Andy Timmons Pedalboard Dynamics and Essential Tone Components

Controls - Treadle, Bias, Wah-Q, Treble, Bass.

One of the best Wahs around - and one of the very few with 2-Band EQ, Bias and Q controls for superb tone-shaping. If I didn't care about size - then this and the JAM Pedals Wahco would be top of my list - both sound amazing - but they are equally both huge and not particularly pedalboard-friendly.

Sockets - Input, Aux, Output.

Mine and Andy's favourite Compact Expression and Volume / Level pedal combined. Andy uses two of these - one to control the level of his Halo Dual Echo, and one to control the overall output volume. This DVP4 is as good a pedal as you can get for these tasks - I thoroughly recommend this one to everyone too! 

Controls - LCD Screen, 14 Footswitches, Phase Out 2 / Reverse, Bank / Select, 1 | 2 / Outputs, Stomp Box / Mode, RMT Switches } 1 / Tip, 2 / Ring, 3 / Tip, 4 / Ring, Post Gain : Up/Down, Effects Loops : 12 > 1, Pre Gain : Up/Down, Tuner / Aux.

Still the Rolls-Royce of Looper-Switchers as far as I'm concerned - belongs on a Schmidt Array board too. My own rig and circumstances don't really suit those formats - but if I was doing a streamlined board for travel - then it would definitely have one of these on a Schmidt Array board!

Controls - Mode : Calibrate | Flat } Power On, Bypass.

One of the best mini tuners there is on the market - the competition is between this, the TCE PolyTune Mini, and of course the brand new Peterson StroboStomp Mini. Each has its own advantages - while my preference currently leans towards the Peterson - nothing wrong with this ST-300 though - and several users find it somewhat snappier and quicker to use!

Controls - Depth, Chorus / Vibrato Switch, Speed, Bypass.

All of JAM Pedals' devices sound fantastic - they're typically fairly streamlined in terms of features and functions - while they can sound incredible. The RetroVibe is definitely one of the best sounding ones - while I have other preferences that suit me better. Would be nice to add a RetroVibe to the reference collection some day though!

Controls - Gain, Treble, Volume, Bass.

I personally actually prefer the more versatile V2 edition of RC Booster - but so well-loved was the original that it was re-issued by popular demand, and is now part of the current range alongside its more versatile V2 sibling.

Controls - Overdrive, Tone, Level.

You can't really go wrong with the Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini - while once again I have other preferences - my favourite mini screamer used to be the OneControl Persian Green, but is now the Becos FX Ziffer Overdrive - which is just in a class of its own - supremely versatile and really sounds the business too! The TS Mini though is still the industry standard - and not enough are aware of the Becos FX Ziffer as of yet!

Controls - Gain, Treble, Volume, Bass.

Andy used to have his own Red Signature Edition of this pedal (discontinued for a while now) - so I was a little surprised to see that he was just using a standard V1 edition on the board. I spent several weeks trying to find an Andy Timmons BB Preamp - could not find one anywhere in circulation - on none of the usual second-hand webstores - Reverb, Ebay etc.. So I personally went for the Custom Shop BB Mid Boost version instead (also discontinued) - which is even more suited to my preferences. The BB Preamp is a fantastic harmonic booster / overdrive which reminds me a little of a cross between the Boss BD-2 Blues Driver and the Spaceman Aphelion.

Controls - Level, Tone, Gain, Switch : Phat / Stock.

The Keeley Phat Modded / Freak Fuzz Modded Boss BD-2 Blues Driver is still my favourite all-time overdrive - so I can totally see why Andy is into it too! It has beautiful tone and harmonic texture - combined with that superior guitar volume gain cleanup - lots of people use this pedal as a clean boost - with the Drive dialled all the way down. This is a bona fide classic every which way - which led to Andy's recent Super AT Mod signature Keeley pedal - which is really cool in every way - while I still prefer the modded BD-2 - something still magical about that!

Controls - Channel A/B Compressor, Level, Select Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

A great sounding dual channel compressor with separate Compression and Level controls per side / channel. Understandably this is perfect for Andy's needs as it gives him two separate compression levels that he can deploy at will. There really aren't many compressors that do that - otherwise fairly streamlined in nature.

Controls - Fuzz, Level, Tone.

Andy has long used this Pocket Pedal Series OctaFuzz from Brazilian brand NIG - which is known as GNI in the rest of the world. As I discovered a couple of years back - Brazil has a very sizeable native / internal Effects Pedals Market - which is though kind of mostly closed to the rest of the world. When I acquired my fairly recent Aura Amps and Tone Ink pedals from that land - I believe they were two of the very first to ship to Europe - in fact neither builder had an off-continent export option - while some USA customers were involved already. In any case GNI has a somewhat random distribution worldwide - where those few places that do purport to support that brand never have any of these in stock. I would quite like one for myself - and you very occasionally see a vastly over-priced second-hand edition on Reverb.com. As I've been working on this article for a while I've been checking regularly on Ebay and Reverb.com - but no - no sign of any GNI or NIG OctaFuzzes - in fact hardly any GNI pedals at all - or NGI ones for that matter - which means this one is pretty tricky for Andy fans to get - particularly those outside of the Americas!

Controls - Dry, Sub Octave, Octave Up.

One of the great octavers with quite a distinctive tonality - albeit a little large compared to some of the current alternative options. There is a smaller Nano POG also - but some feel it doesn't sound quite so good. Of course Boss has its excellent recent OC-5, and MXR kind of outpaces all by adding in Fuzz and Modulation to its own compact Poly Blue Octave - which would probably be my own pick! 

