Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

[IMENATOR]

I am planning on getting my first noise gate pedal. So far it looks like the holy grail for noise gate pedals is the ISP G-String butcurrently I am not in the budget for that money for a pedal since it is not the only thing I need rigth now. I was thinking on getting started with either MXR M195 Noise Clamp or Boss NS-2.

- Which one of these two do you like better and why?
- Will any of these change/color my tone?
- Can the NS-2 bypass the loop as the MXR does? I like this idea since I can just hit the gate once to get my distortion, it would be painful to hit the gate and the distrotion pedal together every time.
- Any other one you would suggest about that same price range?


Thanks in advance.

 

[scottish]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

i havent used the holy grail or ISP. I do however have a NS-2 in my chain. I have it on all the time. It actually adds a little high end and sparkle imo which can be lost when running a longer chain. It has the input/output and send/return so if im understanding you correctly, then you should be able to set up a bypass loop depending on what else you want in there.

You have to run it before the delay obviously but i havent had problems with running any other effects pedal before the NS-2. Just for clarification, i am not a fuzz user. So i have no idea how those pedals would react to a noise gate.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

I've tried the MXR Noise Clamp. It was a good basic model. I later upgraded to the Smart Gate, but the noise clamp should do what you need it to do. I haven't tried the NS-2, so I'm just stating what I know of the MXR.

There was no coloring of tone. I'm not sure about the loop thing (I didn't really know much about that when I had it, so I would just plug everything into basic inputs). Like I said the Smart Gate is a really good one too, but the Noise Clamp is good for what you need.

 

[wolf5150]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

MXR Smart gate.

Best I've owned, and I've owned them all.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

MXR Smart gate.

Best I've owned, and I've owned them all.

The MXR Smart Gate does not include a loop to compare with input signal and output noise so I do not understand why it can be better than the MXR Noise Clamp. I am not using distortion from amo, I am using distortion from pedal, I just found this review in sweewater.com that made me be more confused on when to use one or the other.

I initially purchased the MXR noise clamp, later realizing it was not the pedal that I needed.as I didn't have pedal noise; I had amp hiss and noise I wanted to silence through the effects loop.


What do you think wolf? I mean, if my distortion comes from pedal would the Smart Gate be too much? Are you using amp or pedal for your distortion?


On the other hand I really liked the idea of the loop to bypass the distorion pedal and turn the gate off with one single hit (avoiding pedal dancing).

 

[everdrone]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

I am pretty sold on my ISP g string noisegate pedal

I would just save up for that. I really like the envelope and dual noisegates in it!

 

[Mr 9finger]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

I've never used a gate before. Are the pedals meant for out in front of the input or in the loop? Or does just depend on where your "noise" is coming from? What if you got noise coming from a dirt pedal and the amp?

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

In my case the noise comes from the high gain of pedal. I am using a Boss metal core, I do get little noise when I stop playing. i can turn the volume down in the guitar but depending on what I want to play I may end up just doing some short breaks where handling the volume is not possible, thus hearing a bit of background noise. I know the noise is not from the amp because I am using the clean channel. So far I have learned some noise gate pedals have a "loop" and the noise gate pedals will try to cut the noise of distortion pedals inside that loop, there are otrhe noise gate pedals that do not have a loop and it seems to me they will proceess anything before them in the chain. So there noise gates pedals eith and without loop and I do not know which one is better for each kind of application.

At this point since I am a newbie with noise gate pedals, I think I will start with the MXR Noise clamp since I relly liked the idea of bypasing the gate and distortion in its loop with a single stomp, since I need the gate only for the boss metal core. I don't want a noise gate messing with my overdrive or killing my sustain when playing clean. I will learn something out of that and then I may make the move to something else I may need.

And yes, the ISP Decimator seems to be the holy grail of noise gates, I may need to save for one of those but honestly I also need some other equipment too and I want to get started with noise gates some time soon.

 

[hermetico]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

In my case the noise comes from the high gain of pedal. I am using a Boss metal core, I do get little noise when I stop playing. i can turn the volume down in the guitar but depending on what I want to play I may end up just doing some short breaks where handling the volume is not possible, thus hearing a bit of background noise. I know the noise is not from the amp because I am using the clean channel. So far I have learned some noise gate pedals have a "loop" and the noise gate pedals will try to cut the noise of distortion pedals inside that loop, there are otrhe noise gate pedals that do not have a loop and it seems to me they will proceess anything before them in the chain. So there noise gates pedals eith and without loop and I do not know which one is better for each kind of application.

