Noise was there but no big deal, even at bedroom volume. Running the American right before my MS-60b, ZNR gets rid of a good chunk of it.
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I'm getting this hiss at low volume, with the gain/voice up not too far past noon, definitely before it's anywhere near dimed.
It's not a big deal as it's (obviously) not noticeable while playing, and as I said, the really high gain sounds aren't to my taste anyway - but it's something that's there, and it was one of the first things that jumped out at me, so I thought it fair to mention it. In honesty, with the exception of a cranked Mammoth clone, it's the loudest drive pedal I've owned. I've not seen it mentioned much here, but comments about the hiss do seem to pop up in a few Amazon reviews.
Is it a deal breaker? No. Frankly, I like the clean/mild drive sound enough that I'm in no way disappointed with the purchase, and I'd be surprised if anyone else in the band even noticed it. Plus it cost me just over £26, compared to a Sansamp Blonde at £159. For that price, I can live with a bit of noise
Anyone using it as a pre-amp at gigging volume? It's definitely got less headroom than the VT, but I'm hoping it'd have enough to use that way.
Yeah mine only adds a little hiss when fully cranked and even there it's not real noticeable. What I meant is when it's dimed it's pretty fuzzy and I equate that to pretty much all muff pedals. When you turn on a muff it has that sustained noise that is just part of what the circuit does.
Maybe your unit isn't as built as well or something. I guess I got lucky. If mine was hissing at lower volumes I wouldn't like that much either. Ever try it out by itself with good cables and power to see if the hissing gets any better?
Yeah used a couple of different power supplies, different cables, same thing. It's probably a more pronounced problem with my unit, but it doesn't seem to be a one-off looking at a few other reports.
Need to try it in a band situation to really know if its going to be an issue at all, but I'm not expecting it to be.
Hope it works out for you! My board overall makes very little noise. If anything there might be a very very minimal hum. We just recorded recently too and I didn't have any issues in the studio. Then again I did not have my American Sound at the time but I haven't noticed much of a difference between now and then other than the more pleasing tones I am getting.![]()
IME, it's almost impossible to make a high gain boost or dirt pedal that doesn't add some amount of hiss. some have more than others, but having anything but a straight wire is usually going to add some degree of noise.
IMO, expecting a dirt circuit to have zero noise/hiss is unrealistic, especially at high gain settings.
I just ordered the Ultimate Drive pedal from Amazon after reading through the club threads and listening to a few youtube videos. I'm a fan of the Fulltone OCD and look forwars to playing this through my SVT II. I like the low to medium gain sounds and for the price, had to buy it. I also own an Xotic BB Preamp, B3K and a Fuzzrocious Rat King and will be looking to fit the UD in somewhere in the rotation with the other pedals. I also had my eyes on the American pedal for some cool Mesa and Fender tones, but did not feel the need for it with my Ampeg rig.
My GF plays guitar and this pedal may sound good through her 5 watt Vox also. I'll post a review when it arrives.
Run it as clean as possible (to your own taste) and put it in front of the chain. I use mine just bout dirty after my Duality. I use a SFT as a pre in the front of my chain. The American has such a great dirt sound I wanted that as an option.could someone explain to me how one would hook up the american sound as their preamp or whatever it is you guys are doing?