so.. the timmy.

[newholland]

okay.. so, i have a timmy clone.

i bought it as a standalone drive pedal which genuinely doesnt seem to work at all as the thing never sounds right. it seems to sound like dirt over your clean sound, and doesnt ever integrate into one guitar sound. maddening really.

as a boost? sounds awesome as a super flexible gainstage before a dirty power amp or the proverbial 'edge of breakup' sound. this use alone with a master volume amp doesnt let me get rid of it and for low volume recording it really does great to full things out when you cant drive an amp hard enough

BUT:

am i doing it wrong? does this thing DO the dirt box unto clean amp thing cause i genuinely can NOT figure out how to make that work. i know 'transparent boosts' are different animals, but is that normal to have a hazy layer of dirt over your clean sound?

 

[metropolis_4]

This is interesting to me because I’ve had a weird history with that pedal.

I had an original Tim and I hated it. It was like you describe above and I couldn’t get rid of it fast enough.

Fast forward years later I tried a Timmy and it was amazing! Really great versatile overdrive that sounded fantastic into a clean amp.

So I always assumed my Tim was broken or something. This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone mention similar issues with it.

 

[eric.chambers]

Maybe the clone didn't get it exactly right, or maybe it doesn't like your rig?
I had two of the original Timmy pedals and I thought they were great. Giggled with them for the better part of 10 years or so. I think like most dirt pedals they usually sound better played into a LOUD amp. At least that's my takeaway...

 

[newholland]

This is interesting to me because I’ve had a weird history with that pedal.

I had an original Tim and I hated it. It was like you describe above and I couldn’t get rid of it fast enough.

Fast forward years later I tried a Timmy and it was amazing! Really great versatile overdrive that sounded fantastic into a clean amp.

So I always assumed my Tim was broken or something. This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone mention similar issues with it.

yknow.. i seriously think theres an operating point or impedance tipping point or something. some amps- it works normally and sounds great. my reeves- clean- it works. but into a solid state fender? it only works LOUD. my mark ii clean? sounds horrible . i cannot figure it out.

 

[newholland]

Maybe the clone didn't get it exactly right, or maybe it doesn't like your rig?
I had two of the original Timmy pedals and I thought they were great. Giggled with them for the better part of 10 years or so. I think like most dirt pedals they usually sound better played into a LOUD amp. At least that's my takeaway...

i think we've reached the same conclusion. it CAN sound great- like genuinely really solid- and into a 10 watt tube amp clean... bam. it cannot seemingly cope with linear amps like my backup solid stater, unless im stupid loud, which makes it kinda like a rangemaster. great, but super specific use case. :/

 

[metropolis_4]

yknow.. i seriously think theres an operating point or impedance tipping point or something. some amps- it works normally and sounds great. my reeves- clean- it works. but into a solid state fender? it only works LOUD. my mark ii clean? sounds horrible . i cannot figure it out.

That could be. Some pedals will sound very different in front of one clean amp than another

 

[spawnofthesith]

I had both the caline pure sky and mxr mini timmy at the same time. I enjoyed them as a very low set "tone enhancer" by myself but started drifting a way from them in a band mix. At the time I was playing through like a twin RI and blues deluxe


Currently I enjoy the timmy model on the HX stomp as a light dirt in front of a real silverface deluxe reverb. Works nice as a boost too

 

[newholland]

That could be. Some pedals will sound very different in front of one clean amp than another

for sure. im not usually a big pedal user, so theres that- if anything ill use a clean boost or a full on drive pedal.. but mostly ill use an amp. this seems to live in a weird middle ground between the two.

i figured thisd be a solid eqable drive for backup or 'borrowed amp' scenarios, but it may be a little too fussy for that. its a shame cause when it sounds good, it really does.

its at least some consolation that im not the only one whos hit this though!

 

[newholland]

I had both the caline pure sky and mxr mini timmy at the same time. I enjoyed them as a very low set "tone enhancer" by myself but started drifting a way from them in a band mix. At the time I was playing through like a twin RI and blues deluxe


Currently I enjoy the timmy model on the HX stomp as a light dirt in front of a real silverface deluxe reverb. Works nice as a boost too

yeah its a pure sky! it really is a great boost- if i dial back my mark ii in the lead channel to just a gritty crunchy- it circumvents the sorta mesa honk and top end tipping point of too much/too dark which is a notoriously narrow band. having all the eq options rules for that!

but jeebus into my fender stage 100... aiii.

