Rocktron Hush Pedal

I've got one of the original "MicroHush" models with a single knob and a somewhat flimsy plastic case. I bought it used off eBay without a box or manual. The actual operation is absurdly simple--one knob and a foot switch is the ultimate in simplicity. Besides, I really don't even screw with it--once I found the best setting (about 70% engaged), I've never felt a need to change it. I use the footswitch only to turn the pedal off between sets.

One point off for the location of the battery--when I first got it I took out all the screws holding the back on searching for the battery compartment. Finally I e-mailed the seller, who told me how to remove the footswitch cover to expose the tricky little battery compartment.

I bought my first MicroHush on the advice of Mark Wenner, the great harp player and singer from the Nighthawks. Besides its amazing ability to quiet noisy old tube amps, he discovered that it's a great feedback controller. Feedback is the nemesis of harp players--we typically use old high-gain PA microphones like the Astatic JT-30 (crystal element) or the Shure 510 Green Bullet (controlled magnetic or controlled reluctance element). Such mics coupled with a good tube amp deliver a rich, complex, compressed sound that mimics the tone and range of the human voice.

Unfortunately, because of their high gain, these mics tend to feedback extremely easily, especially when the player is laying out and not cupping the mic tightly. For years I struggled with the dilemma of getting sufficient stage volume without feedback. That struggle is over. This pedal effectively eliminates feedback, allowing me to use my hottest old mics with any of my old amps (Silvertones, Gibsons, Harmonies, plus some other oddballs) without constantly being on guard for the first sign of howl. No more diving to turn down an amp on the verge of a meltdown! And no more hum!

The best thing about the MicroHush is that it's completely transparent, for my purposes at least. It introduces absolutely no tonal coloration--all it does is let me focus on the tone I create. I've seen some reviews complaining about cutting the high end from their guitar signal. Since harp players typically focus on the midrange and bottom, this is not a concern.

Well, this thing is relatively old and has a flimsy plastic housing, but as long as I don't let the battery run down I can't imagine it ever breaking down. I bought another one off eBay just in case.

I know Rocktron has reissued a single-knob Hush pedal in an attractive metal housing, but I have no idea if the guts are the same as my old models. I doubt I'd ever have to deal with Rocktron--if I ever had trouble with my pedal I'd just start using my backup unit and look for another one on eBay.

I don't play guitar, so I can't attest to this pedal's suitability for guitar. But I can attest to its effectiveness for amplified harmonica. I'm not into a bunch of effects or tricks--just a hot mic, a good cord, a 7-band EQ to cut the highs and boost the mids, the MicroHush, and various combinations of old tube amps. This pedal was the final piece of the puzzle that has allowed me to concentrate on my tone, my technique, and the music. As far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters.

2 knobs, 3 switches (I have the older model). pain to get to the battery---but I use it in a pedal board (powered) so I never go there.

This thing works great. I'm a little confused by all the bad postings about this thing. I have it in the effects loop of either a fender hot rod deluxe, a mesa/boogie DC-2 or before a mesa 50/50 power amp. the responses saying "I turn the knob and my sound is gone!". Here's the deal: put it in your amp's effects loop (to "hush" the notes from your preamp and/or pedals) so you have a minimal noise going to your power amp. I think people think that this pedal will completely clean up any noise---that's not the case. try all the noise suppressors you want--they all do the same thing. between songs or if there is a quiet passage where you are not playing, turn down your volume knob on your guitar (try it once--you might like it) and any background noise is gone. when you have your pedals or preamp cooking, even when you are not playing, you will normally have some hiss--- this gets rid of that. turn the knob(s) on the hush so that when your guitar volume is down, it is silent. if you turn the knob too much, you will "noise suppress" what you are playing. when you turn your guitar volume back up, the noise comes back--but if you have decent cables, a decent guitar and a decent amp---the noise/hiss is really in the background. also, mine has two knobs---which work great for different settings on different guitars--or have one for noise and one right on the edge of cutting off your sound and you will get a psuedo e-bow effect.

i got it used---the place where i got it said it doesn't work--I bought it anyway, opened it up checked the wiring---no problems. it works great! I think that whoever had it before was using it like alot of people on this post---jamming up the knob until their sound was gone. also by thinking that this will get rid of all noise when your guitar volume is up---works best as a gate when you turn DOWN.

no opinion.

