hiss

High gain circuits such as the Big Muff Pi produce hiss, especially when gain or sustain is set very high¹. Some pedals, like the Benson Deep Sea Diver Fuzz-Echo, have a small amount of hiss even on cleaner settings², while compressors such as the Boss CS-3 can show noticeable hiss even at low Sustain settings³. Noise suppressors and gates can remove hiss, though some filter high frequencies and thereby alter the overall tone¹, and units like the Rocktron Reaction HUSH are designed to wipe out hiss along with feedback and pickup buzz⁴. Some designs intentionally include hiss, such as the ZVEX Lo-Fi Loop Junky, which degrades loops with low fidelity, hiss, and distortion for a damaged-cassette character⁵.