Kmise US Dream Electric Guitar Effects Pedal,True Bypass,Tip‑Negative Pedal

This little pedal has gain to spare and it seems to be relatively quiet when it is engaged. Distortion from this pedal tends to be more of an overdrive, rarely getting fuzzy sounding except when using extreme amounts of gain with a low volume setting. The thing is a guitarist is looking for his/her own sound so to claim this is a one size fits all pedal would be misleading. I prefer the US Dream to the Crunch Distortion largely because although it alters the guitar tone to a degree it does so much less than the Crunch Distortion pedal by Kmise. I prefer to use my guitar volume control to regulate the amount of overdrive in an always on pedal scenario and I found this pedal does that fairly well. Bear in mind that any pedal or device between the guitar and amp will impact the original tone of the guitar but as I compare this pedal to the other one I mentioned this one wins hands down at least to my ear. Please always keep in mind that this is an opinion and that being said although my personal preference plays a role, I am trying to give information that I hope is useful at least generically. Try this out if you like, it's relatively inexpensive and Amazon will take it back if you decide it is not for you. Thanks

Played it with a cheap but good strat copy, through a Jet City 20 tube amp. Distortion ranges from overdrive to heavy crunch. Nice warm tone, nothing cheesy about it like with some pedals. Part of that is probably the amp sound... the distortion essentially sounded the same as what you'd get from turning up the gain on the amp, but at lower volumes, which is ideal if you have an amp that sounds good. It doesn't seem to have a strong particular character of its own, which is good or bad depending on what you're looking for. If you're happy with your sound but want to get more distortion at lower volumes this is a good choice at a cheap price.

A sweet, light overdrive in a micro sized pedal. A beautiful overdrive sound ranging from an amp just starting to break-up to a nice rich overdrive/light distortion. The pedal itself is enclosed in a tough all-metal body with a gorgeous paint job. The plastic knobs seem to be the weakest point but are out of the way enough to not be damaged when using the foot switch. The LED is very bright & easy to see when engaged. This little pedal has a multitude of uses. With the distortion set below the 12 o'clock position you get a slightly dirty amp break-up kind of sound & as you increase past the 12 o'clock position you get a sweet overdrive into a light distortion without ever getting too aggressive. The Tone control brightens & darkens the tone to taste. You can dial in whatever sound pleases you. If you're into drive stacking, this is an excellent pedal for a first stage drive. It could be used to fatten up the tone of single coils or even as a solo boost. It's also a great overdrive for bass. It gives just enough drive to dirty up the tone without cutting the low-end.

I tested this pedal with a Mesa Mini Rectifier and an Ibanez RG with a Duncan Nazgul. Using it through the clean channel I found a very usable classic distortion that made me instantly think Marshall. There is plenty of gain for hard rock, 80s metal, etc., and the tone knob is quite useful compared to other units. I also tried it as a boost for the high gain channel of the recto. It's very useful this way as it can add plenty of clean or dirty boost and tightens up my low end. Construction is very solid aluminum. I was actually a bit surprised at the quality of the footswitch itself which feels better than some of my much more expensive name brand pedals. Honestly, this could be the best bang for the buck I've come across for this type of pedal.

