Silly mistake with Noise Gate...

[loydall]

I would guess most of you will think this is obvious/wonder why I was being daft but I just discovered something about using a noise gate and compression (in my HX Effects).

 

I've always added a noise gate at the start of my chain. Not sure why but I never really thought about it much... just set it up with default settings and left it there. Then I would generally add a compressor block.

 

However - I always thought the compressor blocks were a little lacking - something a bit dull about them.

 

Until yesterday when I decided to turn off the noise gate and play around with some of the compressor blocks. Totally different..... the compressors sounded so much better. Then I realised that the noise gate was "messing" with the signal to a point that the compressor wasn't able to do it's thing properly. They just weren't working well together.

 

Do you guys always use a noise gate? If so - do you run a compressor after it? Feels so much better to play without a noise gate or at least with it set to kick in far less aggressively - to let the compressor do it's thing with more of your signal.

 

Sounds obvious now I think about it but my guitar tone just got a load better...

[SaschaFranck]

For obvious reasons, I only use a noise gate when there's noise. And I usually don't use the one in the input block at all but rather add a separate block along with noise introducing amps and pedals. My guitars aren't particularly noisy to start with, too.

[brue58ski]

I use the noise gate when there's noise as well. The reason I put it at the beginning of the chain is I found when the gate used the clean guitar sound as opposed to putting it at the end of the chain where it has been processed by whatever, it worked better. Interesting that you've found it seems to mess with the compressor. Maybe try a gate directly after the compressor. It means using another block but I wonder if that would help.

[loydall]

1 minute ago, brue58ski said:

I use the noise gate when there's noise as well. The reason I put it at the beginning of the chain is I found when the gate used the clean guitar sound as opposed to putting it at the end of the chain where it has been processed by whatever, it worked better. Interesting that you've found it seems to mess with the compressor. Maybe try a gate directly after the compressor. It means using another block but I wonder if that would help.

 

I'm on HX FX which doesn't have the "built in" noise gate so I'd need to use a block anyway. You're absolutely right - I think the noise gate after the compressor makes sense. Actually - I've got a Keeley Compressor Plus on the way so I'll hook that up before the HX FX and save a block.

[gunpointmetal]

Input gate is set as low as possible to eliminate any buzz/interference noise on high-gain patches, but definitely not set very aggressively. If I need a tight gate I'll do a couple of hard gates before and after the amp later in the chain. I'd really like to see some sort of "X" pattern feature in the hard gate where you can set the threshold based on the front of the chain and the gate after the amp model or drive pedals instead of having to run two separate gates.

[cruisinon2]

I can't say that the situation ever actually presented itself for me...

 

I generally only use a compressor on clean tones, for which there's almost never a need for a noise gate. Conversely, dirty tones that do require a noise gate are rarely (if ever) in need of any compression... don't think it's ever come up, lol

[loydall]

30 minutes ago, cruisinon2 said:

I can't say that the situation ever actually presented itself for me...

 

I generally only use a compressor on clean tones, for which there's almost never a need for a noise gate. Conversely, dirty tones that do require a noise gate are rarely (if ever) in need of any compression... don't think it's ever come up, lol

 

Yeah - your approach is right... it was more me just adding noise gates at the start of the chain whenever I set anything up without even thinking about it..

[SaschaFranck]

1 hour ago, cruisinon2 said:

I can't say that the situation ever actually presented itself for me...

 

I generally only use a compressor on clean tones, for which there's almost never a need for a noise gate. Conversely, dirty tones that do require a noise gate are rarely (if ever) in need of any compression... don't think it's ever come up, lol

 

Fwiw, I dig compressors (sometimes along with certain EQ tweaks) as lead boosts on overdriven sounds. Doesn't add much more gain (I actually boost the output very little) but some "meat" during the decay phase. I really like it that way, especially in case the compressor isn't affecting the attack. Keeps things very dynamic.
Out of the Helix models, the Vetta Comp accomplishes that job nicely IMO.

[emagli]

16 hours ago, SaschaFranck said:

Fwiw, I dig compressors (sometimes along with certain EQ tweaks) as lead boosts on overdriven sounds. Doesn't add much more gain (I actually boost the output very little) but some "meat" during the decay phase. I really like it that way, especially in case the compressor isn't affecting the attack. Keeps things very dynamic.
Out of the Helix models, the Vetta Comp accomplishes that job nicely IMO.

 

I do exactly the same, for the same reasons. It provides some sustain without the need of increasing the amp gain too much (if at all), which preserves the attack. I add some pre-amp mid boost and output volume boost, and that's my lead tone. I use the LA comp for this, never tried the Vetta (I see it's in the legacy, so I never got to test it). Does the Vetta model any specific pedal? I Googled but could not find specific info.

[emagli]

9 minutes ago, emagli said:

Does the Vetta model any specific pedal?

 

Nevermind, I found the answer on dshowmusic. I'll give it a try!