Basic Audio Gnarly Fuzz hiss question

[ramonneke76]

Just received the Gnarly fuzz today. Great, great pedal! Cool fuzz tones. Bought it on Ebay.

However, I noticed there is a rather amount of constant background hiss. I just put the guitar right in and the pedal goes to my '76 SF Princeton reverb.
A one spot or battery makes no difference.

Lower the gain works when I set the Texture knob almost counter clockwise. After 8 o clock the hiss starts to come in. For example, when I have all the knobs set at noon it hisses really like crazy. That's when I have my amp set at just 3. It's mostly the texture knob that has effect on the hiss.

I have more fuzz boxes and I don't mind a little background noise but this hiss, but this is a bit annoying. Maybe I have to spend more time to dial it in.

Just curious.. Is this normal behaviour for the Gnarly?

 

[Empros]

At the minimum texture position, you'll hear less noise, like you said.
As you bring it up, you'll get more noise.

There's some technical explanation for that I'm sure, but I ain't technical

I've never noticed the Gnarly's general noise floor to be that bad. The noise doesn't get in the way of playing.

 

[MBT74]

I have an early Gnarly Fuzz and mine has quite a bit of hiss too. I had a newer one before and don't remember hiss when I had that one.

 

[ramonneke76]

Mine was build in September 2014, so it's quite new.

 

[dharkon8]

All my fuzz pedals have some background noise at gig levels. I haven't noticed the gnarly being any louder that the others.

 

[tubekingsley]

I love Basic Audio stuff, but Gnarly fuzz just didn't work for me.

 

[splatt]

with all knobs at NOON, the apparent volume of Gnarly is definitely louder than "unity gain";
with texture & fuzz at noon, "unity gain" seems to be reached with the level control at just a hair under 10 o'clock.

with a fuzz like gnarly, it's a good idea to always have an idea how much harder you're actually hitting the amp with the fuzz "on" than you were before you engaged the fuzz; helps to control the noise of all the extra gain, if you need to do that.

different settings of fuzz + texture alter that "unity gain" point; that's what the level knob is for; you can adjust that knob accordingly.

depending upon the sound, i sometimes like to hit the amp a little bit harder than unity gain, or much harder than unity gain, but....
if the amp is really super-clean or really bright, then..... i usually just keep it near "unity gain".

really cool fuzz!, imo, once you have an idea how it can sound & learn how to get the hang of it.

 

[goodhonk]

Hiss and hers fuzzes

 

[chankgeez]

good & honk'd

 

[BluesHarp]

Mine hissed quite a bit too... sold it for that reason. Doesn't matter.. if you want a superb fuzz in that style that is quiet then you should try the Spooky fuzz. Its not quite as raw, but its very tone-full and has 3 or 4 really different cool fuzz tones in it. I sold the Spooky too but for different reasons.. nothing wrong with the pedal.

 

[Flatscan]

Great fuzz - mine wasn't that noisy for a fuzz.

 

[splatt]

Mine hissed quite a bit too... sold it for that reason. Doesn't matter.. if you want a superb fuzz in that style that is quiet then you should try the Spooky fuzz. Its not quite as raw, but its very tone-full and has 3 or 4 really different cool fuzz tones in it. I sold the Spooky too but for different reasons.. nothing wrong with the pedal.

maybe you mean "Spooky Tooth"?

 

[splatt]

Great fuzz - mine wan't that noisy for a fuzz.

it's not really so noisy if you don't jam the level-control, esp. when the guitar's volume ctrl is set low.

 

[Adagietto]

My Gnarly is hissy. John modded it for less hiss, something I presume he rolled into production a couple of years ago. It still has about the most white noise of any pedal I currently have, but I love the Gnarly. If hiss is required to make it do its thing, so be it.

 

[Empros]

Tried again today with P90s and Tele pickups. Barely any noise. Definitely no white noise. Not sure what you guys are hearing.

My Caroline Meteore Reverb has slightly more noise.

 

[Gary Ladd]

Great fuzz - mine wasn't that noisy for a fuzz.

+1

Actually, I'm very picky with noise floor issues with pedals, and the Gnarly I have is well below my threshold for noise, on top of which it kicks all sorts of arse

Definitely no white noise issues - I'd send it back to John for a look under the hood...

GL