Best Noise Reduction Pedal?
- Thread starter AniMisM
- Start date
Sure, why not.
I have an NS-2 and it's now for sale. I'd take $60 for it.
Some guys like super-fast gates - mostly metal guys. Page Hamilton from Helmet uses a Drawmer gate, and it's a super fast, tight gate.
The NS-2 is not a fast gate. The threshold is easy enough to set, but even at its fastest decay setting, it's still kind of soft, both on the attack and the decay. By "soft" I mean its opening isn't instant and the close isn't either. The opening is fast enough for me - I'd say it's less than 20ms - but the closing isn't the tightest thing in the world. Maybe 50ms.
Some folks say the NS2 sucks tone because it's not true bypass. Um, I'm very sensitive to tone changes and I can say that I have cables that do more tone damage than this pedal. It has a buffered input (1Mohms), so even with passive pickups, it's not doing anything bad to your tone. It's the first pedal in my chain.
The Decimator is pretty much the same thing. The differentiating factor with the Decimator is that it uses some new technology based on time vector processing, which if you ask me is just marketing bullshit for computer processing. With a 500k ohm input impedance, it's not as buffered as the Boss, so you might wind up with a tiny loss of high end, but you won't notice it with that Tele of yours.
I'm of mixed opinion on that MXR Smart Gate. I don't like the fact that it's just an NS2 copy with an adjustable EQ circuit mixed in. At the same time, MXR has a habit of making great sounding pedals, so this may be another one of their genius moments. I would look closely at reviews of the pedal before buying. It's basically a downward expander attached to an EQ circuit - you can adjust which bands it's gating. I'm not sure that's flexible enough for me. Also, most noise in a guitar circuit starts at 60Hz (electric line hum) and develops harmonics from there that propgate through the entire amplified range of most amps, so I'm not sure how useful it is.
In my rack days I used to rock an old dbx gate, with a 160 soft-knee compressor. It sounded pretty good. The NS2 does about the same thing nowadays. Right now, I'm using the onboard gate in my Line6 AX2-212 for the goth band, and the onboard gate in my PodXTLive for a new project I'm working on.
I have an NS-2 and it's now for sale. I'd take $60 for it.
Some guys like super-fast gates - mostly metal guys. Page Hamilton from Helmet uses a Drawmer gate, and it's a super fast, tight gate.
The NS-2 is not a fast gate. The threshold is easy enough to set, but even at its fastest decay setting, it's still kind of soft, both on the attack and the decay. By "soft" I mean its opening isn't instant and the close isn't either. The opening is fast enough for me - I'd say it's less than 20ms - but the closing isn't the tightest thing in the world. Maybe 50ms.
Some folks say the NS2 sucks tone because it's not true bypass. Um, I'm very sensitive to tone changes and I can say that I have cables that do more tone damage than this pedal. It has a buffered input (1Mohms), so even with passive pickups, it's not doing anything bad to your tone. It's the first pedal in my chain.
The Decimator is pretty much the same thing. The differentiating factor with the Decimator is that it uses some new technology based on time vector processing, which if you ask me is just marketing bullshit for computer processing. With a 500k ohm input impedance, it's not as buffered as the Boss, so you might wind up with a tiny loss of high end, but you won't notice it with that Tele of yours.
I'm of mixed opinion on that MXR Smart Gate. I don't like the fact that it's just an NS2 copy with an adjustable EQ circuit mixed in. At the same time, MXR has a habit of making great sounding pedals, so this may be another one of their genius moments. I would look closely at reviews of the pedal before buying. It's basically a downward expander attached to an EQ circuit - you can adjust which bands it's gating. I'm not sure that's flexible enough for me. Also, most noise in a guitar circuit starts at 60Hz (electric line hum) and develops harmonics from there that propgate through the entire amplified range of most amps, so I'm not sure how useful it is.
In my rack days I used to rock an old dbx gate, with a 160 soft-knee compressor. It sounded pretty good. The NS2 does about the same thing nowadays. Right now, I'm using the onboard gate in my Line6 AX2-212 for the goth band, and the onboard gate in my PodXTLive for a new project I'm working on.
I'm pretty sure they modeled the NS-2 for the Line6 gates. It feels pretty much the same. I use mine basically to reduce noise when not playing. If you need a gate that actually changes the sound - like, snaps shut while the threshold is still audible - a Drawmer will do the trick, as will some of the dbx stuff.
