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[Chip Roberts]

Question for a SUPER old thread here.  I've been using a 2 noisegate system and trying to get the 60 cycle hum down.

Signal chain is: Pedalboard- Roland GP8 - NS50 - MP1 - Hush IICX - B200s

The NS50 comes after the GP8 for a hard gate on the overdrive patch.  The Hush IICX comes last before the power section, JUST to bring down the 60 cycle hum, but I'm not sure if that's the right spot for it.  When I adjust the levels to get rid of the hum, I lose almost all of my high end, plus the end of my delay tails.  Any suggestions?  I'm trying to avoid the noise mod as it sounds like a whole thing.

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Chip,

    I've been using a pair of dbx 463x Overeasy Noise Gates with my MP-1 for a few decades now, and I've usually put them in the effects loops, just before the poweramp.
   I guess it really depends on how noisy each piece of equipment is in your signal chain. For me, the most unwanted noise comes from the preamp itself with higher gain settings. When I use the ADA, Eventide, or Lexicon processors in the effects chain, they are very quiet units so, I can put the  noise gates in front of the effects, and set the threshold to just trim the unwanted white noise out of it, and have my delays and reverb at the end of the chain so they are not affected by the noise gate.
   You could try to experiment with the placement of your gate in various spots in your signal chain and see which works better for you. As for 60 cycle hum, at lower gain settings, it isn't much of a problem for me. I like more of an overdrive tone rather than a distortion tone, which helps keep the clarity of my guitars intact. When I do use a high gain setting for a blistering lead tone, I always step back to the overdrive tone right after the last note in the solo. That takes all the extra noise away right there and the gate, being already set up for that setting, does it's thing.

    Experimentation is the best teacher

   I hope that helps

[rnolan]

Hey Chip, depends where the noise is coming from and why.  E.g. if you run MP-1 into B200s on it's own is there hum?  Try to isolate each unit to work out where/what is causing the hum.  I assume you have them all on the same power circuit? so there's no earth loops.  While noise gates can be helpful for mains power hum (which you have) that's not their primary purpose, they are more for gating out (hi) gain noise when you stop playing.  There are quite a few culprits that can cause mains hum (e.g. earth loops, bad leads, old caps in power supply etc.).  The noise mod is a good idea regardless as it fixes the old caps issue in the MP-1 and really isn't that onerous to do or have done.  The thing with electrolytic caps (capacitors) from those days is the goo inside them hardens over time (regardless of use) and they all need to be replaced with modern caps.  But this will quieten your MP-1, not your pedal board or GP8.  Connectors in pedal boards are notorious for causing problems so you need to rule that out