Unless you’re in a Sonic Youth tribute band, or maybe you’ve finally realized your dream of starting an avant-garde tribute to Neil Diamond, you might have a bit of noise in your signal chain you would want to eliminate. These 10 options aim to slam the door on extraneous buzz and hum, and at high-gain settings, they will keep your rhythm chugs tight.
Boss NS-1X Noise Suppressor
Centered around the company’s MDP technology, this gate aims to eliminate noise without sacrificing feel or response. It also includes an effects loop and a mute mode.
$199 street
boss.info
GUPTech MWAC Noise Gate
Precise and high performance even at lower signal, it excels in all situations—from high-gain havoc to gentler terrain. Available in four colors: red, orange, purple or army green. It's affordable enough for everyone to clean up their act.
$127 street
guptech.ca
Revv G8 Noise Gate
A pedal-sized version of the noise gate in the Generator 120, this stomp offers hold, release, and threshold controls, and a full effects loop.
$199 street
revv.com
MXR M135 Smart Gate
The single-knob design allows for on-the-fly tweaking, but the included extended trigger range and three different noise bands allow for a highly versatile setup.
$149 street
jimdunlop.com
ISP Technologies Decimator II
One of the most popular noise gates, this pedal uses Time Vector Processing to help craft a smoother level of noise reduction. You can also link multiple units for maximum signal tracking.
$143 street
Isptechnologies.com
TC Electronic Iron Curtain
Housed in a rock-solid enclosure, this gate features decay and threshold dials, a switchable mute control, and an entirely analog circuit.
$49 street
tcelectronic.com
Darkglass NSG
With a push of the big knob, you can move between soft and hard gain reduction, which can be adjusted from -65 dBV to +5 dBV.
$199 street
darkglass.com
Electro-Harmonix Silencer
With three different controls (threshold, decay, and release), you’re able to dial in and customize the exact level of gain reduction. It also features an effects loop to help with any noisy pedals.
$80 street
ehx.com
Ibanez Pentatone Gate
Nabbed from the Pentatone preamp, this standalone version offers a dead-simple setup with a single threshold knob and a switch to move between high and low modes.
$99 street
ibanez.com
Pigtronix Gatekeeper 2
A studio-quality gate created around a JFET circuit and a release control that dials in the speed of the gate.
$119 street
pigtronix.com
- State of the Stomp: In Defense of Noise ›
- MXR Noise Clamp Pedal Review ›
- Tools for the Task: Noise Gate Pedals ›
Paul Reed Smith’s personal guitar, which he often lets audience members play at his clinics.
They had to buy the tuning pegs and install them; cut a nut; cut fret slots and fret the guitar; maybe put a truss rod in; carve the neck; make a body; finish the guitar (including spraying a sunburst); install a bridge, pickups, pickguard, and electronics; put strings on it; set the guitar up, and … oh yeah … include a case. What I thought at the time was, “Why don’t you just do it all well?” It wouldn’t be that much harder to do, and the instrument would be something you could play a concert on.
I also found out some time in the late ’80s that the market gives you permission for a product. By my definition, “permission from the market” means that, in general, the product is selling and customers are quite pleased with their purchase. I remember the tradeshow where Audio-Technica released the M50 headphone, and almost immediately it was given permission by the market. It is now an industry standard. Another good example from that period was that the market gave permission to ADATs (which were early digital recorders) and then took it away.
So, the question about gear and prices is: Are you getting your money’s worth? In other words, can you use the instrument at rehearsal, at a gig, in a concert, in a recording studio? I used the Teisco Del Rey as an example because, in a way, they were cool. The market gave permission to sell them, but I’ve never seen one used at a gig, a recording session, or a concert. If an instrument is not worth the money that is being charged, eventually the market will say “no,” and the instruments will be heavily discounted. So, there is a self-adjusting “Is it worth it?” process in the marketplace.
Paul Reed Smith holds court at a clinic.
In my world, whether it’s worth the money is really important. We build instruments that sell all the way from a MAP (minimum advertised price) of $499 to a MAP of $15,000 (which is still 1/20th the price of some vintage guitars). For me, it’s highly important that someone pick up an instrument and play it before they decide if it is “worth it.” When I am at clinics, I very often let someone in the audience play my personal guitar and ask if they like the way it plays and sounds. One of the things I like about buying guitars on the internet is that there’s almost always a return policy if you don’t like the instrument. It’s a safety net that I think is good for the customers in our guitar world.
“There only has to be one thing wrong with a guitar for it to not be usable.”
Another thing I like about the internet is that if you average the blur of all the comments and reviews on a model of instrument, you can get the beginnings of an idea of whether it is worth it. For me, I’m always looking for the product that people missed either in price or that the market never gave permission to.
I recently bought an untouched 1958 vintage Les Paul Special. What was interesting about it was the weight and the neck shape were perfect, but some of the notes were buzzing badly on the neck. We leveled the frets and were kind of taken aback because the frets had never been leveled out of the factory. What we realized is that we never held a vintage Les Paul before that a repairman had not worked on. Was the instrument worth the money the day it was sold in the 1950s? Yes. Was the instrument worth the money as a vintage guitar today? Yes. I got a good deal on an untouched vintage guitar, and it taught me a lot.
I don’t buy vintage guitars as collector’s items. I buy them to understand what the people who made them were thinking the day they were made. You can’t talk to the builders anymore, but the instrument will tell you what they thought. Was the instrument ready for a recording session or a concert when sold? No. So if I had bought it to play, it may not have been worth it to me. In that regard, playing the instrument and not counting purely on reputation are just as important as knowing your “why.” There only has to be one thing wrong with a guitar for it to not be usable. Let’s just exaggerate and say the third fret was in the wrong place…. Big problem. This is kind of the way I look at it.
Released in 2005, the original POG revolutionized the world of octave pedals and became a favorite of the likes of Joe Satriani and Jack White. The POG2 followed with updates like programmable presets and an attack filter that helped the POG garner even more popularity among guitarists all over the world. With the biggest feature update to date, the POG3 becomes the most powerful polyphonic octave generator ever.
Electro-Harmonix POG3 Polyphonic Octave Generator Pedal (EHX Demo by BILL RUPPERT)
Building on the foundation laid by the original almost two decades ago, the POG3 offers updates that include a +5th voice, 100 user presets, extensive I/O, enhanced effects section with individual dry effect routing, and expression control over almost every parameter of the pedal.
Features
- Six separate voices: DRY, -2 OCT, -1 OCT, +5TH, +1 OCT, +2OCT
- 100 presets
- Three separate 1/4" outputs – LEFT, RIGHT, DIRECT OUT
- Individual pan controls to separate voices between the LEFT and RIGHT output jacks
- Classic POG and POG2 ATTACK, FILTER, and DETUNE controls with enhancements
- INPUT GAIN control
- MASTER VOLUME control
- FOCUS control for +1 OCT and +2 OCT
- Multimode Filter with Q and Envelope sweep
- All controls can be saved to presets and controlled via expression and/or MIDI
- Illuminated slide pots and buttons
- 128x32 graphic OLED display
- Selectable “home” views to allow for personalized user experiences
- Easy-to-navigate menu system
- New NavCoder knob allows rotary and directional navigation through menus
- EXPRESSION / CV input offers multiple modes of expression
- USB-C port to connect to Windows or Mac and interface with EHXport™ app
The Electro-Harmonix POG3 is available now, comes equipped with a high current EHX 9 Volt power supply and features a U.S. Street Price of $645.00.
For more information, please visit ehx.com.
