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HNPD: Cool Cat Transparent OD

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tunghaichuan said:
Actually, Paul does lose business, if someone buys from a gouger, then they're not buying from Paul. It is the same thing only for different reasons: buying the Dano results from people not wanting to spend $130 on a pedal. Buying a used, but marked up Timmy results from people not wanting to wait. So Paul loses out on both accounts.
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Not sure I agree with your reasoning here, Tung. I would think that the majority of these gougers buy the pedal for the express purpose of turning right around and selling it at a higher price. In such a case, they merely serve as a middle man--Paul still gets his sale and somebody ends up with Paul's pedal, albeit at a higher price. They pay the premium to avoid waiting several months.

In any case, he's obviously "sold out" if his waiting list is months long. So you can't really say he loses any sales--even to Danelectro--if he's always working from a big backlog of orders. Of course, I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, too! ;)
 
Yeah, I will concede that my reasoning may be faulty here. It just seems to me though, that it is a bit hypocritical for TGP members to blast those who buy Dano TOD pedal but don't blast those making a profit on Paul's work.

Okay, I'll shut up now. :D

tung


duhvoodooman said:
Not sure I agree with your reasoning here, Tung. I would think that the majority of these gougers buy the pedal for the express purpose of turning right around and selling it at a higher price. In such a case, they merely serve as a middle man--Paul still gets his sale and somebody ends up with Paul's pedal, albeit at a higher price. They pay the premium to avoid waiting several months.

In any case, he's obviously "sold out" if his waiting list is months long. So you can't really say he loses any sales--even to Danelectro--if he's always working from a big backlog of orders. Of course, I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, too! ;)
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Pretty damned close. The Timmy sounded a bit brighter & more open, but that could just be smallish differences between the control pot settings. I'm feeling pretty good about that $43 I spent....
 
I thought the Dano had more of a pronounced midrange when activated. I noticed this particularly at about 1:30 in the video. Still the Dano sounds pretty good.
I think the Timmy sounds thin by comparison.
 
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Got my Cool Cat TOD in the mail on Saturday. This Hairy Harry's Music that I got it from may be the best large volume eBay seller I've ever dealt with. Prompt e-mail reply, lightning shipment, excellent pricing, including the shipping. I noticed that the price has gone up $2 to $37, though. Supply & demand, pure and simple....

The pedal sounds very, very good--really quite amazing for the price. Smoother tone than a TS, and not as mid-rangey. Good EQ control range, with separate but concentric treble and bass knobs. I spent most of the weekend fooling around with my new OD2 build, so this one needs some more playing time for me to get better acquainted with it.

The metal casing is a real step up from previous Danelectro effects I've owned, which were all plastic--though I've yet to break one! The knobs take a little getting used to, but really not as bad as some of the comments I've seen posted. Has an attractive matte gold finish. The stompswitch has a nice sturdy feel, too, and a proper "click" when operated.

It's pretty scary that Danelectro can crank out something this good for $40 or so.
 
Listen to the voice in this clip. The guys over at HC seem pretty convinced that this guy is Jack Black, the actor & avid guitarist. Gotta admit--sounds just like him!
 
duhvoodooman said:
Listen to the voice in this clip. The guys over at HC seem pretty convinced that this guy is Jack Black, the actor & avid guitarist. Gotta admit--sounds just like him!
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It's not Jack. I did a bit of sluething and it's not him. And...the guys at HC aren't that bright either.:D

They don't sound too much the same on this video to me. Still the Dano is what I'm looking for. I've already got all the midrange overdrive anyone could ever need with the ZYS so the Dano will be an alternative.

BTW Voodoo- I put a great big ZYS picure up at HC on another one of the "best TS" threads that go on weekly and incuded a link to your web site.
 
Spudman said:
It's not Jack. I did a bit of sluething and it's not him. And...the guys at HC aren't that bright either.
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I wasn't convinced based upon such flimsy evidence, but I had to admit the guy sounds a lot like him.

Spudman said:
BTW Voodoo- I put a great big ZYS picure up at HC on another one of the "best TS" threads that go on weekly and incuded a link to your web site.
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Thanks, dude! :AOK: :dude:
 
As Mark said I have a Timmy, but mine cost $105 I believe. I was on the waiting list for maybe 8 months, but it wasn't a big deal as I forgot about it in the interim.

I am not good enough to put a pedal through all of its paces, but I love mine, so I am happy.

I also want to add that Paul C (Timmy's maker) is a very nice guy.

On the other hand, inexpensive good pedals are a good thing.

Perhaps I should lend my Timmy to Spud, Robert, or Vood for a shootout with their Danos.
 
I got one and I like it. There are times that some midrange hump comes in handy but with the TOD I now have the option of NOT having the hump.

