Noise reduction pedals

[mugwump]

I've been experimenting with different noise reduction/noise gate pedals lately to see if I could eliminate some of the hiss coming from the Moog guitar pickups when using more gain than normal. While I'm not bothered too awful much by the noise, I have been thinking that it would be nice to knock it out with a simple pedal, if possible.

However, I've come to the conclusion that I'd rather just have the hiss in there than the blanket of restriction that all these pedals seem to add. I thought this might be helpful to anyone else who was thinking in this direction, so here are the ones I've tried and what I thought about each one:

1. Rocktron Reaction Hush - Least useful of the bunch. Weakened the tone the most, too. Limited my playing immensely. No good in front of the amp, and volume-killing when in the effects loop.

2. ISP Decimator - Didn't take away from my sound as much as it added something in there that I didn't like. Some sort of midrange lump that really congested the tone. Technically worked the best out of all three. Worked equally well in front of the amp and in the effects loop. Still felt like it was hindering my playing . . . so no go.

3. MXR Smart Gate - Kept more of the top-end sparkle of the sound in front of the amp, but really cut volume levels in the effects loop. It has a high trigger switch for the loop, but this didn't help the volume cut. Althought it didn't work as tightly as the Decimator, it might have more closely kept my sound intact the most out of all three. I still perceived some tonal loss, but it was hard to put my finger on it--beyond just feeling that limitation and slight blanketing of the sound.

I've yet to try the ISP Decimator G-String, which has two sets of ins and outs, allowing you to run both a straight instrument "tracking" signal into the front end of the amp, and put a block of noise reduction in the amp's effects loop. I feel like this might just be mumbo-jumbo marketing to warrant that $90 price hike that puts the pedal well above the $200 range. That's a little steep. Also, I stayed away from the Boss NR-2 due to all the bad reviews it's gotten over time regarding its sound-coloring.

So . . . for now, I'm not gonna worry about it anymore and just play. I'd rather have the instrument wide open and unburdened--and just not sweat it and play.

I hope someone finds this helpful!

Jeff

[cliffman]

Thanks!

I've noticed that what you plug it into seems to have the most impact on the noise.
In talking to Moog, they mentioned that the output impedance changes depending on guitar
settings.

So, i've been trying different preamps/pedals. So far the Sarno black box and just plugging
right into a mic pre are the quietest I've seen....

[Veeger]

What about the EH Hum Debugger? Wondering whether this might help....

[cliffman]

I've tried the Hum debugger. Work great with single-coil pickups, but did nothing for the moog guitar noise

[mugwump]

I've gone back to the ISP Decimator, and it works just fine on the Moog guitar! Picked up a used one, and it seems to work even more transparently than the new one that I tried out earlier.

http://www.isptechnologies.com/index.ph ... &Itemid=63