At this point since I am a newbie with noise gate pedals, I think I will start with the MXR Noise clamp since I relly liked the idea of bypasing the gate and distortion in its loop with a single stomp, since I need the gate only for the boss metal core. I don't want a noise gate messing with my overdrive or killing my sustain when playing clean. I will learn something out of that and then I may make the move to something else I may need.

And yes, the ISP Decimator seems to be the holy grail of noise gates, I may need to save for one of those but honestly I also need some other equipment too and I want to get started with noise gates some time soon.

I would highly recommend you to save for that G-String. NO other currently available Noise Gate pedal can do its job.
I was in your same situation and, ok, you can start with another gate, as the MXR Smart Gate (at the beginning of your chain) but, you will finally end buying the G-string to get rid of the issues you are describing, guaranteed.
In that way, I went first for three "cheaper" gates, avoiding always go to expensiver ISP ones and, I went for the ISP Decimator first, to avoid the expense in the G-String and, finally, I went to G-String. So, lot of money wasted avoiding to waste money. Funny.

Some Gates change the color of the sound (Boss, by example).
Some Gates cannot completely quiet the floor noise without compromissing the tails of the sound (and this includes the ISP Decimator !!!).
G-String is the only one (that I know) that doesn't color the signal and doesn't affect tails, while removing whole floor noise.

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

I have the ISP regular and Decimator versions... they are powerful but are always fighting the noise and never really winning decisively. They cut the noise but are always at the point where they are slightly dampening my tone a bit.

Who has firsthand knowledge of a Decimator slayer? Wolf5150?

 

[mremic01]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

The Smart Gate and NS-2 killed my tone. I've been very happy with the ISP Decimator. The buffer is transparent when it's switched off, and when it's on it sounds exactly like my bypassed signal. I can turn the threshold up pretty high and still sound like there's nothing in the way of my signal. It works best early in the signal path, before any distortions or overdrives. It keeps any noise or feedback generated before your pedals from taking off. If you put them after your pedals, you have to up the threshold to compensate for any increase in gain.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

No noise gate is perfect...and to tell you the truth, the very idea of them is kind of repulsive to me...but the ISP G String is easily the best IME. Good enough to get me of all people to actually buy one, at any rate. I tried pretty much all I could find when I was shopping, and settled on that one without much real contest. All noise gates kill a good chunk of the noise...and of those, the regular Decimator (non-G-String model) is among the best at doing so transparently. But the G string is clearly more transparent than even that one; you can hear it instantly.

Plus, you can hook it up several different ways, all of them potentially useful in different situations:

1. You can run straight through it like a normal Decimator, not putting anything in the loop but a patch cable. That applies the noise reduction to your guitar's output only, not to the pedals or amp.

2. You can put all, or just some, of your effects in the loop. When I hook it up this way, I don't generally put modulation pedals in there – just gain pedals.

3. You can run straight through it with a patch cable, as in #1 above, but in your amp's effects loop.

4. You can place the entire pre-amp of the amplifier, and/or any pedals, in the pedal's loop, and use your guitar's clean signal as the baseline.

5. Any other setup/combination you can dream up with these basic understandings as a guide: A) Things before the first input establish the baseline, and then also get filtered in the pedal's loop. B) The pedal's loop is what the filtering actually affects. That also means that if you don't complete the loop, even with a patch cable, nothing gets filtered at all. C) nothing happens to anything after the last output. Obviously.

If you want to run with the noise gate on all the time, I'd just get the G String model. Bite the bullet and save up and/or buy used. However, if you just want to turn on the gate between songs, instead of turning your volume down, just go for the cheapest one you can find.

P.S. If it changes your tone or sustain, you have it cranked up too high, and/or the batteries are dying. Don't set it cranked up so that you have pure silence, you OCD bastard. Set it to the point at which the bulk of the buzz drops off.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

You guys are making me think it twice , aarrrggg, money money money money

 

[everdrone]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

You guys are making me think it twice , aarrrggg, money money money money

you should consider just going without one. once you know what you want need it is best to buy stuff that is quality, then you only buy once.

something to consider:
depending on where you are in Mexico, you may have poor quality electricity and power outages which may be a factor causing noise for you in your guitar rig. I bought an expensive Furman to combat this issue, since lights and stage PA take a lot of electricity and some stages around town destroy amps. my furman: http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?div=01&id=P-1800PF

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

You can always go with something cheap now, and upgrade when you are more flush. Or just deal with it, which is what I did for over 20 years before getting the Decimator G String.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

I would highly recommend you to save for that G-String. NO other currently available Noise Gate pedal can do its job.

