If you’re looking for an EHX Crayon vs Timmy comparison post, you’ve come to the right page!
EHX Crayon 69 Full-range Overdrive
Electro-Harmonix has plenty of interesting distortion pedals that work wonders with tube-driven amps.
One of those is the Crayon overdrive that’s been getting a lot of attention in recent years.
If you’re into overdrives, you might have noticed that most brands focus on copying the classic Tube Screamer one way or another.
However, Crayon is a bit different.
As the full name of the pedal suggests, EHX Crayon is a full-range overdrive.
We’re mostly used to overdrive pedals significantly pushing mids or lower mids of the audible spectrum.
While this is certainly useful, some players might be looking for other solutions.
EHX Crayon has four basic controls for volume, gain, bass, and treble.
As you can see, there’s no tone knob, nor a 3-band EQ, which gives a more of a “full-range boost” feel to it.
Although it’s a simple layout, the pedal brings more diversity than you’d expect.
On lower-gain settings, it’s kind of like a full-range boost with some dirt on it.
From my experience, the bass knob is particularly responsive, giving you a strong bottom-end boost if needed.
But if you keep treble and bass knobs at the same level, you’ll create that dirty full-range boost.
This is particularly useful if you want to push your amp’s natural tone and add just some coloration to it.
However, things change significantly if you push the gain higher.
Sure, the pedal has no control for mids.
But if you push the gain, you’ll get some mids and high-ends in there as well.
Overall, the Crayon has this reputation of a so-called “transparent” overdrive.
In lower-gain settings, it keeps things relatively clean with just some dirt on top.
It feels far less compressed than most overdrives that I’ve tried and can help you get a more dynamic response from your amp.
MXR Timmy
Of course, MXR is another go-to brand for overdrive and distortion pedals that are great for pushing tube-driven amps.
But the Timmy overdrive is a special one.
Here we have one of the company’s Custom Shop pedals, designed with the help of Paul Cochrane.
Well, technically, it’s based on Cochrane’s old pedal of the same name.
Timmy is another one of the so-called “transparent” overdrives on the market.
We have a pretty similar control layout as with the Crayon.
There are the same four basic parameters, but there’s also an additional switch on it.
This is a three-position toggle labeled as “clip” that, obviously, toggles between three different clipping modes.
The mildest mode is asymmetrical clipping with moderate saturation.
It gives you that vintage-ish sort of feel.
Then there’s symmetrical clipping with light saturation, kind of like your regular overdrive pedal.
And finally, we have symmetrical clipping with full saturation, bringing those classic distortion tones.
Overall, the pedal feels a bit fuzzy.
No matter the clip mode that you set, you’ll always have some of that brightness and transparency.
And the high-ends always feel “grainy” or fuzzy.
Additionally, changing the clipping setting really affects the compression as well.
EHX Crayon vs MXR Timmy
Now, it’s really important to note that comparing the two is way more difficult than it seems at first.
The problem is that different players have different experiences when comparing Crayon and Timmy.
However, this tells us that both pedals are more or less “transparent” and allow your guitar and amp to shine.
Both of them are, for the most part, designed to push your amp and just add some coloration and dirt to it.
If you want these pedals to do more work, then use higher-gain settings.
Timmy’s full-saturation mode changes your tone the most.
In some ways, it’s similar to classic distortion pedals, those in the style of Boss DS-1.
However, it brings a slightly fuzzier twist to it but that’s not as high-gain.
The pedal’s tone and response are incredibly vintage-oriented.
I find it super useful for Fender or Fender-style tube-driven amps.
Meanwhile, Crayon brings a slightly different twist to it.
While it’s also a vintage-oriented pedal, Crayon doesn’t feel that fuzzy.
Of course, as its name suggests, it’s a full-range boost.
But overall, it feels warmer and is especially useful if you need something to push the bottom ends more.
In all honesty, I’m not sure if I could say which one is better.
They’re both great in their own ways, all while keeping things “transparent,” so to speak.
Timmy just has a fuzzier feel to it.
Is EHX Crayon Based on Timmy?
After random online searches, I’ve also noticed that some are asking whether Crayon is based on Timmy.
So far, I’ve not seen any concrete evidence to prove whether it’s actually the case.
EHX Crayon most likely isn’t based on Timmy but they do share some similarities.
EHX Crayon Vs Timmy: Conclusion
I hope this article has helped you think through which of these transparent overdrive pedals is best for you!
And if you want to read more about pedals on this blog, then check out:
- OCD vs Plimsoul: Which Is Better?
- Rat vs Big Muff: Which Pedal is Better?
- The Best Volume Pedals for Guitar
Lastly, feel free to leave a message in the comments below if you have more questions about this or another guitar-related topic!
