Noise gate pedals are not adding new effects in your set up, however, some musicians really need it on their board to clear the chaos (not the one in their head, we cannot do much for this, sorry). But why buy something that won’t add anything? Because it will REMOVE something unwanted : NOISE.
What’s the problem with noise? Isn’t the whole point of music anyway? Yes and no. The noise we are talking about is nocive, like the neighbour’s teenagers screaming at each other in the street at 11:00pm on a Monday night.
I won’t go into details about how and why noise happens, we have a whole blog post about it here, but I will go lightly to help you make your mind about it.
Why do I need… a Noise Gate?
- I play heavy music (high gain)
- I have these noisy pedals on my board (boost, distortion, fuzz)
- I have this issue (bad electricity in my house, unstable, variable)
- I perform where the power and electricity may be a bit unclean
- I sometimes have unwanted noise when I play and I don't know what to do about it.
Which Noise Gate am I?
We currently have 3 different noise gate pedals at GUP Tech. Here are some questions you need to ask yourself before choosing:
- What is my budget?
- What is my amp?
- Do I play bass or guitar?
- What performance do I need or want?
- What type of music do I play?
SUN Gate : Higher price range, designed for high gain music (metal, heavy chugging amp), bad ass look, works well with guitar or bass, proven and reliable conception.
MWAC Gate : Higher price range, more sensitive than our SUN (detects noise in softer music), for all music genre, most versatile, works well with guitar or bass, looks awesome, easier to build (oops, not actually your problem).
Cool Gate : Budget option, limited noise canceling method (2-wire only), works well with guitar or bass, looks minty and refreshing.