Gear review | Kmise - US Dream guitar distortion pedal

Posted August 29, 2020, and last updated August 29, 2020, by Chuck Miller 

I'm becoming a bit of an effects pedal collector since I started playing guitar again. I guess it's inevitable. But with me, I'm going for the least expensive effects pedals I can find that have good reviews and do what I want them to do. That brings me to Kmise and their US Dream (KM-04) distortion pedal which I recently purchased on Amazon for only $17.98! Here is a link to the Kmise US Dream effects pedal on Amazon.com. I see it sells for $18.59 now. That's still dirt (pedal) cheap.

It's a mini-pedal so there is no space for a battery. I use a Donnor 9v DC power supply, which works great. It's a true bypass pedal, so when it is switched off, it passes your guitar signal through like a straight wire. The housing is all thick aluminum and should hold up well over years of use.

The first guitar pedal I bought after all these years was a little outside my monetary comfort zone, which is why I'm focusing on inexpensive effects pedals now. I bought a boutique overdrive, the handmade Katana overdrive made by Velvet Pedals based in Greece. I wanted to hear that Dumble amp sound I've read so much about, and this pedal promised to deliver it. And, to be honest, I love the Katana pedal. It sounds great on the bluesy, jammy music I like to play, and it works to tame the aggressive sounding Fender Lace Sensor pick-ups in my made-in-Mexico Fender Stratocaster.

For comparison, I also have a Kokko Overdrive pedal, said to be a clone of the legendary Ibanez Tube Screamer. That pedal cost me less than $20 used, and I like this pedal quite a bit too. Between these two pedals, I figured I had all of the overdrive and distortion options I needed for my playing. Until now.

I bought the US Dream pedal after reading a short review at squire-talk.com. There is a link to the review below which includes a brief YouTube demo of what it sounds like. Read the comments too. Most people who bought one really like it. Reading the review and comments I learned I could have a great sounding effects pedal that can go from bluesy rock rhythm to distorted lead for about the price of a restaurant lunch. I'll tell you right now, this pedal delivers on that and then some.

There are three controls: Volume, Dist, and Tone. Since this is a high-gain pedal, the sound can get aggressive fast. I set that control between 9 o'clock and noon most of the time. The Dist setting is very generous in that it delivers everything from warm, bluesy overdrive all the way to heavy metal screaming. The Tone adjusts the sound from dark to bright. It's great for warming up the higher distortion settings when needed.

I've been able to emulate --not exactly, but pretty close -- both of the other distortion pedals I have by tweaking the settings on the US Dream. That's this pedal's best feature. As I explained earlier, it has a lot of range in that Dist setting. I think part of the reason I like it so much is because it's warmer than the Kokko Overdrive and not as warm as the Katana pedal. It bridges that gap. It's full and in your face which is a great combination for a distortion pedal. Another great use is as a booster for changing between rhythm and lead playing.

I can't think of anything substantial I dislike about this thing -- maybe that is has a generic looking exterior? How can they pack all of this goodness in a device that costs so little? It works and sounds great, it's so inexpensive, and it's built to hold up over many years of use. Don't let that purple plain Jane appearance fool you. It's what's on the inside that counts, and this pedal has the goods.

After I bought this and found that I liked it so much, I went to the Kmise web site and found they have a Testing Club. I decided to join because I love this pedal so much. So, in the future, I'll have more reviews of Kmise guitar effects pedals.

Hopefully reviewing some more of these pedals will keep me busy until I can get back to recording live music again.

Visit the official Kmise website

Read Don Sucher's US Dream squire-talk.com review

Check out Don Sucher's YouTube demo of what the US Dream pedal sounds like

Follow this link to view more YouTube demos and to hear how good this pedal sounds