MXR

TOTAL GUITAR OCTOBER 2020
94
W
e guitarists love
a yarn, especially
when it comes to
tone. Tales of
golden-eared
wizards crafting away at their
breadboards in an attempt to
create the Holy Grail of guitar
sounds, the virtues of which are
spread word-of-mouth by players
in the know. If you’re destined for
it, it’ll fi nd its way to you. But only
once you’re ready.
Except the story of Paul
Cochrane and the Timmy isn’t
a tale. His original late-90s Tim
overdrive was well received, but
took up too much ’board space.
So Paul produced the smaller,
four-control version as the
Timmy in 2004, helping kickstart
the trend for boutique transparent
overdrives.
But there’s a problem with
‘boutique’; its exclusive nature
means that not everyone can
get their hands on the product.
Enter MXR with mass-production
capabilities and global distribution
chain and now you can get an
offi cial, Cochrane-collaborated
Timmy for an aff ordable price
from a dealer in your own town!
As with the original, the
Timmy’s tone controls act as cuts,
rather than boosts. As such they
are ‘reversed’: turn them to the
left to increase their eff ect. The
bass control comes before the
overdrive part of the circuit,
so you can reduce the low
frequencies being fed to the gain.
The three-position toggle off ers
three diff erent levels of clipping,
from low gain on the left and
maximum on the right.
Sound-wise, there’s a lot of
mileage here. From low gain/high
output forcing our amp’s preamp
to work harder, to thick, harmonic,
amp-like drive at higher settings.
It’s responsive, too, reacting
dynamically to volume changes
from our guitar’s controls.
It’s sometimes tough to get
excited about yet another
overdrive, but this isn’t just
any other drive. It’s a modern
classic that will serve multiple
purposes in your rig.
Stuart Williams
MXR TIMMY
Meet the accessible version of a cult classic
TYPE:
Boost/Overdrive
CONT ROLS: Bass,
treble, gain, volume,
clip toggle switch
SOCKETS:
Input, output, power
BYPASS:
True bypass
POWER:
9v adaptor only
(not included)
CONTACT:
Westside Distribution
www.jimdunlop.com
AT A GLANCE
TH
E G
AS
S
T
A
T
I
O
N
£139
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
USABILITY
TGR337.gear_quick.indd 94 10/09/2020 14:04