I've only tried it with the Blackheart so far and it's just that little something that morphs the BH into an amp on steroids (small dose). No color just grit. I've even driven the TOD with the Bad Monkey and doing so yields a lot more compression but even though the Monkey is feeding a darker signal the TOD seems to brighten it back up.

I also fed the TOD a Rat signal. That combo was smooth and articulate but too bright. There needs to be some knob tweaking done to run those two together that way.

Now I'm off to try it with the Delta Blues and H&K Edition 20.
 
Just did a test with the Delta and H&K. I ran the pedal - tone at noon, drive at noon, and volume turned to around 9-10 o'clock.

Through the H&K I could get a nicely driven workable sound at a much lower level using the clean channel. It sounded very natural and worked well with the guitar's volume control. On the gain channel it wasn't as nice as I would have hoped. It's probably due to the characteristics of that particular amp though. The gain was over compressed and a little too glassy but that is kind of how that amp is anyway.

Through the Delta clean channel at low volume it sounded much the same as without the pedal and turning the amp up but with the peal there was more note clarity. Dropping the guitar's volume still retained some high end and clarity. There is a little distortion square wave in the over driven signal but it's a good sound. Through the drive channel it was really nice. The bass notes actually sounded more defined and there was no brittleness to the high end. That might be attributable to the 15 inch speaker. Still good clarity and presence when the guitar's volume was rolled back.

Even at the pedal settings described above the drive channels sounded very good and good feedback was easy to achieve. The real kicker is turning up the pedal volume. Wow! There is plenty of power on hand to make your amp sound on fire. On either amp's clean channel I only noticed a slight amount of hiss when the pedal was on. It's not noise free. It's not much but it's there.

All in all I find this a highly usable pedal with a very good sound.
 
Spudman said:
On either amp's clean channel I only noticed a slight amount of hiss when the pedal was on. It's not noise free. It's not much but it's there.
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It's awfully hard to find a pedal with a significant gain factor that doesn't generate at least a bit of noise. Pretty much the nature of the beast. This one is very quiet, as they go. I've seen quieter, but for a lot more $$.

Spudman said:
All in all I find this a highly usable pedal with a very good sound.
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Absolutely, yes. Great value there for ~$40. Even beats out the Bad Monkey, which IMO has held the overdrive pedal "value crown" for quite some time.
 
duhvoodooman said:
It's awfully hard to find a pedal with a significant gain factor that doesn't generate at least a bit of noise. Pretty much the nature of the beast. This one is very quiet, as they go. I've seen quieter, but for a lot more $$.


Absolutely, yes. Great value there for ~$40. Even beats out the Bad Monkey, which IMO has held the overdrive pedal "value crown" for quite some time.
Click to expand...

I was just saying that there was some so that folks don't think it's a super duper boutique pedal.;)

It has way more output than the Bad Monkey but the two do stack well together. I think it is a better pedal for my purposes than the Monkey alone.
 
So, my TOD arrived yesterday (at 7:30 am!). So far it sounds good. Nice crunch, cleans up well, true bypass, etc. But, it lacks sustain (or, "this amph can't do screaming solo"). I thought I'd sell it on and stick with my SD-1 and then I turned the gain down below halfway. My but there's a world of good edgy tones to be had down there. Conclusion, it's a good rhythm OD (they don't call one of the suggested settings "Leeds Crunch" for nothing) and a really good "dirty boost". I think I'll keep it just for the boost. Did I mention it's very, very loud? Like, volume below 1/4 loud?

BTW, in testing this pedal I've realised just how good the SD-1 is. Not totally "transparent" but pretty good in that respect and with tons of sustain and harmonics. The TOD isn't totally transparent either, I'm sure I hear a thickened midrange but nowhere near a Tube Screamer honk.
 
Mark
Try driving the TOD into an amp ready to go over the edge or one that is already saturating. You might find the TOD very useful in that instance. You might also try driving it into another OD pedal. I love stacking.
 
Spudman said:
Mark
Try driving the TOD into an amp ready to go over the edge or one that is already saturating. You might find the TOD very useful in that instance. You might also try driving it into another OD pedal. I love stacking.
Click to expand...

I always run my clean tone right on the edge, think Fender DR on 4 and a bit and, yes the TOD is great for that slight push into breakup. Do you hear what sounds like quite a bit of clean tone coming through with the OD or is the pedal just that articulate?
 
markb said:
I always run my clean tone right on the edge, think Fender DR on 4 and a bit and, yes the TOD is great for that slight push into breakup. Do you hear what sounds like quite a bit of clean tone coming through with the OD or is the pedal just that articulate?
Click to expand...
My experience with the Timmy is that it is very articulate. I only use it in the boost/low gain/crunch realm. When I want a little more going on harmonically but I don't want to kill the dynamics or string definition. It's known to be a gritty rather than a smooth violiny overdrive.


