Noise Gate at input

  • Guys, I've been "struggling" with lead sounds, low volume clean sounds, not cutting through the mix ...


    I tried a lot but for now it seems that my main reason for the heavier sounds was that my noise gate was set at 5 which was way to high ...

    Am I crazy that by lowering that volume these issues vanished ? now at 2.2 or so ... noise gate in stomps as well with value of 2 ...

    My profiles feel much more alive with a wider spectrum of sound ...

    The clean seemed to be solved by putting the clean sense at 2.2 db, probably due to my soft pick attack ...


    Does this makes sense :)


    Raf

    Kemper stage with 2 mission pedals (in a Thon line 6 FBV case) and a Zilla 212 (K-100/V30) , SD powerstage 700 poweramp

  • Depends on what profiles you use become some high gain ones are noisy and some are not. I only use a noise gate if absolutely necessary because it does kill your pick attack if you roll off the volume. A neat trick to do is put a morph function on the Gain and the Gate and use a pedal instead of guitar volume.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Edited once, last by BayouTexan ().

  • 5 on the input noise gate does seem high, that would really alter your rigs sound. Here is Kempers explanation of the different noise gates and their functions. I believe I said this before in another thread, resetting to factory fresh after having the KPA for sometime and being more familiar with it than at the start, then taking time to read about the function of settings really helped me achieve much better results as I wasn't quite as overwhelmed by information overload as when first getting the unit, but I am a little slow at times lol!

    Glad to here your making progress, when you hit the point that you hear the tone you've been searching for it makes the time and effort you put in more than worth it, but it can be frustrating getting there.


    manual page 31

    NOISE GATE Knob (5)

    This knob controls the Noise Gate, which eliminates the noise and hum of your guitar in a very smart way. Turn the NOISE GATE knob to the right until noise and hum have disappeared; do not turn it beyond that point, as this might alter the sound of your guitar. When set to the appropriate position, you will notice that noise and hum are eliminated, even when the strings are still sounding. There is no need for an additional release control as found in classic noise gates. The Noise Gate settings can be stored as part of a Rig. Like "Clean Sens”, the Noise Gate setting is part of the Input Section and is stored with the Rig. It is also stored as part of any input preset. When the Input Section is locked, the noise gate is locked as well. For metal sounds, we recommend adding one of the special noise gate effects, which are explained in the Noise Gate chapter.


    manual page 206

    Noise Gate (Cyan)

    In addition to the noise gate in the Input Section, there are two additional noise gates available as effects, developed specifically with the hi-gain player in mind. Whereas the noise gate in the Input Section is designed to preserve the guitar’s dynamics exactly, the Noise-Gate effects behave like classic downward expanders. Downward expanders attenuate a signal once it has fallen below a certain threshold and are often used to tighten complex metal-riffing. This is because a palm mute will still retain all of its “chunk”, but will also become more percussive, thereby preventing the dreaded “mud”. The two noise-gate effects feature different expansion ratios, chosen for their musicality.


    Noise Gate 2:1

    This noise gate is a soft expander, with an expansion ratio of 2:1. If the level of the input signal lies below the threshold it will be attenuated by a factor of 2. In other words, each dB below the threshold leads to 2dB attenuation of the signal.


    Noise Gate 4:1

    This noise gate is a more aggressive expander, with an expansion ratio of 4:1. If the level of the input signal lies below the threshold it will be attenuated by a factor of 4. In other words, each dB below threshold leads to 4dB attenuation of the signal. As with the Input Noise Gate, there are no attack or release controls, as we have selected the shortest possible times without introducing any signal degradation. The attack time is 0.05 ms (that’s 50 microseconds, or one twentythousandth of a second), while the decay time is 50 ms. You can use the Noise Gate effects in combination with the noise gate in the Input Section to benefit from the different noise gate characters.

  • Depends on what profiles you use become some high gain ones are noisy and some are not. I only use a noise gate if absolutely necessary because it does kill your pick attack if you roll off the volume. A neat trick to do is put a morph function on the Gain and the Gate and use a pedal instead of guitar volume.

    That's very clever...that is 2 things I've learnt from you today!!!

  • All noise gates will have some effect on the sound, so definately the lowest setting possible ( else it would just be set at a factory maximum).


    Noise gates are both the devils work and utopia in 1 depending on how you set them. Personally I tend to use the stomp versions, for some reason I find them better for heavy rock, so I take off the input noise gate.