Noisegate with AFD
Posted: 18 Jul 2012, 02:55
Hi folks.
i'm another of those lucky people that have both an AFD100 and a YJM100. between the two of them i am in Marshall heaven :)
the only thing i ever thought they got wrong was not having a noise gate on the AFD. the one on the YJM works so well that i really noticed the noise even more on the Slash amp. and there is quite a bit of it! i realise it is to Slash's specs, but he uses a noisegate himself! so, i decided to get myself a gate. i had pretty much settled on an ISP decimator G string when an acquaintance told me he had a couple of cloned boards for the standard Decimator, and he'd put one together for me if i wanted.
so, yesterday i got my hands on the pedal, and i'm pretty pleased! i tried it in front of the amp first, and it worked to cut string noise and any hum or buzz from the guitar, but of course the pre-amp hiss was all still there. so, i put it in the loop, set the loop volume to unity level, and away i went. wow! total silence between notes! but it can be set so it doesn't cut out when you're holding notes. i can even lower my guitar volume to clean up a bit and it only gets choppy if i try to hold long notes or chords, which i was only doing to test the pedal :)
there is a slight change in tone with the pedal engaged, but this can be compensated for with a couple of quick knob twists. that slight downside is more than compensated for by the excellent noise reduction.
so, while mine is a clone, i would unhesitatingly recommend the ISP Decimator to anyone looking to cut out the hiss. i tried an MXR smartgate too, although on a DSL100. i personally preferred the ISP clone.
i'm another of those lucky people that have both an AFD100 and a YJM100. between the two of them i am in Marshall heaven :)
the only thing i ever thought they got wrong was not having a noise gate on the AFD. the one on the YJM works so well that i really noticed the noise even more on the Slash amp. and there is quite a bit of it! i realise it is to Slash's specs, but he uses a noisegate himself! so, i decided to get myself a gate. i had pretty much settled on an ISP decimator G string when an acquaintance told me he had a couple of cloned boards for the standard Decimator, and he'd put one together for me if i wanted.
so, yesterday i got my hands on the pedal, and i'm pretty pleased! i tried it in front of the amp first, and it worked to cut string noise and any hum or buzz from the guitar, but of course the pre-amp hiss was all still there. so, i put it in the loop, set the loop volume to unity level, and away i went. wow! total silence between notes! but it can be set so it doesn't cut out when you're holding notes. i can even lower my guitar volume to clean up a bit and it only gets choppy if i try to hold long notes or chords, which i was only doing to test the pedal :)
there is a slight change in tone with the pedal engaged, but this can be compensated for with a couple of quick knob twists. that slight downside is more than compensated for by the excellent noise reduction.
so, while mine is a clone, i would unhesitatingly recommend the ISP Decimator to anyone looking to cut out the hiss. i tried an MXR smartgate too, although on a DSL100. i personally preferred the ISP clone.
