14 Opamp Chips Tested with Timmys----Judge for yourself in audio test

[Angle Loss]

I decided to make a little clip of 14 different chips being used in my twin Timmys to see what difference they made. Follow the link for the clips. One is just the soundclip, and the other (labeled) has audio labels for the chips. The clip was made with a alder/maple strat, Suhr p/u's (first n+m, then just neck) into a '65 Princeton NR w/ Weber alnico, miked with a Sm57 about an inch off the grill, mostly on axis, off the cone maybe an inch. The two Timmys are set with all knobs straight up noon. Generic classic rock noodling ;)

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=471217&content=music edit: link has been changed to soundclick.

I was curious and figured the community here would be as well. Hopefully it will be a useful resource for you guys on picking chips out.

-Chris

[Funky Monkey]

Wonderful! Very well done. Thank you for taking the time.

What I come away with is that I probably couldn't tell if a chip was swapped between the time it would take to get one out and another one popped in.

Don't get me wrong- I do hear differences. But none are bad, or better, or worse. And none screw with the main audible character of the pedal. I know from past experiments that feel is one of the factors, but also only negligibly. I'll trust Paul and stay with the one he popped in there.

Thanks again. Very cool undertaking.

[12StringStrat]

I like the JRC 4559 clip and the TL072ACN clip.

Thanks for taking the time to help everyone else.

[dbx]

Nice work! You even got the Eternity "mystery" chip in there...how did you do the swaps so seamlessly? (or is that good editing?) I wonder if more differences would be apparent at the higher end of the gain/drive range...thanks for the reference...:cool:

[Angle Loss]

Thanks guys. Some of the differences can be pretty subtle. I do love the TL072ACN though in the Timmy. The LM11458 is nice also and a little bit warmer. I just wondered exactly what they would sound like all together to see if what I percieved seperately was true. I swapped two chips at a time with the both Timmys. It still took a long time, but was much faster than one at a time. I did test some of them at higher gain settings, but didn't feel there was as much difference, plus I use other pedals for higher gain anyway. Please keep the observations coming, I think it is interesting to find which chips everybody likes/dislikes.

[jb1911]

I like the JRC 4559 clip and the TL072ACN clip.

Thanks for taking the time to help everyone else.

I totally agree. I did the same test myself without the clips and I came to the same conclusion. I'm glad to have these clips to back up what I found. Thanks a ton for doing this.

[phishmarisol]

Great clips. When I ran through a bunch of opamps on the Timmy a while back I decided that I liked the original the best. I felt the same way from your clips.

[Angle Loss]

I never felt that the Timmy was great for leads but loved it for rhythm work. The TL072 made it feel better for leads for me. That is one of the harder things to communicate in clips is how each affects the feel. For instance, the JRC4458 and TA7558 felt congested in the midrange, whereas the LM1458 and RC4558 were clearer.

[Rex Nomad]

Where do you get your opamps? I can't find the TA7558 or the TL02202CP.

[Angle Loss]

Most opamps I get from Small Bear Electronics on the web. The TA7558 came out of a 1985 TS-9 Tube Screamer. Funny thing is it didn't sound too bad in the Timmy but it was absolutely wretched in the TS-9!

[Uma Floresta]

This is great! I probably liked the JRC4559 the best, but it's close

[trishoot]

Thanks a ton for doing this! +1 on the LM1458.

[brianf]

First, thank you for the hard work!!!!

To me some siound the same. I could not tell the diff but after a few listens the TL072ACN stood out for me.

brianf

[aeonlux]

Thanks for this. I listened 5 times over, taking notes on the last 3 passes. Of all of them, I have two faves:

#1 - "cleaner" = TL072ACN - I loved the overall balance, chord definition, and singing quality of the lead tone.

#2 - "pushed" = JRC4559 - A very musical (to my ear) saturation and character.


cheers,
Ian

[Boogie Boy]

I thought the metal zone sounded the best:NUTS

[♪♪♫♫♪]

Anyone ever tried this with an MI Audio Blues Pro?

[cber1517]

Anyone ever tried this with an MI Audio Blues Pro?

+1 - Does anyone use the LM1458 in their Blues Pro?

:munch

[steinwand]

thx alot for doing this - inspired me to swap too :AOK

[steinwand]

btw: corksniffery in perfection - love it!

[odourboy]

Thanks for doing all this work. You've pretty much demonstrated what I've felt for a while... the differences are more subtle that some would have you believe. :dude

[smogfalls]

awesome, thanks so much for this invaluable learning material! Very helpful indeed. :dude

[emeka]

Thanks for the time and effort. I have some swapping to do myself, mostly for kicks as I have no problem with the JRC4559... I'll try the LM1458 next.

[goldie-gold]

That was fantastic. Thanks for doing that.

I did some chip swapping in my E and found it to be an interesting excercise.

I found with the E, and feel from your clips, that swapping the chip changes everything and nothing all at once. What I mean is that the many of the intricacies of the sound change all at once, but by a very small amount.

I question whether the listener picks up on these changes, although I know for myself that small changes in sound really affect my enjoyment and therefore the freeness of my playing - I think the listener certainly hears this.

[stratplayer80]

Thanks for taking time to do the comparisons. I like the JRC chip best

[DT7]

The "mystery chip" sounds to me like it's a JFET input opamp...not bi-polar. All the TL0XX series are JFET...and there are others. :cool: