isp decimator, terrible sustain...

[Chazzy]

So i had practice today with my 6534+ and holy crap i played loud, and used alot of gain, the gain was on about 7 today... which is alot for a 65 series amp from peavey. Anyway, my isp decimator pedal worked well, except... no sustain, absolutely no sustain whatsoever, and my harmonics sorta just got cut, like they squeal out, but would just in a second... obviously i did some testing, turned off the decimator, got all the sustain harmonics whatever but with horrible feedback... and when i turn down my decimator i get a slight feedback squeal when i stop playing which is horrible, really annoying and even annoyed my rhythm guitarist and bassist.... Anyway, im wondering what i can do, im willing to spend any amount of money to tame my noise, even if that means buying the rack system for 500 or watever, im cool with that, itd also be nice to get rid of pre amp hiss but watever... so what should i do? maybe turn the gain back down to 6, maybe i was just pushing it to hard... any suggestions welcome, i will try all until i can fix this.

Also just so you know im using a boss super overdrive as boost, so overdrive at 0, level at max and tone at 5.

[ehdwuld]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

where in the signal chain did you have the decimator

before or after the preamp

[Nacho8807]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

Knowing your entire signal chain will help. I've never had my decimator do that to me with my 5150II, even with the gain cranked like that.

[80's_Metal]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

I use my ISP at the end of the chain and I've never had anything like that happen either.... Maybe Turn the decimator level down a bit???

[Chazzy]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

i have guitar-decimator-overdrive-6534... this setup worked perfectly with my marshall... maybe i should switch overdrive and decimator around?

[man-in-moon]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

On the 6534+ I had I ran the decimator after all of my other pedals. It also worked pretty good in the effects loop. Since those amps can have alot of noise on their own.

[LLL]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

Even noise suppressors have their "compromise" setting where you'll have to give up some hiss to let all of your guitar's tone through.

When you clamp down on the noise hard, you're bound to lose some of the extra guitar goodness.

[Nacho8807]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

I'd start with the decimator after the overdrive but before the amp. You'll still get some hiss from the preamp but it won't feedback like that anymore. Sometimes running though the effects loop can kill sustain and cut the highs more than normal, but you could try it there too with a lower setting.

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

I have wrestled with noise issues over the years and it seems like 95% of the set-ups and gear out there are noisy little buggers when you start adding the gain.

I just decided to cut the gain until the noise went down to an acceptable level... that took around a year of decreasing the gain I practice with so I could slowly build up the strength in my hands and improve my technique.

The Decimator is only for when I am in a bad EMI/RFI environment or when I am using single coils in a bad EMI/RFI environment... I just don't have it on anymore. Sustain is top priority for me.

But what made the most difference to me, was to finally find the right overdrive/distortion that would make me sound "more like me" and give me sustain, grit (when I want it) and power with only a minimum of distortion.

I don't know what I waited this long to own a Zendrive, but goosed with a Bogner Harlow, it is tone heaven for me... the noise level is pretty low since the gain knob is set so low.

Maybe the "red" GC Zendrive is different from the other Zendrives but it works superbly with the gain knob set really low like at 9 o'clock.

Amp-like break-up with playing dynamics alone and slight volume knob reductions cleans everything right up without sounding dull.

So, if your rig is too noisy... it's probably time to find one that isn't.

[ItsaBass]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

The pedal just needs to be turned down, and your expectations need to be lowered. No noise gate kills every last bit of the buzz without also affecting sustain. They reduce noise, not eliminate it entirely.

Also, it has an off switch, which a lot of people seem to forget about for some reason. You can run it set high enough to kill all the noise; just turn it off when you are playing and on between songs.

The G String version is far more transparent, and it also allows you to hook it up in many different ways, all of which are potentially useful. It is entirely worth the extra cost, and then some.

[EDX]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

just get the setting where you had all your sustain and harmonics, with an amp that loud and that amount of gain feedback is normal, and a trick to get it of is actually rolling back your guitar volume pot until there is no feedback, so when you're playing rythms you had gain enough and if you stop playing there is no feedback, when you need to play lead just crank your volume pot, good ol' trick that always work, even dime used it (i think he actually used way more gain)

[vinta9e]

Re: isp decimator, terrible sustain...

The noise gate is there to help you sound great when you're chugging but it won't mute your strings and turn down your guitar for you when you're supposed to be quiet. Once you learn that and setting your gain and volume accordingly, you'll regain control.