Just got my MXR Timmy in the mail today after drooling over @LPMojoGL's tones he got with his 4104 and Timmy. Gonna take some playing around with to get a feel for, but so far it seems like it can hit the front-end harder than my EQ pedal and that adding some clipping with the Gain knob adds something that I don't quite get just from clean boosts. Into a clean channel it seems a little wooley, but the same settings into a dirty amp seem to do the complete opposite and add edge and grind. Interesting. Clips at some point in the future...
FWIW, my go-to settings on the Timmy are volume and bass 2 (everything is o'clock), treble and gain 11, diode selector in the middle position.
This gives a big volume push, with little diode clipping and the most headroom for better dynamics, while cutting the bass, and retaining the natural treble sound.
That's with a V2 Timmy.
After reading the manual,
it seems that the tone knobs work in the opposite direction on the MXR.
On my Timmy, full bass and treble are with the knobs fully counter clockwise. On the MXR, full bass and treble is fully clockwise, like the newest Tim. On the MXR, the toggle switch is most open in the middle (my preferred), more saturated to the left (good for a bit of compression and more dirt, less open, like an SD1, more metal) and most saturated and compressed to the right if you really just want a sweet overdrive into a clean amp, or wall of sound (like a Tube Screamer, never use this option myself, you might dig it).
Assuming the MXR sounds like the V2, I'd set the bass to 10 o'clock, treble to 1 o'clock, volume to 2, gain to 11. If the MXR is like the newer Tim, you may have to dial the tone knobs back a bit more, as they seem to come on faster, something like bass 9 o'clock, treble noonish.
To dial it in by sound for boosted Marshall greatness, assuming the master volume is between 1-2 on the dial (loud home/small bar band volume, not loud enough for power tube compression, not bedroom volume dark congested, before the amp opens up) :
Plug into the hi input on the 4104, set the preamp anywhere from 7.5-10 on the dial, depending on how much gain and low end you want. I set to 7.5 if I want super tight attack, the most dynamics to reach lower gain/clean sounds with guitar volume, and use the pedal for more gain. I set to 10 for all the gain, low end, thickest sound, and use the pedal to pull the flubby bass back. My most used preamp setting is like 8-9. I roll it up until I hear the big muddy bass jump, then pull it back to just before that, so I get the most gain without the flabby low end.
On the pedal, start at the suggested settings, V-2, B-10, T-1, G-11. Adjust the bass while chugging on the low e string, dialing it back for more tightness while retaining low end, all the way down for mid-heavy djent, or up for a looser feel. Adjust the treble for brightness, up for peaky bite, down for creamy warmth. Adjust gain for compression and dynamic response. Adjust volume for overall boost and gain. Don't be afraid to peg it, slam that front end, to see what the pedal truly offers. It'll boost so much that it hangs with anything I've used to boost an amp. I'll often compare the Timmy to other pedals, leaving the volume at 1 o'clock. All it takes it a twist on the volume knob for it to win the battle.
Timmy is a great overdrive in to a clean channel. Super easy to dial in
all kinds of different, slight to medium gain crunch tones. Into the low input on the 4104, with preamp gain set at that just not quite muddy bass setting, you can find so many great sounds. It usually helps if the pedal is boosting the volume a bit. I've found this is a good general rule for any type of gain pedal into a clean amp (fuzz, od, or distortion)...a lil bump in volume makes all the difference.
The bass knob is pre-gain. Dial out that wooliness by turning it down a bit.
Timmy is also a fantastic transparent clean boost. I've used it in the effects loop, or last in my pedal chain into a clean amp, as a volume boost when I want to be louder. Tone knobs up, gain to where it barely starts to affect the tone, volume to taste.
It's also the perfect sweetener for a sterile clean channel. A hint of gain and volume boost, bass and treble to taste, will wake up any bland clean channel, like on an EVH or other channel switcher. More than a couple of popular, "always on" pedals are based on the Timmy. Greer Lightspeed, Lovepedal OD11/Amp11, Venuram Jan Ray come to mind.
It's also a fantastic tone shaper when used after other gain pedals. You can boost the volume and tame the eq of an unruly fuzz (Fuzz Face, Tone Bender, Muff). Or give your TS/SD1 more juice with the extra volume, while precisely shaping the tone.
It'll stack with any other gain pedal for another level of gain. I've used it live, in front of or behind other pedals (Angry Timmons, Barber Gain Changer, Klon), as my lead boost pedal and/or my "metal" pedal, essentially adding an extra gain channel to whatever I'm playing.
There's really nothing it can't do, as an overdrive/boost, short of full on distortion.
A good Klone can do almost everything the Timmy does, in a different way. I like it better as a clean channel sweetener and stand-alone overdrive.
I use it for boosting/tightening gain tones when I don't mind a bit of extra bass.
It does pretty well behind other pedals as an extra gain stage and tone shaper. I like the Timmy better for that, and especially as a strictly clean boost.
I wouldn't want to be without either.
