Timmy vs Zendrive,

[mcormier]

I know, they are probably 2 completely different beasts.
But here are the Questions.

-Which has more gain on tap?
-Which is smoother?
-which cleans up better?
-Which is more versatile?
-Whats your overall impression on both?
-And what do each of them sound like?

Thanks, Maxim

[el34power]

Where are you located.

[mcormier]

Cheticamp nova scotia. why?

[el34power]

If you would have been in my area. Concidering the cost and choices of gear, i have been thinking of somekind of gear fest.

[mcormier]

i see

can anyone compare the two?

[rh]

I've owned them both (plus a few TIMs).

To me, both the Tim and Timmy excel as low-gain ODs for rhythm sounds. I have turned the gain up on them, and it's good, but not IMHO as "alive" sounding as the Zendrive when the gain comes up and you're using a clean amp. The Zendrive through a clean amp is in a class by itself in my experience.

The Zendrive can do the low-gain OD for rhythm, too, but IMHO it's a waste to use it just for that.

I've heard a TIM with an EQ in the boost loop, however, and that was a freaking great OD sound. Very different from a Zendrive, but definitely good.

[smallbutmighty]

Zendrive has more dirt and is darker sounding. Also smoother with more mid coloration. More of preamp type distortion. Timmy is more transperent and more of a cranked power amp type distortion. Doesn't clean up particularly well.
I use the Timmy for low OD stuff and the Zendrive for mid gain stuff. The Zendrive sounds particularly good w/ humbuckers. I love the way they stack too...a great heavy distortion.
The most striking thing about the Timmy is the EQ section. Brillianty conceived and executed. THe Voice knob on the Zendrive is its strongest point.

I would hate to lose either...I consider them both essential to my sound. If I was forced to choose I'd keep the Timmy. It sounds beautiful no matter what guitar, amp, or pedal it's paired with.

A

[drolling]

Originally Posted by Aaron Cheney

Zendrive has more dirt and is darker sounding. Also smoother with more mid coloration. More of preamp type distortion. Timmy is more transperent and more of a cranked power amp type distortion. Doesn't clean up particularly well.
I use the Timmy for low OD stuff and the Zendrive for mid gain stuff. The Zendrive sounds particularly good w/ humbuckers. I love the way they stack too...a great heavy distortion.
The most striking thing about the Timmy is the EQ section. Brillianty conceived and executed. THe Voice knob on the Zendrive is its strongest point.

I would hate to lose either...I consider them both essential to my sound. If I was forced to choose I'd keep the Timmy. It sounds beautiful no matter what guitar, amp, or pedal it's paired with.

A

Agreed. If I had to choose, I'd also go w/Timmy because of its versatility. It's got this raw, grainy, edgy quality that I really dig- but, like I've said before, I'm starting to wonder if I'm not losing the high end off my earing.

I have the Zendrive set up for a fat lead tone and rarely tweak any of the settings. I'd probably get more out of it if I had HB loaded guitars, but I play mainly teles & strats. The 'voice' control is very cool - reminds me of the 'prescence' knob on my old bf fenders.

[fr8_trane]

I have had the Zen for a couple of months now and I have a timmy on the way. I plan to use them in a complimentary fashion like alot of other folks do. I'll set the timmy for a transparent rhythm OD tone and kick in the Zen for smokey leads.

The Zen is exceptionally smooth and somewhat dark and I keep the voice at 3:00 for the amount of brightness I like. I expect the timmy to be grittier and more neutral sounding. I find the Zen to have limited versatility. It's a fantastic one trick pony AFAIC (fat medium gain leads). I don't really use the low gain tones (below 12:00 on the gain knob) because the fatness of the pedal doesn't really shine through at that level. In fact with single coils I like the gain from 3 - max to get anywhere near the response I get with HB's with the gain at noon. The zen is very good with single coils (especially on the bridge PUP with the guitar tone rolled off) when used at or near max gain, but it KILLS with HB's in a much wider gain range.

[mcormier]

so if i had them stacked, could i get like a Jimmy page lead tone, or the Jeff Beck wired tone or along with a compressor, a gilmour like tone? by the way id be sending them to an orange rocker 30. But i use the orange with no preamp dirt... i keep the volume around 8, and the gain at 4... you really only get preamp dirt with it when the gain is past 5. So my amp's sound is like a dirty clean kind of thing.

[drolling]

Originally Posted by mcormier

so if i had them stacked, could i get like a Jimmy page lead tone, or the Jeff Beck wired tone or along with a compressor, a gilmour like tone? by the way id be sending them to an orange rocker 30. But i use the orange with no preamp dirt... i keep the volume around 8, and the gain at 4... you really only get preamp dirt with it when the gain is past 5. So my amp's sound is like a dirty clean kind of thing.

Ahh man, I love those Rockerverb series amps! But they don't take pedals like my old nonmaster fenders. If you keep the amp clean, like you say, you should be good to go - But those Orange's sound so good without pedals, all you really need's a comp & a delay..

[mcormier]

Originally Posted by drolling

Ahh man, I love those Rockerverb series amps! But they don't take pedals like my old nonmaster fenders. If you keep the amp clean, like you say, you should be good to go - But those Orange's sound so good without pedals, all you really need's a comp & a delay..

The amp is being loved here too.

[jeak]

If you load a Timmy with an LM1458, you'll close the smoothness gap a little. The Zen is still smoother, but it's also darker and less open. With my rig, I think the Timmy is more open and alive sounding. Really breathes like an animal. The Zen is more complex, while the Timmy is cleaner and clearer. I was after the latter, so I've kept the Timmy. Though the Zen is great, I ended up selling it because I felt I could do more with the Timmy. The 1458, IMO, makes it more versatile. It still excels at low gain, but because the chip swap smoothes it out, it also does well in medium-gain territory. And it retains its trademark character throughout its range.