Educate me about the Timmy

[pi]

I don't exactly understand the circuit, but the Timmy is a great always on kinda pedal. There are others. I really like the Greer Lightspeed. A clon with the gain low is another. The problem with playing a clean amp clean is the lack of transients and sustain. A Timmy or any transparent overdrive helps this.

I really like the Lightspeed as well, slightly more than the Timmy--circuit-wise they are quite similar. With the Lightspeed, you have less control over the tone, which might be a concern for some, but the Lightspeed is dialed in just right and I don't miss the bass knob.

 

[bebopbrain]

I am putting a Timmy on-board my guitar, a 4-knob Crestwood Deluxe build; nothing but a Freeway switch between the 3 pickups and the Timmy circuit.

 

[InstantCoffeeBlue]

I recently picked up my first Timmy, an MXR one. I was on the fence for a while but now that I have it, I can't believe I waited so long. My main gigging amp is a Princeton Amp (non reverb), which has great cleans but due to the attenuated preamp (relative to the Reverb version), will not break up on its own. This pedal basically turns it into a 6g2. I've been keeping the gain around noon, volume around 2 o'clock and then just adjusting the guitar volume to taste.

 

[rze99]

CP-12 Pure Sky Overdrive is a good clone for very little cabbage, in case you want to try one out. All you need to know is that the bass and treble pots cut in the opposite direction - fully clockwise is unaltered and they cut frequency as you move it counter-clockwise.
$32.50 at Amazon

I’ve got the Pure Sky. I’ve used it with my AC30 (which it seems especially well suited.. and they are a bit fussy about gain pedals) when I’ve had an essentially clean sound and than the Pure Sky for a mild dirt. It works great as a mild gain. I expect you could use your American sound as a base tone then the Timmy or Pure Sky or other clone as a “bit more” gain tone.

 

[Sax-son]

CP-12 Pure Sky Overdrive is a good clone for very little cabbage, in case you want to try one out. All you need to know is that the bass and treble pots cut in the opposite direction - fully clockwise is unaltered and they cut frequency as you move it counter-clockwise.
$32.50 at Amazon

Yeah, I have one of those as well and love it even if it were a bad copy. It has the right amount of boost for my Fender Deluxe Reverb RI.

 

[dreamingtele]

The Tim and Timmy. Ive had one of each, and most recently, 2 on my board for close to 10 years. They are one of the best “transparent” overdrive/boost pedal ive ever used and basically my core sound.

It plays nice stacked with anything, eq is very powerful and can be used as a tone shaper/sweetener at the end of your overdrive chain or to goose pedals if you have it early on your chain.

I had one after my tuner and at the end of the drive chain before delay and reverb. Works great

 

[Skyhook]

Should I seek out an original?

 

[jimmywrangles]

I have no idea what a timmy pedal is but I do know that MXR make awesome gear. I have an MXR delay and it's damn fine.

 

[RockinforJesus]

Ah, yes, the Bluesbreaker style overdrive. Such a useful tool for tone shaping.
Looking for a cost effective alternative to the Timmy?
The Electro Harmonix Crayon is a very good OD pedal - very transparent, plenty of gain on tap, has separate bass and treble knobs, made in USA, what’s not to love?
I am currently running a JHS Morning Glory with the added footswitch to go between low and medium gain circuits. It stacks wonderfully with the OCD.

 

[zippofan]

The Timmy is my favorite, and I have built and/or tried as many OD pedals as I can, dozens of them. It sounds good at just about any setting. I'd like to build a 1590A sized one to make a mini-Timmy!

 

[KokoTele]

You could do that I suppose, but MXR already did that for you. Unless you're just looking for a new challenge, it hardly seems worth the trouble when the bought one is only $99.