I think people need to re-look on how they are using this thing. if your gear is crap--this won't fix it. this will get rid of any noise when your guitar volume is turned down or off. a noisy rig will be silent. no lie. it WILL NOT supress noise when you are wailing. turn up the knobs on the hush and you will turn yourself off. put the knobs just below that point and bask in the silence (when you are not playing and with your guitar volume turned down---have I said that enough already?). used right, this pedal is great. the two knobs and three switches (one switch for each noise suppression knob and one for complete by-pass) make this better than any pedal of it's type out there.

Pretty straightforward -- in, out, a knob and a footswitch. Not much to digest in the manual. Basically, it sounds bad right out of the box.

The first time i used this pedal, I assumed I was doing something wrong -- my guitar's tone went to hell. Then i tried to set it up again. And again -- same thing. Basically, it cuts off the high end of your tone as well as whatever noise you're getting from the rest of the signal chain. If that's noise reduction/elimination/whatever, I'll go back to the hiss from the other pedals.

My theory is that the engineers who designed this pedal have been to too many concerts and lost all their high-frequency hearing, so they can't tell how poor it sounds. Maybe they had The Who test it for them.

Like other pedals in the Rocktron line, it's built so tough it will probably survive the next war. But i didn't use it enough to to gauge the reliability of the foot switch.

I'd like to tell them it sucks, but I doubt that would get me my money back.

My main rig is a Sheraton II with Seymour Duncans, and a variety of pedals (Sansamp 2, EHX Polychorus, Guyatone Flip tube delay, and some of the better Danos) through a small Marshall. I also tried this pedal with a Squier Strat set up with Texas Specials, and a Strat copy with a Seymour Duncan JB. I've been playing for, i dunno, 15 years or so. Long enough to know what sounds right and what doesn't.

From the other reviews on this site, it sounds like the pedal did just what it was supposed to -- separate me from $60 -- and that's about it. Off to eBay with it.

Theres only 1 nob!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! MY TONE! MY SUSTAIN! WWHHAAT HHAAPPEENNEEDD? Its ruined utterly completly ruined!. Dont buy this go get the Boss NS-2 way way better!

Im sure it last fine but i took back immediatly.

??????????

it does get rid of noise fairly well, along sustain, tone, britness, presence, and anything else you might like. Get a boss its not perfect but MUCH better.

This product, however bad it sounds, is extremely easy to use. 1 knob and 1 on/off switch. Simply turn the unit on and twist the knob until the noise goes away.

I bought this pedal because Rocktron is the name I relate to quality noise reduction. When I think noise gates for guitar I think Rocktron. I tried to use this pedal with the following setup: A Schecter Scorpion Elite into a dunlop wah, tuner, Line6 MM4, to the Hush to a Mesa/Boogie Single Rec. Solo 50 Head. I was getting a little noise before I added the Hush. The pedal killed the noise, but it also killed my tone. Once I turned it on the clean channel lost all brightness whatsoever even with the presence and treble cranked on the amp. The same was true for the dirty channel with the gain cranked. Artificial harmonics were damn near non-existent. My pickups are pretty hot and they sounded dead. That is the only description I have for the tone....DEAD. I play hardcore metal with crazy gain, but I also need a sterling clear clean sound. This pedal ruined both ends of my sound. I couldn't put it back in it's box fast enough.

I'm not going to give this pedal a 1 for this category, because it could've sounded worse, but it definitely wasn't good AT ALL.

I don't know. I only had it plugged in for 15 minutes before I got an RA from Musician's Friend. It looked extremely solid and didn't have a bunch of moving parts, so it looked like it would've ruined my tone for years :o)

The pedal didn't fit my taste. I'll contact them in the next few days to voice my displeasure.

Once again, my sound varies from crystal clear clean sounds to raging high gain distortion and both ends were deadened by this pedal.

If it were stolen I would be happy because the butthole who stole it would be sadly disappointed. I just hated the fact that it deadened my tone. I might try a Hush Super C if. I bought this pedal for the price and the name. I'm sure Rocktron's higher end products are much better, but this one just didn't cut the mustard. It definitely got in the way of making good tunez. I'd rather deal with a little noize than have dead thuddy sounding tone.

Badda Bing, Badda Boom and it's connected. My unit also only had one knob as did the previous reviewer.

