noise gates

[Last_Confession]

ok i get what a noise gate does etc but i was just wondering a few things
firstly if i want to kill the hiss and hum on my 6505 when im not playing i assume i want it in the effects loop and that on permanently and if im using other pedals in the chain do i want it at the start or the end (i assume end unless im using delay) finally what do you guys recomend as a pedal noise gate ive been looking at boss but ive heard good things about mxr and rocktron too
any advice for a noob to all this greatly appreciated

 

[ahjteam]

ok i get what a noise gate does etc but i was just wondering a few things
firstly if i want to kill the hiss and hum on my 6505 when im not playing i assume i want it in the effects loop and that on permanently and if im using other pedals in the chain do i want it at the start or the end (i assume end unless im using delay) finally what do you guys recomend as a pedal noise gate ive been looking at boss but ive heard good things about mxr and rocktron too
any advice for a noob to all this greatly appreciated

BOSS NS-2

 

[006]

Yes, the hiss and hum gets killed by using a gate in the FX Loop, not in front of the amp. I would put any delays/reverbs after the gate to avoid getting their tails chopped off by the gate, everything else in front of it. The good 'ol NS-2 is called "good 'ol" for a reason, it works and has been around for ages. Another option is the ISP Decimator, word is that some of the guys who made the Rocktron HUSH system (extremely popular rackmount gate for quite a few years) jumped ship and made the Decimator so some say it's even better than the HUSH, which is pretty good. They make a pedal version as well as a rackmount version, depending on your needs/budget.

~006

 

[Torniojaws]

The ISP Decimator pedal costs practically the same as NS-2, but the Decimator is much better in terms of tone-sucking (less of it).

E:
Hmm, looks like Boss has dropped its price. It has been 120 euros forever, but now many places have it for 80 euros.

 

[006]

Well, it's so fucking old I would imagine they can manage to bring the price down a bit

Seriously though, my NS-2 works like it is suppose to, but the chances I have had to use a Decimator, including borrowing my friend's rack one for several shows...no contest man. I really didn't think the NS-2 was doing anything to my tone, only gating really well - wrong haha. The Decimator showed tha tr00f!

~006

 

[-J-]

I used to use a rocktron hush pedal with some good results (live). I busted it out the other day in my house to try and kill some noise I had going on, and it actually added more! True story.

 

[slashvanyoung]

The ISP Decimator basically takes the best characteristics from both the NS-2 (its gating) and the Hush (its suppressing) and takes both to an even better level. Great pedal, but for my needs the NS-2 has always been sufficient.

 

[MetalJonesy]

i used to always use the Hush pedal when using my peavey, but now im using the krank i suffer from alot less noise in my rig so aint used it in a while. Its a great value pedal for sure and did its job well!

 

[Executioner213]

My NS-2 is used specifically to clean up how naturally sloppy my pick hand rubbing against strings can be. I think it's good for cleaning up some guitar noise too, kills your guitar wanting to feedback like no tomorrow when you don't want it to. I wouldn't say it's perfect at all...just an aid.

 

[Last_Confession]

cheers guys, roll in next student loan

 

[madbutcher]

My setup has a Decimator pedal going after my ts7 to kill all guitar noise. And I use an NS-2 (on the Gt-pro) in the loop very minimally. Just to kill a little amp hum. My bass player A/B ed his NS-2 pedal with my decimator and really couldn't tell a difference in tone.

 

[fade_2_black]

So.. with gates in gat rigs - you recommend to clean up buzz/hum the gate should go in the fx loop of the amp?
Im looking at getting a gate and a tubescreamer (thanks to all the awesome info and all in that tubescreamer FAQ) - so would i be best off having the TS7 between my guitar and amp, with the NS2 or decimator in the FX loop of my amp?

 

[006]

To kill amp buzz/hum/hiss you want the gate in the FX Loop.

~006

 

[MetalJonesy]

deffo fx loop or pre/amp return loops (basically the same thing!!!)

 

[fade_2_black]

Cool cheeers! I know this is very off topic but also curious as to how this would work -
I dont switch between clean and distorted channels on my amp at all - and instead use my volume knob to control gain when playing. I usually have it full blast but there are parts of songs where I bring it back a little bit - and other parts where I almost bring it back completely. It sounds fine for me - prefer doing this over the channel switching as a lot of my music makes use of several stages between the 'clean' and 'distorted' levels - but am trying to sort out getting a volume pedal to do this instead of using my vol knob.
Putting a vol pedal before the pre-amp would do the same thing as turning down the volume knob, right? And if I was to end up wanting it for its traditional use, I would have it in the FX loop, yeah?

 

[MetalJonesy]

yer puttin the volume controller before the amp would effectively do what ur doin on geetar with the vol knob

 

[fade_2_black]

Cool, cheers!

 

[lolzgreg]

I would recommend the noise gate in front of the amp. If you stop the guitar from making noise when it shouldn't, you can simply gate in your DAW to get rid of the amps noise.

 

[Morgan138]

ok i get what a noise gate does etc but i was just wondering a few things
firstly if i want to kill the hiss and hum on my 6505 when im not playing i assume i want it in the effects loop and that on permanently and if im using other pedals in the chain do i want it at the start or the end (i assume end unless im using delay) finally what do you guys recomend as a pedal noise gate ive been looking at boss but ive heard good things about mxr and rocktron too
any advice for a noob to all this greatly appreciated

Okay, the main thing about the Boss pedal (and I'm guessing other similar noise gates) is that you DON'T just plug it in like a normal pedal, either in front of the amp in the effects loop.

You chain should look like this:
guitar -> NS2 input -> NS2 send -> other pedals -> amp input -> amp effects send -> NS2 return -> NS2 output -> amp effects return

The idea is that the gate is controlled by your clean signal up front, but cuts off the signal at the very end of your chain after distortion has been applied. If you use it this way, you can basically have total silence when you're not playing even with potentially infinite gain, assuming your guitar isn't picking up hum directly.

 

[006]

I would recommend the noise gate in front of the amp. If you stop the guitar from making noise when it shouldn't, you can simply gate in your DAW to get rid of the amps noise.

And....what about for live use?

~006