ne14t? Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Ok so the Line6 POD XT I got last week has a built in noise gate, I finally got around to making some channels this weekend and one of the first ones I made was a vintage 60's British sound, one of my fave warm up songs to play is locomotive breath :D (its not 100% perfect, yet, but if anyone wants this tone for there POD let me know and I can get you the details for it) So as I am going through I setup the noise gate, I had never used something like this before and wow was I ever at a loss. One of my biggest problems with some power chords is lifting my fingers off the strings when I move up or down the neck so with a high gain amp you of course get that lovely string sliding sound. After about 5 minutes I was able to dial out 95% of all string noise without effecting harmonics too much, quieter harmonics seem to be lost now, so I probably need to tweak it a bit more. But the difference in sound was noticeable immediately, my room-mate who is not musically inclined at all was even like dude your guitar sounds better what did you do. Can anyone possibly help me out with keeping the gate the way it is and freeing up the harmonics a bit more or am I asking for too much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 For the most part, most of the sounds we try to get like the song yer using here are composed of really great sounding guitars into really great sounding amps and pretty good volumes. A very important component of that sound is noise, especially at those delightful volumes that we don't get to visit all that much anymore. When you start gating and flooring your sound(s) you start isolating and eliminating and excluding some pretty important parts of why you hear what you hear. The gate knows not the difference between the frequencies your squeeking fingers make and desirable harmonics and high hz noise, it is all just noise to it. Many older grouchy guitar players like me scoff at EMGs and the like because you take away the Noise and you are taking away the Sound. Same goes for conversation volume digitized versions of sounds that were made at end of the runway at rush hour volumes, it just doesn't work. In order to get rid of what you don't want you'll have to get rid of some stuff you do want, you just didn't know you wanted it until it was gone. Good luck with it and have fun. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I've never had luck with a noise gate. Maybe I haven't tried a good one, or just don't know how to set it. But I've always found that it sucks my tone and cuts the note off when I don't want it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Well as you have discovered a noise gate is a pretty handy device... To put it simply, when a signal/sound enters, the gate opens to let it threw, when there is no sound the gate is shut and no signal/sound passes threw. What's great is you can adjust the level/amount of sound that will activate the opening of the gate, this is the threshold. A low threshold will allow just about any sound threw where as a high threshold will take a much stronger signal to open the gate. That being said you have to play with the threshold to find the spot that allows the sound you want to pass through but closes out unwanted noise. It may be hard to let a subtle harmonics threw and not the finger noise. Some gates will let you choose the frequency range that activates the gate, that may help you tweek the gate so you get your harmonics but not the finger noise... play around with it and see. Hope this helps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 My recently aquired Boss ME 70 is proving to be very interesting to work with It has an easily accessible noise gate which is doing good work taming some of the hi gain settings I like to use Including those fed in from outboard(for some reason I thought they would be a problem) But as mentioned earlier, some long held notes can be cut off early.... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duende Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 My recently aquired Boss ME 70 is proving to be very interesting to work with It has an easily accessible noise gate which is doing good work taming some of the hi gain settings I like to use Including those fed in from outboard(for some reason I thought they would be a problem) But as mentioned earlier, some long held notes can be cut off early.... V any chance of a demo v? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 As Saturn, I have never been lucky with noise gates, I've tried most of them from pro over 500 bucks rack stuff to 10 bucks cheap pedals. They always end up taking away way more than they should... and they also kill sustain. I can live with a little hissssssssss that nobody but me notices, but I can't live without sustain That said... you should contact Guitarest, he owns a pod and only says great things about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ne14t? Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 For the most part, most of the sounds we try to get like the song yer using here are composed of really great sounding guitars into really great sounding amps and pretty good volumes. A very important component of that sound is noise, especially at those delightful volumes that we don't get to visit all that much anymore. When you start gating and flooring your sound(s) you start isolating and eliminating and excluding some pretty important parts of why you hear what you hear. The gate knows not the difference between the frequencies your squeeking fingers make and desirable harmonics and high hz noise, it is all just noise to it. Many older grouchy guitar players like me scoff at EMGs and the like because you take away the Noise and you are taking away the Sound. Same goes for conversation volume digitized versions of sounds that were made at end of the runway at rush hour volumes, it just doesn't work. In order to get rid of what you don't want you'll have to get rid of some stuff you do want, you just didn't know you wanted it until it was gone. Good luck with it and have fun. rct I bolded the part I wanted to comment on because its true 100% I know what your talking about as I have played an EMG 81/85 equipped guitar and I feel I can safely say they all sound the same, great for metal useless for pretty much anything else. I still have to mess around with the Gate quite a bit, as someone else has mentioned it can rob a lot of tone and I have personally noticed it big in harmonics, sometimes they can be harder to produce so I know the settings are too high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S t e v e Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Ok so the Line6 POD XT I got last week has a built in noise gate, I finally got around to making some channels this weekend and one of the first ones I made was a vintage 60's British sound, one of my fave warm up songs to play is locomotive breath :D (its not 100% perfect, yet, but if anyone wants this tone for there POD let me know and I can get you the details for it) So as I am going through I setup the noise gate, I had never used something like this before and wow was I ever at a loss. One of my biggest problems with some power chords is lifting my fingers off the strings when I move up or down the neck so with a high gain amp you of course get that lovely string sliding sound. After about 5 minutes I was able to dial out 95% of all string noise without effecting harmonics too much, quieter harmonics seem to be lost now, so I probably need to tweak it a bit more. But the difference in sound was noticeable immediately, my room-mate who is not musically inclined at all was even like dude your guitar sounds better what did you do. Can anyone possibly help me out with keeping the gate the way it is and freeing up the harmonics a bit more or am I asking for too much? i swear by a noise gate, i use a boss ns2 noise supressor...i recently got a mxr fullbore metal pedal that has a noise gate built in and i'm well chuffed with it B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 any chance of a demo v? Thanks for the invite ! I might at some time in the future, but there are many great demos from individuals or linked to the Boss site on U Tube.... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chase1410 Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 As Saturn, I have never been lucky with noise gates, I've tried most of them from pro over 500 bucks rack stuff to 10 bucks cheap pedals. They always end up taking away way more than they should... and they also kill sustain. I can live with a little hissssssssss that nobody but me notices, but I can't live without sustain That said... you should contact Guitarest, he owns a pod and only says great things about it. Absolutely agree..I had an ISP Decimator for a while..Witch is a pretty respected noise gate and just as TG stated, it takes away WAY more then it should...The sacrifice you have to make to get rid of unwanted noise.. isn't worth it, when you lose all your sustain, and all the great little nuances in your playing. Plus in most case's you have to set the threshold pretty damn high to get rid of any unwanted noise with high gain applications. I sold mine after a month or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ne14t? Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 I would have never bought one personally, I have only ever seen the NS2 from BOSS never really bothered to look into them but the $189 price tag on it sure kept me from looking twice, I didnt even know my POD had one till three days after I got it and made it to page 4236 in the "pilots handbook" as Line 6 calls it :P I will definitely try to get in touch with Guitarest in regards to this POD it is nifty but sometimes a little daunting I am used to five knobs on an amp and some pedals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duende Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Thanks for the invite ! I might at some time in the future, but there are many great demos from individuals or linked to the Boss site on U Tube.... V I suppose I hoped you would! You know loads about music and I suppose I find that hearing how people on the board play, is one of my favourite things to discover here at the GF... It is always hugely enjoyable and interesting to hear how other musicians do things. I suppose I wish 95 percent of the posts were all sound clips, videos, new pieces, demos etc etc and 5 percent just fun talk and pictures of guitars. Pictures are fun, but even cheap guitars can look nice in pictures...nothing beats hearing them. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 You dont need a noise gate... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ne14t? Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 Thanks a bunch I am going to check that site out tonight and hopefully find something that works or gets me by till I understand the modeling stuff a bit more thoroughly. The noise gate was just a cool feature on the POD I got, that I had never played before so this thread was a bit of me just praising the gate, its most certainly something that ISNT a requirement but a tasty little addon that might suit you here and there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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