dumb question: purpose of noise gate pedal

MLC2006

I've read a lot of different reviews and summaries, but I can't get a grasp on what they actually do. everything I've read says they cut down on "unwanted noise" such as feedback.

now, what I'm looking for is something that cuts out some of the fuzz while I'm actually playing, not feedback such as in between songs, etc. when using distortion (not overdrive), I usually have the drive turned all the way down and the volume turned up. this is something I believe a lot of classic rock players do. but it's still noisier than what I want. I can't really cut the volume down without affecting the sound. I've got the right tone that I want, just too noisy in between chords and notes. would a noise gate be able to cut this out?

ianvomsaal

You can think of a nosie gate similarly to a heavy spring loaded gate in a fence.
It swings open when enough force pushes it open, but it closes if there's not enough.
That's similar to how a noise gate works, but generally in dB's instead of force.
The THRESHOLD works like the springs in the gate - the more you turn the threshold up, the
more sound it cuts under a certain dB (it's like adding more & more springs to the gate - if you
keep turnign up the threshold, eventually you'll need a very strong signal to get through).
Some gates, like the Boss noise suppressor have a decay, which gradually cuts the signal
allowing for a smoother sounding gate, so you don't get such an abrupt cut-off (SLAM).

MLC2006

but are talking about the same kind of noise that I'm talking about? A lot of what I've read says that it stops the guitar from feeding back, like between songs etc, when the guitar is not being played. that's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something that cleans up noise WHILE the song is being played. like you know how if you get a lot of noise and you palm mute, it cuts a lot of the noise out? I'm looking for something on that order, but without the muffled chug of a palm mute, as muting is not always appropriate for everything.

exhausted

MLC2006 wrote:

but are talking about the same kind of noise that I'm talking about? A lot of what I've read says that it stops the guitar from feeding back, like between songs etc, when the guitar is not being played. that's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something that cleans up noise WHILE the song is being played. like you know how if you get a lot of noise and you palm mute, it cuts a lot of the noise out? I'm looking for something on that order, but without the muffled chug of a palm mute, as muting is not always appropriate for everything.

no, it won't do that.

you're looking at wanting noisecancelling pickups and whatnot.

mccreadyisgod

Yeah, a noise gate is NOT going to do what you are looking for.

A noise gate cuts all signal completely when you aren't playing anything. So, if you had a noisy rig that was tolerable so long as you were playing, but would hiss or feedback once you stopped playing, then a noise gate is your best friend. Very popular for hair-metal players back in the day, still useful for some other folks now.

Like Ex said, you may look at noiseless pickups or humbuckers if you don't already have them. Also, getting good, clean power to your pedals can help a bunch as well.

If I read your post correctly, you use the AMP's gain down and volume up full. If it's a pedal, then you may have a pedal that's inherently noisy. Either way (pedal or amp), you are maximizing noise potential by running the gain down and volume up. Essentially, the "gain" is preamp volume, meant to get a healthy signal first before your EQ and everything else. The "master volume" on the amp is the level going out to the speakers.

Now, the settings you are using right now are essentially using the bare minimum of the preamp section and overdriving the power amp section. This can be a very nice, desireable tone (I myself prefer power tube saturation). But to reduce noise, you may want to get away from those extremes. Use a little more gain in the preamp and turn down the master to compensate. A general rule of thumb is to run the "master volume" at 50% - 75%, and bring the preamp up until the volume is right. I personally prefer to use amps that don't have separate preamp/master volumes. My amps all have one knob for volume, which gives me equal parts preamp and power amp volume.

A lot of Fender Twin Reverb players especially liked to run their amps with the "master volume" up around 8, and then using the preamp gain to find the right volume/tone.

Ultimately, it's your choice as to what's more important: the noise or the tone. I'd meet somewhere in the middle if it was me.

Good luck!