17 posts
Quick story...about 3 or 4 weeks ago I bought an analogman modded ("Brent Mason Mod") Sparkle Drive from a local guy. It was pretty cool but it didn't quite gel with my guitars/amps, in fact the only guitar I really ended up liking it with was when I borrowed my dads Strat. Seems to be more of a single coil friendly pedal I guess. Eh. No sweat, I only paid $50 for it. Anyway...the local GC got in this "Timmy" pedal in the meantime, which I sampled with gear similar to mine this morning and I loved it. So I traded the modded SD in for cred and actually got more for it ($70) than I paid the dude in the first place, lol. The Timmy is a V1 and in perfect condition, was a mere $30 more so I figured why not.
EDITED FOR BETTER TONE: Clip of the Timmy (set for a clean boost) pushing the Rivera (set to a med crunch) into higher saturation...
Timmy > Rivera
Good luck with it.... the floor looks nice in that room with that array....... 8-)
Thanks you, DBM! Couple of those stay in the amps loop (EQ and delay), the others run in front. I caught myself getting a little too drive pedal happy the last couple of years and realized I just prefer going to my amps for the majority of the gain and then using a pedal to push it one way or another when needed, so I sold off a good three drive/distortion pedals (Bogner Red, Jetter Red 2 and lastly the Sparkle Drive). Neither the Timmy nor the RC are really gainy pedals, I'm using them as clean boosts in front of either amp to push an existing tone (or tighten the low end, etc) without coloring things.
how is the timmy different from the rc? different eq?
Sounds great. As expected. I have a Timmy as well and it's a great pedal. I don't use mine exactly that way. a bit of gain, less boost, a bit more B and T rolled off.
I have to admit that Paul has me interested in the TC Spark Boost. Active bass and treble controls and not too spendy.
Sheep - the RC sounds a TINY bit warmer and ever so slightly more compressed than the Timmy. The RC definitely has less gain too. The Timmy has more gain than I was expecting actually, which is cool, it's more versatile in the end I suppose, doing both a 100% clean boost or a fairly crunchy drive of it's own. I'm keeping the RC because it's a better match with my Chupa - which is on the bright, hairy side.
Thanks, dtr! Those Timmy settings in the pic are what I used in the clip fwiw. I haven't had time to mess with it much, just dialed it in for a quick test run. I can't even find a manual for this thing online - didn't know it until after I tracked the clip, but it seems as thought the eq dials are 'cuts' rather than traditional sweeps.
Yes, they are cut controls only. Full CCW = wide open and the more you turn them "up" the more you are cutting B or T. Mine is V2 (I did have a V1) so my clipping options are externally switchable. I encourage you to open it up and play with the DIP switches inside, which are your clipping options) because the stock setting is not my favorite one. That's if you are going to use it for gain at all. I think you'll find it does pretty well if you want to add a little gain as well and the three choices are a nice addition to the flexability/tones.
Paul C. says as a rule of thumb, the farther you turn the gain up, the more you will probably need to turn up (knob, but down in level) the bass and treble. True from my experience. For fun, take the back off, put everything around noon and experiment with the clipping options. I'm sure you can find the manual online to tell you what they are.
Holy shit - there's a dip switch on the inside?! Cool!
I'll look into that pronto!! You don't have a copy of the manual do ya?
Thanks.
think I do. I'll look for it.
There are two DIP switches inside and they provide the 3 clipping options. The only change to the V2 pedal was that he moved that to an external switch so you don't have to open it up to change. I'll PM you if I find it.
You've tried an xotic, and a Timmy, but not a Klon? It's like Camelot with Arthur and Merlin but no Lancelot.
I've made a few xotics, the AC and RC are nearly identical, Tubescreamers with baxandall eqs and a reduction of the high-mid peak. I'm using a BB that I built right now, with some modifications to keep more low end in. That pedal has just about 30dB of boost which is a shitload. The timmy is its own thing although, really, there's nothing new in pedal building... The Klon is the other thing that there is nothing really like. I've got klon clone boards on hand...
The Klon and Honey Bee are the two that interest me most as far as future pedals, except of course for a Fuzz Face type and a Muff type.
Well, I'm not a huge pedal guy so I really only go out of my way to sample whatever passes through town via the second hand market. I've read lots of great things about the Klon. I may over time decide the RC is not needed in my apps and will dump it for a different flavor boost. For now I'm gonna hope to continue digging just the amps and when needed, a little jolt from the Timmy.
I saw the dip, Howie, both switches were in the 1 & 2 position, so I'm quessing this is stock/standard. No time to play today, but if moving them to the "on" side simply adds more clipping, I'll prolly leave them be as I intend to use it as a nice, transparent boost.
I looked, don't have it. I never scanned it when I had mine (the original printout with the pedal). The don't necessarily add "more" clipping. They change from symmetrical to asymmetrical. I'll look at the paper with my new one when I get home because they do the same thing, it's just external switch instead of internal DIP
Each switch adds one diode in series with the two diodes that are already in series in each waveform direction. What that means is you can get asymmetrical clipping by flipping either one, and slightly louder/less distorted compressed overall by flipping both. In none of the positions should it make the pedal more distorted, in fact any setting other than stock would soudn less distorted and slightly louder.
Ok, cool, thanks fellas! I guess I WILL try it tomorrow then and see if flipping them around grabs my attention.
Thanks for looking Howie - sounds like I can live without the manual.
DreamTheaterRules — Sep 09, 2013The Klon and Honey Bee are the two that interest me most as far as future pedals, except of course for a Fuzz Face type and a Muff type.
Yeah, I forgot to mention the Honey Bee. I love that pedal. Although right now the Black 65 is trying very hard to earn a permanent spot on my pedal board... but yeah, the Honey Bee is also its own thing.
