Current state of noise gates?

tekbow

I'm putting this in the amp section because I'm talking about usage in the loop.

I always wanted something like the ISP decimator G-String, or even the G-rack stereo mod (now I have 2 amps), where there's an input tracking circuit.

So are these still where it's at in their price bracket, or have they been superseded?

Heard some say the ISP stuff is transparent and others say it kills the highs. People always say that about everything guitar related though so...

DanR

Only one I kept for any amount of time was the Fortin Zuul but I can get by without one normally so was an expensive luxury.

Toe_Knee

The tc one is meant to be pretty good . Can't remember what it's called though.

And the cockblocker is meant to have better input tracking than the isp. 

I use the gate on my gsp1101 as the c63 update enabled input tracking and it works really well. 

tekbow

Toe_Knee said:

And the cockblocker is meant to have better input tracking than the isp.

Are those a limited run?

Bidley

I used a Decimator for many years and it was great (as far as a noise suppressor goes).

digitalscream

The TC Sentry is very good, and can run sidechain or straight (no stereo though, I think). The only reason I'm not using it is that the loop in my Jet City is before the tone stack, and the slight drop in level does bad things to the tone.

sgosden

I've used boss ns-2 and TC sentry. 
Neither liked being in the loop of any of the amps I tried them with (higher gain stuff - kraken , friedman JJ , DSL etc) for loose metal tones . Mastodon rather than periphery.
I now use the NS2 in front of the amp with boosts and modulation in its loop. 
It kills a Tiny Tiny bit of the high end. But that can be reduced by actually setting the threshold per guitar. 
For live work that tiny loss of tone is better than a out of control amp. 

tekbow

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the extra ins and outs on the sentry are a loop for pedals, rather than an input tracking circuit?

digitalscream said:

The TC Sentry is very good, and can run sidechain or straight (no stereo though, I think). The only reason I'm not using it is that the loop in my Jet City is before the tone stack, and the slight drop in level does bad things to the tone.

Would be for the Gower, the SLO is actually pretty quiet. 

Seems like it's still the Decimator II g-string that's top of the tree if you want a tracking circuit then, or the cock blocker, which is LTD edition and sold out.

Found a vid, doesnt seem any difference to me.

digitalscream

tekbow said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the extra ins and outs on the sentry are a loop for pedals, rather than an input tracking circuit?

It can be set up a few ways, I believe, one of which is the ol' sidechain/input-tracking approach.

Jonathanthomas83

I have the Zuul mini which is seriously great but I'm impressed by the new ISP Pedal & Rack that's in the works. No idea if it'll be any better though, just looks and sounds like a well-made bit of kit.

https://www.isptechnologies.com/portfolio/hum-extractor-decimator-g-pedal/

https://www.isptechnologies.com/portfolio/hum-extractor-decimator-g-rack/

EDIT: I'm not using the Zuul right now and you're welcome to borrow it.

tekbow

digitalscream said:

tekbow said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the extra ins and outs on the sentry are a loop for pedals, rather than an input tracking circuit?

It can be set up a few ways, I believe, one of which is the ol' sidechain/input-tracking approach.

I'll do a bit more reading around it, but that wasn't mentioned in the manual. YouTube time I think

@johnathanthomas was looking at the zuul, but need a splitter for the input tracking, which is a whole other pedal I'd need to buy as I don't have anything else with dual outs.

There was a pro-rack g stereo mod up for sale a while back, but had other priorities sadly. Still keeping an eye for one. Will check out those new ISP units though.

guitarmangler

They've got those new ISP hum extractor/decimator up on sweet water for preorder $441 ! That's two Zulu's or decimators !

tekbow

guitarmangler said:

They've got those new ISP hum extractor/decimator up on sweet water for preorder $441 ! That's two Zulu's or decimators !

As far as I can tell it's the same as one zuul or gstring if you intend to use the input tracking/4CM.

The stereo mod pro'rack interests me because I could do both amps at once, but I'd settle, at a pinch for taming the noise in the Gower.

@digitalscream, I've found some stuff on side chaining for the sentry, reading up now. For under a £100, I'd definitely consider it if it can track the change from clean to gain channels like the ISP is supposed to be able to do.

