2020-03-01 Total Guitar

22

TOTAL GUITAR MARCH 2020

HOW TO

aulCochrane’s

Timoverdrivewas

oneoftheoriginal

boutique

overdrives,

generatinga dedicatedfollowing

basedonitsopen,un-compressed

drivetoneandgoodEQoptions.

Thelargerenclosuresizeputsome

off,however,andtheboost

wasn’tnecessaryforthosewho

wereusingotherpedalstostack

withtheTim- oneofitsmain

strengths.Asa result,Paulalso

offeredthesmaller,four-knob

Timmy,whichbecame

possiblythefirst‘transparent’

boutiqueoverdrive.

TheTimmyis squarelyinthe

Tubescreamerfamilytree,but

lacksthepronounced‘mid-hump’

bumpoftheTubescreamer,andis

lesscompressed,particularlyat

lowergainlevels.Withtheclipping

optionssettominimum,it’sa very

potentboost,usefulfordriving

tubeampsintovalvesaturation.

Evenafterit explodedin

popularity,theTimmystayed

atareasonablepricepoint,

withtheunitsstillproduced

byPaulhimself.

Althoughit’srelativelyeasyto

getholdofa Timmyeitherusedor

viaa USstockist,it’sbecomemuch

morecommonforplayerstobuild

theirown,orpurchasea clone.

Asmanycompaniesaren’texactly

transparentaboutwhatthey’re

basingtheirdesignson,anytime

youseea boutiquetransparent

overdrivelayoutwithvolume,

gain,bassandtreble,there’s

agoodchanceit’seitherbasedon

aTimmy,ora straight-upcloneof

one.Moreover,Paulhascontinued

interactingwiththeDIYpedal

communityhelpingthemwith

designsthatareTimmy-like.

THE FX FILES TG’S CLASSIC STOMPBOX GUIDE

BASS

Thiscontrolcutsthe

amountofbassin

thedrivesound.

GAIN

Thispotcontrols

theamountofgain

deliveredbythe

ampstage.

VOLUME

Thiscontrolshow

muchoutputthe

pedaldelivers.

TREBLE

Thisis a simple

treblecutafter

theamp stage.

TOGGLE SWITCH

Onlatermodelsof

theTimmythere’s

a3-way toggle

switchwith

additional

clippingoptions

• acompressed
  option with extra
  symmetric diodes,
  and an asymmetric
  option.

DIPSWITCHES

Onmanymodels

ofthe Timmy there

are internal DIP

switches for

adding additional

clipping diodes.

P

THE TIMMY IS SQUARELY IN THE TUBESCREAMER FAMILY,

BUT LACKS THE PRONOUNCED ‘MID-HUMP’ BUMP

One of the original boutique drives, the Paul Cochrane Timmy has been endlessly

cloned due to its fantastic sound and versatile tone-shaping options

TIMMY