 

[JiveTurkey]

The Caline is a great pedal on the cheap. I never use it, however

 

[newholland]

The Caline is a great pedal on the cheap. I never use it, however

haa.. consequently, me neither.

though i keep trying. but i really end up buying cheap copies of circuits to test the premise. the SHOD copy (sweet baby) was a success- so tried to branch out. i would like to actually find an SHOD deluxe.

 

[JiveTurkey]

haa.. consequently, me neither.

though i keep trying. but i really end up buying cheap copies of circuits to test the premise. the SHOD copy (sweet baby) was a success- so tried to branch out. i would like to actually find an SHOD deluxe.

Heck, even the cheap ones I do end up using (OCD clone(sss), RAT clone) I just stick with those instead of buying the "real thing". I honestly never used a boost until I started using the Badlander so I was pretty far along in my "journey" before boosting became a thing for me. These pedals are so cheap to try you kinda have to give all of them a go to see what, if anything; works for you.

 

[FuzzyAce]

It's one pedal I have never tried, except the model version in HX -- which is pretty good even though I almost never use it.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I forgot. I also had that Danelectro ripoff. I liked it but at that time; I was not doing anything Timmy worthy

 

[la szum]

Yeah, the Timmy is kind of that transparent OD thing where you can hear your cake of clean tone through
the the icing of the dirt/breakup on top. Some people like that thing. I abhor. Save the Clean Blend for Bass,
Bruh!

 

[saarangnarayan]

What clone do you have? The three different clipping options can help tune the pedal to different amps IME. Some amps (tweed, vox, low watt Marshally things, hogh gain lead channels) sound great with the switch in the “up” position. Mid-gain crunch (plexi, 800, JTM) amps sound fantastic with the switch in the middle, etc.

 

[newholland]

What clone do you have? The three different clipping options can help tune the pedal to different amps IME. Some amps (tweed, vox, low watt Marshally things, hogh gain lead channels) sound great with the switch in the “up” position. Mid-gain crunch (plexi, 800, JTM) amps sound fantastic with the switch in the middle, etc.

its a pure sky, so no switch on mine, sadly.

i think im kinda really in a place where outa my options, the SHOD type or the OCD type kinda cover the most bases for me for all purposes with the least amount of fuss and amp reactivity.

 

[newholland]

Yeah, the Timmy is kind of that transparent OD thing where you can hear your cake of clean tone through
the the icing of the dirt/breakup on top. Some people like that thing. I abhor. Save the Clean Blend for Bass,
Bruh!

i think this be truth, at least until you can seriously lay on enough voltage from the amps back end. in all honesty, where i CAN do that, it sounds good, and if i had a spot i could do that, i'd give it a fair shake. my neighbors wouldnt appreciate it here and now

 

[Jarick]

About 15 years ago my rig was a Sterling Silo (import Music Man copy) into a Danelectro transparent overdrive (Timmy clone) into a Fender Mustang modeling combo amp. Yep, came a long way. Anyways, the Timmy clone sounded AMAZING, it just made the super mediocre clean tone into a really juicy sounding slight breakup tone.

For whatever reason I never tried another Timmy after that. I've been close to getting the MXR version before but didn't pull the trigger.

My understanding is it's basically a pretty transparent drive with some bass and treble controls to help shape the sound. Works better as a boost than on a pure clean signal.

I've also heard the Greer Lightspeed is a fantastic transparent OD that's kind of inspired by the Timmy and most people seem to prefer it. Again I haven't tried it.

 

[la szum]

i think this be truth, at least until you can seriously lay on enough voltage from the amps back end. in all honesty, where i CAN do that, it sounds good, and if i had a spot i could do that, i'd give it a fair shake. my neighbors wouldnt appreciate it here and now

This is why I think it works best with Amp's breaking up already, versus totally clean amps.

It's pretty much an EOB booster..... rather than a run it into Twin Reverb and type of pedal.