That's of course if the ISP actually does that in practice.

digitalscream

tekbow said:

guitarmangler said:

They've got those new ISP hum extractor/decimator up on sweet water for preorder $441 ! That's two Zulu's or decimators !

As far as I can tell it's the same as one zuul or gstring if you intend to use the input tracking/4CM.

The stereo mod pro'rack interests me because I could do both amps at once, but I'd settle, at a pinch for taming the noise in the Gower.

@digitalscream, I've found some stuff on side chaining for the sentry, reading up now. For under a £100, I'd definitely consider it if it can track the change from clean to gain channels like the ISP is supposed to be able to do.

That's of course if the ISP actually does that in practice.

Well, I'm not using mine, and given that there's no space on the board...hit me up if you want to go down that road.

tekbow

digitalscream said:

tekbow said:

guitarmangler said:

They've got those new ISP hum extractor/decimator up on sweet water for preorder $441 ! That's two Zulu's or decimators !

As far as I can tell it's the same as one zuul or gstring if you intend to use the input tracking/4CM.

The stereo mod pro'rack interests me because I could do both amps at once, but I'd settle, at a pinch for taming the noise in the Gower.

@digitalscream, I've found some stuff on side chaining for the sentry, reading up now. For under a £100, I'd definitely consider it if it can track the change from clean to gain channels like the ISP is supposed to be able to do.

That's of course if the ISP actually does that in practice.

Well, I'm not using mine, and given that there's no space on the board...hit me up if you want to go down that road.

Will do, gona do some more research on it first, but liking the look of it

spirit7

I use the Fortin Zuul in my Gower and it works well. 

roberty

I've got the decimator g string ii and it is bloody magical. The sidechain is a game changer. I'm using it in very noisy signal chains (whammy -> octave fuzz -> boost -> etc) and it makes things supernaturally quiet. I have just built a fortin zuul clone which I'll hopefully try in rehearsal this week. All being well I'll be putting the decimator up for sale. Honestly I can't fault the decimator but my plan was to build my own and pocket the difference

Jonathanthomas83

tekbow said:

@johnathanthomas was looking at the zuul, but need a splitter for the input tracking, which is a whole other pedal I'd need to buy as I don't have anything else with dual outs.

Yes, is a bit of a pain, that! :-)

roberty

Jonathanthomas83 said:

tekbow said:

@johnathanthomas was looking at the zuul, but need a splitter for the input tracking, which is a whole other pedal I'd need to buy as I don't have anything else with dual outs.

Yes, is a bit of a pain, that! :-)

Yeah that's partly why i built my own. Musikding do kits with four jacks but you have to set up stock alerts cos they sell out in no time. Bargain if you're handy with a soldering iron

I have the old version decimator g string with four jacks which I'll hopefully be selling soon

Toe_Knee

tekbow said:

Toe_Knee said:

And the cockblocker is meant to have better input tracking than the isp.

Are those a limited run?

I believe so. Not sure if they're still available . He did do a second run though

tekbow

Little update on this.

I've tried 2 noise gates in the last week since posting and something weird is going on. The pedals introduce a squeal/high freq oscillation by virtue of being plugged in when the amps were in high gain mode

Both well known gates from well regarded makers that use 4CM so that it takes a tracking signal from the guitar, then applies the gate in the amp FX loop.

The first one I tried worked for the previous (and future owner) in their own rig, but not in mine. Not even going direct to the gate then onto the amp, excluding my pedalboard, AB/Y routing etc.

The second one arrived today, and did the same thing exact same thing, with both my amps.

Tried every piece of troubleshooting I, the seller in the first case, and both the pedal maker & amp maker in the second case could think of.

- Going direct without any AB/Ying or pedal board

- fresh, known to be good cables

- various hookups

- various power sources

- isolation box on the connection to the amp input (this actually muted the squeal a bit)

‐ different amps,

- different guitars and pickups

The first pedal was accepted back by the seller who tested it with his rig after receiving it back and it worked fine.

The current one is going back to the pedal builder. The amp builder suggested there could be a feedback loop caused by bleed thru between tracking and gating circuits in both cases.

Honestly not sure what to think. I've seen both these things demo'd with seriously high gain circuits.

The only other things the amps are connected to when this occurs are load boxes and speaker cabs.