Family Portrait

Tim Pedal by Paul Cochrane

You have to be pretty patient when you order this custom boutique overdrive from Paul Cochrane. But when you're a one-man outfit making a quality product by hand it's hard to keep up with demand. What started out as a Monty Python joke from the movie "the Holy Grail" the name just stuck. The Tim pedal is pound for pound a great value even if some of the larger companies are trying to duplicate the circuitry and outsource it to China. Don't be fooled however, there is only one real deal and the design on this pedal is amazing. For starters, the treble and bass controls are actually cut switches. It is designed to deal with the mid-hump that is prevalent in most overdrive pedals. He reverse engineered it to be flat when turned completely clockwise. He also isolates the bass control pre-distortion which allows you to play on crunchier settings without getting too muddy. The unit also has a separate effects loop built in so you can add delay or any other swirly effects for added layering. The back of the unit sport two extra knobs for tweaking the sound. The drive control changes the gain of the clipping of the circuit while the tone knob controls the low end of the gain at higher boost levels. As if that wasn't enough, he included a pull-pot on the drive to increase the clipping of the distortion while adding compression. For someone who likes to tweak your tone or sound this pedal is paradise. The Timmy (Tim's little brother) takes up less real-estate and has dip switches in lieu of the drive and tone controls. The circuit board is otherwise the same less the separate effects loop. A lot of thought went into this pedal and Paul is not only a great person to deal with but a true tone-artist as well. This pedal is definitely worth the wait, you won't be disappointed.

Top 10 Boutique Overdrives

1. Klon Centaur
2. Lovepedal Eternity
3. Analogman King of Tone
4. Cochrane Tim
5. Hermida Zendrive
6. Blackstone Appliances Mofset
7. Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive
8. Cusack Screamer
9. Gearmanndude Luther
10.Crowther Hotcake

Great Effects Related Resources & Links

http://www.analogman.com/ One of the best boutique builders/modifier of effects on the market, his King of Tone is a "must have" for tone purists as well as other great effects
http://www.effectsdatabase.com/ A great resource for every pedal ever made with great descriptions and even links to purchasing these terrific effects
http://www.oldtonezone.com/ One of my favorite sites that pairs classic pedals against each other for a duel... you won't regret clicking on his overdrive comparinator(is that a word?)
http://www.guitarforworship.wordpress.com/ A praise community that features great articles on equipment, music, an interesting blog, and most of all....God.
http://www.americaspedal.net/ A terrific link for all things DOD. A period of history for a popular mass-produced pedal from the 90s.
http://www.gilmourish.com/ A tribute page to David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and his equipment
http://www.tonequestreport.com/ A subscriber page that has great articles relating to guitar tone
http://www.harmony-central.com/ A user-based forum and resource of pedals and music equipment
http://www.pedalgeek.com/ A supplier of guitar stompboxes and effects
http://www.smallbearelec.com/ Supplier of do-it-yourself build kits and components of pedals
http://www.buildyourownclone.com/ A supplier of components and electronics to build your own clones
http://www.modezero.com/ A collections of pictures(inside and out) of pedals with sound files
http://www.tonefrenzy.com/ A gear database of some popular effects with sound files and articles
http://www.musictoyz.com/ One of my favorite websites that has great equipment,videos, and articles
http://www.noiseguide.com/ A page devoted to everything harsh or noise related to music
http://www.big-muff.net/ A museum devoted to one of the most popular effects with all incarnations
http://www.thegearmall.com/ A site with a great selection of the finest boutique effects and equipment
http://www.musicplayers.com/ An online magazine relating to equipment and musicians
http://www.schematicheaven.com/ A site devoted to electronic schematics for effects & amps
http://www.diystompboxes.com/ Aron Nelson's site devoted to building effects
http://www.sonicflux.com/ A gear site for quality used effects pedals
http://www.guitargeek.com/ A site dedicated to the pedalboards of professional musicians
http://www.gearmanndude.blogspot.com/ One of the most informative and entertaining pedal freaks
http://www.robertkeeley.com/ One of the finest pedal builders/ pedal modifiers out there
http://www.vintageguitar.com/ A site dedicated to classic gear, guitars, and amps
http://www.klon-siberia.com/ Probably hands-down the best boutique overdrive available
http://www.americanguitarboutique.com/ A web-dealer selling the finest music gear available
http://www.blackstoneappliances.com/ Home of the great boutique Mofset overdrive pedal
http://www.fulltone.com/ Mike Fuller's custom built collection of effects
http://www.zvex.com/ One of the greatest hand-built and hand-painted effects that are very unique
http://www.cusackmusic.com/ Reality in Tone, home of the greatest Tubescreamers out there
http://www.ehx.com/ One of the most respected classic effects companies in the industry
http://www.fuzzbox.com/ Home of Prescription Electronics hand-built custom pedals
http://www.menatone.com/ Brian Mena's classic hand-built & wired pedal selections
http://www.stevesmusiccenter.com/ A mail order company specializing in a huge selection of effects
http://www.bostonguitar.com/ Home of Boston Guitar Works.. one of the coolest music shops in the US
http://www.visualsound.net/ Home of one of the most respected tone machines in the industry
http://www.bossarea.com/ A great database for one of the most popular effects in history
http://www.bossus.com/ The official web-page of the most popular effects pedals in history
http://www.jimdunlop.com/ Home of Dunlop and MXR pedals, a true classic in the industry
http://www.lovepedal.com/ Sean Michael's custom built boutique pedals- one of the best ever

Carl Martin Heavy Drive

I remember talking to a fellow collector who claimed one of his favorite pedals was the Heavy Drive. I found one on E-bay at a bargain price and now I understand. The Danish made pedal manufacturer designed by Holm Malquist are quality designed and they sport the same Denmark design by sister company TC Electronics. Many of their pedals have received rave reviews but if you want to turn your Vox AC-30 into a Triple Rectifier look no further. The Heavy Drive sports two mid controls called Attack and Edge that will deliver Mesa Boogie in spades. There must be something in the Scandinavian water or Lutefisk.... see ... http://www.carlmartin.com/

Mill Hill Landmine

Ok, sure it has war overtones... but is aggression such a bad thing when it comes to distortion? I don't think many of these were produced but I had to step on something that looked like a land-mine. It is one of the most unique housings(maybe the tallest) of any effects I own. It has a unique open-bottom enclosure that shows it's simplistic engineering too. With just 2 large knobs on the side it's a short-lived unique piece of pedal history. For more info see http://www.musictoyz.com/guitar/pedals/millhill.php

Tech 21 XXL distortion

Certainly the cool metal spun graphics add to the mojo of this tasty device from Tech 21. In the mid 90's Tech 21 had already established itself with it's revolutionary DI device the Sansamp. Now they had created a distortion toy that could allow tweaking of the number of odd and even harmonics when you picked the strings via of a warp control. It was another leap-forward design that was just as short-lived. Even though it was featured in the best 50 stompboxes of all time it was soon phased out. It is still a fun distortion box to play through with enough sustain and grind to lead you to shredding nirvana. A lot of great things have come out of NY and this is one .. http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/effects/xxl.html