# Noise Gate / OD in which order?



## ICSvortex (May 31, 2016)

Hey guys

This might be a dumb question but i just dont know, so:

If i run my tuner, my tubescreamer and my noisegate to the front of my amp, in which order do i have to put them in? 
Guitar->tuner->tubescreamer->noise gate->amp input or
Guitar->tuner->noise gate->tubescreamer->amp input?

Thanks a lot!


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## Jacksonluvr636 (May 31, 2016)

IMO there is no mandatory order but whatever works best.

Some people think the amp and pups are the noisiest so they would do Amp, gate, tuner, od.

Or some people say everything is a source of noise so amp, tuner, od, gate.

If it were me I would experiment and test all options to see what works and sounds best. Also if you have a loop can try a pedal or two there as well.


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## jc986 (May 31, 2016)

The tuner should always be the first thing your guitar hits in the signal chain so it is getting the pure signal, unaltered by any pedal or buffer. OD should always go before the noise gate. Guitar->tuner->tubescreamer->noise gate->amp input is your best bet.


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## dhgrind (May 31, 2016)

guitar>tuner>overdrive>amp>efx loop send>noise gate> efx loop receive


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## TedEH (May 31, 2016)

jc986 said:


> OD should always go before the noise gate.



I disagree!

There is no "always" in this situation, except maybe for the tuner being first. I would personally go tuner -> gate -> OD -> amp.

My thinking is that most of the noise I want to eliminate usually comes from the guitar itself (like feedback or buzzing while I'm not playing), and I'd want to eliminate that as early as possible before the noise gets boosted or distorted or run through a preamp or something (which I would guess makes it harder to eliminate).

Depends on your use case, end goal, the source of your noise, etc. I don't use gates very often anyway, so maybe my opinion doesn't mean much, but that's how I look at it.


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## bostjan (May 31, 2016)

If you only have one gate, I recommend putting it last, playing with the sensitivity, and, keep an open mind that if it sounds too sterile, you'll have to move it up the chain.

There are no hard and fast rules with where it ends up going, but starting it last lets the gate do more of what it's designed to do, and adjusting from that starting point makes perfect logical sense.


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## TedEH (May 31, 2016)

^ I guess it's a question of what you're trying to gate. If you're using it because your chain is noisy, put it after the noisy part of the chain. If you're not sure what part of the chain you want to apply the gate to, maybe you don't really need the gate?


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## TheWarAgainstTime (May 31, 2016)

If I only have to use one gate, I put it after the overdrive set pretty high and often stomp it off for extra sustain as needed. However, I have found that the best results come from using at least two gates in my rig; one between the tuner and overdrive to take care of the guitar/pickup noise, then another after the overdrive. That way I can set the first one fairly high for staccato riffing and the other set low enough to cut noise when I'm not playing, but leave the tone/sustain as unaltered as possible. I still stomp the first gate off for more sustain, though. A third gate could go in the FX loop to cut the preamp noise, but isn't always necessary.


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## bostjan (May 31, 2016)

TedEH said:


> ^ I guess it's a question of what you're trying to gate. If you're using it because your chain is noisy, put it after the noisy part of the chain. If you're not sure what part of the chain you want to apply the gate to, maybe you don't really need the gate?



Well, "in theory," the gate will kill off any noise that occurs in front of it. So, in a perfect world with a perfect gate, the gate being last in the signal chain before the amp means that any noise in the amplified signal is only from the amplifier.

There are no perfect noise gates, so, in practice, this is not always the case.

I believe your point is that if your guitar is super noisy and your pedal is super quiet, you put the gate before the pedal in order to preserve the tone of the pedal. This is correct. In fact, I believe both approaches are correct, as long as your approach includes moving the position of the gate in the chain if something is "off" about the sound.

Another approach is to use two noise gates, one right off the guitar, and the other right before your amp, like brackets around your pre effects. That option works best for me. Then again, I don't use a typical setup, since I use minimal effects.


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## lewis (May 31, 2016)

basically what you want is to go digital and do this :-

guitar > Physical noise gate > OD > physical Noise gate > modeller amp > noise gate block > amp > noise gate block > reverb > Noise gate block> noise gate block > physical noise gate in the effects loop of the moddeller > PA > Noise gate before PA speakers


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## bostjan (May 31, 2016)

lewis said:


> basically what you want is to go digital and do this :-
> 
> guitar > Physical noise gate > OD > physical Noise gate > modeller amp > noise gate block > amp > noise gate block > reverb > Noise gate block> noise gate block > physical noise gate in the effects loop of the moddeller > PA > Noise gate before PA speakers



I assume this is a joke, but I could be mistaken. 

If you are saying this in response to my comment about using two noise gates, don't knock it until you've tried it. If you've tried it and don't like it, fair enough, it's not for everyone.


