# 4 Cable method. Why?



## vjw757 (Sep 7, 2016)

I have a TC electronics sentry noise gate. The recommended way to hook it up is to run the send on the sentry to the input of the amp and then run the send of the amps affects loop inTo The return of the sentry. Then run the output of the sentry into the return of the amps effects loop. Then all my petals that are in front of the amp gets plugged into the input of the sentry. 

Now what are the pros of doing this. If I want to gate just a preamp why can't I just run the amps effects loop into the loop of the peddle?


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## Bearitone (Sep 7, 2016)

If all you want to do is gate the preamp then you should put it in the loop and leave it at that.

The only reason to use the four cable method is to gate the pedals you have before the input, AND the pedals before the return of the effects loop.

If you do end up wanting to gate both the front end of your amp, and the preamp (effects loop) then it may be better to just use two separate noise gates.

From personal experience, the effects loop and the front of the amp usually need different levels of gating and a single noise gate can't give you that.


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## vick1000 (Sep 7, 2016)

It's to suppress noise of the entire preamp chain, pedal, amp preamp. You want to supress the noise of the signal chain all the way up to your reverbs and delays, but you want the gate to track your guitar signal for faster clamping.

The above poster is right, that generally different levels are needed for best sustain and tracking, but the 4CM will work for most scenarios.


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## Jacksonluvr636 (Sep 7, 2016)

Laymans: To gate the "hiss" from your amp you need a gate in the loop. To gate the feedback you need a gate in front. Your pedal does both with the 4CM.


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## Alex79 (Sep 8, 2016)

vjw757 said:


> I have a TC electronics sentry noise gate. The recommended way to hook it up is to run the send on the sentry to the input of the amp and then run the send of the amps affects loop inTo The return of the sentry. Then run the output of the sentry into the return of the amps effects loop. Then all my petals that are in front of the amp gets plugged into the input of the sentry.
> 
> Now what are the pros of doing this. If I want to gate just a preamp why can't I just run the amps effects loop into the loop of the peddle?



Sorry, I had to...


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## vjw757 (Sep 16, 2016)

Alex79 said:


> Sorry, I had to...



lol. You got me. Or should I say, you got apple. I used the voice to text on my iphone to post this.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 16, 2016)

I'm a big fan of the 4CM.

4CM gives you the advantages of putting a gate in front of your amp and in the effects loop. You get to gate out all the noise from your pedals and preamp (any hiss, etc) but track your dry guitar signal, which is a lot more effective than tracking after a high gain preamp as the noise floor is lower. This means you'll be able to turn down your "threshold" knob a bunch, and have more precise gating. 

It's cool. I'd try it if you've got the cables sitting around.


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## Raf_666 (Sep 17, 2016)

4cm very versatile but a bit of a cable "mess" ..


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