Noise gate for high gainers

Was wondering exactly the same thing. Personally I use the built in noise gate, however there's still a bit of noise in my patches... I must admit though I haven't explored its capabilities in full as I don't know if there is any "tone/gain suckage" with harsher settings... basically once I found a setting that I liked and that left very little noise audible just for a few ms only when I stop playing I just left it at that, without going any further.
I know, I'm lazy :)
 
If I'm using a drive block before the amp putting a gate between the drive block and amp block works best for me. I use pretty low output pickups so if I put the gate first in line in the preset it seems to kill my sustain some.
 
I don't use the global gate at all. I don't like the way that the input impedance colours my tone, so i use a gate block after the drive block, like guitarsrule.
 
I don't use the global gate at all. I don't like the way that the input impedance colours my tone, so i use a gate block after the drive block, like guitarsrule.

I'll have to try that! I didn't think of it. I was never satisfied with the gate/expander block. But I never tried it after the drive.
 
I don't like the way that the input impedance colours my tone
i think that impedance setting is active whether you "use" the Input Gate or not...

just remember, when it comes to noise and noise gates, if your "noise" is just as loud as the signal you want to keep, a gate isn't the solution.
 
I started using one in the chain after I d/led Bulbs rhythm patch. I used to always set the input gate the same way as his but just putting it in the chain seems to make a difference for some reason. For me it does anyway.
 
Bulb's gate settings are perfect for his style. The rest of us don't care for such a hard, tone sucking noise gate.

I use one to kill the background hiss when I'm not playing and that's it.
 
Personally, I try to use a gate as little as possible. I set it just to where it cuts the hiss when I'm not playing. Anything more than that and I find it makes playing "feel" stiffer and more difficult. However, I play mostly lead. For rhythm, it's easier to get away with harder gate settings.
 
A different approach to keeping the noise low: try a Vol block with the volume parameter tied to the Envelope controller. As long as you don't hit the strings, the (input) signal is off.

I like using this version for rock,bluesy stuff,works a treat
 
A different approach to keeping the noise low: try a Vol block with the volume parameter tied to the Envelope controller. As long as you don't hit the strings, the (input) signal is off.

I like using this version for rock,bluesy stuff,works a treat

Isnt that exactly what a gate does? ;)
You could just use the gate then...
 
i think that impedance setting is active whether you "use" the Input Gate or not...

just remember, when it comes to noise and noise gates, if your "noise" is just as loud as the signal you want to keep, a gate isn't the solution.

I did not know that. Thanks for the heads up Chris. Do you have a preferred impedance setting, or is there a way to determine the optimum settings for my pickups?
 
From what I remember, the pre-gate is softer and smoother than a gate block.

What I've found is the lower the impedance setting, the duller the tone will be. I can imagine the applications, but can't see any personal use for them.

I recently tried gating after the drive block, and I'm not sure. I actually tried to do some strange shaping with combinations of the pre-gate, gate after drive, and gate after amp, but listening back the pre-gate patch sounded the free-est and most brilliant. I dunno.....
 
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I did not know that. Thanks for the heads up Chris. Do you have a preferred impedance setting, or is there a way to determine the optimum settings for my pickups?

Just experiment with different settings on a patch by patch basis. With a lot of my patches I just stick with the default value. However, I've found that lowering the impedence is a great way to deal with high end harshness when using an amp/cab combination that is prone to it.
 
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