Noise gate's - what's my options and what's the best?

Jonathanthomas83

So I've noticed a lot of the Muff's I've tried hum terribly with the Strat, if I put the TD-X in front of the M-1, it gets noisier. 

So do you guys advise for the use of noise gates like the NS-2 or the Decimator pedal range? 

What do you guys use? 

I'm also partial to the odd metal riffage with other high gain pedals that could benefit from such devices! 

I also plan to put my pedals in a true bypass programmable looper, I have a Voodoo Labs HEX for such a time, so is it a case of putting the hex in the loop of the noise gate? 

Dopesick

I use an NS-2 with my high gain drive pedals in the loop. However I'm still trying to get the right setting and whenever I feel I get it accurately tweaked, I play a note and it seems to 'fade in' for a second before sustaining as normal. There is no tone suck but that little brief fade in at the beginning is a wee bit annoying. Tbh it's only really noticeable at lower volumes.

I've yet to try the EHX Silencer but have heard good things, especially for the price. Decimator I haven't tried but it doesn't have a loop so I'm weary.

Corvus

I had some earth noise with a couple of pedals not liking something else on the board (isolated lower) and some noisy ones. Got a used NS2 and put the dirt in its loop, sorted nicely. No loss of tone etc. There is a little noise as notes fade out to silence but overall way better.
It allows stacking all sorts without noise.

Having reverb delay etc outside the filtering loop keeps their decay untouched.

Jonathanthomas83

@Dopesick Decimator G-String (what a name) has a loop. EHX Silencer wasn't on my radar, thanks for the response. I think that fade in would annoy me too. Shame. The Amptweaker noise gate on their pedals is awesome.

Dopesick

@Jonathanthomas83 Yeah the Amptweaker noise gate is good but still does bugger all at high volumes I find. Weird, does exactly the opposite of the NS-2.

Jonathanthomas83

Thanks @Corvus, helpful indeed!

professorben

@williamwilliamson has one a NS-2 for sale and it's in great nick, as it was mine.  

Jonathanthomas83

Thanks @professorben, not quite ready for one yet...still in research phase! :-)

professorben

The fade in on the ns-2 only seemed to occur on VERY high setting of the gate, I only needed it on metal levels of gain. 

DarnWeight

I picked up an EHX Silencer over Christmas, and for the money, I'm pretty happy with it.  It is quite tricky to dial in perfectly, but it works well enough.

Gassage

I fundamentally believe that if you need a noise gate something is not right in your rig.

jonnygreentrees

Gassage said:

I fundamentally believe that if you need a noise gate something is not right in your rig.

nah certain styles of metal rely on you having dead silence between your chord chugs, horses for courses

Sassafras

Although not intended as such and I keep banging on about this but the VHT Valvulator is the most effective noise clamp I've ever used and as a bonus it sweetens and 'embiggens' your sound. Maybe not the most practical solution but certainly the best sounding one.

Corvus

My NS2 "clamps" the attack if the threshold is too high, best start with it fully off and decay maxed, bring up the threshold gradually till the noise floor's gone or just lessened if you like. Then mess with the decay to taste.
Unless you want to change the control for different pedal combos, set it with the noisiest ones running. Set right it'll silence noisy fuzzes and whatnot without taking anything off your base tone, decay etc.

MattBanshee

I've always found that noise gates sound best in an amp's effects loop, in an amp not belonging to me, preferably still in a shop somewhere.

professorben

Gassage said:

I fundamentally believe that if you need a noise gate something is not right in your rig.

Spoken like a true metal kid. 

professorben

The best noise gate I've yet found is on my Eleven Rack, and I would possibly use it just for that if I ever tired of the fx. 

Its as many have said 'horses for courses' I can't imagine any worthwhile metal high gain tone being bearable without a gate.

@Jonathanthomas83 be wary of advice on these matters, as people's uses of a noise gate vary considerably, I believe most on this forum that use 'em fall into two categories,

1) high gain guys (me) looking to silence the fat fryer between songs and get a brutally tight rhythm chug and use it almost as an effect, 
2) the gain stacking strat dudes that want to put a TS into a Klon to goose their Muff before it hits the front end of their cooking Princeton and are just trying to reduce 50cycle hum.

Try and work out which you are and then you stand a better chance of figuring out which would suit you better. 

Voxman

I use an MXR 'Noise Clamp' that works very well.    

Gassage

professorben said:

Gassage said:

I fundamentally believe that if you need a noise gate something is not right in your rig.

Spoken like a true metal kid. 

I'm absolutely a pure metal head.

I can play Sorrow. That proves it.

professorben

Gassage said:

professorben said:

Gassage said:

I fundamentally believe that if you need a noise gate something is not right in your rig.

Spoken like a true metal kid. 

I'm absolutely a pure metal head.

I can play Sorrow. That proves it.

Yes dear. 

timmysoft

Gassage said:

I fundamentally believe that if you need a noise gate something is not right in your rig.

That's why so many pros use them, all their rigs are wrong. Check out Born Of Osiris if you want to hear some super tight gating.

im an ns2 user, in the past I've actually used one in front and one in the loop for ultimate silence. I don't tend to use them now I'm playing with less gain, but for modern metal they are an essential.