Playing around with my Voodoo Valve

S

senseix

Inspired
I pulled my VoodValve unit out after 1+ years since owning the Ultra. I turned on a High Gain patch in the voodoo and rocked out. The thing i noticed was the gate on this thing. It didn't color my tone, it worked so much better than the Ultra's does. When i hit a note it decayed naturally, and then went silent not allowing any noise through. I then play through the Ultra using less gain and it allows the noise at the end of the note to come through.

I've tried to play around with the gate in the "Layout" menu and no matter what i do it just doesn't cut it. As the note starts to decay you can hear noise at the end coming through. I have talked to others who own Ultra's and they have similar findings. So is there going to be any improvements on the gate?
 
My G-Force gate and Vetta gate were no better than the Ultra's...I'd say maybe the Voodoo guys have some special knowledge they used? Maybe Cliff can figure out how to replicate it.
 
jerotas said:
My G-Force gate and Vetta gate were no better than the Ultra's...I'd say maybe the Voodoo guys have some special knowledge they used? Maybe Cliff can figure out how to replicate it.
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Yeah i don't doubt that, i am thinking on those lines in regards to ever other gate i've tried. My thing is the Ultra doesn't have the worst gate by any means, but the Voodoo Valve has the best i've ever tried.
 
I had Voodoo Valve years ago and yes, it certainly had pretty good noise gate (Hush).
There are few things you might consider tho, on Voodoo Valve you can dial up high gain preamp mode
and turn up gain to the max, that would be it, gain to the top.
On Axe Fx however there are few more parameters inside the amp block only (not to mention adding drive block)
that have huge impact on gain stage and noise, parameters like Bright, Boost, Master Volume etc,
pretty much just like on real amp which isn't the case with Voodoo as you don't have those parameters.
So if you are careful with those you can dial the same amount of "gain only" as on Voodoo with noise gate turned on
and seted properly, there should be no problems.
 
I wonder if the Voodoo gate uses a side chain like the ISP Decimator? It keys the gate from the clean guitar signal not from the pre / power amp outputs.

Richard
 
barhrecords said:
I wonder if the Voodoo gate uses a side chain like the ISP Decimator? It keys the gate from the clean guitar signal not from the pre / power amp outputs.

Richard
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The Ultra has this ability.
 
The decimators schtick is to be able to use the same gate for clean and distortion (because of the clean key).

I'm not sure the key is affecting the gate tails in a way that would re-create what the OP said about the Voodoo though?

If it's the Hush noise reduction circuit, I though it had a downward expander?

Richard
 
The VV is made by Rocktron. Rocktron bought Hush Systems who were the noise reduction masters during the rack craze. I used to have a dedicated 1U Hush IICx in my rack back in the day. It's no surprise they have a good noise reduction system on their preamps. :)

I have a Rocktron Piranha (a somewhat "rare" Rocktron preamp) that has a built in Hush, I'm selling it once I'm fully dialed in on the Axe (i.e. after Christmas). ;)
 
If the Hush is as good as you say (or even better at all than the Fractal one), I wouldn't mind PAYING for the next upgrade if it includes that.
 
Quick fix might be to buy a rocktron hush unit and use it in the fx-loop of the axe, or even stick your voodoo valve in the fx loop with only the gate going (if this can be done), at the very least it will confirm or discount your theory.

Wish i still had mine to try this (i had the rackmount hush super c), i liked it more than the axe's gate and the isp decimator too, it seemed to handle note decay better than anything else i have tried.
 
rickgk said:
Quick fix might be to buy a rocktron hush unit and use it in the fx-loop of the axe, or even stick your voodoo valve in the fx loop with only the gate going (if this can be done), at the very least it will confirm or discount your theory.

Wish i still had mine to try this, i liked it more than the axe's gate and the isp decimator too, it seemed to handle note decay better.
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Man bro, that is so true, it would be a fix!!!! And i have to agree it beats out even the isp. I think a better fix would be to have Cliff fix this Gate so it is on par with the Hush which is over 15 years old if i'm not mistaken, no reason imho to not have the Ultra's gate be on par with it.


Joe
 
senseix said:
rickgk said:
Quick fix might be to buy a rocktron hush unit and use it in the fx-loop of the axe, or even stick your voodoo valve in the fx loop with only the gate going (if this can be done), at the very least it will confirm or discount your theory.

Wish i still had mine to try this, i liked it more than the axe's gate and the isp decimator too, it seemed to handle note decay better.
Click to expand...


