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