MXR Noise Clamp - Loop bypass toggle query

Voxman

Just received my MXR Noise Clamp today - picked it up pre-owned on Gumtree for £37 delivered and its in great condition with the box, manual, and other bits.  I was very impressed by feedback I'd read and you-tube demo's compared to eg the Boss NR2, and at that price I thought it was well worth going for and a better quality option than a new Behringer NR300.  Only nuisance is that it's smaller than a typical compact pedal which I didn't realise, so I'll have to put in a foam insert to hold it in one of the Behhringer PB1000 slots, as they are too big for it.

From the instructions I've read that there is an internal switch that toggles between Loop Bypass mode and Loop On mode.  The manual states that when in Loop Bypass Mode, when the Noise Clamp is turned off the loop is bypassed when presumably none of your pedals work and you just get the straight through by pass from guitar to amp, and when in Loop mode the FX are on (albeit without noise gate) when the noiseclamp is off.

So, couple of queries for those of you who use this pedal:

1. What's the normal default setting in the pedal when new?
2. How do you guys prefer to set the toggle switch in your noiseclamps, and what are the pro's/con's of each toggle setting?

Thanks guys.

not_the_dj

Up/Loop on is the factory setting for those.

Voxman

not_the_dj said:

Up/Loop on is the factory setting for those.

Thanks for that.  I'm still not sure why there's a loop bypass option - I suppose if you have several pedals running you might like the option of a one-touch bypass to get your straight amp sound without having to turn individual pedals off.  Conversely the loop on mode lets you choose when you want the noise gate engaged i.e. you might not want your tone 'clamped' until you've got distortions/overdrives engaged or a combination of pedals that generate more noise.  

For those of you using noise-gates on your pedal board, do you tend to leave it on all the time or switch it on/off only as needed?

steamabacus

My Boss NS-2 is left on all the time. I do a lot of looping with multiple layers so I want to minimise the build up of multiple layers of noise as much as possible.