SORTED NOW: suggestions for a good but low cost 'compact pedal size' noise-gate for pedal board

Voxman

Hi guys - I'm going to need to expand my pedal-board to include a noise gate to tame hum/buzz - particularly with a USA Standard Strat or Tele with single-coils.  

I know there's the Boss NS2 (circa £60-70) but I don't know how good it is or if there are better 'compact' size pedals to go for, so would value your thoughts/experience here! 

Cheers

Rich 

mike_l

MXR Smartgate. Covers everything I can think of. I got mine used for £75 IIRC.

More flexible and (IMO) betterer than the Boss.

juansolo

ISP Decimator (Boss sized). Pretty much the best gate out there in stomp box form.

ThePrettyDamned

Mooer do a micro one. Can't say how good it is as I've never used it...

If you're torn for quality, the isp is great for most gating needs. The mxr smart gate is good, too, and easy to set for general noise reduction.

Gassage

What is the issue? There's better ways of doing this than a noise gate! You should never need to use one really.

ThePrettyDamned

Gassage;347412" said:

What is the issue? There's better ways of doing this than a noise gate! You should never need to use one really.

Unless it's for start tight riffing.

Dave_Mc

Do you want to cut pedal/guitar noise or amp noise or both?

I think the decimator is better than the boss, but you can only cut one of those things at the same time, whereas with the boss you can do both. for less money. and the g-string decimator (which i think can be used the same way as the ns2, but i could be wrong) is even more again.

Voxman

Gassage said:

What is the issue? There's better ways of doing this than a noise gate! You should never need to use one really.

Single coil p/ups always pick up hum eg 50Hz Strat hum. If I use any of the distortion pedals, or Boss CSE3 compressor I get hum.  If I put the Marshall Guvn'r or Vintage Tube Overdrive on together, noise increases.  If I add the EQ its louder still, and if I put on all 4 units together its unuseable.  I realise that all 4 on is going to do this, but I should be able to use say the EQ, Tube Overdrive (or Guvnr) and CS3 together without the amount of noise I'm getting. So would a noise-gate should help?  

I've also been reading (and watching demo) of the Electroharmonix HumDebugger.  The vid looks impressive - has anyone come across this unit and if so, thoughts?  

http://www.ehx.com/products/hum-debugger

Johnnyseven

Is the CS3 stock? If so it's known to be noisy. Maybe a mod would sort it. If your eq is a GE7, that has the same issue and can be modded too for lower noise.

Voxman

Johnnyseven said:

Is the CS3 stock? If so it's known to be noisy. Maybe a mod would sort it. If your eq is a GE7, that has the same issue and can be modded too for lower noise.

Yup, all my pedals are stock. Good thought re mods - Just found a site called Pedalmods UK but its £41 for the CS3, £33 for the GE7 and postage costs (there and back) is another £16.40.  So, £90.40 for two pedals which is more than I paid for them - but I'll have a ponder.  The site does say these are both 'Keeley supported mods' - I know Robert Keeley is famous for mods, but wasn't sure what 'supported' actually meant?

Johnnyseven

I've had then mod pedals for me in the past and they do good work. I asked the same question and they gave me a vague answer about Keeley not modding those pedals himself but he supported their mod, whether he offered advice on the mods or just thinks it's good that they mod those pedals I don't know.

Gassage

Have you tried a really good buffer? The Empress push pull Buffer + might be a better option for you. A nosiegate takes so many dynamics out of your playing.

CS3 is notoriously noisy too as noted above. The Monte Allum Mod is great for GE7's too.

mike_l

That's exactly why I got a Smartgate. If you set it correctly you'll remove the noise and hum,  but not the quality of the notes (if that makes sense).

I found the Boss best for whacking a massive dirty pedal infront of, and palm-muted chug with a heavy gate (Ala Pantera).

Johnnyseven

Adding a noise gate wouldn't be solving the issue, just hiding it. I have a Monte Allums modded GE7 and it is not noisy at all, and I used to have a modded CS3 which was the same. My preference would be to get the pedals modded for lower noise and for a higher quality sound overall. The mods would cost money, but buying a noise gate would cost too. I would email Pedalmods and ask them if they think their mods would help with your issues, i've found them to be very helpful in the past.

Re posting pedals, if you pack them sensibly you should be able to send 1st Class Signed For - for £4.30 each way.

ThePrettyDamned

That said, if you have a compressor, overdrive and distortion on, it will generate noise, especially with single coils.

Modding pedals would reduce the noise - the eq is notoriously noisy, and easily modded with different components. I'd start there.

Eq pedals are almost always noisy stock, too, so replacing it with a "better" one might be false economy.

Bidley

I've got an NS2 for sale, £40 posted? You can use it for pedal noise or amp/guitar noise, does the job really well. Let me know if you fancy it.

Voxman

Many thanks for all the responses guys - definitely food for thought re possible solutions. And Bidley, thank you too for the NS2 offer - not quite sure which way to jump at the moment, but I'll let you know. 

Cheers guys

Rich 

hugbot

I would expect any 2 dist/compression units to create hum when used together to be honest.

I'd try the mooer gate or mxr smartgate, isp decimator did nothing for me.

Voxman

As a follow up I've been reading various reviews and looking at you-tube clips.  I've come across the Behringer NR300 that I can buy new with free delivery from Amazon at £16.99. I have a Behringer EQ900 and To800 that are both really good, and a lot more rugged than you might think. 

Forgetting the plastic vs metal case construction, in as far as what this does as compared to say a Boss NS2 (retails at circa £65) is there any real difference re functionality and effectiveness?  

monquixote

How about the Rocktron microhush

http://www.rocktron.com/microhush.html

Drew_TNBD

I quite partial to the one on the Zoom MS70CDR.