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## lewis (May 31, 2016)

bostjan said:


> I assume this is a joke, but I could be mistaken.
> 
> If you are saying this in response to my comment about using two noise gates, don't knock it until you've tried it. If you've tried it and don't like it, fair enough, it's not for everyone.



 yeah dude Ive run 2 physical noise gates before fine so no issues there plus recently, with a guitar with microphonic pickup issues, i genuinely ran 5 noise gates in a chain to try and eliminate the issue  1 real one infront of the amp, then using the pod HD Pro placing 4 others in the chain including 1 in the effects loop. Hence this joke. I genuinely felt like i was using 26 noise gates

and I still had "rings" and "squeels" haha suffice to say, I no longer own that guitar.


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## Dawn of the Shred (May 31, 2016)

I have always ran OD>Gate>Amp sounds cleaner to me


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## bostjan (May 31, 2016)

5 Noise gates? For that price, you could have bought a new pickup and had it installed by the Queen herself.


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## CapnForsaggio (May 31, 2016)

I have:

Guitar>Tuner>Compressor (only for cleans)>OD>Gate (ISP)>Tremolo etc.>AMP

Then:
FX out > 10 Band EQ> Gate (another ISP) > Delay>reverb> FX in

This allows me to cut out the noise from the guitar, OD, Compressor without destroying the subtleties of the modulations used in front of the amp. Same with the FX loop, I don't want to fudge up the effect trails of the Delay and reverb, but I do want to cut out he noise from the amp and 10 band EQ.....

Your results may vary.


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## FILTHnFEAR (May 31, 2016)

Guitar > tuner > OD > eq > gate > amp > fx out > 2nd eq > fx return, with my H&K.

My JSX I run the same, except it could use another gate in the loop as it's noisier than a mf.

I don't believe this is an "always" type situation as it totally depends on the gear one is using. As usual, do what's best in _your_ situation.


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## Petar Bogdanov (May 31, 2016)

It depends on where you have the Tone control of the overdrive. Nearly all tubescreamer-based circuits boost the highs above noon, which also boosts the noise floor for those frequencies. 

Running tone at less than five - you might be able to use the volume knob more efficiently. 
Running tone at more than five - you might be able to reduce more noise. 

Both work. I run my noise gate in the loop, where it also works. 

Reference: ElectroSmash - Tube Screamer Circuit Analysis


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## bostjan (May 31, 2016)

OT: have any of you ever tried running a crossover into two gates into a line mixer?


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## TamanShud (May 31, 2016)

lewis said:


> guitar > Physical noise gate > OD > physical Noise gate > modeller amp > noise gate block > amp > noise gate block > reverb > Noise gate block> noise gate block > physical noise gate in the effects loop of the moddeller > PA > Noise gate before PA speakers



Ahhh yes, the standard lightly-gated djent signal chain 

OT: Mostly I've been fine with a gate at the end of my pedals right before the amp but like most people here have said, just play around until you find the sweet spot.


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## nerdywhale (May 31, 2016)

I'm experimenting with OD after gate at the moment. I'd always ran it before, but I'm a pedant for a tidy pedalboard, and my current rig dictates the gate must go before OD. 

I find the gate chomps harder with the OD before, and is a little more forgiving after. If you're after the tight staccato business, I rate OD > gate. If you're okay with a bit of slop, gate > OD.

Better still, utilise FX loops if your gate and amp have one and use the 4 Cable Method! It tames the slop. I'm doing this with an MXR Noise Clamp (removed unimportant pedals from the chain for clarity):

Guitar > Noise Clamp (in-send) > OD > Amp (In-FX send) > Noise Clamp (return-out) > Amp (FX return) > TONE


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## mongey (Jun 1, 2016)

Od then Gate does a better job but is less viable if you are boosting volume with your od and want a clean sound. 

Gate then od cuts noise from the guitar but you still get some hum from the od. But you can set it at the level for you pickups and it won't affect your clean tone or other gain sounds when ou don't use the boost. 

I go for the 2nd options as its less to think about.


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## lewis (Jun 1, 2016)

bostjan said:


> 5 Noise gates? For that price, you could have bought a new pickup and had it installed by the Queen herself.



haha nah man, only 1 of those was a physical pedal infront the other "4" noise gates were effects blocks placed inside the HD Pro in various places


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## lewis (Jun 1, 2016)

TamanShud said:


> *Ahhh yes, the standard lightly-gated djent signal chain *
> 
> OT: Mostly I've been fine with a gate at the end of my pedals right before the amp but like most people here have said, just play around until you find the sweet spot.



you know it  obviously there was an EQ block before the amp that boosted 1.4khz by 15db as you can imagine


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## Mprinsje (Jun 2, 2016)

If your gate can do it: guitar -> gate (in->Send) -> od (and other distortions) -> amp (in-fx send) -> gate (return->out) -> amp fx return


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