Controls - Volume, Power/Feel : 25W / 100W / 50W, Drive, EQ, Air/Presence, Boost, Bypass / Engage Footswitch, Boost Footswitch.

Updated V2 Signature Andy Timmons edition - originally based on the JHS Charlie Brown Distortion - with some significant modifications. A pretty cool JCM800 voicing - while it can be a little dark and dense in places - and I feel there are other equally great if not better sounding alternatives which I probably prefer. Still sounds very decent and is actually a key part of Andy's liquid / lead distortion sound!

Controls - Depth, Mix, Mode : Analog (CE-2) / Tri Stereo Chorus (Dytronics) / Dimension (DC-2), Rate, Tone.

A really cool 3-mode Stereo Chorus which takes on 3 of the all-time best loved flavours and delivers them really well. A real under the radar secret weapon - that many have overlooked - including myself too really, Pretty much everything Andy picks is guaranteed to sound great - it's just a matter of format and features really if considering alternatives. I thought my Chorus selection was fairly rounded - where I wanted to add the JHS Emperor V2 - and now I'll probably look to add this one too. This is missing the presents and cool extra features of something like the JA New Wave - which is probably my current favourite.

Controls - Time / HPF, Level / Saturate, Feedback / Press for Alt, Rate / Tone, Depth / Rhythm : Halo Effect, Dotted Eighth, Analog Rack Delay, Quarter, Multi-Head Tape Delay, Settings : A / B / Status, Presets : 1 - 4 (A + B), A Footswitch, B Footswitch, Hold for Tap Tempo per side, Hold on Opposite Side for Infinite / Freeze Effect.

Just a wonderful sounding magic always-on stereo dual echo delay - this was on my wishlist from its announcement - and I pounced on the recent Light Bending Transparent Edition - which was originally supposed to be shipped out on the 18th - we were warned of a 48HRS delay - and that was over a week ago - so no clue on what's happening there - but it's definitely not landing in May for me - which is a shame - really looking foward to it in any case.

Controls - Mix, Depth, Mode : W3T / Plate / Hall / Spring / Sustain / Echo / Down-Tune / Shimmer, Time / Tone, Pre-Delay / Modulation / Blend.

Killer Reverb - I have the Neunaber Illumine myself - because I really need the Presets! Some really classic and classy reverbs on here here - in particular the legendary W3T algorithm. A pretty perfect mix of algorithms for a compact - while the new Alexander Pedals Space Force gives you an equally formidable 8 Modes - but with Presets and Smart Ramping  - both sound superb - while the other has more features and functions.

So we have some rules for the Alternative Arrangement - in that you're not allowed to sub / swap out a current Andy Timmons Signature pedal - which means 4 are pretty much essential here. While you can argue that Andy uses so many of the others all the time that they may as well be considered to be Signature Pedals of his too. For the purposes of this exercise only the 4 Signature ones are sacred and untouchable as such.

A lot of this is about improved format (more compact) - or additional features like presets and further functional elements.

So the Wah is mostly about the size, the Tuner is just a personal preferences - and I have very slight marginal differences for the Xotic ones. The Becos FX Ziffer is just by far and away the best Mini Tube Screamer currently out there as far as I'm concerned.

The new Keeley Super AT Mod is subbed in for the Phat-Modded BD-2 - even though I've decided that I prefer my BD-2. The GNI OctaFuzz is just incredibly tricky to get hold of - and there are a number of other brilliant alternatives - like the recently reviewed Rabbit Hole FX Pile of Sticks, the Fjord Fuzz Odin, Anarounds Crankled Bitoun, and the even more recent Vahlbruch Octavia V2 - which I'm definitely adding to the collection very soon. I will try to get hold of a GNI OctaFuzz - but there just don't seem to be any about currently on any resource that will deliver to the UK!

The Poly Blue is more compact than the Micro POG and has much more to it - with added Fuzz and Modulation.

Finally I love the BCC Spiral Array and Neunaber Immerse - and those are amazing for sure - while the JA New Wave and Alexander Space Race give you additional Onboard Presets and more features.

Here are the suggested swaps - as I would to them :

• Dunlop Mini CBM535AR Auto-Return Wah ($180) : in place of Xotic XW-1 ($280)
• Peterson StroboStomp Mini ($119) : in place of Sonic Research ST-300 ($140)
• Xotic RC Booster V2 ($180) : in place of Xotic RC Booster V1 ($172)
• Becos FX Ziffer Mini Overdrive (€149) : in place of Tube Screamer Mini ($80)
• Xotic BB Preamp Custom MB ($180) : in place of BB Preamp V1 ($180)
• Keeley Andy Timmons Super AT Mod ($199) : in place of Keeley Phat Modded BD-2 ($200-$300)
• Rabbit Hole FX Pile of Sticks Octave Fuzz ($239) : in place of GNI OctaFuzz (C$100)
• MXR Poly Blue Octave / Fuzz / Modulator ($220) : in place of EXH Micro POG ($245)
• JA New Wave Chorus / Vibrato / Rotary ($299) : in place of BCC Spiral Array (£139)
• Alexander Pedals Space Force ($230) : in place of Neunaber Immerse ($249)

Note that in the visual White indicates untouchable choices - which I don't currently have and are not likely for me, Green are Andy-correct choices that I own, and Blue are alternative choices that I own, while Magenta indicates those are still to be acquired - but on the wishlist!

Generally this part of the exercise is just me doing some mapping onto my reference collection and trying to further rationalise some of those slot choices - while I think I will eventually get in most of Andy's first choices just so that I can more easily and authentically replicate his superior tones!