So I did some Noise gate Comparisons (ISP, Boss, Rockman).. LONG POST

[Duke of Metal]

hey guys,
I recieved my ISP Decimator Pedal today and decided to do a little comparison between the other 2 units that I have:

- Boss NS-2
- Rockman SmartGate 1/2 Rack unit

Now what you will read here is based on my opinion. this is what I think personally.. ofcourse people may agree and some may not. But here's what I thought:

The rig that was used (wired as follow):
- Epi Lespaul Custom (duncan distortion in bridge)
- Dunlop Dime Wah DB-01
- MXR Microamp
- ADA MP-1 3TM
- Rocktron Replifex
- VHT 2502
- VHT 412 Slant FB cab

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- ISP Decimator pedal:
This pedal is very well built. A little bit heavier weight wise for a pedal.

First I plugged it infront of my amp after the MXR Microamp and into the ADA MP-1 3TM.

Turned the pedal on and set the dial to 0. I went to my heavy distortion patch and ofcourse there was highgain noise. I started turning the dial and I can definitly hear the Noise getting less and less. Ofcourse it got to a point where the dial didnt make any more different (close to passing 1/2 way) in the noise, but ofcourse the gating became too much, so it started to cut sustain. I backed it up a little bit and started playing. This pedal is very transparent on the signal. I didnt hear it change my tone at all. I unplugged it out of my signal chain and back in and I didnt hear any change. It didnt add any highs or suck any lows, etc.. So far, i am pretty happy with this pedal.

Then I plugged the ISP decimator pedal into my ADA MP-1 3TM Loop and I programmed it to it opens on my heavy rhythm patch. Again, i reset the dial to 0 and started playing and then stoped. Ofcourse Highgain noise was there. Started turning the dial and EVERYTHING went quiet. It basicly killed all the noise. started playing and it was clear and heavy. stoped playing and everything went quiet. This is the position where I liked this pedal the most. Definitly recommended pedal if you can pay the money for one.

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- Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor:
First it was after the MXR Microamp and before the ADA MP-1 3TM. Believe it or not, I noticed this pedal to cut more Noise than the ISP when infront of the amp/preamp section. BUT, what I noticed is that this pedal sucks a bit of the lowend out of the tone. For Noise reduction it was excellent, but it was very transparent and did affect the tone. I fooled around the controls on the pedal and I found the best setting for it was the Threshold control at 3/4, decay at 0 and Mode set to Reducation.

After the first test, I put this pedal in my ADA MP-1 3TM's loop and started playing. Again, to my ears this pedal sounded like it sucked a bit of the lowend out and gave the highend somewhat of a "harsh" feel to them. I was able to hear the difference when I turned the Loop OUT and IN.

Dont get my wrong, this pedal is also excellent, but the not being transparent part didnt do it for me. other wise, it was great for noise reduction infront of the amp/preamp section. definitly worth the $$ for people who cant afford the ISP.


Continue next post....

 

[Duke of Metal]

Re: So I did some Noise gate Comparisons (ISP, Boss, Rockman).. LONG POST

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- Rockman SmartGate 1/2 Rack unit:
For some reason, this unit seems to reduce the volume a tad when its in the signal line. That was the case whether it was in the front of the rig or in the Loop of the preamp. But for some reason, I really liked the way it sorta reduced that tad of volume. I just had to turn my Patch's internal volume on the preamp to go back to the original volume.

I found this unit to perform really well after a preamp or in the loop. and it worked even better when put in combination with either of the Boss NS-2 or the ISP.. but specially the ISP decimator. Both of the Rockman and ISP worked well together.

Transparency wise.. the Rockman was pretty transparent. it didnt affect the signal at all. What I really like about the Rockman is that it was a little button to go from Guitar Level to Line Level (and vice versa). Pretty cool if you want to use it with your amp or PA rig sort of a thing.

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Overall.. I found each of these units to be an excellent unit, but out of all 3, I personally liked the ISP best. it worked great in both Infront and in loop positions and was transparent.

hope that helps!

Feel free to ask questions if you have any and I'll try my best to answer.


Cheers

 

[Jeff Dunne]

Re: So I did some Noise gate Comparisons (ISP, Boss, Rockman).. LONG POST

I run my NS-2 infront of my amps, and have only found it to affect the tone in the FX loop. When in the FX loop, it does exactly what you described.

Weeeird.

 

[JLagoon]

Re: So I did some Noise gate Comparisons (ISP, Boss, Rockman).. LONG POST

Very nice, Duke!

I use the ISP Decimator pedal as well. I wish I can afford the rack unit.

So, you got your VHT cab at last. How do you like it and the KT77?

Thx

 

[Duke of Metal]

Re: So I did some Noise gate Comparisons (ISP, Boss, Rockman).. LONG POST

I run my NS-2 infront of my amps, and have only found it to affect the tone in the FX loop. When in the FX loop, it does exactly what you described.

Weeeird.

Hey man,
Yes.. in the loop, it does affect the tone a good amount I noticed. I could be wrong, But it might be thats its "overloading" its input and circut and thats whats causing it.

But hey.. who knows.


Cheers

 

[Duke of Metal]

Re: So I did some Noise gate Comparisons (ISP, Boss, Rockman).. LONG POST

Very nice, Duke!