Metropolis
Veteran XX
decimator for a pedal gate or a rocktron hush if you want a rackmount.
personally i hate noise gates and find them only useful for some rhythm playing. leads? never. no way..no how.
personally i hate noise gates and find them only useful for some rhythm playing. leads? never. no way..no how.
I played exactly one outdoor gig a couple of years ago where I would have had the chance to stretch out a wireless rig 
But I do have one coming up this summer....
I have been looking at the midrange Line6 unit:
You could go with the XDR95 system for about $70 more, if you need a rackmount. Or you could also just step up to a serious Sennheiser system if you were planning on touring. The cost of that XDR95 system is $349; the Sennheisers start about a hundred bucks on top of that. Who knows what the difference in tone is - I've never heard a wireless system that didn't compromise tone.
But I do have one coming up this summer....I have been looking at the midrange Line6 unit:
You could go with the XDR95 system for about $70 more, if you need a rackmount. Or you could also just step up to a serious Sennheiser system if you were planning on touring. The cost of that XDR95 system is $349; the Sennheisers start about a hundred bucks on top of that. Who knows what the difference in tone is - I've never heard a wireless system that didn't compromise tone.
The Line6 is fairly new technology that basically converts the instrument signal to digital, compresses it, transmits it to the receiver, and then converts it back to analog at the proper impedance for your rig.
This is unlike VHF and UHF wireless systems of the past which basically relied on companders to squeeze the signal to something small enough to be transmitted at the frequencies wireless systems were allotted. A compander definitely changes your tone - especially on the bass frequencies, which is why bassists hate wireless.
Supposedly, only the AD/DA conversion will affect your tone, and Line6 has the AD/DA thing down pat. I use a lot of their gear (and I know you do too), so that's why their unit is the most appealing to me.
This is unlike VHF and UHF wireless systems of the past which basically relied on companders to squeeze the signal to something small enough to be transmitted at the frequencies wireless systems were allotted. A compander definitely changes your tone - especially on the bass frequencies, which is why bassists hate wireless.
Supposedly, only the AD/DA conversion will affect your tone, and Line6 has the AD/DA thing down pat. I use a lot of their gear (and I know you do too), so that's why their unit is the most appealing to me.
SINep
Veteran XX
It depends what kind of noise is your problem.
First I would start with a surge protector with a bit of EMI/RFI, take a look at the belkins as they actually have a connected gear warranty. (All those rack mount furmans and monster power units don't warranty your gear, it's hilarious) You may not notice a difference in sound from this but in some place you could. Regardless you need some sort of fair market value warranty if you don't have insurance.
Second do you use single coils or p90s? Understand you'd going to have some hum with those types of pickups, and decide if you want to change pups that will reduce a bit of that character for less noise... If you use p90s, try p100s, if you use single coils try a Seymour Duncan Classic Stack or Vintage Rail pup.
If you're getting feedback, try less gain and working with the guitar to fight it or use it to your advantage. Repot your pickups. You could also try a feedback shark.
Now lastly, a gate can help hide noise at a cost, but it can also be a tool to tighten your sound if you do a lot of high gain rhythmic riffs... Having said all this I haven't found a noise gate that works quite as well as the Noise Gates within most of Line6's products. unfortunately after many years of asking for it, they still haven't released a gate pedal.
It's not very versatile but it works well when tweaked via software/sysex.
Been using Line6 since '99.
First I would start with a surge protector with a bit of EMI/RFI, take a look at the belkins as they actually have a connected gear warranty. (All those rack mount furmans and monster power units don't warranty your gear, it's hilarious) You may not notice a difference in sound from this but in some place you could. Regardless you need some sort of fair market value warranty if you don't have insurance.
Second do you use single coils or p90s? Understand you'd going to have some hum with those types of pickups, and decide if you want to change pups that will reduce a bit of that character for less noise... If you use p90s, try p100s, if you use single coils try a Seymour Duncan Classic Stack or Vintage Rail pup.
If you're getting feedback, try less gain and working with the guitar to fight it or use it to your advantage. Repot your pickups. You could also try a feedback shark.
Now lastly, a gate can help hide noise at a cost, but it can also be a tool to tighten your sound if you do a lot of high gain rhythmic riffs... Having said all this I haven't found a noise gate that works quite as well as the Noise Gates within most of Line6's products. unfortunately after many years of asking for it, they still haven't released a gate pedal.
It's not very versatile but it works well when tweaked via software/sysex.
Been using Line6 since '99.