MXR Timmy

The MXR Timmy is a mini overdrive pedal from MXR's Custom Shop, built around a design licensed from veteran pedal builder Paul Cochrane, whose hand-built Timmy has been widely celebrated among high-level pros since its introduction in 2004¹². Dunlop describes it as providing "a huge, responsive range of gritty and textured tones that enhance the sound of your rig while preserving its fundamental character"³. MusicRadar calls it "a touch-sensitive overdrive that works with your playing, a neutral dealer of crunch and output between your guitar and amplifier" with no huge coloration to your tone².

The pedal arrived in 2020 as a partnership between Cochrane and MXR, packing the circuit into an MXR mini housing that frees up pedalboard space⁴³⁵. It carries the model number CSP027 and lists at $159.99 USD as of October 2026⁶, with Guitar World citing a street price of $129.99 / £139⁷.

The controls

The MXR Timmy has four knobs, Volume, Bass, Gain and Treble, plus a three-way Clip switch⁷. What sets it apart from most overdrives is how the tone controls behave: both are cut-only, and they sit at different points in the circuit.

Dunlop says the cut-only approach keeps your signal's character intact while making it easy to dial in a clean boost³. Guitar World's Paul Riario noted the configuration "won't be to everyone's liking but is faithful to the original"⁷.

Why the knobs work backwards

The bass and treble controls are reversed compared with a normal EQ: you turn them clockwise to cut frequencies and anticlockwise to leave more in². Guitar World's history of the original Timmy explains that its EQ controls are cuts, "making them function 'backward' to controls that increase the level of an EQ band"¹⁴. Guitar Pedal X notes the inverted Bass and Treble controls were an annoyance on the first two generations of the original, and that a later 15th Anniversary V3 edition normalized the knobs¹.

Three clipping modes

The Clip switch provides three different clipping styles for a multitude of scenarios, in Dunlop's words³. Reviewers describe the three positions as one asymmetrical and two symmetrical clipping patterns²⁷, each offering varying degrees of saturation, headroom, dynamics and compression⁷. Sweetwater's demo describes the three options from left to right as light compression, wide open, and compressed¹¹, with Dunlop's own Frankie describing them as an asymmetrical clip, a very open cleaner clip, and a more compressed symmetrical clipping¹⁵.

Guitar World's reviewer preferred the middle position, finding it had the most breath, body and touch-responsiveness of the three⁷. The switch was adopted from the original Timmy's second version⁵.

Power and specifications

The pedal runs on 9 volts from a Dunlop ECB003 adapter or an MXR Brick Series power supply, and it cannot be powered by a battery³. MusicRadar lists it as 9V adapter only, with the adapter not included².

Under the hood is an LF353 op-amp, a component Dunlop's engineers respect for providing high output, high gain and a hi-fi signal, chosen to help the pedal perform similarly to the original in the smaller enclosure³. Guitar World's Alex Lynham notes the Timmy circuit offered a radically different take on the op-amp overdrive from the dominant Tube Screamer, with a two-band EQ and a low-pass and bass cut filter that together make a surprisingly powerful EQ section¹⁶.

From Paul Cochrane's Timmy to the licensed MXR version

Paul Cochrane introduced the original Timmy in 2004, hand-building the pedals himself²¹¹. The original went through versions: a second version added the three-way clipping switch, and a 15th Anniversary V3 edition normalized the knobs and slightly changed the clipping¹. In 2020, Cochrane partnered with MXR to launch the mini version⁴, an officially licensed production with the designer's involvement¹⁷. On his YouTube channel, Josh Scott of JHS Pedals confirmed that "Paul Cochran's involved. Mike's involved."¹⁷

Guitar.com reported the pedal as budget-friendly and extremely pedalboard-friendly thanks to its slimmed-down construction¹², and MusicRadar noted the $129.99 launch price made a new version of one of the most usable gain pedals available to far more players¹⁸. Guitar Pedal X compared the MXR Mini Timmy with the V2, finding them supposed to be nigh identical but with slight timbre and texture differences due to parts variances¹.

What reviewers said

MusicRadar's verdict: "Smaller, more affordable, more available and just as musical as Paul Cochrane's originals, Timmy remains one of the first names that come to mind when you think of transparent overdrive"². Tone Island calls it famed for its transparent overdrive and extremely well-built¹³, and Delicious Audio included it in its list of best overdrive pedals⁵.

Guitar World's Paul Riario found the clean-to-overdrive switching "as seamless as switching from clean to a mild gain channel from a tube amp," with a gradual gain-bump into light compression and a very pleasing natural breakup, plus more dynamic presence than a regular overdrive, a clear top-end chime and midrange warmth⁷. His reasons to buy were its versatility for shaping tone, small footprint and good value; his reason to avoid was the cut-only bass and treble⁷.

Sweetwater's Don Carr demoed the pedal, noting it carries the same controls as Paul's original Timmy in MXR's mini housing, with both EQ controls cut-only to preserve your amp tone, and a gain sweep from clean boost to thick single notes for medium-gain overdrive tones¹¹.

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Josh Scott covered the pedal's history and licensing on the JHS Pedals channel, including the 2022 release context and Cochrane's involvement in the MXR version¹⁷.

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Who uses it

Guitar World's overdrive buying guide lists the MXR Timmy as used by Billy Gibbons, Brad Whitford of Aerosmith, and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver¹⁹.

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