Big Issue I cant get my head around

[civictiger]

Hey guys

I just got my noise gate through the post, an Artec SE-NGT.

Now, my problem is that I use effects live.. one thing that shines through effects REALLY badly, is cause of the high signal they put out, they give a lot of string scratching sounds that I cant have when playing live.

There is mainly only one song this happens on, which is a song that has a lot of slide downs , but when i go to put my hand back up to the 12/11th fret area, it produces the string scratch noise..

Now, I have tried my gate with even the lowest sensitivity, which cuts out the hum, but doesnt cut out the string noise..

Is it just because of the gate itself? or is there something I am missing? I can play this piece without the string making scratchy noise but it doesnt sound as pure as i slide down to the 3rd fret rather than the 1st and release my hands off of the fretboard completely and then move it up to the 12/11 area.

Is it a compressor i need, or what? im really clueless.. also should a gate be put at the start or end or a signal chain?

[umph]

sort out your action / work on your technique

[gnasher1993]

[quote name='umph' post='716929' date='Jan 18 2010, 07:03 PM']sort out your action / work on your technique[/quote]

This...it's not a pedal issue.

Maybe try faltwounds if you're that bothered about finger noise.

[honky jazz]

yes its a technique problem not the pedals. i had the same problem. i didn't change my action or relief but i worked on my slides and returning to orginal note. don't be lazy and slide up the string, lift clean off and move upto the original note. you could put flatwounds on that will help but will also change your tone (if you try to get a certain tone) you could compromise and put half wounds or ground wounds on. i put rotosound solo bass 55's on my bass. get a great tone and reduce finger noise.

imho

[civictiger]

[quote name='honky jazz' post='717042' date='Jan 18 2010, 08:02 PM']yes its a technique problem not the pedals. i had the same problem. i didn't change my action or relief but i worked on my slides and returning to orginal note. don't be lazy and slide up the string, lift clean off and move upto the original note. you could put flatwounds on that will help but will also change your tone (if you try to get a certain tone) you could compromise and put half wounds or ground wounds on. i put rotosound solo bass 55's on my bass. get a great tone and reduce finger noise.

imho[/quote]

yeahh, thats what i do currently, the 'non lazy' part, hehe

okay, well, that resolves my string noise issues..



so what about where i should out my gate? sometimes with my amp loud it still doesnt cut out the loud feedback noise it makes.. and thats on the most harsh setting on the gate, too.. do i need a compressor, or am i doing something wrong? =[

[redzombie]

Gates should generally go before delay and reverb and after everything else, at least from what I understand.

Sounds a bit odd, that your Artec is still letting feedback occur. Not had that problem with my NS-2, perhaps you need to try another noise gate? I like the Boss NS-2 for the money, also there's the ISP Decimator for a bit more that might be worth looking at. The latter is meant to be one of the better noise gates/suppressors in stompbox format.

On the other hand, if your amp has an overdrive circuit of some sort that you're using, running a gate before your amp possibly wont do much good. If this is the case, perhaps putting the gate in the effects loop (after the preamp's drive circuit) would help.

[cheddatom]

It could be that the gate needs to be in the FX loop?

[The_D]

Can you clarify what you mean by feedback? As far as I know a noise gate/suppressor does not remove squealy feedback. It merely cancels out hum and hiss from your signal chain.

You may be trying to use the wrong tool to get rid of feedback. Roll the gain/OD/FUZZ back and see if the feedback is reduced.

[velvetkevorkian]

Since a noise gate stops noises below a certain threshold they will often catch feedback, since feedback is basically a quiet noise reamplified into a loud one. High gain guitar players often use it this way.

If you have a gate like an NS-2 that has an effects send and return as well as guitar ins and outs, you can put the bass through the front end and put the send/return in the amp's effects loop- that will (in theory) stop anything coming from the guitar as well as anything produced by the amp. Having looked at the Artec you won't be able to do this, so I would try it in different places in the chain and see if that helps.

[redzombie]

[quote name='The_D' post='717997' date='Jan 19 2010, 04:16 PM']As far as I know a noise gate/suppressor does not remove squealy feedback. It merely cancels out hum and hiss from your signal chain.[/quote]

My NS-2 does a superb job of stopping the squealy Hendrix-esque feedback that my Sansamp GT-2 producs with the drive cranked.

[civictiger]

thanks for the replies, guys

well, im on a bubget so I cant afford an NS-2 atm.. I did buy a Behringer model which does the same thing (but obviously not as good) but the ammount that it reduced the signal wasnt significant so I got rid.

the artec pedal reduces more of the feedback sound after my effects pedals, so i guess at the end might be the best bet for now.. I have tried using my amps effects send/return but i cant get it to work!!



from my understanding, my bass goes into my effects, which then plug into effects send which then the effects return goes into the input of my amp, but when I start playing my bass I hear nothing.. so is something I am doing completely wrong? (this is without my gate in the chain, btw)

[cheddatom]

Your bass goes into the input of your amp, FX send goes to the input of your pedals, output of your pedals goes to FX return.

If you have the sensitivity on your pedal set to the max and you're still getting feedback I guess you're too close to the amp and you need to rest your fingers on your strings to bring the ouput of your bass down below the threshold of the gate.

[The_D]

[quote name='redzombie' post='718778' date='Jan 20 2010, 10:27 AM']My NS-2 does a superb job of stopping the squealy Hendrix-esque feedback that my Sansamp GT-2 producs with the drive cranked.[/quote]

I stand corrected I could always create feedback in my old loop with my NS-2 on. Always thought thats not what the pedal did.

Please ignore my poor advice

[redzombie]

[quote name='The_D' post='719166' date='Jan 20 2010, 04:01 PM']I stand corrected I could always create feedback in my old loop with my NS-2 on. Always thought thats not what the pedal did.

Please ignore my poor advice [/quote]

Weird, what dirt pedal were you using? I guess Boss could possibly have changed the circuitry/components of the NS-2 over the years as well, or perhaps it could just be a settings thing. Then again, maybe one of our NS-2s is faulty lol.

[civictiger]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='719156' date='Jan 20 2010, 03:54 PM']Your bass goes into the input of your amp, FX send goes to the input of your pedals, output of your pedals goes to FX return.

If you have the sensitivity on your pedal set to the max and you're still getting feedback I guess you're too close to the amp and you need to rest your fingers on your strings to bring the ouput of your bass down below the threshold of the gate.[/quote]

okay man, thanks =]
i'll have to give it a try sometime tomorrow

thanks for the replies everyone =]

[rmorris]

This may not be very practical for a live set up - but you can reduce string / finger noise by using 'de-essing' technique - same idea as used to attenuate excessive sibilance on vocals.
Either using a dedicated unit or by inserting an equaliser into the sidechain of a compressor and boosting appropriate frequencies so that they are attenuated only when they exceed a threshold.