recording studio, but the ideas displayed within are innovative and original.

Overdrive pedals vary so much, and there’s a bit of crossover with boost, distortion and fuzz pedals. However, without going too much into the technical side of things, an overdrive pedal essentially helps add some gain to your signal. The Fender Santa Ana overdrive is another pedal that offers great versatility and layers of classic overdrive sounds to choose from, while also retaining a relatively easy-to-use user interface that will have you dialing in killer Fender sounds in no time. My Origin 20H doesn’t really break up on its own. The preamp will distort (in a horrible way) at extreme settings. The power amp section will overdrive if I gun it hard enough, but the sweet spot is quite small. It’s very easy to turn it into mush. Not a transparent drive, but a classic nonetheless that'll beef your midrange up and make your amp sing.The three-way clipping switch provides you with even more options and different headroom settings. Overall, the MXR Timmy Mini is a really good take on a classic pedal - it keeps everything that players love about the original, and houses it in a smaller casing. That’s what it was designed to do, and arguably it’s still one of the best pedals for this – especially for Marshall-style amps. What Are You Doing With It? While the TC Electronic Mojomojo might sit at the more budget end, it’s still absolutely one of the best overdrive pedals out there. It’s been used by none other than virtuoso Paul Gilbert, and offers a dynamic, smooth overdrive with lots of headroom. It won’t give you massive amounts of gain on tap, but, if you’re running it through a clean amp, it does give you a very nice cranked tube amp sound. The main difference is that, while a distortion pedal provides the same (or a similar) amount of distortion at any volume, an overdrive pedal reacts more like an old school tube amp - with the amount of gain and grit being dictated not only by the amount of gain you choose, but also by the input and output volume. What do you want to get from an overdrive?

In what seems like an ocean of barely distinguishable low and mid-gain overdrives, the Paul Cochrane Timmy pedal has emerged as a life raft of no-nonsense transparency and clarity, with just enough tone shaping EQ to suit a wide variety of preferences. It does the one thing you want to mid-gain overdrive to do - act as a clean boost when needed and a creamy front-end builder when wanted - and nothing else. No additional color. No mid-boost or cut. No compression. It just doesn’t make sense for me to chase another Timmy v2. Not when this pedal from MXR is widely available. What Is A Timmy Pedal? Examples of some transparent overdrive pedals on our list are the MXR Timmy, the Boss Blues Driver, and the MXR Duke of Tone. What's the difference between overdrive, distortion, and fuzz pedals? Although often (wrongly) used interchangeably, overdrive and distortion are slightly different effects that sound different and are produced differently.

The 3 Series Overdrive offers exactly this, featuring the build quality and great tone that JHS is known for, in a simple stripped-down chassis with basic controls that's super easy to use and sounds awesome. Whichever one you opt for, and however you’re using it, an overdrive pedal will give you a bit more of what you’ve already got, with some added grit and volume that can help you play with more feeling and expression. So, I've owned a couple original Timmy's (long ago, in a galaxy far away)….this one is similar, yet much smaller. If you’re looking for the best overdrive pedal for you, then there are a few things to consider beforehand. Firstly, what are you looking to get out of it? Are you looking to use it as a boost for solos? Do you want one as the basis of your main sound? Are you using it to push an already driven amp? Thinking about the application will help you figure out what you need in an overdrive pedal. What's the difference between overdrive and distortion? There are a lot of great overdrive pedals that feature circuits modeled after classic pedals and amps that can be had for a fraction of the price of the originals. Depending on what you're looking for, you can get the amazing sound of some really rare gear for a low price.

I built the first Tim Overdrive for myself and my specific needs. Nobody was making exactly what I wanted—a pedal to cleanly boost my Marshall Plexi Super Bass. Some pedals, like the Keeley D&M, feature two or more channels, usually in the form of an overdrive and a boost channel like we see here. The overdrive is going to generally be higher-gain, while a clean boost will crank your signal without necessarily dirtying it up as much, ideal for an already distorted amp.The best overdrive pedal for one person might be something that pushes their tube amp into a more natural overdrive and retains all the tonal characteristics of the guitar, however, someone with a solid-state amp might prefer something that adds a bit more ‘something’ to their existing sound. You can even get overdrive pedals that offer the breakup sound of some classic tube amps. Overdrive can be a great effect to always have on, or it can be used to boost a clean sound for solos, or it can be paired with other pedals – there are seemingly limitless ways they can be used. Transparent overdrive adds a subtle amount of overdrive or distortion to the guitar's sound while maintaining the original tone and character of the guitar and amplifier. There are bass and treble controls for tone sculpting, as well as gain and volume knobs so you can dial in exactly what you want it to do. There’s even a voicing switch that eases off on some of the bass frequencies - ideal for using with darker sounding guitars. The MXR Timmy has more dynamic presence than your regular overdrive. There is a clear top-end chime and warmth in the midrange. It is a more musical-sounding overdrive that blends in beautifully with amplifier crunch – perfect for when you need even more harmonic complexity." I bought a second-hand MXR Timmy overdrive pedal. It’s a mini-pedal, made in collaboration with Paul Cochrane, who used to hand-make the original Timmy pedals. Why Did You Buy It?

Some feature more tone-shaping controls than others too. If you have a specific sound in mind, then look for something with more EQ controls, as these will give you more ability to fine-tune your sound. You can also use these to combat troublesome frequencies within your amp, for example, many metal players use a Tube Screamer, or something similar, to push the front end of an already distorted amp a little more, and to tighten up the bottom end. If you’re using an overdrive pedal for solos, then dialling in more high-mids and top-end can help you cut through a live mix better. Can I use multiple gain stages or overdrive pedals? The Timmy is one of those utility pedals it’s great to have. You might not use it all the time, but when you need it, nothing else quite does the job.Thanks to Paul’s inventive implementation of clipping options and tone controls, the Timmy Overdrive is a dream come true for working guitar players. The Clip switch provides three different clipping styles for a multitude of scenarios, whether you need a big, bold always-on sound with a ton of headroom to slam the front end of your amp, a more compressed and saturated sound for fat chords, or anything in between. The Bass and Treble controls offer further refinement in two key ways. First, they’re cut-only, keeping your signal’s character intact while making it super easy to dial in a clean boost. Second, Paul wired the Bass control to affect your pre-OD signal so that you can your maintain low end at lower Gain settings and the Treble control to affect your post-OD signal so that you can adjust the top end to keep dirty settings smooth and musical.