Yeah, it elimated the noise very well and also destroyed my tone. This pedal seemed to suck the life out of my guitar. Even when it was turned to the lowest possible setting, I was dissapointed with what I was hearing. I toggled it to bypass mode and it still effected my tone. My Monster cables sounded like I was using shoestrings. I am off to try the Boss, I hope it does a better job.

Seems very solid.

This was my first shot at a noise suppressor. I was pretty disappointed that it effected my tone as much as it did. Perhaps a noise gate is what I should be looking for.

OK....this must be a newer Hush pedal, because mine only has a threshold knob, most reviews below state that their units have an A and B channel and two knobs......anyway, you can't get much simpler, turn the threshold knob to clear up a noisy signal.

This pedal works beautifully. My chain is an old Maestro Boomerang volume/Wah (noisy as hell but tone to the bone) Original 70's Proco Rat, TS9 or MXR Distortion + depending on what I'm playing, Ibanez Chorus and a Boss CS2 Compressor......all going into the Hush, and into a Marshall JCM800. The difference is unbelieveable, and the unit does not seem to effect your tone at all....and I've got the threshold cranked to clean up this noisy chain! There is still a little noise.....but nothing like before! I am impressed.

I haven't had it long enough to comment....but it seems like it's built very well. All metal construction.

No opinion....I've never dealt with them.

I am happy I took a chance on this unit, it works remarkably well....and much better than i expected it to.

very easy to use: two Threshold knob. Two setting channels, A and B, so you can set two different levels of noise suppression.

very good... when it works!!!

i bought it, used for ONE (1!) minute and then broke down!

never dealt with the company

it worked very good, for only 1 minute!i owned another rocktron pedal, the rampage distorsion: i think it is a wonderful distorsion pedal, one of the most beautiful distorted sound! but the problem is that also that pedal broke down after few hours!in my opinion for the reliability rocktron pedal are a shit!

Just turn the Threshold knob till your line noise goes away. They even give you two setting channels, A and B, so you can set two different levels of noise suppression. Cool.

Is it "Pristine"? No such thing. But you must be willing to accept the limitations of what a noise gate is supposed to do -- something the frickin' geniuses who posted below don't seem to understand.

If you're running a bunch of noisy pedals, the Hush will NOT remove the noise from the notes you're playing, and no noise gate can. What it will do is silence the noise when you're NOT playing. See, boys, it's called noise SUPPRESSION, not noise REMOVAL.

Here's what you do: Line up your chain of cheap Rogue and Dano mini's, put the Hush at the end of your chain (make sure to plug it in correctly -- the "in" is on the left, the "out" is on the right). Dial up your loudest, hairiest setting, and with your left hand turning the Threshold knob and your right hand flat against the strings, you want to lightly slap the strings, and then damp them, while you turn the knob to find the right cut-off point.

This requires a little effort. Everything does.

What you're looking for is a setting that lets your slapped notes through but gates out the line noise when you damp the strings. The noise you introduced into your signal path will still be there in the notes you play, but at least your amp won't sound like 500 hair dryers when you're not playing.

Now you youngsters go outside and play...

n.b.: The Hush pedal doesn't seem to like computers much, but works fine on stage and is an absolute must in the recording studio.

Very sturdy unit. No backup needed, but bring extra batteries

Never needed.

Of course, my goal is to remove as many pedals as possible from my setup, or only keep the ones I absolutely must have. Even then, you sometimes get unwanted noise (as opposed to the noise I'm looking for...). Then I pull out the Hush pedal.

Very simple machine, you don't have patches to edit, i don't have the manual cause i bought it used, but if you use your ears you don't need it.
You have 2 channels, each with 2 knobs.

My setup goes like this, Guitar->ADA MP-1->Rocktron HUSH IICX->LEXICON MPX-100->ADA MicroTube 100, and for practice i go this way. Guitar->ADA MP-1->Rocktron HUSH IICX->Peavey Special 112 via loop return using the reverb of the amp.
This Unit, kill the noise completely without coloring your sound, but if you go too far with the HUSH button then probably will kill your sound, with this button you have to be very carefull, if you change the preset in the preamp, you probably have to change the setting of the HUSH button.

Very simple rack you don't need a backup.

Never dealt with Rocktron

I use it to clean up the high gain settings of my ADA MP-1, if you use one the HUSH IICX is Necessary.
If it's stolen i will try to find another HUSH IICX or a Rocktron Guitar Silencer that is mostly the same.
If anybody have the manual for the HUSH IICX, mail me, just curiosity!