Noise Clamp W/ or W/Out loop?

[Kapo_Polenton]

I have already chased down noise and hum and I think it is just inherent in my home. I have a separate circuit for my studio and i am plugging amp and board into same power conditioner that is plugged into same outlet. I also run a voodoo power supply so isolation isn't the issue i don't think.

Regardless, some pedals like treb boost or fuzz are noise whores. Click those on and it is a whole diff game. I was playing with the spare EH silencer I have and running pedals in the loop of it and it is useless. That pedal sucks. Tried a cheapo flamma Amazon pedal i had as well and it does alright but not as good as the old decimator I have on my other board. This new board I am doing is my era board to cover any sound I would ever want so there is def going to be noise due to volume and combo of pedals and i want top notch clamping.

Anyone tested the diff between the newer decimators with loop vs straight in and out? Worth spending the extra cash for a loop or is there really.no diff when I throw the thing last after OD's and before modulation? My modulatuon is phase 90?,Evh flange, mxr stereo chorus, exhoplex delay for the VH thing. Dirt are : fuzz, treb boost, dod yjm, randy rhoads disto+, bonsai , GE-10.

 

[tjnx]

That's a good question, I guess the biggest advantage of a loop + key is so you can tame your amp's preamp gain and trigger it with your clean guitar signal and not have that confused with any noise that came before it.

Supposed to be more accurate because the key signal is clean, but a lot of people are happy with normal ones.

I have the zuul+ (w loop / key) and it works great, another cheaper option to look into is the Ibanez ptgate (no loop)

 

[Dave L]

What you have there probably is ambient interference, just noise in the air coming thru the guitar from whatever source. Fluorescent lights, various screens, wifi, dimmers, circuit boxes, refrigerators... does the noise go away when you turn down the guitar? If that is the case you might be better off having the gate before any overdrives, on the premise that the drives just amplify the noise. But then again, some modulation pedals do generate noise of their own when in front of a high gain amp so you might also want it last overall. You´ll have to muck around a bit and see what works best.

The loop thing is if you want to have a gate in the loop of your amp that is triggered by your guitar and not by the signal from the preamp section, like tjnx said.

I´ve never had to look beyond the MXR Smart gate, myself, but the Decimators are also a standard.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I have some Bluetooth lighting above me in my studio yes but with it off, not that much diff. I suspect it could be wifi signal or any of the many devices we run in homes these days..

As for the loop, there are a few diff ways I see. The 4 cable method, the just in the loop of the Amp and then running just the dirt pedals in the loop of the pedal and allowing it to sit like a loop box of sorts but still detecting your signal when the dirt is not there. That said, my old decimator seems to be doing the job well with only the slightest of fizz after the last note so I would hope the newer ones are that much better. I noticed the chorus and flanger weren't that bad after the decimator and the echoplex def has to sit after so the notes don't get cut. I wonder about the fuzz and treb boost being better on batteries though. Finicky bastards those two.

 

[WizardAmpIphoneClip]

Can't deal with a noise gate in the loop, always changes the sound for the worse. I always sell the noisy amps

 

[tjnx]

One thing I forgot to mention is that with the Zuul+ it has a buffer when its on. It does brighten things up a bit. Your fuzz and treble booster may have some issues coming after it and would likely need to go before. The whole point of the loop is so you can hit it with your guitar signal first

If the fuzz and booster are too noisy then does it really help vs a standard? Still may be better but you might want to look into it.

I'd maybe start with the ptgate or other good one after your pedals from gc then return it if its not doing the job.