Do I Need Noise Killer

[zanshin777]

Do I need noise killer whilst playing or it's purpose is just kill the noise between rest notes or pauses?
With perfect guitar technique (which I have not for now) would I still need noise killer? For Guns N' Roses kinda stuff.

I have Les Paul Traditional. Ibanez RG470 with SD distortion & Cool Rails & APH2 Pro. I use Digitech GNX2 for now but I'll buy some analog pedals. My amp is crap but I'll create this stuff for live setup and studio. The Studio has Marshall JVM and TSL as amps.

Pedals in my mind are;

ISP Decimator G-String II
MXR GT-OD or Keeley DS-1
Dunlop Buddy Guy Wah
BOSS Waza Delay

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

Most noise gates just kill the hum & feedback noise while you rest? When you are playing they're basically off? Depending on how you set the sensitivity of the gate it can also kill your sustain, the gate will kick on & your notes will kind of die out instead of ring out? They're great if you have a single coil guitar & your using it for punk or hard rock, makes it so you don't have to hit the volume knob in between songs, but for your current setup I don't think you would benefit too much from one? Don't get me wrong, I think there's situations where you might want to have one & I think we should all have one in our arsenal but its one of those things that's nice to have, not something that you need to have? Especially if you're running your single through humbuckers already?

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

Generally noise gates work similarly to an automatic volume pedal. After your signal gets below a certain threshold it will turn it the rest of the way off to prevent noise from being heard. However, If you have a lot of noise try to eliminate it at its source before buying a pedal. Add shielding to your guitar cavities, check your ground wires, try different power outlets, etc. If you use a daisy chain to power your pedals that may be introducing noise. Try switching to an isolated pedal power supply. You may have dirty power coming into your house a power conditioner may be a better solution. You can also pickup noise from computers, lights, or other electronics. It may also be your gear. Some times budget friendly gear, by design, is noisy. If this is the case, it may be better to skip the pedal and put that money towards a better amp/pedals.

Try switching each piece of your rig in and out of the signal to see if you can isolate the source of the noise. This includes your location. If your noise happens to be coming from a computer it is a lot cheaper to move a few feet away than buying a pedal.

What type of noise are you hearing?

From gearslutz.com

There are basically 4 types of noise you might encounter in a studio:

Hiss (or white noise) as Kiwi said, this is cheap electronics and sometimes can be aleviatged by mods or chip swaps. The exception of course is tape hiss. It sounds the same as electronic hiss and is the main reason so many gates were sold in the 60's-90's.

60 Cycle ground hum - Sounds like you have this one under control

120, 240 & above harmonics of a 60 cycle problem. Can also be "hashy" noise from switching power supplies and computers. Often a tricky problem to track down

RF (radio interference) - ala the cheap oldies station or mexican mariachi station that creaps into your recordings. Usually solved by good shielding on your wiring unless you live under a radio tower.

 

[Chazzy]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

If you are playing with a noisy amp, or high gain with a overdrive pedal boosting than yes... when i have my overdrive pedal off i can generally turn off my noise gate... but if I want that slight edge i need the overdrive, which means i need the noise gate... having a bunch of noise in something like a break down where a pause is needed having noise leak through is horrible and annoy bandmates.

 

[Lucy Diamond]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

ISP Technologies Decimator Pedal.

Once you dial it in to your rig and your playing style brother, you won't even know it is there.

Turn it off when you play clean.

Enjoy in good health.


~LD

 

[zanshin777]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

Noise Killer has a function which it covers faults of guitar technique up to a point. (For example some of your fingers touch the strings and some noise happens unwillingly or whilst changing positions a scratch noise happens.) Noise killer can cover those.

I'm not sure if those are fault and I'm curious about most of pros take advantage of it.

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

Noise Killer has a function which it covers faults of guitar technique up to a point. (For example some of your fingers touch the strings and some noise happens unwillingly or whilst changing positions a scratch noise happens.) Noise killer can cover those.

I'm not sure if those are fault and I'm curious about most of pros take advantage of it.

What problem are your trying to fix? Technique or electrical hum/white noise/etc?

Buying a box to cover for technique is a waste of time IMO. You would get a lot farther, and save your money, practicing to correct technique issues. If you are trying to correct noise not caused by technique then a box can help. However, your time and money would be better spent tracking down and correcting the source of the noise before buying a noise gate.

If you cannot solve the problem from practice, shielding, proper amp/pedal power, etc and you find that the gear is inherently noisy then a noise gate would be helpful for controlling ambient noise when you are not playing. The other alternative is a volume pedal so you can do it manually. Nels Cline uses a volume pedal to control the ambient noise level running a huge pedal board with single coil pickups. From the latest Premier Guitar rig run down it looks like Dweezil Zappa was using his volume pedal in the same way.

To answer your question pros that find the need for a noise gate use them to control ambient noise.

 

[ginormous]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

Noise gates are useful in a studio situation, for example to control leakage (bleed) between mics. With vocals, it works rather well.
For a guitar it's tricky to adjust, because the end of the note trails off gradually.
You'll hear the end of the note suddenly cut out with a gate, since it's simply an on/off device with a sensitivity control (AKA threshold).

I would first check to see if the amp has any grounding issues, then any pedals, then the power supplies for the pedals if any.
Get the best cables you can afford, because even a bad cable contributes to noise issues.

After eliminating other possibilities, I'd go for something like this:

http://www.isptechnologies.com/portfolio/decimator-ii-pedal/

 

[zanshin777]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

Thank you very much for answers.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

A lot of times IME, noise is usually solved by simply turning the gain/compression down. A lot of people make that mistake, and it can actually make you sound bigger and cleaner in a band mix. For Guns N' Roses stuff, you really shouldn't be using too much gain. They just played loud as hell, had a ton of midrange to give a more driven sound, and played with two guitarists to really beef up the sound - which worked very well with pretty minimal gain. If you really don't want to lower the gain, see if the amp, cables, pedals, or guitar are picking up excess noise due to a lack of proper shielding (or in the case of the amp, some designs are just noisier. The 5150 and its brother amps are notoriously noisy amps).

If none of that solves noise issues, then look at noise gates. The ISP Decimator G String is supposed to be the "ultimate" noise gate pedal, but it doesn't hurt to see if cheaper options suit your needs. A lot of guys also run two noise gates, one for the guitar and pedals (the pedals go into the noise gate's loop), and another noise gate in the amplifier's effects loop (if the amp has an effects loop) to eliminate noise/hiss produced by the pre-amp.

 

[JRSOLDJA]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

Noise gates tend to chop of your signal and affect your sustain. A noise suppressor is usually the better choice. I always used a HUSH pedal and never had any problems with exess noise or sustain. Doesnt the GNX2 have a noise gate though...?

 

[zanshin777]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

Yes, it has. GNX2 tone is nice with a good amp but dynamics are terrible. That's why I want to get analog pedals.

 

[JRSOLDJA]

Re: Do I Need Noise Killer

Yes, it has. GNX2 tone is nice with a good amp but dynamics are terrible. That's why I want to get analog pedals.

ah ok, well analog pedals are deffinately the better route in my opinion. Like I said though...the Hush pedals made by rocktron are very nice. (I have the original blue HUSH pedal) I know its not on your list but they're worth checking out. If you're dead set on one of those you mentioned...then maybe the Decimator (doesnt have to be G string II) Keep in mind that when I recommend this...its because I use a lot of high gain, hard rock/metal styles so playing loud requires a suppressor for sure.