MXR Collaborates With Paul Cochrane for a Mini Timmy

January 14, 2020 · 6 sources

MXR announced a partnership with acclaimed pedal builder Paul Cochrane to produce the MXR Timmy, a mini version of his Timmy transparent overdrive, as a Custom Shop Mini Edition¹. Cochrane is world-renowned for the Timmy overdrive, and the new MXR variety was said to match the original entirely in function and tone².

The pedal houses a Cochrane-approved overdrive circuit in an MXR mini chassis, built around an F353 op-amp chip to help the Timmy perform similarly in the smaller enclosure³. Dunlop described the project as an effort to "adapt the Timmy Overdrive into an MXR mini housing"⁴.

The MXR Timmy is a touch-sensitive overdrive that works with your playing, acting as a neutral dealer of crunch and output between your guitar and amplifier, with no huge coloration to your tone³. Its controls are:

• Bass and treble cut-only EQ, reversed so that turning clockwise cuts frequencies and anticlockwise enhances them³
• Gain and volume³
• Clip toggle switch selecting between three clipping patterns: two symmetrical and one asymmetrical³

In a Sweetwater demo, Dunlop's Frankie described the switch as offering "three clipping one is an asymmetrical clip one is a very open" cleaner clip, and a more compressed symmetrical clipping option⁵.

The pedal is true bypass, with input, output and power sockets, and runs on a 9V adaptor only, with no battery option and no adaptor included³. MusicRadar reported the price as $129.99, calling it a competitive price point for a new version of one of the finest and most usable gain pedals on the market¹; Guitar World later listed the street price at £129⁶.

MusicRadar's review team found the mini version smaller, more affordable, more available and just as musical as Paul Cochrane's originals, a pedalboard must-have³. The Timmy sits in MXR's Custom Shop line alongside collaborations such as the Il Torino Overdrive, and in the wider world of overdrive pedals. Full details are on the MXR Timmy product page.