First, I am bound to state that I received this pedal at no cost for review. Having gotten that out of the way … Amazon won't let me write a second review, so here are both pedals together, with a bit of repetition. First, the "US Dream": This is the third one of these little pedals that KMise has sent me for review, after the Tremolo and Phase, and I am more than pleased with all three. These KMise pedals are well-built, very quiet, and great sounding. I’m sure there are pedal-snobs out there who will say that nothing under $200 could possibly sound good, but these do. With this line of pedals, you can build up a nice arsenal of effects without going broke! To me, they are like the Danelectro mini-pedals of a few years ago, but better. Unlike the Danelectro, these pedals have sturdy metal cases and true-bypass switching. Also unlike the Danelectro minis, these have no battery capability, they require a power supply. Not having a battery is a good thing, the way batteries are made nowadays. It’s not the leaking battery that hurts, it’s the thing it was in that is now ruined !!! In the range of distortions from fuzz to full-out heavy metal screamers, this one is somewhere in the middle. The tone is something like an Ibanez Tube Screamer, but the gain set in the middle on this pedal is equal to all a Tube Screamer can do, so this pedal has a considerably wider range. Watch the manufacturer’s demo video on the Amazon page below to get an idea what it sounds like. For the price, you really can’t beat it. Crunch Distortion: This is pedal #4 since I started reviewing these for KMise, and I must say, I am very pleased with all of them. I started with the tremolo, then the phase and the "US Dream" overdrive, and now this "Crunch" distortion. All these pedals are well built, great-sounding, attractive, quiet, compact, and true bypass. I don't split hairs over distortion - after all, it is supposed to be noise, isn't it? While the US Dream does a nice bluesy tube overdrive kind of sound, the Crunch is a lot more raucous, more 'metal'. I have to admit that's not really my thing, but it does what it does well. And it does it for just twenty bucks !!! You can spend a fortune on guitar pedals, and in blind testing, I doubt anyone could tell the difference between this incredible bargain pedal and anything else. I find other types of effects much more interesting, and I just can't expound that much over variations of noise. Some caveats: under the knobs, the pots on these pedals have plastic shafts that may or may not hold up as well as metal. You'd think metal would hold up better, but I don't plan to ever test that, just be a little more careful when you stomp. The knobs themselves are good sized and easy to work. The mechanical switch is solid with a nice action. Inside there are two stacked circuit boards. The upper one is the effect itself, and the lower board is a standard power and I/O, as well as the switch mounting. This is part of the cost savings, Danelectro used the same kind of split design in their inexpensive mini pedals, which, like these little KMise pedals, are much better than they ought to be. I think the rest of the cost savings is the atypical case, which is two C-shaped aluminum pieces that nest in each-other. The upper part is an extrusion, and the lower part is a simple stamping. Both processes are cheaper than the usual cast case and bottom plate, but the result is just as strong and quite attractively anodized. This is much better than the little Danelectros, which were all-plastic. One thing I almost forgot - these pedals do not take batteries, they require an external 9v power supply. This doesn't bother me at all, I have seen too many batteries leak and ruin things. For a 9v battery, this is basically guaranteed to happen, just give it time. One flaw on this pedal: the labels for "Gain" and "Volume" appear to be switched. The controls themselves are arranged the same as on the US Dream pedal, where they are labeled correctly. Once you figure it out, it's not really a problem, hopefully the factory will fix it. I re-labeled mine "V" & "D" with a Sharpie pen. So there you go - another great bargain effect pedal from KMise. I know I didn't say much about the tone except that it sounds fine to me - get one and decide for yourself. It's not like you're risking a lot of $$$ on it !!! For the price, you're not going to find better. I don't understand how they can build these, ship them to the other side of the planet, and sell them on Amazon at such prices and still make a profit. Try one yourself !!!

ONE STAR FOR THE FUZZ The Fuzz pedal rigs the moment you turn it on no matter what you have the knobs set to. It is LOUD too! It's not feedback noise, it's ringing. For some reason it won't let me give feedback on the Fuzz.. the US Dream pops up instead. I tried all the distortions and the overdrive they all sound and work fine. (I give them 4 stars) The Fuzz however rings the moment you turn it on. When you are playing you don't hear the ringing and it has a good sound but when you stop playing that ring is terrible.

I have bought several budget pedals off of Amazon and have been blown away by the performance of those pedals. This one not so much. The tone of the pedal is just overall bad in every aspect. The only thing positive I have to say is that the box itself is very sturdy and actually impressive for the price. O and I guess having a purple pedal on your board is kinda cool too. Still would not recommend even for price. Try something else.

Great little distortion pedal. Sounds really good. Just know that with humbuckers and single coil they sound a little different and require you to adjust it to get that sound you want. But other than that. It's awesome. Already purchase another kmise pedal. And plan on getting another

This pedal is a solidly built clone of the Suhr riot. It has the classic distortion sound and is inexpensive. It ultimately is always a question of taste but if you want a good mini sized pedal that can crank a nice classic rock sounding distortion without needing a second mortgage, you will be pleased with this.

For the price you cant go wrong

I tried many many distortion pedals in this price range, and the best one by far was 'US Dream' (purple one). It is a cheap pedal, so only time will tell if it lasts. But for now, it has a good level boost (ie no "level drop"), little to no hum/buzz, and the distortion just sounds good. It sounds rich compared to every other pedal I tried. Buy the 'US Dream.'

Awesome distortion pedal I will be buying the other ones. Sounds great and great price for whatnot does. Thanks

I love this product. The sound is better than the expensive 1's