Noise gate signal chain help

timmypix

Hi all,

I'm probably doing something stupid or missing something obvious, but I need some help troubleshooting some noise I'm getting in my rather gainy metal setup. I'm playing through a Victory Kraken with a Line 6 POD HD500X hooked up four-cable method to cover all my effects. Now until recently, I was using the noise gate in the POD, but there's so much gain in the Kraken's second channel that I was having to have two noise gates in the internal signal path, and they're not the best.

So my solution was to get a Boss NS-2 and stick everything in the loop of that so that the noise gate is getting my pure guitar signal and then isolating noise from the rest of the rig. In theory, very straightforward, but something about introducing the NS-2 to the rig has resulted in some serious high pitch squealing under high gain. I either use the POD for pre- and post- effects or for simple recording at home, just a Tube Screamer Mini in front of the amp.

Does this sound right to you?

Guitar > NS-2 input.

NS-2 send > pre-amp FX (either just a TS mini or the POD's input)

POD send/TS mini output > amp input

Amp FX loop send > NS-2 return

NS-2 output > (POD return > POD output >) Amp FX loop return

Now without the NS-2, the POD works great in four-cable method - no extra noise, just a little loss of sustain with its internal gates. But as soon as the NS-2 is introduced, it's almost like there's a ton of extra gain (more than what it already has) being introduced from somewhere, so the second channel has way more gain than it can cope with, amplifying what would normally be a little electrical chatter into a constant uncontrollable squeal. Doesn't matter whether the NS-2 is on or off, or if it's on mains (cheap Donner daisy chain that also powers the TS mini) or battery.

Does anyone have a clue what's going on?

ICBM

You've got a slight signal bleed-through in the NS-2 which is causing the chain to become unstable and self-oscillate when you use a lot of gain in the amp. Be careful, because this is potentially dangerous to the amp.

Have you tried putting the second set of Pod effects within the NS-2 loop as well, or does that make it worse? ie, amp FX send > Pod return > Pod output > NS-2 return > NS-2 output > amp FX return.

If that doesn't help, try it with only the amp's preamp in the NS-2's loop, so all the FX are outside the NS-2 loop.

timmypix

Thanks @ICBM, I'll give that a go tonight. What could be causing the signal bleed through? Crap cables?

ICBM

No, it’s inside the pedal - either due to the circuit layout or not quite effective enough filtering. It isn’t a problem normally, but if you have extreme amounts of gain in the loop it can become so.

It’s another version of the reason why you shouldn’t put distortion pedals in the FX loop of an amp.

timmypix

ICBM said:

No, it’s inside the pedal - either due to the circuit layout or not quite effective enough filtering. It isn’t a problem normally, but if you have extreme amounts of gain in the loop it can become so.

It’s another version of the reason why you shouldn’t put distortion pedals in the FX loop of an amp.

Thanks for the insight. Finally got around to trying having nothing but the pre-amp in the loop of the NS-2, and the squealing has persevered. Would this be a fault in this particular NS-2 or just that the design of the pedal can't cope with this much gain?

ICBM

timmypix said:

Finally got around to trying having nothing but the pre-amp in the loop of the NS-2, and the squealing has persevered. Would this be a fault in this particular NS-2 or just that the design of the pedal can't cope with this much gain?

Not sure, but probably faulty since that would be its normal function, at least with other high-gain distortion devices in the loop.

Check that all the jack nuts on the pedal are tight, they can come loose and the grounding goes via them.