Paul Cochrane Timmy V2

Features:
- Controls for volume, gain, treble, bass
- 3 way clipping toggle
- True bypass
- Powered by 9v battery or boss style adapter
- Handwired by Paul Cochrane
- Top quality parts, components
- Bright LED indicator

The Timmy isn't an insanely popular pedal outside the boutique community, but those who have tried it usually swear by it. Before I got one I was promised the best transparent overdrive pedal money could buy. This was interesting to me because I was tired Tubescreamer style pedals that would turn my sound to mid heavy spikes. I've tried clean boosts as well as a number of "neutral" overdrives and none of them were getting me what I needed from my AC30 hand wired combo. As soon as I switched on the Timmy everything changed. It was truly that "my amp plus more" tone that I was looking for. Tons of pedals claim they can do this but the Timmy does it...really. The controls are simple. Usually you can leave everything on noon and adjust the gain to taste. I have a Friedman Brown Eye which can be bassy at times. I just take the bass knob down on the Timmy and i'm good to go. It's really that simple. The EQ is perfectly responsive. The volume sometimes need to be set a little low to match levels, but that's what it's there for.

I actually own two now I love it so much. One is set with gain at about 3 or 4. The other at noon. Stacked they sound awesome too. The best thing about the Timmy is that you can't tell it's on. It sounds like you're magically adding gain. Theoretically, a clean boost should do this. The Timmy just does is much better. What can I say? I can't give it a 10 because they are hard to get a hold of. There is an 8 month wait and if you want one now you have to find a used pedal and pay the price. It really is worth it though. If I had to dream up an ideal overdrive, it would be the timmy. Cochran builds a quality product...and sturdy too by the way. Never had any issues.

Features:
- Controls for volume, gain, treble, bass
- 3 way clipping toggle
- True bypass
- Powered by 9v battery or boss style adapter
- Handwired by Paul Cochrane
- Top quality parts, components
- Bright LED indicator


Usability:
Not your standard tubescreamer type pedal. For a start, the controls are laid out in a…lets say unique way. The gain and volume knobs are standard, with top gain fully clockwise. On the other hand, volume and bass are completely attenuated when fully clockwise, so it takes a little while to get used to them.
The three way switch is located on the outside of the V2 Timmy, which controls the clipping circuit. According to Paul, select the top one for asymmetrical clipping and the bottom two for symmetrical clipping. The middle toggle is also louder for some reason.

Sound:
The remarkable thing about this pedal is the extent to which it is almost totally transparent, and doesn’t really color your tone. You can really tell, when used alongside other OD pedals the extent to which they introduce a mids hump by comparison. It really just sounds as your amp would if you were pushing it hard. Because of this, it doesn’t really work as a boost to push you through the mix or tighten up a high gain amp.
The Timmy is a low to mid gain OD pedal, so don’t expect it to do any high clipping. It’s a pretty smooth OD sound, but can be pretty versatile between the tone controls and clipping options.

Overall:
Really just an incredibly transparent smooth OD pedals that does great things at the low to mid gain threshold. That said, it isn’t for everyone and may not work with every setup. Paul is the first to state up front that it is not the be all and end all of OD pedals. These aren’t the easiest to get a hold of with a waiting list around 8 months. That said, if you do buy the pedal new, Paul prices it incredibly low compared to pedals of similar quality and prestige at $129 including shipping, and 1 week trial, so it’s well worth getting on the waiting list to see if it works for your setup, the ebay used prices are stupidly high. Paul can be reached on his Myspace, and can take a while to get back to you if you email, but is one of the nicest guys on the boutique pedal circuit, and highly dependable.