ditching a noise suppressor?

[mniel8195]

Hey guys i am thinking about pulling my g string out of my board. It adds a ton of cable to my board and i think its not constructive with clean and lower gain sounds. I am not using piles of gain anymore either. Who here is not using one and just deals with a little bit of noise? I like the idea of being about to use my volume knob and switch between pickups and not have an issue.

 

[glip22]

Good move. If I can't find a balance between gain and volume and guitar with a particular amp I sell it. Noise gates ruin your tone. I can have an amp cranked and use my left and right hand to control feedback along with my body. Even with unpotted pickups.

 

[bubbastain]

I absolutely do not want to use a noise suppression pedal of any kind. I use my palm to mute the strings, use the volume knob to clean up the signal(single channel amp) and use varying degrees of pick attack. Even the "good" noise gates bother me the way it affects the signal. I also don't mind a little noise in between the notes. Sounds more alive to me and not so perfect. With the exception of a 4 space rack preamp, I have not felt the need for a noise gate with any other amp. I do see how they are useful to some though.

 

[datriani]

I just recently dropped my noise clamp which didn't color the sound too badly but I had this elaborate board with a lot more pedals and just stripped it down to 4 pedals. The attack and clarity jumped out afterwards and I couldn't be happier. If you look at a lot the pro boards, most of them do not have one. I use my volume knob much more now and it's become a habit.

 

[SkyhighRocks]

I wanted to ditch my NS-2 but there's just no way. The loop's white noise is too much...not bad if you don't turn up but turn up past 2 and it's audible. Add in a boost and OD and it's massive noise. I play with a lot of gain so for guys like me, it's a must. I even added all new George L cables, re-wired the whole board, PP2+, etc...no help.

 

[blackba]

I can see using on if you use lots of gain, but for clean and lower gain tones, a noise gate (only tried the gstring) kills the tone and feel. If I did get another noise gate, I would put it on a looper than came on with the distortion to avoid tap dancing.

A noise gate is one of those pedals that people either find as essential or one that people find as just a tone killer and not worth it.

 

[155]

I find a gstring in the loop set properly does absolutely nothing to compromise the tone or feel, mabye if its placed somewhere else idk...for higher gain channels it keeps the rig silent when nothing is happening other then that you wouldnt know it was there.

 

[drspearing]

Is the rack unit any different or better? The concept looks really good on paper with the two channels with one being pre that is sensing the guitar signal and the other in the loop. I use high gain and clean.

Talk me into or out of it.

 

[1meanplexi]

Is the rack unit any different or better? The concept looks really good on paper with the two channels with one being pre that is sensing the guitar signal and the other in the loop. I use high gain and clean.

Talk me into or out of it.

Yup!!!!!

I have the Prorack G and it is awesome. I can crank the gain on my VH4 turn on all my pedals and have the rig dead quiet. Guitar> tuner>Prorack chn 1 in> Prorack out to my pedals>to the amp. I have to admit that there is a difference plugging straight into the head but (for me) noise suppression is an absolute must have.

 

[jsp]

I've been using the NS-2 for many years now, and have had no problems with it affecting my tone, whether it's clean, crunch, or high gain. Shrug.

 

[steve_k]

Most people use these more for the gating at gig volume and controlling feedback, rather than suppression of unwanted hiss and hum.

 

[Badronald]

I've been using the NS-2 for many years now, and have had no problems with it affecting my tone, whether it's clean, crunch, or high gain. Shrug.

Same here. I've used it forever. I've got to have it live.

 

[1meanplexi]

Most people use these more for the gating at gig volume and controlling feedback, rather than suppression of unwanted hiss and hum.

Exactly. The one bitch I would have about the Prorack is the knob for vector tracking. I have found it to be so sensitive that it will clamp down on rhythms. I barley have it advanced.