I’ve tried a bunch of noise gates and have abandoned them all. Every one of them has lots of tone suck. Especially when used in the loop. That said, playing a gig, they are 100% necessary and I would use one.
Here is my opinion on the few I’ve used: Note that I mainly used them in the amp loop and tried 3-4 different boxes to split the signal for the key since I was thinking the splitters were the tone suck issue.
LWA Endless blockade. Worst one I tried. I actually owned two different ones and it has a lot of tone suck. I believe it’s been confirmed it’s a Zuul copy with some added knobs. There is a thread here about it.
Fortin Zuul full size. Was okay, worked, but has tone suck. I’d like to try the new one.
Highwind Phalanx. Good. Just like the Zuul though. I had mine built with a ground lift which helped a lot. Still has tone suck. I kept it because I got it new and cost less than the others. I was one of the first buyers of this thanks to a forum friend alerting me.
Fortin Zuul mini. Same as above… BUT the one I had sounded the best and had almost zero tone suck. I tested it for days to confirm since I thought I was nuts. I regret selling it.
Deadweld duality DX. Boost with a gate. Didn’t like this pedal at all. Not the gate or the boosts. Nope. I tried to order the Golem, but they didn’t seem to care about my inquiry on trying to purchase.
. I moved on.
Lichtlaern the key and the gate. Didn’t like it at all. The boost ruined it for me.