Paul Cochrane’s twin-footswitch Tim and its downsized little brother, the Timmy, remain two of the most iconic boutique overdrive pedals on the market, having helped to popularize the term ‘transparent overdrive’. Now, a couple of decades on from the launch of the original Tim, Cochrane has offered a sneak peek at its latest V3 incarnation.
In a new Facebook post, the revered builder has shared a prototype of the new design, which has been five years in the making.
The V3 features a shorter box than the original, with top-mounted pots and jacks on the rear, while the FX loop is now tied to the boost footswitch, which should save a few stomps when switching to lead tones.
There are a few tweaks to the control set, too, as Cochrane explains: “The 3-way clipping switch has the same top and middle settings but with a new 3rd more ‘open’ asym setting. A 3-way ‘Hi-Cut’ switch is added which helps it sit better with brighter amps/speakers. It's flat in the middle with -3dB @ 5khz and -3dB @ 2khz settings.”
Other features include a soft switch relay circuit, as well as an internal voltage converter to bump a nine-volt power supply up to 18 volts – as Cochrane observes, “I need to remove that 18vdc from the graphic.”
The builder hopes to launch the Tim V3 “by the end of winter” following a few final circuit and enclosure tweaks.
As per the original, the new Tim will be built by hand, although last year saw Cochrane team up with MXR to launch a mass-produced version of the single-footswitch Timmy in a mini enclosure. We’ll have to wait and see whether the updated Tim receives the same treatment.
