# Compressor and Noise Gate together?



## DaveCarter (Aug 21, 2007)

Ive used a noise gate (Boss NS2) for years and love it, its great for getting rid of feedback and handling noise, aswell as playing stacatto phrases. But it keep draining my sustain on longer notes and cutting off my harmonics prematurely. For this, and other reason, Im about to order a compressor/sustainer (Boss CS3) and was wondering how best to use these 2 devices together...?

My main concerns are:

1. Which pedal do I plug in to first? At the moment I have my distortion pedal in the loop of the NS2, will this need to change?

2. Will I need to adjust the settings on the noise gate? I usually have the thresehold on almost maximum and the decay on minimum.

Cheers guys.


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## Ishan (Aug 21, 2007)

Compressor before the NS2, you'll have to adjust settings.


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## TomAwesome (Aug 21, 2007)

I'd put the gate before the compressor. That's how I have it set up on my rig anyway.


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## talon97 (Aug 21, 2007)

I have mine set up:
guitar/ns-2 input/ ns-2 send/ cs-3/ distortion/ ns-2 return/ ns-2 out/ amp
the cs-3 is very noisy, i had mine modded by humphry audio, it makes much less noise now and it sounds better. awesome petal


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## starsnuffer (Aug 22, 2007)

Noise gate should always be the first thing in the signal chain, directly after your guitar.

-W


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## Ishan (Aug 22, 2007)

I prefer the compressor before the noise gate mainly because compressor are noisy most of the time.


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## LordOVchaoS (Aug 22, 2007)

starsnuffer said:


> Noise gate should always be the first thing in the signal chain, directly after your guitar.
> 
> -W



 I always found the opposite to work better. If you put it before all the pedals you're likely to get some noise from the pedals. I always put the gate last!


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## DaveCarter (Aug 22, 2007)

what if you put the noise gate first and then all the other pedals in its loop?


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## Ishan (Aug 22, 2007)

It should work too.



LordOVchaoS said:


> I always found the opposite to work better. If you put it before all the pedals you're likely to get some noise from the pedals. I always put the gate last!



I was using my ISP Decimator just after the guitar to get rid of the pickups hum (I think that's why he said that) but now I have a good tube head and use it in the loop, works great, it kills the white noise coming from pedals and high gain settings on the amp.


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## Desecrated (Aug 22, 2007)

I always have noisegate last. preferably in the loop


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## KillMAH (Aug 22, 2007)

chavhunter said:


> what if you put the noise gate first and then all the other pedals in its loop?



That is exactly what you need to do when using the NS2. I also have the CS3, and it is first in the loop of the NS2 before my crappy Space Chorus and my Boss pitch shifter. It works like a charm, and the combination of the two should fix your sustain problem quite well. The threshold (NS2) and sustain and attack (CS3) will take the greatest amount of tweaking.

I haven't used any of the other noise gates, so to be fair, I don't know if the comments by others are correct for other pedals such as the Decimator.


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## starsnuffer (Aug 22, 2007)

LordOVchaoS said:


> I always found the opposite to work better. If you put it before all the pedals you're likely to get some noise from the pedals. I always put the gate last!



Putting the gate anywhere but after your guitar kills the dynamics of your signal.

Sure, putting the gate last will silence the hiss of crappy pedals, but it also makes your guitar and amp much less musical.

I suppose a lot of people play with no dynamics through subpar amps, so they never realize what they're missing, or they've just never learned how a volume knob on a guitar effects tone so dramatically. It's a shame though, it's like using only 5 strings on the guitar.

-W


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## DaveCarter (Aug 23, 2007)

KillMAH said:


> That is exactly what you need to do when using the NS2. I also have the CS3, and it is first in the loop of the NS2 before my crappy Space Chorus and my Boss pitch shifter. It works like a charm, and the combination of the two should fix your sustain problem quite well. The threshold (NS2) and sustain and attack (CS3) will take the greatest amount of tweaking.



Thanks mate, I'll give that a try when the pedal arrives


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## LordOVchaoS (Aug 23, 2007)

starsnuffer said:


> Putting the gate anywhere but after your guitar kills the dynamics of your signal.
> 
> Sure, putting the gate last will silence the hiss of crappy pedals, but it also makes your guitar and amp much less musical.
> 
> ...



Yea, I guess my sub-par Engls, Mesas, VHTs, and Peaveys I've had in the last few years just suck so bad that I can't tell the difference. I've never tried that volume knob thing on the guitar either, what's that there for? 

I've been playing for 16 years and have used a noisegate for a good 10 of those. A shitty gate will make a difference but I challenge you to say you can hear a difference with a Decimator before and after pedals. I just did it to try and prove myself wrong, there isn't a change in tone. None, just more noise from my shitty pedals.


