Kitty Hawk Junior Hissy Fit!

[Ernest Ball]

I've recently bought a 1990 Kitty Hawk 'Junior' 1x12 50 watt EL34'd combo (the one with 'blackface-ish' styling; not the earlier Mark 1 Boogie look-alike). It's a bit shabby to look at, but the overdrive channel in particular sounds great. The only issue I have with it is that the clean channel has a lot of hiss, even at very low volume - whereas the o/d channel has none that would even spoil a recording. Given the Boogie-style cascading pre-amp stages, I'd expect it to be vice versa, as per my Classic 30. It probably wouldn't be noticed in a live situation - the hiss doesn't go up with increased volume, but at 'bedroom levels', it does spoil things a bit, so I tend to only use the o/d side and turn the guitar down to clean up. I'd be very happy if I could lose the clean channel hiss (or even reduce it a little!), as the sound has more 'sparkle' than the o/d when turned down. Any thoughts?

[Leo_Gnardo]

Well . . . you could have a noisy pre tube. Or plate resistor. IF your KH is a Boogie clone (and if it is would have to be an early 70's - 80's Boogie), keep in mind one of the drawbacks of many early Boogies is an inability to get a good clean sound. They were designed for "awesome overdrive tone".

One solution I've occasionally applied to Boogies is bypassing one pre stage in the clean mode. Then the user inevitably complains "Gosh I gotta turn the volume control up to get any volume." Yes, precisely. Clean volume with very litle hiss and no grit. You may be able to do the same with your KH.