Tim Mahoney (guitarist)

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Tim Mahoney
Tim Mahoney performing on 311 Day 06
Background information
Birth name	Timothy Jerome Mahoney
Also known as	miT ("Tim" backwards)
Born	February 17, 1970 (age 37) Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Origin	Los Angeles, California, USA
Genre(s)	Alternative rock
Occupation(s)	Guitarist/songwriter
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1991 - Present
Label(s)	Volcano Records
Associated acts	311
Website	http://311.com

Timothy Jerome Mahoney (born February 17, 1970 in Omaha, Nebraska) is the guitarist for the Omaha, NE based music group 311. Tim is best known for his single-noted riffs, and fusion of punk, latin, rock, and reggae styles.

Contents 1 Early Life 2 Guitars Used 3 Effects Used 4 Trivia

[edit] Early Life

Mahoney grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, where he learned to play guitar at a young age. He used his talents in the school band and other local bands. His friends started a band named 311, whom he supported very much, but when their guitar player at the time, Jim Watson, became unable to continue with the band, Nick Hexum asked Mahoney to take over. 311 has been rolling strong ever since.

[edit] Guitars Used

Since 1993 Tim has exclusivley played PRS Guitars. Although he currently owns 10 electric guitars, 7 of which are PRS', His favorite is a late 90's model fully-customized Standard 24 (24-fret) which he affectionately calls "Blue" [1]. "Blue" is special in a few unique ways. It has special light blue paint, black tuning hardware and a black headstock with a special tiki mask inlay [2] designed by Bob Vessells. Another unique feature about the guitar is the fact that it is equipped a "stoptail" bridge and 3-way pickup selector toggle switch instead of the standard 5-way rotary switch, both of which are no longer offered by PRS on the Standard 24. It also sports the usual Seymour Duncan SH-4 Jeff Beck model humbucker pickup / Alnico Pro II neck humbucker pickup combination which has been a modification on almost all of his guitars since the very early 90's when 311 first recorded music. Recently he has made another pickup modification to "Blue". Tim now uses a Seymour Duncan SH-13 "Dimebucker" as the bridge pickup. His other guitars inlcude a Washburn Dimebag Darrell model, an Ibanez Universe Steve Vai Model, and a Schecter C7+.

[edit] Effects Used

Tim uses several different amplifiers depending on whether he's playing lead, rhythm, or soloing, and whether he's playing clean or with distortion. For soloing he uses either a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier, a Bogner Uberschall, or a Krank Revolution head each paired with their respective 4x12 100 watt cabinets. For his in-between overdrive distortion (and sometimes clean sounds as well) Tim uses a Bad Cat Hot Cat 1x12 combo paired with a Hot Cat 100 watt 4x12 cabinet. For the majority of his clean playing, Tim uses a Fender Twin Reverb amplifier.

Other effects Tim has used over the years include:

Electro Harmonix: Q-tron Envelope Filter, Deluxe Memory Man Delay, Small Stone Phaser, Small Clone Chorus.

Boss: OC-2 Octave, DD-20 Gigadelay, BF-2 Flanger, TU-2 Chromatic Tuner, LS-2 Line Selector, SE-70 Super Effects Processor.

Mutron: Mu-tron III Envelope Filter, Mu-tron Phasor II

Maxon: Analog Delay, Phaser, Overdrive

Other Various effects include wah pedals such as Dunlop Crybaby Dimebag and Budda BudWah pedals. Also used are Ibanez' AD-9 Analog Delay, Rocktron Intellifex, Lexicon PCM 42 Digital Delay, Boomerang Phase Sampler.

His effects have changed a lot throughout the years but there have been a few that have grown to be more commonly used on 311's newer albums. His new staple effect, the Mutron III Envelope Filter combined with Electro-Harmonix' Deluxe Memory Man Delay has given him a sound very smiliar to one of his guitar heroes Jerry Garcia. Tim has spent many years searching for his favorite sounds as well as blending the things he liked about the guitar players he enjoyed listening to when he was a kid.

[edit] Trivia

• Tim is known to sign autographs for people backwards and even his guitar picks have his near trade mark signature of "miT". He is also known to draw a flower in his hand when signing his picture.
• Tim has been nicknamed "Stoney Mahoney" and "Honedog"