MXR Timmy Overdrive Guitar Effects Pedal (CSP027), Blue

Product Information

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? Some overdrive pedals thrive when they’re playing with a tube amp that’s already on the edge of breakup. With the right settings, the best overdrive pedals can really get your amp singing. Some also pair incredibly well with other pedals – for example, a Tubescreamer feeding into a Klon style OD is a classic pedal combo. What is a transparent overdrive?

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. You can trust Guitar World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing guitar products so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

The best overdrive pedals in 2023 – at a glance:

Studio Diary #39: Why I Use DAW Plugins For Delay And Reverb On My #TweedTone Comparisons – HomeToneBlog.com on First Impressions: Earthquaker Devices Special Cranker Overdrive Pedal They aren’t afraid to look outside for fresh perspectives every once in a while and refresh their creative energy by collaborating with other forward-thinking designers. In recent years, this outlook has resulted in the Raijin ™ Drive Pedal and the Shin-Juku ™ Drive Pedal with Shin Suzuki, the Il Torino ™ Overdrive and the Il Diavolo ™ Overdrive with Carlo Sorasio, and the Bass Distortion with Ryan Ratajski. In 2020, we’re super excited to bring you MXR’s latest collaboration—the MXR ® Timmy ® Overdrive with Nashville pedal builder Paul Cochrane. Paul sat down to talk with us to tell us about how he got into making pedals and the origins of the Timmy Overdrive. How did you get into building pedals, both for yourself and for other players? 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.

There are also more distortion-oriented pedals that feature a "hard clipping" sound, like the Electro-Harmonix Soul Food and any other Klon clone out there. This means that, when pushed to the upper limits of gain, the signal fully "clips" or distorts, approaching the sound of a fuzz pedal.

If you’re looking to drive a tube amp without colouring your sound, then this could be one of the best overdrive pedals for you. The EQ has been designed in a clever way too - the bass and treble are cut-only, so you’re not adding in frequencies but keeping your tone ‘truer’, plus the controls are wired pre- and post-overdrive to help maintain your low end, and smooth out the top. I spent a while with the tone controls at noon and the volumes matched trying to get them to sound the same. They're close, but the original is a little thinner and lets the original guitar sound through a bit better. The MXR seems to have a little extra low mids happening compared to the original. Bottom line, they sound very close, but still a bit different. I found myself liking the original more more than not, although on a couple of settings I liked the MXR better. 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? Overdrive and distortion are terms that are (often wrongly) used interchangeably. Granted, they're essentially versions of the same effect - with distortion being overdrive's extreme big brother - but they provide vastly different playing experiences depending on what you go for. The term "transparent" refers to the fact that the pedal doesn't significantly color or alter the tone of the guitar's signal, allowing the natural sound of the instrument to shine through.

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. The pedal’s right-side booster derives from the Dane’s clean boost circuit, employing a ‘lows’ knob for thinning or fattening up signals as needed. This all functions the same on the left side booster, with the only exception being that the left boost equips germanium diodes for added grit.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. 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. Much is made of the different types of overdrive pedals, and for good reason. While you might think an overdrive is an overdrive is an overdrive, there are actually a few different kinds of overdrive pedal circuits that result in seemingly subtle differences in sound but can actually make a huge difference in your tone.

So, I've owned a couple original Timmy's (long ago, in a galaxy far away)….this one is similar, yet much smaller.After some experimenting, I decided that the Timmy was a great choice for boosting the True Grit to get closer to my other Telecasters (so that I can switch guitars without having to adjust settings every time). Look out for details about that in a future blog post. Finally a mini-format version of one of the greatest boost/overdrives ever created. Paul Cochrane developed something wonderful and all together different with the Tim/Timmy. Transparent overdrive pedals often have a low gain and a wide frequency response, which allows them to preserve the natural tone of the guitar while adding just enough saturation and harmonics to create a pleasing crunch. The JHS 3 Series line of pedals is designed for players on a budget who are looking for boutique sound quality and vibe at a more affordable price point. Related to this is also how you plan on using the pedal. Using an overdrive pedal on an already distorted amp will sound very different to using it through a clean amp. You’re more likely to hear the characteristics of the pedal (if it has some) in the latter case.