Man bro, that is so true, it would be a fix!!!! And i have to agree it beats out even the isp. I think a better fix would be to have Cliff fix this Gate so it is on par with the Hush which is over 15 years old if i'm not mistaken, no reason imho to not have the Ultra's gate be on par with it.


Joe
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I agree totally cliff could make the axe do this i'm sure, but please let me know if you try my suggestion to see how it works, i'm really interested to see if it makes the difference, if so i might grab myself another hush as they go pretty cheap these days.
 
ISP has the original patent and more effective gate. Rocktron pays ISP for royalties on a patent.

The Noise gate in the Ultra is really nothing like the speed of the noise gate built into in my KK2203 800 head. The gate on that thing is RIDICULOUS! and does not cut into your sustain on high notes.

I do not find the gate on the ultra nor the Roctron hush to behave this accurately. The ISP pro rack G comes close to the KK head.
 
I think the Hush system might not be "just a gate" but something more complex. Not that that changes anything said on this thread.
 
rickgk said:
senseix said:
rickgk said:
Quick fix might be to buy a rocktron hush unit and use it in the fx-loop of the axe, or even stick your voodoo valve in the fx loop with only the gate going (if this can be done), at the very least it will confirm or discount your theory.

Wish i still had mine to try this, i liked it more than the axe's gate and the isp decimator too, it seemed to handle note decay better.
Click to expand...


Man bro, that is so true, it would be a fix!!!! And i have to agree it beats out even the isp. I think a better fix would be to have Cliff fix this Gate so it is on par with the Hush which is over 15 years old if i'm not mistaken, no reason imho to not have the Ultra's gate be on par with it.


Joe
Click to expand...

I agree totally cliff could make the axe do this i'm sure, but please let me know if you try my suggestion to see how it works, i'm really interested to see if it makes the difference, if so i might grab myself another hush as they go pretty cheap these days.
Click to expand...


If i hooked up the Voodoo valve to the ultra's loop, i can't just use the Hush, because the Voodoo is setup to either use the clean, medium or high gain channels. I do however have a Hush super C LOL totally forgot about it, until Jerotas said man to bad you don't have that:p I said umm i think i do actually. So maybe in the coming days i'll get some time to pull that Super c out and hook it up to the Ultra and give a report on if it worked like some of us would like to see a gate work.

Joe
 
I don't know, i've had regular hush and isp and to me the axe is as good as the isp.

But besides all that, to me the very best thing you can do beyond anything else involving noise is to shield your guitar with copper shielding tape. There's the paint, and a lot of guitars have it already but it's not that great, i prefer the foil tape and ground it well. It will likely eliminate 90% of your noise right off the bat as most noise is usually starting with the guitar.

I did experiment with this while i already had an isp rack so i had my guitar input to the isp on channel one to hush the guitar, and my amp head effects loop in channel two to hush the head/preamp. After shielding my guitar i could bypass both channels and the majority of the noise was gone. A little white noise from the head left over but the meat of the noise was eliminated by the shielding. Reengaging channel 2 on the isp took care of the slight preamp hiss, and seemed to be even better overall as it didn't have to work as hard.

That was my experience anyway and after that i would recommend a proper shielding to anyone, it's a huge difference. Another example i sit in front of a 24" sony trinitron crt flatscreen, and without the shielding it's a hornets nest of noise, after shielding my guitar it's totally silent.

Basically all the electronics in the control cavities are completely encased in copper.
The pickup cavities and the input jack route as well! it really makes a difference, Floyd route is not needed.

Took me a few tries to get it just right, all wires are twisted where possible, new shielded pair lead wire from the input jack, some electrical tape and shrink wrap tubing. Now quiet as a strat while using two single coil position. It's worth trying.
 
You're correct Trem, but my main guitar (McNaught) is already shielded properly - my pro guitar tech took care of that, and I still get tons of noise. I don't use CRT monitors either.
 
That would help for someone who needed the shielding, but i don't "have had that done already" and I haven't used a CRT monitor in over 5 years. In my example above I am comparing the Voodoo against the Ultra with the same setup as in Guitar, Cords, Daw, Same project ect.

The Ultra has much less gain than the Voodoo u can hear this in the recordings and you can hear both Voodoo And Ultra's noise level when i take off the gates, to me it's pretty clear on what is going on.

I am hoping to see some improvements with the Gate on the Axe.




Joe
 
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