I use the ISP Decimator pedal as well. I wish I can afford the rack unit.

So, you got your VHT cab at last. How do you like it and the KT77?

Thx

hey Bro,
How have ya been? Yeah, I wish I can afford the rack Decimator too... but its pretty expensive. For about close to 1/2 the price of the Rack Decimator, i can get 2 pedals and put 1 infront and 1 in the loop and be done

yeah.. the VHT cab has been with me for a while now. Its been nothing but great. To my ears, it sounds appsolutly amazing. Clear, tight and aggressive. Its somewhat unforgiving when it comes to sloppy playing since its a clear sounding cab. But no matter how much gain I throw at it and how much I crank my poweramp, it stays tight and punchy. in other words or like my friend says.. "the damn cabinet has BALLS".

The KT-77s? those are also great. I still use them in my VHT 2502 and if i am going to retube later, I will definitly retube with those. they're very tight and thick sounding on the lowend. clearer than EL34s and add cutting mids and smooth highs to the tone. They work great with highgain distortion. For cleans, they're appsolutly excellent. 3D sounding clean and awsome clarity and ring.

I remember the first time I plugged my VHT with KT-77s into the VHT 412. Everytime I hit a power chord and started chugging and playing fast, I'd stop and laught cause of how good it sounded. I put it side by side with a marshall 412 JCM900 straight cab and to be honest, the VHT was ALOT better tone wise.

hope that helps


Cheers

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: So I did some Noise gate Comparisons (ISP, Boss, Rockman).. LONG POST

Interesting finds Duke. I also did a comparison though it was only the ISP and the NS-2.

With the NS-2 I found the same results as you in the loop of my amp: harsh highs and a slight drop in lows. However in front of the amp I didn't notice any tone change at all, and I noticed as well like you did that it removes more noise in front than the ISP does.

As for the ISP, in front of the amp I didn't find it as effective as the NS-2... it just didn't have the same aggressive gate chop-off, even though it's supposed to react to short staccato notes it didn't feel like it did as much, even after fiddling with the knob for awhile. In the loop though it was awesome, completely transparent and silent!

I prefer my NS-2, but it was interesting reading your comparison. Thanks man!

 

[Duke of Metal]

Re: So I did some Noise gate Comparisons (ISP, Boss, Rockman).. LONG POST

Interesting finds Duke. I also did a comparison though it was only the ISP and the NS-2.

With the NS-2 I found the same results as you in the loop of my amp: harsh highs and a slight drop in lows. However in front of the amp I didn't notice any tone change at all, and I noticed as well like you did that it removes more noise in front than the ISP does.

As for the ISP, in front of the amp I didn't find it as effective as the NS-2... it just didn't have the same aggressive gate chop-off, even though it's supposed to react to short staccato notes it didn't feel like it did as much, even after fiddling with the knob for awhile. In the loop though it was awesome, completely transparent and silent!

I prefer my NS-2, but it was interesting reading your comparison. Thanks man!

Hey bro,
thanks for the reply. Yes, the NS-2 seemed to do that in the loop. thats one thing that I really liked the ISP over the NS-2 on. To me, the ISP does the job very well.

Closing wise.. I find the ISP to sound more "natural" when closing. the NS-2 is pretty good also but the ISP is to my ears more natural.

I also found that even though the NS-2 cleans more noise when infront of the amp, the ISP seemed to need less Threshold to reduce the Noise.


Cheers

 

[FamousForSustain]

Re: So I did some Noise gate Comparisons (ISP, Boss, Rockman).. LONG POST

I agree with your description of the Decimator's operation. It is definitely the best noise pedal out there (I haven't tried the NS-2 but there's no way anything made by Boss could REDUCE noise than the Decimator, sorry) but I sold mine after the honeymoon period when I began to notice that it does color the tone ever so slightly. In my HC review I believe I described it as adding a tiny amount of "tin" to the signal. Also, if you're big on palm mute chugs (as your handle and avatar might lead one to believe) it will screw with those more than anything. It's still a fine pedal, it just barely missed the mark to me.

 

[Duke of Metal]

Re: So I did some Noise gate Comparisons (ISP, Boss, Rockman).. LONG POST

I agree with your description of the Decimator's operation. It is definitely the best noise pedal out there (I haven't tried the NS-2 but there's no way anything made by Boss could REDUCE noise than the Decimator, sorry) but I sold mine after the honeymoon period when I began to notice that it does color the tone ever so slightly. In my HC review I believe I described it as adding a tiny amount of "tin" to the signal. Also, if you're big on palm mute chugs (as your handle and avatar might lead one to believe) it will screw with those more than anything. It's still a fine pedal, it just barely missed the mark to me.

Hey man,
Thanks for the reply. see, thats the one thing that really surprised me. I had both of the NS-2 and the ISP in my signal at the sametime and I would turn one off and turn the other one and to my ears, it sounded like the NS-2 cut a tad more noise than the ISP. This is infront of the preamp/amp.

When it was in the loop, the ISP was definitly the winner and prefered pedal. didnt affect my tone and didnt affect levels at all. I can deactivate and activate the loop by pressing 1 button.


cheers