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## Stitch (Aug 23, 2007)

I run my NS-2 at the start for maxium feedback-busting, but I run a Hush Super C in the loop for extra noise-killing. 

I pwn you all!


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## LordOVchaoS (Aug 23, 2007)

stitch216 said:


> I run my NS-2 at the start for maxium feedback-busting, but I run a Hush Super C in the loop for extra noise-killing.
> 
> I pwn you all!



When I had an NS-2 I always used the loop in it. My VHT is silent without a gate in front or the loop    I just use it to get mechanical like start stop riffage.

CANCELLED!!!


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## Stitch (Aug 23, 2007)

Ah, but it didn't work for me! I had to use two different sets of settings...

...on the upside, I paid less for my NS-2 and Hush C NEW than Joe Average would pay for a new NS-2 over here. 



Besides, my creaky leaky 6505 pwns your "sub-par" VHT.


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## starsnuffer (Aug 23, 2007)

LordOVchaoS said:


> Yea, I guess my sub-par Engls, Mesas, VHTs, and Peaveys I've had in the last few years just suck so bad that I can't tell the difference. I've never tried that volume knob thing on the guitar either, what's that there for?
> 
> I've been playing for 16 years and have used a noisegate for a good 10 of those. A shitty gate will make a difference but I challenge you to say you can hear a difference with a Decimator before and after pedals. I just did it to try and prove myself wrong, there isn't a change in tone. None, just more noise from my shitty pedals.



Sorry to hear about your hearing loss then. I own and use both the decimator pedal (local gigs) and the prorackG (touring rig). The entire point of the dual channel noise gates like the prorackG and the NS2 are attributable to the fact that a properly set gate will open at the slightest nuance above the players "noise floor", which will then trigger a gate in the loop (just before time based effects) to eliminate any and all hiss.

By putting a single gate like the decimator pedal in the loop, then you're forcing the noise floor up above all of the preamp and pedal background noise. If you do this, then roll back the volume knob for a cleaner sound, you'll have the gate cut off subtle and softer notes, making dynamic plaing impossible. With a good amp, you don't even have to roll back the volume knob, just playing soft will kick the gate in. 

So, sure, it works, you're eliminating hiss, but you're only putting a bandaid on a noisy rig and killing creative opportunities in the process. No, it doesn't change tone, I never said it did. A gate is either open or closed. The difference lies in the feel and dynamic response available from the amp.

I realize you have a limited stable of amps to play from, but perhaps you could borrow or test drive a more responsive amp then you've tried to get an idea of where I'm coming from. It's also very possible that the music you prefer simply doesn't call for a wide dynamic range, and that's perfectly respectable as a preference.

I actually set the gate in my fuzz factory very tight with a high threshold to accomplish similar things when I'm playing industrial/electronic stuff for hard start/stop riffing. . . but then I've yet to play a fuzz pedal that didn't kill volume dynamics anyway (still get different sounds from different attacks, just not different volume 

-W


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## Stitch (Aug 23, 2007)

starsnuffer said:


> Sorry to hear about your hearing loss then.



Not the best way to start a reply if you want to betaken seriously. Try to be less condescending, and remember this isn't HC. Be respectful - a little goes a long way.


starsnuffer said:


> stuff
> -W



You'd also do well to remember just what Joe sells before you start lecturing him on pedal design and how everything works. 

Not a mega-criticism-oh-my-god-you-are-such-a-n00b-lol-what-a-douche-post, just a heads up. Be nice


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## Popsyche (Aug 23, 2007)

Here's some old sound guy wisdom. Put the noise gate after the noise, so the noise can't get through the gate. Simple, eh?  

And W.... If you are having an issue with your gate eating your dynamics, and you have a spare gate channel on that rack one, here's what I suggest. Try putting part of your signal through a 3 way crossover, using only the mid frequencies and trigger the guitar gate with that. You can select which frequencies will make it open and close, and you can run the other gate at the end of the signal chain with a low threshold and a slow risetime to get just the pedal quieting you need.


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## newamerikangospel (Aug 23, 2007)

I have messed with a gate in the loop and after the guitar to get rid of any buzzes. As for the compressor, I would say that it would go after the guitar in the loop, even in front of a second gate. 

Whenever you have a question about where to put a pedal, always ask yourself what it does. A delay "copies and pastes" the sound, so if you want an exact "paste" then you want it as far back in the chain as possible, but you can get some cool sounds from putting it infront of a preamp/distortion generating device and it will clean up a bit one the pastes. There is no wrong or right, only "more efficient" and "better for what you need it for".


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