MXR Timmy Review

Paul Cochrane’s Tim and subsequent Timmy pedals from MXR have become legends in the guitar community for being the industry standard for transparent and dynamic overdrive in pedal form. We here at Humbucker Soup are fans of the Timmy and have generally glowing reviews with demos showcasing their strengths.

The simple explanation is that when it comes to low gain overdrive, the Timmy is a great tool for dynamic responsiveness that can be tailored to fit almost any playing style. The only issue is that the Timmy’s well-earned reputation has established it as a high dollar ticket in the used market, fetching prices comparable only to its peers the King of Tone and the Klon. Enter the MXR Timmy, a collaboration between Paul Cochrane and veteran pedal builders MXR who, together, aimed to create an affordable and comparable Timmy in a small enclosure that could be produced in large scale to satisfy demand. Instead of making each of Cochrane’s Timmy’s by hand, he and MXR have developed a mass produced version of the Timmy that features a similar layout and design, all while maintaining the spirit of the original.

At HBS, we got our hands on one and ran it through its paces into a silver face Fender amp using a Les Paul, a Stratocaster, and a Telecaster. The results show that the MXR Timmy does a great job of emulating its older brother’s dynamic, touch sensitive response and low gain musicality. For the price, we think the MXR Timmy is an excellent choice, especially for a guitarist looking for transparency and dynamics and for whom money and pedal board real estate is a priority.

MXR Timmy Layout and Design

When talking about working with MXR, Paul Cochrane called it “an honor” recalling that his first guitar pedal was a Phase 90, an MXR phase pedal whose simple one-knob design and distinctive orange casing remains ubiquitous over five decades later. For the MXR Timmy, we see MXR’s “mini housing” sporting an attractive pale blue. The mini housing has four knobs and a toggle switch that controls clipping styles like those available in previous Tim designs, whether looking for more or less saturation or headroom.

The volume and gain knobs work intuitively, while the bass and treble are both cut controls, the bass happening before the op-amp stage and the treble afterwards, similar to the original Tim design. The idea is that the bass can be hitting the op-amp for more drive or less drive, while keeping the low end in tact, and for the treble to fine tune the signal after the distortion. In playing, the toggle switch sounded best left in the position that allowed for maximum headroom. The other clipping styles can be useful for higher gain settings, but seem to be for special use scenarios. The maximum amount of headroom and dynamics is what we think the Timmy does best.

While using the knobs, the pots don’t seem quite as smooth or dynamic as the larger format of the original Tim. Variance feels minimal when going from slight adjustments of a parameter. The most musical setting seems to be with the bass knob just below noon and everything else just above. The classic feel of the Timmy shines here. The sound is bigger, more articulate and very responsive to pick attack, especially when using single-coils. Of the three guitars we played, the Stratocaster seemed to shine, as it felt inherently dynamic and responsive to attack and could easily go from very clean to edge of breakup and beyond with the above mentioned setting. That said, the humbuckers on the Les Paul also did well, especially with the bass and gain rolled down a little.

Conclusion

The MXR Timmy does a great job of delivering the dynamics and transparency of Cochrane’s original circuit at a fraction of the price and size. It shines with single-coil guitars at low gain/high volume settings where the player’s range of dynamic control are on display. It functions well as an always-on pedal and would do well to be placed after another drive for solos and with heavier, fuzz-like playing moments. While its big brother Tim might be more meticulously assembled and favor specific circuitry and components, the MXR version proves its staying power by being readily available, easy to use, and emulating the classic transparency and dynamics that made the original famous. This is a great option for a player looking for an always-on, edge of breakup sound that will let their playing shine and won’t break the bank.