Hermetico, I just have one little question about the ISP Decimator G String. I have read the manual and it describes it has a loop but it is not clear to me (maybe I am lost in translation) if turning off the GString will either

1.- Keep the signal from distortion pedals in the loop coming out its output jack, which means my distortion pedals are on and "noisy"
or
2.- it will turn off and bypass the distortion pedals in the loop, which means I can use the GString to "shut down" my distortion pedals with one single stupm in the GString, basically working as an overall clean/distorted control.

I suspect it should work as #2 but I just want to double check. If that is true then I will "byte the bullet" as suggested and save till I get on of these.

 

[LonePhantom]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

The Noise Clamp is designed for silencing noisy drive and modulation pedals in front of your amp. The loop is for your distortion/overdrive/fuzz/flanger/phasers, etc that you may run in front of the amp. Stick them all in the loop, and then plug a lead from your amp to the "out", and a lead from your guitar to the "in". The bypassed signal is used to take care of the noise introduced by the noisy pedals in the loop. It's a fantastic pedal, I've been using one since Dunlop sent me one to review back when they first came out.

 

[hermetico]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

Hermetico, I just have one little question about the ISP Decimator G String. I have read the manual and it describes it has a loop but it is not clear to me (maybe I am lost in translation) if turning off the GString will either

1.- Keep the signal from distortion pedals in the loop coming out its output jack, which means my distortion pedals are on and "noisy"
or
2.- it will turn off and bypass the distortion pedals in the loop, which means I can use the GString to "shut down" my distortion pedals with one single stupm in the GString, basically working as an overall clean/distorted control.

I suspect it should work as #2 but I just want to double check. If that is true then I will "byte the bullet" as suggested and save till I get on of these.

Sorry, I was out for a while.
The idea is very simple, G-String has two inputs and two outputs.

GUITAR IN
GUITAR OUT
DEC IN
DEC OUT

Guitar in - guitar out is the first step. Your clean guitar signal crosses this two jacks and, the G-String gets the reference.
You should adjust the threshold with all your pedals off, clean sound, up to you remove the hiss or buzz.

Then you run each pedal you want to protect from noise between GUITAR OUT - DEC IN
Inside, between DEC IN and DEC OUT, the G-Strings compares your clean input (guitar in - guitar out) against the signal that came in dec in and removed the extra noise level, delivering the filtered signal to the amp.

Since I've got some amp without FX loop, I am running all my effects in-front, always.
To me, the G-String should be the very first pedal in your chain, except if you have some vintage wah / fuzz that which tone can suffer when stacking some pedal before.
Then, I run ALL pedals in the loop (between guitar-out dec-in), except for time effects (delays, reverbs, echos), to avoid cut the tails.

In this old entry, in my Spanish blog, you can find more info about the G-String:
http://hermeticoguitar-spanish.blogspot.com.es/2012/01/pedales-isp-technologies-decimator-g.html

And, here you can see a diagram about how I've integrated it, including a 8-loops looper (Carl Martin Octaswitch II):
http://hermeticoguitar-spanish.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/pedales-integrando-el-carl-martin.html

Maybe this info can clarify your doubts.

 

[BEACHBUM]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

I'm not a big fan of noise gates so I use one of these. It's not a noise gate or a suppressor. What it does is sense ground loop noise and 60 cycle hum and cancel it out. There is no "gate" that gets opened and closed so there are no signal path interruptions or delay issues. It can be plugged strait into the amp or used at the beginning or end of your pedal chain. It can also be used through the effects loop if you choose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbdtS_SNqvY

 

[hermetico]

Re: Noise gate pedal for newbie: Good and affordable models?

I'm not a big fan of noise gates so I use one of these. It's not a noise gate or a suppressor. What it does is sense ground loop noise and 60 cycle hum and cancel it out. There is no "gate" that gets opened and closed so there are no signal path interruptions or delay issues. It can be plugged strait into the amp or used at the beginning or end of your pedal chain. It can also be used through the effects loop if you choose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbdtS_SNqvY

This is the WORST pedal I've ever tried!!!.
It produces a ring-modulator type of sound, very metallic and disturbing.
Mine was a can of ****, with my rig.