To noise suppress or to not noise suppress, that is the question!

[mahler]

Alright guys, I love my amp, my guitars, my pedals, I really do believe my tone is amazing (took me a while and always looking to add to it) or at least good enough for me! But as with any high gain amps and pedals and guitars that may not be shielded the best, I have a moderate amount of noise when playing high gain or lots of effects parts (the bright switch on my amp takes my amp from absolute quiet to a bit noisy..weird) but the noise is nothing disgusting or abnormal. What I want to know is, is it worth it to invest in say a ISP or A NS-2, or for serious people a Rocktron Hush Rack? Do they kill too much dynamics and sustain to get rid of a normal amount of noise, or are they transparent enough to be worth it!

Cheers

 

[peridot1]

I have an ISP and think it's pretty transparent but it does do something to the sustain. The trick for me is to find high gainers that are quiet. Think that's the best way to go.

 

[Pat of the Dead]

I use an NS-2. Love it, though it isn't perfect by far. I've used ISP pedals and racks and while they do an amazing job stops feedback and is really transparent, I find it's nearly impossible to "over power" it like I can the NS-2. Plus you can just stomp it off if needed.

 

[lingering_lead]

I have an ISP and think it does a good job of killing noise. I mainly use it with high gain settings.

 

[jhuse]

I have an NS-2 and have never had any noticeable problems with dynamics being chopped off. That said, I don't play much high-gain, so the threshold is not turn too far up.

 

[Waxhead]

Alright guys, I love my amp, my guitars, my pedals, I really do believe my tone is amazing (took me a while and always looking to add to it) or at least good enough for me! But as with any high gain amps and pedals and guitars that may not be shielded the best, I have a moderate amount of noise when playing high gain or lots of effects parts (the bright switch on my amp takes my amp from absolute quiet to a bit noisy..weird) but the noise is nothing disgusting or abnormal. What I want to know is, is it worth it to invest in say a ISP or A NS-2, or for serious people a Rocktron Hush Rack? Do they kill too much dynamics and sustain to get rid of a normal amount of noise, or are they transparent enough to be worth it!

Cheers

I'm a high gain guy too.
Neither a Decimator nor an MXR Smart Gate will affect your base tone in any way if you tweak em right. I have a Smart Gate and my Mesa, Egnator n Crunchbox run silent thru it with no affect on sustain, tone, dynamics or volume

 

[mahler]

Thats good to know, I really only have noise when I have this one fuzz on. Also on some of my guitars if the treble pot is up it makes a strange crackling noise, anyone else experience that?