Best Noise Gate For Guitar Amp Hum w/ a Nice Price Tag?

[gm5k]

title says it all guitar sluts. my Mark IV is ok with noise when i dont have an overdrive pedal on, but once i stomp on my Dunlop/MXR Wylde Overdrive(kickass little pedal btw) she gets a little out of control. which noise gate? thanks!

[mdsmith64]

I'm guessing you want a noise gate pedal as opposed to a rack mount gate? If so, you're looking at about $100 to $125 for a decent one. If that's not a budget buster for you, then I would recommend either the Boss NS2 pedal, or the iSP Decimator. Stay away from the Rocktron Hush pedal. I tried that thing once and was a tonal black hole. This is weird because I have the rackmount Hush Super C which does just fine. I also have the iSP decimator pedal and it does just fine as well. You don't notice any tone sucking with the Decimator.

Here's my take on noise gates, however. I personally think I feel something strange happen to the attack of the signal when I'm using a noise gate. It's extremely subtle but I swear it's there and it starts to bug me after a while. Maybe it's not the attack, but something else. In any case, I've actually removed the Super Hush from my Triaxis rig and removed the Decimator from my pedal board and have just learned to deal with a little noise. One trick I've figured out with my channel switching amps is to turn the volume all the way down on the clean channel and then switch to that channel at the end of the song/recording.

Anyway, as always your milage may vary.

Mike.

[Unclenny]

Yeah....I used NS-2 for years. You can dial it in pretty well to clean things up but you will ALWAYS lose some signal.

I took some good advise and stuck a volume pedal at the end of my chain instead. Work your signal/noise ratio and feather that VP at the end of your runs and shimmering chords and you may be able to do without that gate.

I've come to realize that a little amp hiss is not so bad in this age of digitally clean recording.

[gm5k]

Originally Posted by mdsmith64

I'm guessing you want a noise gate pedal as opposed to a rack mount gate?

if a rack mount would work better, id prefer that . doesnt really matter to me.

[Pasta4lnch]

the only one I've tried (not very fond of them) that I've liked is the one on my THD univalve. If I'm not mistaken it is also on the hot plate. . . .

[Jonboy79]

I thought your mark iv blew up?

[gm5k]

Originally Posted by Jonboy79

I thought your mark iv blew up?

LOL yea, i replaced the fuse and its working now. i think it has a bad tube though which probably caused the fuse to blow...so im not gonna play on it a lot just yet. im gonna take it to a tech tomorrow to get it checked out.

[Jonboy79]

Originally Posted by gm5k

LOL yea, i replaced the fuse and its working now. i think it has a bad tube though which probably caused the fuse to blow...so im not gonna play on it a lot just yet. im gonna take it to a tech tomorrow to get it checked out.

What leads you to believe it's a bad tube?

[gm5k]

Originally Posted by Jonboy79

What leads you to believe it's a bad tube?

from reading the troubleshooting stuff in the manual and talking to some other people w/ the same amp, seems to fit the description pretty well. a bad tube/s is the most common cause of a blown fuse in the Mark IV. from the manual...

"If a fuse blows, the problem is most likely a shorted power tube..." this particular tube also heats up more quickly than the others(manual said it would to this as well), and glows bright blue on the sides. in the manual, it said it would be glowing "red hot"...

so im not absolutely sure a shorted power tube is the case, but i think it probably is.

my god does the amp sound amazing though. i just need a better delay pedal now...looking into the Eventide Timefactor. looks pretty awesome.

[the_Chris]

I've used the Boss NS-2, the ISP Decimator and even tried one of the Electro Harmonix Hum Debuggers when they first came out (owned a HUSH Super C too, but that's rack gear).

The most transparent one I've used is the ISP Decimator. When you absolutely, positively don't want to mess with your tone at all (besides cutting out some unwanted noise), that's the best I've personally found. The NS-2 probably cuts out a bit more noise, but the tradeoff was a change in playing response with the pedal engaged. I didn't notice the feel change until the second time I purchased the pedal and really started doing A/B comparisons.

Don't even bother looking at a Hum Debugger, far too many glitches/bugs to even be considered. It is complete garbage and IMHO, EH was foolish to have ever had it leave the bench.

[gm5k]

Originally Posted by the_Chris

I've used the Boss NS-2, the ISP Decimator and even tried one of the Electro Harmonix Hum Debuggers when they first came out (owned a HUSH Super C too, but that's rack gear).

The most transparent one I've used is the ISP Decimator. When you absolutely, positively don't want to mess with your tone at all (besides cutting out some unwanted noise), that's the best I've personally found. The NS-2 probably cuts out a bit more noise, but the tradeoff was a change in playing response with the pedal engaged. I didn't notice the feel change until the second time I purchased the pedal and really started doing A/B comparisons.

Don't even bother looking at a Hum Debugger, far too many glitches/bugs to even be considered. It is complete garbage and IMHO, EH was foolish to have ever had it leave the bench.

thanks for the response. ill definitely look into this one

i see on the site there is a pedal and also a rackmount version. i wonder how much more versatile the rack version is. i shall look into this...

ok NM i think theyre pretty much the same thing. just that one threshhold knob.

the sound samples on the site are very impressive.

[the_Chris]

Originally Posted by gm5k

thanks for the response. ill definitely look into this one

i see on the site there is a pedal and also a rackmount version. i wonder how much more versatile the rack version is. i shall look into this...

ok NM i think theyre pretty much the same thing. just that one threshhold knob.

You're welcome for the response!

I've heard that Pro G rack setup ISP does is better than the stompbox Decimator, but unfortunately I've never tried it so I don't know for sure. As long as there isn't a lot of noise you need to cut out, I think you'll be very happy with the stompbox Decimator

[Space Nugget]

You also might want to try throwing an MXR Smart Gate into your Mesa's effects loop...unless you go the rackmount route

Another thing...IF you decide to get the BOSS NS-2, invest in the power adaptor for it. For some reason that thing sucks batteries down like beer.

[jamsmith]

MXR Noise Gate/Line Driver