Linkerman

That's the thing; i had all my equipment with me since i went to jam with some folks in the area.
I added every pedal i tried to my own pedalboard (the stores' employees were fine with it) to see how they interacted with my other pedals, and played it through my own amp, with my own guitar.

And the OD-3 sounded smoother, with lower gain. It has a pretty flat EQ response, but you can definitely tell it's on, so the only downside is that it's not transparent.

The other pedals i tried all boosted some frequencies, in some way, and they all had way more gain on tap than i wanted. Past 9 o'clock on the gain knob, they start to sound like a fuzz pedal, and that's what i have a Blakemore Effects Deus Ex Machina for.


That's what i thought, and since i'm investing time and money upgrading my pedalboard i wanted to replace the OD-3 for a high-end overdrive pedal, because it's "the weakest link" right now.

Granted, i didn't try out the highly-praised Timmy or even a clone, but judging from the videos i've seen i'm afraid it'll end up doing exactly the same thing, and transform into a fuzz pedal really soon as you turn up the gain knob.

__________________
Lead singer. Guitar player. Songwriter. And... sexy beast.

ikey_

i like the signa drive i have. very versatile all around pedal, good build and quality, fairly transparent.

for 135 its really hard to beat. i recommend youtubing it.

__________________
Epiphone les paul custom
Walden G630ce Acoustic
Egnater Tweaker 40 Avatar vertical 2x12 WGS Reaper, vet 30
(crybaby, GFS tune, CMAT Signa Drive, xotic booster, lovepedal trem, mem toy)

Linkerman

I've done my research on it already... If you read the OP you know that the Signa Drive is in my list.

But right now i'm leaning more towards a Zendrive clone (by Toyroom FX).
It fits my budget, and it seems to have much less gain than the other pedals -- which means that i can use the whole range of the gain knob and not only the first third.

__________________
Lead singer. Guitar player. Songwriter. And... sexy beast.

trashedlostfdup

tim (toyroomfx) did a hell of a nice job on the zendrive he built for me. i got that and a timmy clone from him. both are excellent, i bought blindly and would have no problem doing it again. tim is top notch.

__________________

Linkerman

Comparing both your Toyroom FX pedals, can you confirm if the Zendrive has less gain than the Timmy, of if i have the wrong impression?

Thank you very much for you inputs

__________________
Lead singer. Guitar player. Songwriter. And... sexy beast.

gabipe15

TS9 without a doubt, i haven't tried a better OD yet. Maybe its especially the one i have that sound freakin awesome

trashedlostfdup

i just A/B the timmy and the zendrive, the gain is similar, but the timmy is definitely a clean boost, the zendrive is more of a typical OD, it shapes the EQ.

i may sound stupid but they have very similar gain, but just have a different voice. on both the gain really can go down though and both sound good at midgain. ask Tim which one he think has more gain, he builds them.

for record this was a Wolfgang and a Ibanez Prestige 3550, through a dual terror on the lower gain channel. the gain was set low on the amp and mid volume, i added both boosts at unity gain and at max volume and gain. either way you really can't lose.

however if i were to only have one OD pedal i would take the timmy over a zendrive. the timmy can do a lot more. i use it on the second channel of my MKIV and i get really good tone compared to most second channel MKIV's, i don't use it with the third channel through.

__________________

trashedlostfdup

then you need to try some more out

__________________

mmolteratx

Timmy has more gain, but you could lower it very easily.

__________________
WTLT 2012
PBT Native
Gear
GG&A BotB Best Rig 2012

Linkerman

Bottomline, i guess it's worth to upgrade my OD-3 for one of those two Toyroom FX clones.
If i end up not liking it, i guess i can always sell it for roughly the price of a new OD-3...


Now, deciding between those two it's the hardest part, especially because i can't try them before ordering.

The Timmy seems to be the winner in this thread, definitely.
Judging from YT videos of the Timmy and Zendrive (the "brand" ones, i couldn't find reviews of the Toyroom FX clones), the Timmy does have more gain and it seems i won't be using the gain knob post 1/3 of the way (maybe halfway?). Because after that, it enters the field that my fuzz and distortion pedals already cover... While the Zendrive gain range seems more usable to my specific needs.

But those are videos on the internet, recorded god-only-knows-how, while thrashedlostfdup did an A/B comparison between the two (thank you very much ).


I have one last question before settling on the Timmy, though: how well does it behave with solid-state amps?
thrashedlostfdup, you mentioned that the Zendrive is more of a typical OD, which although it makes it less transparent than the Timmy, it may mean that it works better than the Timmy with SS amps.
And that's something i have to consider, since i play in SS amps roughly the same time i play in tube amps... Only the pedals i use are always the same (and that's the reason why i'm being so careful in choosing the right overdrive ).

__________________
Lead singer. Guitar player. Songwriter. And... sexy beast.

trashedlostfdup

honestly they are both great pedals, but IMHO the timmy is more versatile in general. it works with anything, being it more of a clean boost. the zendrive is amazing, just that i don't that it is as versatile.

but if versatility wasn't a factor, i would go for the zendrive, it has enough gain for most everything but doesn't have as much as most OD pedals, the thing i like most about the zendrive is how sensitive it is to dynamics, it just sounds sweet.

have i ever ran them into SS. kind of. i only own one solidstate amp, a randall century 100 (dime used the century 200 on two pantera albums).

i have a musicman 212HD 130 which has a tube poweramp and mine being an earlier model that also has a tube phase inverter. so it isn't your typical hybrid and certainly not SS. the only pedal i tried out in front of it was the timmy, it got along fine. however the musicman is better than most hybrids i have ever heard.

i would ask gumbi about what he things of different OD's and solid state amps. he has quite a few, including a musicman (i am pretty sure he said it is the same as mine), but yea.

typically the way either OD is used as a boost on a tube amp, not to say you can't use it on solid states, but in general it OD's do better with tube amps.

__________________

Linkerman

The way you just described the Zendrive makes me feel it would be a safer bet than the Timmy, for what i want.

By the way, i also asked Tim for his opinion on which of the two would be better for my needs, i'm waiting for his reply!
After all, he literally knows both pedals inside out.


They're supposed to work fine, i was just asking to see if by chance one standed out more than the other.


Just as a curiosity (and i'm quoting Cathbard here, so credit to whom it's due) OD pedals were initially developed as a device to simulate an overdriven tube amp, not to overdrive an actual amp - just go look at the original tubescreamer ads. People then started using them as a boost rather than as a standalone distortion unit but it certainly wasn't their design criteria.

__________________
Lead singer. Guitar player. Songwriter. And... sexy beast.