Running two decimators may be the best gate setup ever.

[OldGtrGuy]

Yes. Essentially, the main one quiets rig completely. But the second is only for start/stop adjustment so that the first doesnt have to be turned up enough to do the start/stop. The first one is also in the loop. So the loop is an inefficient place for start/stop. It is more efficiient for silence. If you use one gate in the loop for start/stop, you have to turn it up higher and can get the weird after affect of gate closing, such as an echo.

Don't get me wrong, you can use one fine all day. But with two you are adjusting one thing at a time at the most efficient placement for that thing; rather than having a one knob pedal try to accomplish two things.

Never tried that tbh, seems too complicated for me. I just use the 4CM and accept the sacrifice that it comes with.

Your way makes sense and sounds better in theory, obviously it seems to work for you as well but i cant wrap my head around adding more = affecting less.

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

Never tried that tbh, seems too complicated for me. I just use the 4CM and accept the sacrifice that it comes with.

Your way makes sense and sounds better in theory, obviously it seems to work for you as well but i cant wrap my head around adding more = affecting less.

The simplest way i can say is a gate in front of the amp is the absolute best way to control tightness.

A gate in the loop is the absolute best way to control preamp hiss (especially if you boost it)

So rather than making one do both jobs, i have one for each job so that they can be turned down as much as possible.

When i tried to use one for both, the gate was set high as fuck. It has some minor issues that come up with that method that could totally be ignored by someone not crazy as hell about perfecting the gating

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

In my opinion, the gate in the loop is the one that can start sucking the natural sustain if turned up too high, and it inefficiently gates the front end.

So i use another before the amp to handle the gating and am using the one in the loop to suppress the noise

 

[ChurchHill]

https://www.isptechnologies.com/guitar/decimator_prorack_g

Two gates, one in front, one in the loop, both controlled by the signal from the guitar. Same basic concept, right?

 

[OldGtrGuy]

The simplest way i can say is a gate in front of the amp is the absolute best way to control tightness.

A gate in the loop is the absolute best way to control preamp hiss (especially if you boost it)

So rather than making one do both jobs, i have one for each job so that they can be turned down as much as possible.

When i tried to use one for both, the gate was set high as fuck. It has some minor issues that come up with that method that could totally be ignored by someone not crazy as hell about perfecting the gating

Can definitely see the benefits of this now.

 

[Meeotch]

For anyone looking to add 2 noise gates to your rig, here is a nice diagram from Stone Deaf. Both gates would need to be 4cm capable, but this essentially puts your OD's into a separate gated loop before hitting the front of your amp, which I assume is also what the Decimator is doing with its link function. After running a pair of Zuul+ gates in this fashion, it really is the ultimate setup.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

I have a question about this setup. It seems redundant. How is it different than using one noise gate in the loop of your amp, that uses the direct guitar signal as the sidechained source of the gating?

In other words, it seems like the gate blocking the noise from the pedalboard would be redundant because you already have a gate in the signal after the pedalboard (in the fx loop) that would gate all the noise in the signal before it. And that gate would be using the direct guitar signal as its gate control.

 

[Meeotch]

Quote from the Stone Deaf Noise Reaper manual:
"By using 2 noisegates (1 x Amp Series FX Loop and 1 x Pedal Loop) the pedal loop noise gate will seperately gate the pedal loop before it hits the front of the amplier pre-amp. Without the secondary noisegate you may get high frequency oscillation as the total gain into the amps input (Amp pre-amp) may exceed the dynamic range of the noisegate that has been placed in the series fx loop."

To be honest, I think this is most applicable to signal chains with a lot of excessive gain like fuzz pedals or when you are going for specifically oversaturated tones. That being said, I do find that even with more normal setups, it allows you to turn down the individual gate thresholds which can give you better dynamics in general, even if you aren't trying to fix the high frequency oscillation.

 

[D-Rock]

I used to run two gates up until a year ago. A Decimator and NS-2. It worked fine but wanted to free space on the board so just bought a Guptech SUN Gate and run it in 4 cable method.

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

I have a question about this setup. It seems redundant. How is it different than using one noise gate in the loop of your amp, that uses the direct guitar signal as the sidechained source of the gating?

In other words, it seems like the gate blocking the noise from the pedalboard would be redundant because you already have a gate in the signal after the pedalboard (in the fx loop) that would gate all the noise in the signal before it. And that gate would be using the direct guitar signal as its gate control.

The gate in front isnt blocking noise. It is setting the speed of the clamp