Don't be afraid to kill a lot of treble &/or bass at higher gain settings. If it works like the Timmy that is what the bass/treble cut knobs are for. You can keep your highs & lows at low gain settings & back them off as needed as the gain rises.
 
tot_Ou_tard said:
My experience with the Timmy is that it is very articulate. I only use it in the boost/low gain/crunch realm. When I want a little more going on harmonically but I don't want to kill the dynamics or string definition. It's known to be a gritty rather than a smooth violiny overdrive.


Don't be afraid to kill a lot of treble &/or bass at higher gain settings. If it works like the Timmy that is what the bass/treble cut knobs are for. You can keep your highs & lows at low gain settings & back them off as needed as the gain rises.
Click to expand...

This is where the TOD differs. The tone controls are boost/cut unlike the Timmy's reversed cut controls. That's where it all goes a bit wrong in the comparison video. At one point he talks of turning up the tone controls whereas he's actually cutting treble on the Timmy and boosting it on the TOD.
 
Just picked up one of the TOD's yesterday, fuelled by all those rumors of Timmy comparisons and thinking that if it didn't work out I could always flip it.

But man, I'm really liking it so far. It's got a really BIG sound without being all bassy. Would be great as a clean boost. Since I live in an apartment, I have not been able to really crank it yet, and I'm hoping that it gets enough gain for me. I'd like a bit more than "light" overdrive, though not full-on distortion. It is very transparent, as advertised. Looking forward to taking it to the jam this week!

:rockon:

Bob
 
Other differences with the Timmy.

1) Timmy has dip switches that allow you to select symmetric clipping, asymmetric clipping, or a more compressed symmetric clipping.

2) Timmy has a socketed op-amp, so that if you are like Vood you can change op-amps at will.

3) Timmy can be run at 18 volts.

None of the above may matter one whit to you.

Someday I'll try different op-amps in mine.
 
Straight from a post today on TGP from Paul Cochrane:

I'm all for guys saving money. That's why I've done everything i could to keep the prices as low as i could even though the used prices are around 2x what i sell them for. I've never jacked up the price even though I could. I've wanted to do right by the players.

Now I'm seeing that a lot of players don't care about that stuff. Maybe i should have jacked up the price to make as much as i could while it was hot without worrying about the players...

The thing is that people don't have to have this pedal. If they don't buy my pedal it will not effect their lives. In my case if people don't buy my pedal it does. I'm out of work, and I can't support my family.

If people buy the clone ment to undercut me they save the price of a couple of pizzas. This is a one time savings for them of not very much. But for me it's pretty serious. If everybody goes with the clone of my product than I'm out of work in just a few months.

People are wanting the sounds that my pedal produce, but another company has come in and decided to sell it for less than I do. Some guys are looking at it like the player wins without seeing that I lose. It's very depressing seeing that attitude towards me - "I want what paul makes, but I don't want to pay him for it". so what happens is Dano wins by making a sale. The player wins buy getting something that does what I designed it to. I'm the one that's lost because my only source of income has been taken away from my family in a time where there are no new jobs.

And no matter what the opinons of others are this is how I feel about this. I'm the one missing out in this deal, and I'm the one that made the damn things.

PaulC
tim/timmy pedals
myspace.com/paulcaudio
 
I've been following this controversy on The Gear Page and freestompboxes.org, where someone reverse engineered the TO and discovered it was the same as the Timmy circuit.

I feel for Paul because I can understand how frustrated he feels in trying to feed his family with something that he designed only to have a large corporation copy it and sell it cheaper.

OTOH, I don't think it is fair to attack Danelectro for copying a circuit and not all the others who have cloned circuits (e.g. Ibanez Tube Screamer). In fact most of the "boutique" ODs are either direct or slightly tweaked TS copies.

TGP is a strange place. The posters there seem to be very selective in whom they attack. I've seen several threads where posters have asked for the best clone of a certain piece of gear, namely the aformentioned TS and even the Soldano SLO. No one from Ibanez protested all the cloners making TS copies and Mike Soldano didn't protest people making clones of his amps. No one from TPG came to the defense of Ibanez or Soldano, either.

Another thing that bothers me about the TGP is all the real Tim and Timmy pedals being sold for much more than the current retail price. I must have seen at least 10-20 in the last month. Nobody from TGP has jumped in and called the gougers on making money off of Paul's design. Paul is so backlogged with orders that anyone with a Tim or Timmy pedal can charge $75-$100 over list price and get it. All so that the buyer doesn't have to wait a few months. This hurts Paul too as the sale could have gone to him instead of making an opportunistic seller an extra $100. Where is the ethics discussion in regard to this? I've even heard sellers boast that they ordered a second pedal only to sell it and make a profit.

My understanding of the situation is that the only protection Paul has is over the name, layout and physical appearance of his product. He can't copyright a circuit. He had to have patented it. But since he didn't, he has no legal protection. I'm not a patent attorney, but looking at the circuit, I don't know if he even could have gotten a patent for it.

tung
 

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