Uploaded December 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Today, we’re comparing four of the best mini transparent overdrive pedals on the market: the Wampler Tumnus Germanium, the MXR Timmy, the MXR Duke Of Tone, and the Nobels ODR-mini!
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Wampler Tumnus (standard edition) at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/470339?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/daveY2
MXR Timmy at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/486929?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/3eaYgn
MXR Duke Of Tone at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/551146?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/baK5YM
ODR-mini at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/452254?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/JzZkre
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These four dinky drive pedals all represent cornerstones of modern guitar tone: the Germanium Tumnus is a Klon Centaur clone (or klone) with the magic “unobtanium” Germanium diodes, and the ODR-mini – little brother to the iconic ODR-1 – is a once Nashville session player secret that’s now on boards everywhere thanks to its incredible tones and the power of YouTube and people like Tom Bukovac and Tim Pierce.
Meanwhile, the MXR Timmy and Duke Of Tone are collabs between the brand and two boutique pedal legends – you’ll all know the Paul Cochrane Timmy and the Analogman King Of Tone and Prince Of Tone that these two were based on!
Despite being labeled as transparent overdrives, though, these pedals all have their own thing going on – and what we’re doing here is listening to them together (and having some stacking fun too!) to really find out where the tonal differences are, and which of these would fit best on your pedalboard at the end of the day.
Although the Germanium Tumnus is sold out, the standard Tumnus sounds – to my ears – almost dead on, and will set you back around $149/€149. The MXR Timmy and Duke Of Tone are around $149/€199, so way cheaper than the iconic originals they’re based on. Cheapest of the bunch by a long way is the $79/€79 ODR-mini, which is a bargain by anyone’s standards these days.
So, have a listen, and let me know in the comments which one you think sounds best! In the video, I run the four pedals through an indie rock loop played on the bridge single coil pickup of my Fender Telecaster, then a classic rock loop using the bridge humbucker of my Epiphone Les Paul. The pedals are running into my Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Classic on the clean channel, with no reverb.
Here are some links to the various parts of the video:
00:00 Introduction and what we’re doing today
01:03 What is transparent overdrive?
01:27 Wampler Germanium Tumnus info
01:51 MXR Timmy info
02:25 MXR Duke Of Tone info
03:14 Nobels ODR-mini info
03:50 Today’s rig and plan
04:45 Fender Telecaster indie rock loop
13:35 Epiphone Les Paul classic rock loop
My setup was as follows: I ran the four pedals into the front end of my Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Classic pedal amp, then went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That’s it. No post-processing on the sounds was done. Oh, and I used my Boss RC-10R to record and play the loops. Here’s some links to those bits of gear:
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AmpMan Classic at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/512777?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/q4vkVO
Boss RC-10R: thmn.to/thoprod/470055?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/daq4J2
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Enjoy!
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Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.
#OverdrivePedal #TransparentOverdrive #Wampler #WamplerPedals #WamplerTumnus #MXR #MXRPedals #Nobels
*Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much!*
@wampler_pedals
@jimdunlopusa
@nobelspedals9983
@nobelsofficial5766
Today, we’re comparing four of the best mini transparent overdrive pedals on the market: the Wampler Tumnus Germanium, the MXR Timmy, the MXR Duke Of Tone, and the Nobels ODR-mini!
-----
Wampler Tumnus (standard edition) at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/470339?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/daveY2
MXR Timmy at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/486929?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/3eaYgn
MXR Duke Of Tone at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/551146?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/baK5YM
ODR-mini at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/452254?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/JzZkre
-----
These four dinky drive pedals all represent cornerstones of modern guitar tone: the Germanium Tumnus is a Klon Centaur clone (or klone) with the magic “unobtanium” Germanium diodes, and the ODR-mini – little brother to the iconic ODR-1 – is a once Nashville session player secret that’s now on boards everywhere thanks to its incredible tones and the power of YouTube and people like Tom Bukovac and Tim Pierce.
Meanwhile, the MXR Timmy and Duke Of Tone are collabs between the brand and two boutique pedal legends – you’ll all know the Paul Cochrane Timmy and the Analogman King Of Tone and Prince Of Tone that these two were based on!
Despite being labeled as transparent overdrives, though, these pedals all have their own thing going on – and what we’re doing here is listening to them together (and having some stacking fun too!) to really find out where the tonal differences are, and which of these would fit best on your pedalboard at the end of the day.
Although the Germanium Tumnus is sold out, the standard Tumnus sounds – to my ears – almost dead on, and will set you back around $149/€149. The MXR Timmy and Duke Of Tone are around $149/€199, so way cheaper than the iconic originals they’re based on. Cheapest of the bunch by a long way is the $79/€79 ODR-mini, which is a bargain by anyone’s standards these days.
So, have a listen, and let me know in the comments which one you think sounds best! In the video, I run the four pedals through an indie rock loop played on the bridge single coil pickup of my Fender Telecaster, then a classic rock loop using the bridge humbucker of my Epiphone Les Paul. The pedals are running into my Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Classic on the clean channel, with no reverb.
Here are some links to the various parts of the video:
00:00 Introduction and what we’re doing today
01:03 What is transparent overdrive?
01:27 Wampler Germanium Tumnus info
01:51 MXR Timmy info
02:25 MXR Duke Of Tone info
03:14 Nobels ODR-mini info
03:50 Today’s rig and plan
04:45 Fender Telecaster indie rock loop
13:35 Epiphone Les Paul classic rock loop
My setup was as follows: I ran the four pedals into the front end of my Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Classic pedal amp, then went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That’s it. No post-processing on the sounds was done. Oh, and I used my Boss RC-10R to record and play the loops. Here’s some links to those bits of gear:
-----
AmpMan Classic at Thomann: thmn.to/thoprod/512777?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/q4vkVO
Boss RC-10R: thmn.to/thoprod/470055?offid=1&affid=1250
At Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/daq4J2
-----
Enjoy!
-----
Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.
#OverdrivePedal #TransparentOverdrive #Wampler #WamplerPedals #WamplerTumnus #MXR #MXRPedals #Nobels
*Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much!*
@wampler_pedals
@jimdunlopusa
@nobelspedals9983
@nobelsofficial5766
