[wasteparched]

Hey stickman hook! The Field Kit is likely not the most noise-free device out there, in big part this is due to the high amounts of amplification available from the 'GAIN'-setting. Every Field Kit mixer channel has an input gain of x1000. This is necessary to amplify low-amplitude signals like the pickup coils for example.

The noise floor of a Field Kit mixer channel, using professional line level signal as the reference (+4 dBu / ~3.5V peak to peak), is down ~60dB. With full 6.5Vpp signal as the reference level, this translates down to -65dB. This is of course far from todays digital -100dB noise floors but that's also not we are trying to compete with.

You can compare the noise/hiss you are experiencing with the aforementioned numbers if you have access to a DAW with some sort of a Spectrum Analyzer utility. If the noise floor is around the aforementioned numbers, there's nothing wrong with your device! Also, don't get confused with dBFS / dBU.

In any normal condition / use case the noise is not perceivable if any wanted signal is present at any given time. Also, proper gaining really helps.

I hope this answer cleared out some things!

your explanation was very clear. Now the next step is figuring out how to make the most of this machine. Thanks!

Thank you very much!